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nienvs3000w22 · 2 years

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Final Blog Post: My journey

Hello everyone,

I am stoked to have been a part of this journey this semester, sharing and learning each other’s experiences through blog posts. I enjoyed sharing my personal experience on nature and being vulnerable in honestly stating my viewpoint and experiences with nature. Commencing this course, I thought that I did not have as much of a nature interpretation side to myself as my experiences with nature were very different from everyone else’s. Thinking back to the first posts, everyone shared their experiences with camping, hiking, and even summer camps in their childhood that I did not have the privilege to experience because I grew up in a country limited in offering such adventures. Throughout this course, I thought to myself that my nature experience was insufficient or invaluable in comparison to others’, but I learned that that was not true. There is no right or wrong way for us to experience nature. As David Suzuki mentioned, the definition of nature is not as easy as we believe (DavidSuzukiFDN, 2012). He said that we left the description of nature to poets (DavidSuzukiFDN, 2012); his definition of nature is anywhere there are species other than human species. I found this exciting and eye-opening because my idea of nature did not involve other species; I was thinking about trees, plants, and flowers. This made me realize, and this entire course, that everyone has their definition of it and values certain things in nature more than others.

My ethic as a park interpreter

When I think about exploring nature and going on adventures, I think about the dangers that come with it. Tragic accidents happen, and I believe it is more common in nature because we are used to walking on perfect surfaces. Equally, when one is hiking on a trial, in some areas it is necessary to scramble over rocks or climb to get higher up a mountain, which is often when accidents can happen. In my opinion, and in reference to my visit to Banff, Alberta, this past summer, accidents happen when someone is unaware or uninformed and is therefore not fully prepared for the adventure. As I was not experienced in hiking on mountains, I wanted guidance and advice from others around me, for the sake of fun and safety. Thus, I thought my role as a nature interpreter was to be a park interpreter, which I still stand by after the journey we had throughout this semester. As a park interpreter, I plan to research and organize educational programs for visitors to national parks and conservation areas (eco Canada, 2021). Considering people today have access to social media, I believe the best way to start my journey as a park interpreter is through podcasts. I plan to go on hikes to the most visited areas to make podcasts on my journey and help share information with future visitors of the area. Even the social media platform TikTok will aid in my journey of park interpretation because some individuals are visual learners. Seeing national parks may not just spark interest, which may in turn force a TikTok viewer to get out of their comfort zone, but will better prepare viewers for the adventure ahead.

What beliefs do I bring?

Regarding experience with nature, I believe there are two types of people: one has gone through every outdoors adventure as a child and, the other did not have much exposure to experience nature as a child. I believe it is essential for people that had a rich experience with nature not to discourage ones who did not. The right thing to do is not to judge others but guide them in the most appropriate path. For people who have zero experience with nature and wish to step outside of their comfort zone to explore nature, help can best be offered by sharing knowledge about the best attire to wear and how to best prepare for such an adventure. As a result, I choose to become a part interpreter and help individuals who want to explore nature do it safely and without feeling like an outsider. In Alberta, everyone packed their proper attire, trekking poles, and bear sprays or bells. This made me feel embarrassed because I was underprepared and felt unable to complete the hike. Everyone wore just one light jacket but I had a thick coat because of my understanding that the higher the mountain, the colder it gets. This was in September, and the temperature was already 8 degrees. I would wear my jacket because I was cold since I was not used to this type of adventure or even weather because, in Ontario, I would often hike in warm weather. Thus, I believe it is essential not to belittle people doing a specific task differently instead of guiding them to gain confidence and continue their adventure.

What responsibilities do I have?

After going through blog posts, I had a different realization each week. I thought nature was just one specific adventure or experience, but I realized that nature has a different definition for everyone. Throughout this course, I learned that if you are better at something than someone else, it may have been due to the privilege you had of being exposed to it at a younger age; thus, not judging if someone doesn’t know something is crucial. Everyone learns differently from me. If I plan to take the role of park interpreter, I must understand that there are different learning styles such as auditory, visual, or tactile learners. One aspect I never thought about before this course is understanding who I am as an interpreter, who my audience is, and how I can make this experience meaningful. I saw this every time after going through the weekly course notes. It is a tool I learned that I am using in my other classes that have discussion posts, presentations, or even papers to understand why my audience is significant. It pushed me to find ways to be creative to help gain more interest.

What are approaches most suitable for you as an individual?

I learn better once what I read in a lecture or a book is applied to real life. When I learn something, I like to know that I can use it in real-life scenarios. That’s when it sparks an interest in me. Even though I enjoyed these blogposts, if this class were delivered in person, to have components of us exploring the arboretum would have been beneficial. However, I know that this was not possible due to the pandemic. Even though I liked having an external component, I felt more comfortable writing my experience with nature as blogposts because it made me more vulnerable. I was not afraid of being judged; the blogs allowed me to get to know everyone, and if it were in person, I would not have been able to hear everyone’s stories and experiences.

To conclude my final blog post in this course, I would like to share the most important things I learned. To become a nature interpreter, we must understand the value of wildlife and the purpose they serve. We need to respect nature when we explore and not try to change it for our benefit. Going on a hike and playing music is disrespectful as it can disrupt nature; littering during nature walks is like throwing garbage in someone’s home when you are a guest—expecting someone to have the same beliefs as you regarding nature is wrong as everyone has developed their unique definition of nature. Understanding that everyone has different learning strategies and if you are planning to spread awareness or share information about nature, it is essential to present it so that everyone can understand it. There is no right or wrong way of experiencing nature and encouraging individuals to step outside of their comfort zone to explore nature is important, too. Lastly, for me, the most important takeaway from these blogposts is an understanding privilege; some people had the privilege of exploring nature when they were young, and some people are exploring nature in their adult age, and someone not knowing how to swim or canoe should not be seen as incapable compared to a person that spends their childhood expanding these skills. It is never too late to go out into the world and experience nature, and it is okay if someone is not passionate as others regarding nature.

Thank you for reading!

Nabila

References

DavidSuzukiFDN. (2012). David Suzuki and Richard Louv @AGO. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/F5DI1Ffdl6Y

Eco Canada. (2021). Park interpreter. Retrieved from https://eco.ca/career-profiles/park-interpreter/

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puzzling-investigations · 3 years

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Drowsy’s Guide to Germans - Part One

Hello everyone!

My name is Drowsy, this is my AA and PL sideblog, and this is a rediculous series I’m starting.

Stuff like this is not amongst my usual repertoire, but I’ve seen enough of people writing/dubbing/acting out German characters (in various fandoms) with bad German to decide an actual German should step in and do some talking and explaining. As Ace Attorney is one of the fandoms where people have multiple German-speaking characers with the possibility to converse, I decided to apply the post to this fandom (I could’ve also applied it to Overwatch, but somehow people really don’t feel like letting Mercy and Reinhardt talk German to one another).

In this multiple-part series, I will cover the following:

Different Germans (speaking English) and pronunciation advice for each (so mostly (voice) acting advice)

Things to watch when using German lingo (pronunciation/grammar bs) and terms of endearment/nicknames

Fun things about German (naming) culture you can include/watch out for.

Who is and isn’t German in AA, of the characters with “German” names, and to which degree they are.

Fun pronunciation/grammar/writing things

The sections will flow into each other a lot, I think. Most of this advice applies to any German characters you write, so you can use this for other fandoms/media, too. The first part begins under the “Read more”.

- Best of luck, Drowsy

Part 1: Different Germans (speaking English) and pronunciation advice for each

This section could probably use some additions, so if anybody wants to make them, please feel free to reblog and add!

Exhibit 1A: The International

In general, modern-day Germans usually learn English at school and have this lightly-accented pronunciation that is almost flawless, but there’s just something... Wrong. Something unplaceable yet absolutely German about it. Most English teachers here talk like this, although some lean in one or the other accentual direction (usually British or American).

The International has had a lot of exposure to the English language and also knows most of the pronunciations if he’s familiar with the word/related words. They might have grown up with someone who speaks English or be otherwise close to someone who speaks, if they didn’t learn at school.

If you find yourself dubbing/writing an International, be careful to keep your own and the character’s accent and neutral. Unless they’re “quirky” they won’t use random German words except for when they can’t remember the proper word. They’ll make an effort to speak English as well as possible as to not hinder the native speakers around them. If the character gets angry or excited, you can perhaps loosen that decree a little. Here’s the best sounds/grammar mistake to do it with:

- “Th” in any way, shape or form that isn’t “t”-sounding. Germans have a big problem with the “th” in “birthday”, which often turns out as “birs-stay”, a cause of much distress for me in primary school and kindergarten, where I would aggressively put weight on “th” and yell at people who should know better.7

- Idioms and figures of speech: Many of these overlap in German and English, but some are quite different. For example:

“to stand in a queue” is “to stand snake” in German. - Just beause you speak the language well, it doesn’t mean that you know all the idioms and figures of speech.

“to brush one’s teeth” is “to clean one’s teeth” in German. As a bilingual, this is a stupid little mix-up I often make, along with “to blow one’s nose”, which I turn into “to clean one’s nose” (I’ve done this in both languages).

Exhibit 1B: The Stereotype

This is your classical, Bond villain-esque German accent. Lots of “zat”, “ve”, and “neeeeiinn!” will be featured in their speech.

This German is probably more on the old side and has either has/had horrible English teachers, no exposure to the language whatsoever, is making an effort to learn but are only going off reading or a mix of some or all of the three.

But these Germans can have varying degrees of skill with English grammar and vocabulary, which almost allows for sub-sections in this “article” – one might have read a lot of English books and studied grammar and vocabulary, but has never actually talked to a native speaker before. They other has heard native speakers before but just cannot/will not adjust their pronunciation because they cannot see how it differs from what they heard or believe they know how to pronounce stuff properly, because they are ‘hashtag better zan yoo’.

Exhibit 1C: The near-native speaker

They grew up/spent a lot of time talking English with a native speaker/hearing them speak. They might be better at speaking the language, but may have problems with English writing as they’ve learned by the hearsay. If you’re doing such a character, let them make spelling mistakes. They’ll make mistakes when reading stuff out loud, possibly repeating the word in the correct pronunciation once they’ve recognised it from its written form.

Exhibit 1D: The bilingual

This German is almost the same as the near-native and the International, but with one difference: They have an accent from within the English-speaking world and make no mistakes in pronuncitation or grammar, only perhaps in some of the less ovious spellings - like any English speaker. They’ll have no problems reading out loud (unless they have social anxiety or dislexia, I guess). But they will be victim of the classic bilingual pitfalls - forgetting random, often mundane words, using words from one language in the other with said other language’s grammar, the likes.

For example: My older brother has been described as “A German trying to sound British”, but is also slightly Amarican-sounding due to spending years of study in the States.

So, perhaps, he could fall under the “Interntional” category, but his correctness and lack of proper German accent make him unviable. - He does not have to try to speak/write/read proper English, unlike the Internation and the near-native, because he already does.

On the other hand, I have been described as sounding very British. This is mostly due to me getting more exposure the language thanks to a bilingual friend I met in 7th gade with whom I did and still do speak English on a regular basis. My sisters are very much a mix. My eldest sounds posh and very much like a speech sample from an Oxford Dictionary, the other is rather uplacable. We all cannot fall under categories 1A or 1C because we never “learned” English - we just spoke it and learned it at the same time as German, not being exposed to actual “bad” English until several years later.

#ace attorney #german #writing advice #and by someone who is tired of exaggerated German accents bc most Germans don't talk like that #a friendly advice columnn by somebody who has read Liebling in all lowercase letters too many times

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elizadoolittlethings · 5 years

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Rupert Graves: 'If I need cash I'll do anything, I don't really care'

Telegraph

The twinkly-eyed actor talks to Benji Wilson about his new role in hit drama Last Tango in Halifax, as well as his previous career as a circus clown

By Benji Wilson

7:00AM GMT 29 Dec 2014

It was Peter O’Toole who once suggested that we “should pity the pretty”. The actor perhaps felt that his looks had hindered his career. Rupert Graves, however, disagrees. “I think that’s nonsense. I think if you’re good-looking you get more advantages.”

It’s not said with any self-regard – Graves has none. Luckily for him at 51 he is still pretty, as countless fan sites attest. When I meet him his hair has been dyed black from its usual grey. He assures me it’s for a role and that he will be “undying” it the minute that role is finished. He is not bothered about ageing.

“I’m just reaching middle age. I’m getting older - that’s what happens. I’m actually quite pragmatic about it.”

The grey stays too for his new role in Last Tango in Halifax, playing a date for Nicola Walker’s Gillian called Gary, who in an early reveal turns out to be Derek Jacobi’s unknown son. Graves is plainly delighted to be joining not only an established hit but one written by Happy Valley’s Sally Wainwright, whom he calls “our greatest television writer”.

“She’s a proper bona fide genius. She is theatrical and absolutely human and true and has a very strong individual voice. It’s her warmth I like really – the latitude she gives to human error. All the characters are beautifully flawed, but also she’s properly funny.”

With his deep dark eyes and winning grin Graves is recognisably the same boy who caught the world’s eye in Merchant Ivory’s 1985 A Room with a View – including the famous scene in which he and Simon Callow dispensed with their clothes and cavorted naked in a pool.

“I remember I had to come in and say, ‘Anybody want to bathe?’ and I thought, ‘Oh no, that sounds so poncey and stupid. If you see the scene again I’m actually blushing but that’s not acting: that’s because I was frightened.”

Because he shot to very early fame in two Merchant Ivory films, A Room with a View and Maurice, it is tempting to assume that he must be posh totty. That he must have gone to Eton and Oxbridge, then Rada with perhaps a stint at the RSC before Merchant Ivory gave him his break.

But Graves is nothing like that and he never has been.

“Do you know Weston Super Mare?” he asks me. “It’s a s***hole. Bill Bryson said it was the worst place he’d ever been.” Rupert Graves grew up in Weston Super Mare.

“I like it because it’s such a s***hole. I like the West Country humour and slyness. I went to a shocking school. I didn’t have any kind of career path – I wasn’t going to be a professional. There was no chance of me getting into university or anything, my childhood wasn’t like that.”

It was an upbringing that gave him what he calls a certain recklessness. At 16 he left school to join the circus. It sounds like something from a penny romance but Graves really was a performing clown.

“It seemed like something I wanted to do so I did it. The circus was run by a Mr Thompson whose first name I never found out. They lost Rudy the Clown and Mr Thompson thought, ‘I don’t have to pay, I can do it through the YTS,’ so he got the government to sponsor a trainee clown which was me. I wanted to be an actor by then anyway. I kind of thought it might be a good thing.”

Thinking something might be a good thing and therefore doing it is an anti-method that has seen him through an entire career. He was a punk at 14 (“I had ripped jeans and a shirt with probably a bit of writing on it and choppy hair and a little bit of pink in there somewhere.”) He worked at Butlins, got an agent from the back of The Stage, was cast in Dennis Potter’s Sufficient Carbohydrate at Hampstead, that went to the West End from where he was spotted and cast in A Room with a View, aged 21. All of a sudden the punkish clown from Weston Super Mare was a star.

“Obviously the good part was that it gave me a profile. But I certainly didn’t take advantage of that profile - I was slightly embarrassed, probably, about the attention. And I felt I hadn’t earned it, I hadn’t earned the acting jobs, I hadn’t trained and I felt very insecure about all that.”

Rupert Graves starred alongside Helena Bonham-Carter in A Room with a View in 1985 (PHOTO: Alamy)

Graves retreated to the theatre to learn his craft, and when he came back to the screen it was TV and indie movies rather than big-budget feature films that became his natural berth. Gradually, via The Forsyte Saga, Scott & Bailey, The White Queen and Sherlock (he plays DI Lestrade) he has worked his way to something of a mid-career renaissance.

Not that he would even recognise the notion of a career trajectory.

“If I need cash I’ll do anything, I don’t really care. That’s how I earn money and I have my family [five children between the ages of four and 11] and I don’t have anything else.”

Of all the many, many jobs he takes to earn that money (on top of Last Tango he is filming three small films and an American TV mini-series, all for release in 2015) – it is Sherlock that has become the most high profile.

What’s struck him most about playing Lestrade in Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s hit reworking is that it brings with it a new type of recognition.

“Sherlock is the first thing I’ve been in where its fandom is fuelled by Twitter and social media. That has made a huge difference – people can talk to actors and each other directly, they can whip themselves into an absolute fury. It’s bizarre. The strength of it has surprised me.”

He has even found himself exposed to a particularly modern malaise.

“I’ve got somebody who is pretending to be me on Twitter, talking to friends of mine and insulting them – and then showing pictures of children’s legs saying, ‘this is my child sleeping.’ So I went on Twitter and said that’s not me. I did that for a couple of weeks but then it struck me that it’s such a narcissistic thing for an actor to do. I’m not that sort of person.”

That is not very nice. On the other hand, the kind of exposure that Sherlock and now Last Tango will bring – both shows have a large American following - has set Graves up for castings in the US, that place where under-valued British actors go to pay off over-sized British mortgages. He is ambivalent at the prospect at best.

“I tell you what, I really don’t like LA. Every time we do LA I’ve felt depressed. For someone who’s not a very strategic person it’s an extremely strategic industry town. But I have to do it and I’m tempted to go over next year just for a month, have a little sniff and see if I can get something.”

You could easily see Graves doing a Hugh Laurie or a Damian Lewis, turning up as a grizzled American cop or doc and suddenly becoming the global star he was all set to be when he was 21. Equally, you could envisage him continuing to pop up in all manner of British productions, turning in quietly engaging performances and then moving on, twinkly-eyed, to the next one. Either would be worth watching.

#RG #Rupert Graves #interview #telegraph #2014 #last tango in halifax #the man who made me like men #brilliant!#twinkly-eyed #:)

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houseofvans · 5 years

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WORKSHOP SHOUT OUT | SKATEISM | VANS US OPEN

It’s the last weekend of the Vans US Open of Surfing, but we’re not ready to go just yet!

We’ve still got some of our favorite workshops over the week to share –like the fun folks over at SKATEISM who hosted a zine making workshop at Van Doren Village. We caught up with Tobias from SKATEISM to find out what folks created, more about the zine making process, and what special gift they're giving out on this final weekend.

Introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about Skateism. My name is Tobias Coughlin-Bogue, and I’m the online editor for SKATEISM. The magazine was founded by Christos “Moch” Simos and Oisin “Osh” Tammas in Athens. It began as just a little local Athens skate blog in 2012, but when Osh signed on they started doing more English-language posts and international coverage. Moch is one of the only out skaters in Greece, and at some point he and Osh realized that the stories they were most interested in telling centered around that… as well as some other areas of skateboarding they felt had been neglected like skate charity, global scenes, and women’s skateboarding. They also realized they wanted to make a magazine, as a place for underrepresented populations in skateboarding to see themselves in a proper print publication. Two years and four issues later, that’s exactly what they’ve done and we’re very proud to present Issue #4 as the Pride issue, focusing on the experiences of LGBTQ+ skaters.

Take us through your workshop and what were you doing with attendees at the Vans US Open? Essentially we facilitated everything to make a zine except shooting photos or binding the final copies. We had prints of images on hand for people to cut and glue onto cardstock, creating what’s called a “master” page. Masters are what zinemakers make photocopies of that they then bind together into their final zine. We started the workshop by talking a little bit about what zines are and why we think they’re so cool. We covered the zinemaking process, and then dived right into it.

What about zinemaking do you think is super fun and accessible? Zinemaking was a fundamental part of the pre-internet skate culture. While it isn’t exactly a necessity anymore, when it comes to communicating our own unique visions of skateboarding it’s still super fun to do. It forces you to take all the things that catch your eye at an event like the US Open, that might be a quick Insta story or something, and put them all down on a page together in a thoughtful way. Plus we like writing about skating, and zines incorporate a lot more text than some of the forms of storytelling we do on social media these days.

As far as being accessible, well zines were kind of the social media in skateboarding (and punk and queer scenes too) before social media existed. They were cheap to make and there was a broad network of people sharing and exchanging them around the country, all interested in the same kind of subcultural topics. If you had an idea you wanted to share, you could just paste the images and words that capture it best to some backing paper and get to photocopying. Then mail it out to a distro or drop it off at the skate shop and — boom — you’re a publisher.

Obviously a lot more work goes into what we do with something like SKATEISM, which takes hours and hours of reporting and editing and designing to make, but I at least got into the world of skate media via zines, and I have a huge soft spot for them. For what I do, and what a lot of people getting into media these days do, learning to publish fast and loose is actually really helpful, because that’s the pace digital media operates at.

What type of materials did you have on-hand for folks to work with? We shot a few photos of the first weekend of the event on Kodak Fun Savers (a very accessible and enjoyable way to source art for your zine!), and made photocopies of the best exposures. Plus, we had copies of some pages from past issues of SKATEISM… And of course all the scissors, glue, card stock, staplers, and other stuff folks needed to put together their own master pages. We encouraged attendees to supplement the images we’ve provided with writing and drawing that documents their own experience at the event!

Are there any rules to zinemaking? Have a good time doing it and don’t be hateful. That’s about it.

Any tips you’ve learned over the years for readers who may want to try creating a zine on their own? Just start doing it. To borrow a concept from Ira Glass, you know what you like to see on the page, so keep trying until the stuff you make starts to look like that. Don’t stress out too much if it doesn’t work out at first. Technically speaking, it’s really important to think in terms of spreads (two individual pages facing each other is one spread), and understand that a magazine is essentially a bunch of sheets of paper stacked up, stapled, and folded in half. Making sure that the individual pages in the spreads line up correctly can be tricky, so it might help to take a bunch of blank sheets of paper, bind them, write page numbers on them, then remove the staples and use them as a template for what to paste on each master page as you’re working.

What other zine techniques can people incorporate besides cutting and pasting? Doing it by hand is obviously the classic method, and will get you the most zine scene cred. But I am not ashamed to admit that, after two issues of cutting and pasting my first zine, I started scanning my photos and putting it all in InDesign. There is no shame in using layout software, and it will give you a whole new appreciation for how much thought and effort goes into every single print publication you ever read. It’s not just what they’re writing and which photos they’re publishing, but where on the page that stuff is, where it is in relation to the other stuff, what color and font things are, what angles they’re tilted at, what the background is, and so on... It’s definitely a different look and feel than handmade, but now that design software is so accessible, we think it’s every bit as DIY.

What did participants create and walk away with after the workshop? Well, besides hands on experience making zine master pages, we’re going to take our favorite masters and make a limited run of a compilation zine to give out on the final weekend of the event.

So we’d like anyone who enjoyed the workshop to come back and grab a copy of that! And failing that, just a better understand of the zinemaking, DIY ethos that skateboarding was built on. Skateboarders have always made their own spots, their own rules, and their own fun. That definitely applies to their media too.

Who are some of your favorite zine makers? In the areas we’re focused on, you can’t not mention Xem Skaters by the Swedish nonbinary skater Marie Dabbadie. They’ve been making a rad, unapologetically genderqueer zine for years, and have done loads to change the conversation around gender in skateboarding. Of course, The Skate Witches are killing it too. In terms of general zines that I like, I grew up volunteering at the Zine Archive and Publishing Project in Seattle, which had copies of really rare ‘90s skate zines like Pool Dust, so I tripped out on those a lot growing up. Not ‘cause I’ve ever actually skated a real pool, just because they had this really scrappy, no bullshit aesthetic and made skateboarding look so cool.

Recently, I was on a team for Thrasher’s “Zine Thing” Challenge in Seattle, which gave people two weeks to shoot a zine with Fun Savers; two weeks to do writing, editing, and layout; and then gave awards in different categories. Looking through the compilation book of all the entries still blows my mind. It’s a great reminder that skateboarding is full of cool, creative people, and everyone has a wildly different experience of it. I still can’t pick a favorite, although Leo Bañuelos' ’Skaters in Drag’ article is pretty legendary.

Three words that describe what Skateism is all about? The underground and overlooked. Sorry that's four!

Who or what were you most excited to check out at the Vans US Open? Personally, I’m excited to finally skate Cherry Park (nearby). But that’s just because my joints are falling apart and I can only skate low ledges. At the Open, I was excited to see all the pros skate the course, especially the women. Women’s skateboarding has been growing at an insane pace in the last few years, and the level of talent is out of control. When I started skating, I never thought I would see little girls back-smithing huge hubbas and female pros filming back-tail-kickflip-outs for their video parts, but here we are. The rate of progression is so exciting to me, and I feel like people will definitely be throwing down for the event.

FOLLOW SKATEISM | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

#Art #Vans #VANSUSOPEN #SKATEISM #ZINE #ZINE MAKING #WORKSHOP #HUNTINGTON BEACH #SKATE MAG #PRINTED MATTER #COLLAGE

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helloportfolioshotbyzach · 5 years

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ShotByZach

Monica Bowden

Jim Leyden

Writing Workshop

Shot by Zach

Zach Miscavage is Philadelphia based portrait and fashion photographer who had an unconventional way of finding his path. His love for photography became more of a passion after his original career path failed. Zach has grown a lot since he has started photography and plans on taking over the city of Philadelphia with his collaborative approach of working with other local creatives.

Before he got started with photography, Zach’s main interest was graphic design. His pursuance began in high school when he enrolled in an intro graphic design course as an elective with his best friend, Jordan Marcus. He had no real interest in graphic design at the time, being that he only enrolled to hangout with Jordan in class. Yet Zach learned a lot as the course progressed, and found he had a gift in design. A realization occured that he should pursue this more seriously, especially when people started noticing his talent. He talked to his guidance counselor and expressed how much he loved it and how he wanted to go to technical school to further his education in graphic design.

Zach knew he made the right decision when he arrived at his technical school. He reached the top of the class by having the highest grades and the best work. He quickly progressed to become the president of his class, and then eventually president of the whole school. While attending tech school, he started his first internship: Barb Print, a screenprinting shop in Norristown. He designed logos and graphics for shirts. He learned more about the business behind art and how to the handle the clientele, being any of the small businesses in the area. “I was happy with where my future was leading” said Zach with a smile. He created professional social media accounts for his graphics on Facebook and Instagram. Zach’s main focus was freelance graphic design, photography was just a hobby. He only had a small following on his social media at the time so it was hard to get established. His hopes for a future in graphic design started to dwindle when he wasn’t getting noticed. Zach described the feeling of going unnoticed as “discouraging… you spend hours conceptualizing a design and creating it just to get a couple likes on Instagram. It was like working for less than minimum wage in terms of recognition” He learned the importance of marketing, how to brand himself better, and present himself to capture people’s attention. He carried those lessons with him throughout the rest of his creative career.

In spite of this discouragement, Zach decided to attend Montgomery County Community College to continue his education in graphic design. His plan at community college was to get his general education classes out of the way then transfer to Parsons School of Design. At MCCC, he was so advanced that his professors had him aid other students that were not up to par. He felt as though he could not excel at the college- that it is was only holding him back, and it was wasting a lot of money. He knew he wanted something else for his future and he ended up dropping out before the first semester ended.

After MCCC, Zach started bringing his camera everywhere, taking photos of anything that caught his eye. Zach believed he would become better with more and more practice. His friends were really into cars at the same time, so he would take photos of their cars and post them to the same professional social media accounts. Car photography became a huge interest for Zach and he really wanted to build on it. With a friend, he created Grey Nation, a social media brand that takes professional photos of cars, attends car related events (car shows, meetups, dealership events), and sells custom merchandise. Grey Nation soon grew to over 3K followers and they got featured on accounts that were even more popular. This was when Zach’s photography started getting noticed.

Zach was also working retail at the time at Urban Outfitters. During a discussion with coworker Khayir Lewis, he realized they both enjoyed photography. Khayir was also working outside of retail, as a freelance model. Zach liked being behind the camera- Khayir liked being in front of it. Khayir told Zach about Urban’s extracurricular opportunities. It was not paid, but they got to engage with the company more by checking out clothing, shooting it, then returning it afterwards. Urban Outfitters looked at it as a way to connect the associates with the brand more. “It gave their social media a more relaxed presence. [Zach could] shoot a dress on a girl [he] knew, instead of how other companies only show their pieces on supermodels.” It was a way to create a bridge between a large company and their customers. Zach took out multiple outfits from the store and he had his first photo shoot with a model ever. “The photoshoot was set in an abandoned building and it turned out great. Three photos got posted on the Urban Outfitters Men’s page, and one got used for an email campaign. I gained about 70 new followers just from those few photos”. Zach and Khayir worked extremely well together and decided to shoot more often.

Their duo eventually turned into a larger team which consisted of Zach, the lead photographer; Khayir, the lead model; plus a stylist and a second photographer. They worked on a few projects and thought they were a good team. All three of them tried becoming more official and wanted Zach to sign a contract, stating they would take 40% of his revenue. It was never made clear what they were putting his revenue towards, so Zach rejected the offer. They resentfully told him they “just had creative differences and that [he] would never make it in Philadelphia without them.” That team fell apart.

But Zach kept shooting. He was able to build a good following off Urban Outfitters because they would post his photos to their social media and he became associated with the Philadelphia based stores (King Of Prussia, Walnut Street, Ardmore, University of Pennsylvania). Zach enjoyed the road it was taking him down. He loved how the photos turned out and Urban Outfitters really pushed his aesthetic- close up portraits with high exposures and bright colors. Zach was having consistent photo shoots with different people all over the city, and even reaching out to West Chester, Pennsylvania too. Zach was happy to be working for Urban and decided to apply for a summer internship at the home office, but he did not get hired. This rejection sparked a major change in him.

Zach no longer wanted to follow the original aesthetic that he had developed for Urban Outfitters. So he changed up his style. For Urban, he had based his aesthetic off the great responses he was receiving from social media, management, and even headquarters, but never had the chance to find his own personal style. Not only did Zach’s photos change, but he also quit Urban Outfitters due to personal interests. He felt he simply outgrew the company and it’s “look” and wanted a more mature, high fashion, look. He still kept contact with the social media managers after he left.

With the change in jobs, his outlook on art changed too. There were many influences in Zach’s life, but the one that stood out the most to him was Maria Svarbova. He loved her minimalistic style and her use of colors that make her images pop. Her photos rely on her locations almost more than they rely on the models, which is something he wanted to do in his photos. Zach compared his short term career goals to Brendan Lowry. Some of Lowry’s projects that Zach highlighted were his Trashcan Takeover and Track Takeover. These takeovers are small art installations that can be found throughout Philadelphia’s streets and public transportation. The Barbera Autoland trash cans and similar ads at the Walnut-Locust stop on the Broad Street Line were turned into canvases for Philadelphia creatives.

Zach began working with awesome companies in the city such as My Coral Home, Wolven Threads, and other boutiques in Philadelphia. On top of that, he started his first ongoing project where he would rent out unique Airbnbs in the city for a weekend and use them as studio space. He was able to focus on refining his work to an editorial style and learning how to incorporate architecture into his photos better. Renting out these Airbnbs inspired Zach to seek his own studio space. The Airbnbs gave him an indoor space to shoot which was hard for him to find regularly, but he wanted a space that allowed him to expand his resources and invest more into his work.

Since he found his true style- cleaner, more editorial, and higher fashion, he decided the next phase in his career would be owning a studio and learning what goes into that type of work. He took on a four month lease at the James Oliver Gallery located in Center City so he could get used to shooting in that environment. But Zach has to walk through the art gallery, a shared kitchen, a handful of other personal studios, and up two flights of steps until he gets to his own studio, so he wants something more accessible to him.

Photography has taught Zach many lessons- the most important lesson being proper micromanagement. “Being a freelance photographer really puts you in control of the final outcome” said Zach. There are a more variables being introduced such as finding locations, conceptualizing the shoots, organizing schedules, coordinating which models would look best in which outfit, or which poses would show off the details of an outfit the best. Micromanagement taught him how to focus on multiple sides of the photoshoot at once. Zach believes he has this ability under his belt, so what is next?

A large motivation for Zach has been collaboration because his overall goal in life is to have a production company. Zach says “It’s all about building a team and collaborating. It’s more rewarding because you only have to focus on one aspect. That aspect can have all of your attention; rather than be spread out by having to style, come up with props, do hair and makeup, this and that. It will also allow better opportunity for commercial work and paid work because of networking.” He is currently working toward that goal by having a small team of creatives on hand that will make his start up easier. Zach has been working with a stylist, a hair and makeup artist, an industrial engineer from Temple University to create props in his studio, and even letting his photographer friends use his studio space for their personal work, which all can allow him to get more involved in producing and directing projects.

Zach also wants to build on his studio space so he can bring more collaborative work into it. He compares his ideal studio to “REC-Philly, which would be having a room for editing, music, writing, and even engineering. That way, there are more assets available to people and make it a great collab space.” By having this, Zach can potentially change the idea that Philadelphia is only a small pond of creative opportunity and can rule out the idea of relocating to New York City. Once Zach gains the right reputation, he knows brands and publishing companies from more cities will begin reaching out to him. Ideally he will have the ability to pitch ideas to brands he wants to work with specifically, rather than taking whatever paid work he can find.

At some point, Zach sees himself outgrowing photography after having a production team. Though it will be hard for him to move past, he wants to “go down every avenue of photography before [he] outgrows it”. He still sees room for improvement in his studio work, and wants to explore other lanes, such as working in videography, set design, and construction. He wants his work “to build on more of a scene that can tell a story instead of just having a set of photos that focuses on aesthetic. I want to pick locations based on the story they tell then work the model and styling in based on that.”

Even after being told he was “never going to make it”, Zach Miscavage has proven to be successful in his field. He has made countless connections and continues to work with notable companies such as Kodak. Recently he shot his first magazine cover for Drexel University, as well as his first wedding. With more experience, he will have more opportunities to get his name out there and become a more renown photographer. He has come a long way since his graphic design days, and looks forward to learning more.

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southeastasianists · 5 years

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“SEE is good for learning English because it includes all the grammatical aspects of English such as past tense. SgSL is broken English just like Singlish![1]”

“No! SEE is not a language but a system/code. SgSL is a true language!”

I vividly recall the summer of 2016. I attended the Singapore National Deaf Youth Camp that occurred from May 20 to 22, 2016 as part of my 7-week internship at the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf). Through observations and my interactions with the camp participants, I realized that a hybrid of different languages and manual communication systems were being used by different individuals in Singapore to communicate with one another. These included Singapore Sign Language (SgSL), American Sign Language (ASL), Pidgin Signed English (PSE), Signing Exact English II (SEE-II) and spoken English. It was all very fascinating to observe.

One of the sessions scheduled in the camp programme which aroused my curiosity was the SgSL versus SEE-II debate. Although I have heard that there are still debates between the exact manual representations of the grammar of the spoken language which is akin to SEE-II, and the national sign language happening in various parts of the world, I had never personally encountered anything like it before in any of the Deaf camps and workshops I had attended while living abroad. At the camp, participants were divided into the group they supported and they were given opportunities to debate their position. The quote at the start of this essay introduced the fundamental arguments of each side.

As I reflected further, I began to see that this debate was connected to my life, and to fundamental issues of being d/Deaf in Singapore. Using my own lived experiences as a way to think about these issues, I examine what this history means, and argue that being Deaf is a reflection of the need to identify with Deaf culture and with sign language.

Between deaf and Deaf

Deaf Studies as a field of study is concerned with the experiences of the Deaf. It grew out of the Deaf Rights Movement historically and focuses on the experiences of Deaf people, Deaf history and Deaf culture (Myers & Fernandes, 2010). Within the Deaf community, there is a distinction made between being “deaf” and being “Deaf”. Being deaf refers to the medical condition of not being able to hear or having hearing loss, while being “Deaf” refers to one’s identity and affinity with the Deaf community, usage of sign language, and Deaf culture. Members of the Deaf community have different degrees of hearing loss ranging from mild to profound levels.

In this vein, I have a confession to make. I never used to identify as “Deaf” or even “deaf”. Since young, I have unknowingly categorically rejected the identity of being d/Deaf.

The reason for this is simple. I had no idea that the word “Deaf” even existed. It was beyond my realm of experience. As for “deaf”, I thought it strange to label myself that, when I could hear conversations relatively well depending on the situation. I also have intelligible speech. To 8-year-old me, “deaf” meant that I could not hear completely nor speak at all. It just didn’t make sense for me to identify as “deaf”.

Instead, I referred to myself as “hearing impaired”. At other times, I would say that I was “partially deaf” or “hard-of-hearing”. I used the term “hearing impaired” during my childhood and teenage years also because it was a term that was imposed on me by my audiologist, my parents, and my teachers at the Canossian School for the Hearing Impaired and St Anthony’s Canossian Primary School. I knew no other more appropriate term to label myself. It also appeared to be the most fitting term to describe myself to other people at that time because people generally understood it as someone with a certain degree of hearing loss with some speech ability. To me and the people around me, the term “deaf” was more degrading than “hearing impaired”. In other words, there is a stigma with being “deaf”.

Thus, I never identified as part of the Deaf community in Singapore during my growing up years. My first contact with any form of signing occurred when my mum brought me to Wesley Methodist Church in 2000 as she had heard that they had a Ministry of the Hearing Impaired (MHI). When I walked into the church service one Sunday morning, I saw someone on stage moving her hands about in sync with the song. A number of people with hearing aids just like me sat in rows on the right end of the auditorium. Some were moving their hands about mimicking the person on stage. When the pastor delivered his sermon, a different person came on stage and moved his hands about to convey the sermon visually to the audience.

My mum also took me to MHI’s SEE-II classes to pick up sign language. As a result, I believed that SEE-II was real sign language and that sign language was merely about signing each word in an English sentence. I learned how to sign the alphabet and picked up some basic signs. I also attended MHI events. Still, I had very little interest in signing and mixing with other people that wore hearing aids like me. After 6 months of attending the church, I lost interest altogether and left.

My exposure to SEE-II under the church ministry was a result of developments in Deaf education in Singapore since the 1950s. It all started when Mr Peng Tsu Ying, who moved from Shanghai to Singapore, established a small deaf school in his home in the 1950s and introduced Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL) as the language of instruction. In 1963, the Red Cross Society’s oral deaf school, which taught deaf children to lip read and orally articulate words merged with Mr Peng’s school to become the Singapore School for the Deaf (SSD). The school had an oral section and a Chinese Sign Section. As such, earlier generations of the Deaf in Singapore were educated in SSL.

In the mid-1970s, Lim Chin Heng, former student at the SSD returned to Singapore after completing his undergraduate education at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. He introduced the Total Communication (TC) philosophy, ASL and SEE-II to SSD. The shift towards SEE-II as the main mode in educating the deaf was also cemented with the visit of Frances Parson in 1976. Parsons was the global ambassador of TC from Gallaudet College. She trained educators of the deaf in Singapore to use TC, a combined method where sign and speech were used simultaneously (Signal, 2005). Lim subsequently went back to Gallaudet to pursue a Master in Education of the Hearing Impaired in the late 1970s.

Consequently, Mr Peng decided to move away from SSL and implemented the use of the structured SEE-II that followed the rules and conventions of the English language, since English was Singapore’s main official written language. He arrived at this decision after observing that the signing of the deaf students were unstructured (Signal, 2005).

Yet, even while SEE-II was adopted as the official language of instruction in SSD, and younger generations of Deaf and hard-of-hearing children grew up with it, the use of SEE-II has divided the community with some believing it to be effective for teaching literacy in English while others do not see it as a proper language. Some of the Deaf in Singapore have gravitated towards the use of SgSL, which they claim as the language of the Singapore Deaf Community.

I used SEE-II only for a few months in my teens. The whole time I had an inherent bias that sign languages were inferior to spoken languages and that the ability to speak set me apart from other deaf people. To me, it was more important to learn to speak and integrate into the hearing-centric world that we live in. Subsequently, I expended much time and energy attempting to be “hearing” by trying to fit into academic and social contexts with hearing people in order to appear “normal”. As a result, such situations often became a source of stress and anxiety for me. However, I thought I simply had to try to listen harder or I needed a more powerful hearing aid.

For many years the erroneous beliefs I held about myself, other deaf people and sign languages were so deeply embedded in my psyche that I lived in complete oblivion to Deaf culture and community. In short, I was an audist because of such views and attitudes ingrained in me. Audism, a term coined by Dr Tom Humphries in 1977, refers to the discrimination of deaf people based on their inability to speak and hear (Berke, 2018). It is the belief that the ability to hear and speak makes one superior to those that do not possess these abilities.

The road to becoming Deaf

When I graduated from the Singapore education system in 2002, I decided that I wanted to become a teacher of the Deaf. I chose to go to Australia to start a one-year foundation studies program to prepare for entry to university.

In 2004, when I commenced my undergraduate degree at Griffith University, I contacted the Deaf Student Support Program (DSSP) to enquire about accessibility services. As I did not know Australian Sign Language (Auslan), I was provided with a laptop notetaker to sit next to me during lectures and tutorials so I could look at the screen and follow what the professor was saying in class. As I expressed a desire to be able to access Auslan interpreters later on, DSSP arranged for me to meet with a native Deaf signer for an hour weekly to learn Auslan.

My progress in learning Auslan was excruciatingly slow because apart from that one hour of practice every week, I was mostly interacting with hearing people outside of university classes and I had no Deaf friends nor access to Deaf events. At that point, it didn’t occur to me to actively seek them out. I only wanted to learn some sign language as I believed it was good for me to have some sign support via an interpreter. I was still not convinced that sign languages were legitimate languages.

After I picked up some basic Auslan, I was provided with interpreters in my lectures and tutorials. However, my brain kept trying to decipher signs in English grammatical word order while in fact Auslan was “grammatically incorrect” according to the rules of the English grammar. I made progress through interacting with Deaf people and hearing signers on campus. However, I still associated Auslan with “broken English”.

In 2007, the final year of my undergraduate program and taking specialized courses in Deaf education, I developed an understanding of Deaf culture and started to explore what it meant to be Deaf, as well as a deeper understanding of the grammatical structure of Auslan.

I remember one class particularly well. It was a class on Sign Bilingual education where a lecturer showed us examples of how homonyms (words which are spelt the same and have more than one meaning) and homographs (words that have the same spelling that have more than one pronunciation and meaning) were taught using Auslan-English bilingual strategies to Deaf and hearing children in the classroom:

English translation: “The boy kicked the ball.”

Auslan translation (video): BALL BOY KICK

English translation: “The lady is going to the ball.”

Auslan translation: LADY GO DANCE PARTY

English translation: “The children are having a ball.”

Auslan translation: CHILDREN FUN HAVE

The word BALL in each of the 3 sentences was signed differently. It was signed in a way that made sense visually and was conceptually accurate. Selected readings from Johnston and Schembri’s (2007) Australian Sign Language: An introduction to sign language linguistics also gave me a better understanding of how Auslan functions as a language. I realized that Auslan was a bona fide language with its own distinct grammar and structure. It was not “broken English” nor was it an “incomplete language” as I had previously thought, and could enhance reading comprehension.

It dawned on me that SEE-II was conceptually inaccurate as the same sign was often used to represent a word even when that same word had different meanings in different contexts. Therefore, SEE-II did not make any sense at all visually. It is not real sign language but rather just an exact representation of the English language. The usage of SEE-II in reading can hinder comprehension of the text and result in miscommunication.

In addition, after watching a set of Deaf History videotapes, I understood more deeply what Deaf Culture was. Being deaf is not a disability and deaf people including myself are not “disabled”.

I realised that the term “hearing impaired” indicates a defect and implies that something is wrong with the person with hearing loss. The word ‘deaf’ is a pathological term. On the other hand, ‘Deaf’ represents a distinct cultural minority with its own norms.

In other words, I was becoming Deaf. With my acquisition of Auslan and interaction with the Deaf community, I could become part of the community. I had a desire to discover more about the Australian Deaf Community. I started attending the Auslan Club organized by Deaf Services Queensland and volunteered at the Australian Deaf Games in January 2008. At the Deaf Games, I ended up chatting with hearing interpreters or hearing volunteers wanting an opportunity to practice their Auslan. I did get the opportunity to have brief conversations with a few Deaf people but felt somewhat out of place as they seemed to mingle with their white Australian friends or people they already knew.

I felt inferior to local Deaf signers as I couldn’t sign or understand Auslan fluently. I still adopted the practices of “hearing” culture in some ways and used my voice at times because I had grown up oral. When I eventually shared with a Deaf friend that it was challenging to fit in with the Deaf community, her response was “You are not deaf enough”.

So even as I had close friends who are Deaf and my Auslan improved, I had difficulty assimilating into the Australian Deaf community. I felt that as an Asian foreigner and oral deaf who learnt Auslan as a second language as an adult, I struggled to find my place and sense of belonging in Australian Deaf culture.

I wondered if I had grown up being Deaf in Singapore, rather than rejecting my Deaf identity, would I have been able to develop a stronger sense of self and be more resilient? Would I not have tried so hard to fit in with hearing people all the time?

From Deaf to Intersectional Identities

When I first stepped into the Gallaudet University campus to start my Masters program, I felt a mixture of trepidation and exhilaration. On one hand, I wondered if I would be able to fit in as a late signer especially since Gallaudet was the epitome of Deaf culture and I was, in the eyes of some, “not Deaf enough”. On the other hand, I was excited to be for the first time living on-campus in a signing environment

Much to my surprise, I soon discovered that my initial fears were unfounded. It was at Gallaudet that I finally found acceptance as well as the freedom to be myself.

I was enthralled by the diversity at Gallaudet. There were Deaf, Deafblind and hearing American as well as international students from all over the world, each with their own sign language – Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Omani and many others. I had expected discussions at Gallaudet to center on the lived experiences of d/Deaf and Deaf identity, but it turned out that there were so many other aspects to consider and reflect on.

At Gallaudet, I was introduced to the term “intersectionality”, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw. Intersectionality refers to how the many social categories such as race, gender, class, religion, sexuality, disability, and so on, that constitute the individual or group, are interconnected and overlap (Crenshaw, 2016). In other words, each person or group consist of multiple overlapping identities which are intricately interwoven. From an intersectional lens, we can identify how dynamics of oppression and power such as racism, sexism, classism, audism, etc. are created; how power structures marginalize individuals and groups in society.

By adopting an intersectional lens, I began to understand why I never quite found my place in the Australian Deaf Community, which is predominantly white. This new-found understanding compelled me to critically examine other identities that I held. I identify as not only Deaf and/or Hard-of-Hearing but as a woman, a Southeast Asian, a Christian, Chinese-Singaporean, cisgender, English-speaking, oral, and from a hearing family. To discuss and define myself as only a Deaf person is to deny my personhood. My eyes were opened to the rich diversity prevalent within individuals and Deaf communities around the world.

As part of the Chinese race, I am a member of the majority, and I am all too aware of having “Chinese privilege” in Singapore. I had experienced some degree of discrimination in Singapore on account of my perceived hearing disability. However, my experience would differ from those of non-Chinese d/Deaf individuals in multi-racial Singapore.

It is how powerful groups in society construct normalcy and disability that disables me and portrays me as “disabled”. I grew up learning that signing was ‘not normal’ and that the ‘normal’ was to integrate with hearing people and to be able to speak and hear. However, at Gallaudet, I felt “normal” to be able to communicate in sign language. To not know sign language was “not normal”. Accessibility such as voice interpreters for events on the Gallaudet campus was provided for the “signing impaired”, not the “hearing impaired”. When we had a hearing presenter that didn’t know ASL, interpreters were provided for the audience so that they could have access to the presentation in ASL.

had thought I had learned everything there was to learn about being Deaf when I was in Australia. The discussions at Gallaudet helped me to realize that it was only the tip of the ice-berg. In fact, every Deaf person in the world would have a different lived experience even though we all share one thing in common – a Deaf identity.

I also came to learn through reading about Deaf and hard-of-hearing identity labels and through interaction with other Deaf and hard-of-hearing people at Gallaudet, that the term “hard-of-hearing” can be fluid. A friend said to me that she was proud to identify as hard-of-hearing because it meant that she is able to fit in both the Deaf and the hearing cultures with her ability to sign as well as speak. She could simply adjust her language modality to suit the social context.

I had identified as Deaf when I learned Auslan. At the time, I thought that the label “hard-of-hearing” was neither here nor there; neither part of the signing Deaf Community nor part of the hearing community. I realized from my friend’s statement that I could identify as both Deaf and hard-of-hearing, and have done so.

Deafhood

To me, “Deafhood”, a term coined by Paddy Ladd in 1993, refers to having a deep insight into one’s personal journey toward becoming Deaf. In this journey, one experiences identity shifting and learns how sign language and Deaf culture are intricately linked. It is about understanding my own lived experience as a Deaf person as well as those of other Deaf individuals. It is about understanding the dynamics of oppression and how marginalization of Deaf people as a linguistic minority occurs due to the operations of power structures in society that do not give them a voice. It is about how I have come to terms with my past and my healing from painful encounters as I journey towards becoming Deaf. It is also about understanding that every Deaf individual is on his or her own unique journey and is at different points in his or her life. When the Deaf individual embraces his or her Deaf identity and sign language, he or she can truly blossom as an individual and express himself/herself fully.

Rather than see deafness or hearing loss as a problem to be cured, we need to understand that sign language has many benefits and embrace the concept of “Deaf Gain”. Deaf Gain focuses on how Deaf people and sign languages bring many benefits to Deaf people and also the world at large (Bauman & Murray, 2014). It posits that the world is actually a better place because of Deaf people and sign languages than it would be without them. Full access to sign language from birth enables deaf babies without other disabilities to acquire typical language developmental milestones like their hearing peers (Petitto, n.d.). Such accessibility enables the Deaf to achieve their full potential and pursue careers in all kinds of fields. Sign language empowers Deaf people and promotes equality.

Reflections and hopes for the future

My journey leading to the embracing of my Deaf identity, acquiring different sign languages and studying linguistics has led me to conclude that exposure to SgSL for Deaf children in Singapore in the early years is crucial for their language and Deaf identity development, and their resilience.

However, the SgSL versus SEE-II debate at the Deaf youth camp in 2016 which I introduced at the start of this essay points to the polarization between the different groups on the issue. While the Deaf in Australia and the USA are proud of Auslan and ASL respectively, the presence of various camps has meant that language issues in Singapore are more sensitive and delicate. There are d/Deaf individuals who are not convinced about the legitimacy of SgSL and there are those who support SgSL. There also appears to be confusion about what SgSL is. Most of us went through oralism when we were in school, and we do not have the experience of earlier generations of signers to build on. Consequently, there is still a lack of Deaf empowerment and awareness.

I realize it is also important to reflect on how changes in the Deaf community in the USA have impacted Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in Singapore and the current state of Deaf education. One such event is the Deaf President Now protests of 1988 at Gallaudet University which resulted in the appointment of the university’s first Deaf president (Gallaudet University, n.d.). The protests led to greater activism and recognition of Deaf Culture and ASL, and the phasing out of SEE-II as the mode of instruction. Lim Chin Heng, who first introduced SEE-II to Singapore, was educated at Gallaudet in the 1970s before the DPN protests and when SEE-II was used widely. In contrast, I experienced Gallaudet in the post-DPN era and Deaf Education has undergone major changes since, notably with the implementation of ASL-bilingual methods. In the light of current debates between SgSL and SEE-II in Singapore, I wonder how such lived experiences of Gallaudet will also influence the directions activism over language issues for Deaf people in Singapore will take.

At the same time, I am also highly conscious of how much of my views I can project when interacting with Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in Singapore. I have been away from home for the last 15 years or so, and often wonder if it is my place to comment or get involved in the SEE-II and the SgSL debate. Would I be influencing the local context with western centric views? However, there are misconceptions about language that need to be addressed. I do very much feel a sense of responsibility to give voice to issues pertaining to Deaf people and sign language, and want to make a contribution to my country where I can. In balancing my hope to share and the concerns of the various groups in the community, it feels as if I am walking on a tightrope at times.

As I navigate this path in the future, I do hope that Deaf and hard-of-hearing Singaporeans will have the opportunity to learn about the grammatical structures of SgSL and come to a deeper understanding of our own language and how it functions. I also hope that more Deaf and hard-of-hearing Singaporeans will have opportunities to develop their Deaf identity and a sense of empowerment. Last but not least, I hope to see future generations of Deaf children become strong advocates for the Deaf community, and for a Singapore that allows for full and equal participation of all its citizens.

Phoebe Tay is a Gallaudet alumni who graduated in 2017 with a MA in International Development and a MA in Linguistics. Prior to that, she worked as an educator of the deaf in Australia. She is currently working for the Deaf Bible Society as a Linguistic Research Specialist under their Institute of Sign Language Engagement and Training (ISLET). She hopes to be able to contribute to the Deaf community in Singapore in the future.

Notes

[1] **NOTE: The following dialogue has been translated directly from SgSL/SEE-II to English. SgSL structure differs from English structure. The contents are based on the author’s notes and memory of the event in 2016.

References

Bauman, D., & Murray, J. J. (2014, Nov 13). An introduction to deaf gain: Shifting our perceptions of deaf people from hearing loss to deaf gain. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deaf-gain/201411/introduction-deaf-gain

Berke, J. (2018, June 18). The meaning and practice of audism: An audist attitude can be compared to other forms of discrimination. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/deaf-culture-audism-1046267

Crenshaw, K. (2016). The urgency of intersectionality. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en

Gallaudet University. (n.d.) Deaf president now. Retrieved from https://www.gallaudet.edu/about/history-and-traditions/deaf-president-now

Johnston, T., & Schembri, A. (2007). Australian sign language: An introduction to sign language linguistics. Cambridge: University Press.

Ladd, P. (2003). Understanding deaf culture: In search of deafhood. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Myers, S. S., & Fernandes, J. K. (2010). Deaf studies: A critique of the predominant U.S theoretical direction. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 15(1), 30-49.

Petitto, L-A. (n.d.) How do babies acquire language? Retrieved from http://petitto.net/our-studies/mythbusters/how-do-babies-acquire-language/

Signal. (2005). Editorial. Singapore: The Singapore Association for the Deaf.

#Southeast Asia #Singapore #Disability #d/Deaf #Deaf/HoH

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the-colony-roleplay · 4 years

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Nouka Fang | Thirty Three; Head of Calyset House

House: Calyset Status: Uninfected Elite Specification: Trauma Therapist and Head of Calyset House Alignment: New Wave Reformist

History:

Shooting stars and spaceships look a lot alike, and Nouka wasted wishes on the cargo shuttles until she learned the difference. She had always been a wishful child, pensive and wanting more—it wasn’t that she was unhappy, it’s just that there was always something more to be found. As many children are, she was more observant than her mother wanted to give her credit, and more intuitive, too. Even from a young age, Nouka knew that something was different about her.

She knew that her mother loved her very much. That much was obvious, at least to her. She was doted upon by the woman: but it was as a beloved “son”. Raised in Pennsylvania and adopted into a half Japanese, half Chinese American, but 100% Catholic household, Nouka neither had the vocabulary nor the exposure to know how to articulate her identity. But more importantly, she was never given the opportunity. With her hair cut short and only trucks and toy tools to play with, her lot in life was decided for her as soon as she was born into the body granted to her, and so she would be scolded and chastised for even asking for a doll. ‘Boys don’t play with dolls,’ her mother would say. And though transgender identity had begun to be much more actively accepted in North American culture by the 2020s, fear and ignorance had deep roots in some more traditional family lines. Documentaries and All Gender restrooms had had a domino effect that eventually changed the world, but that didn’t mean it also changed everybody in it.

When Nouka was too young to know or understand the difference, she expressed all kinds of things that caused her parents concern—things they’d preferred to keep under wraps from their neighbours and friends. Everything from wanting to wear heels or pantyhose, to wanting to marry her best friend Kabir when she grew up. Upon first hearing this, her mother had told her that “boys don’t marry boys,” to which Nouka calmly explained that she would be a girl, by then, and so it wouldn’t matter.

It was this innocent transparency that had Nouka’s parents stifling her self-expression every way they knew how. And it carried on for far longer than it should have; everything was excused because the Fang household was known to be a devoutly religious one. Of course Nouka couldn’t get changed in front of boys in her class; of course Nouka couldn’t participate in sex and gender education; of course Nouka couldn’t play on the skins team during sporting events. But the truth was, they were afraid of what she might say, or how the exposure to a more modern and widely accepted view on gender would ‘influence’ her already ‘unacceptable’ or ‘unorthodox’ inclinations.

Whatever the plan was for when puberty began to change Nouka’s body and differentiated her from the other girls at school, she would never know, because when she was nine a classmate walked in on her switching clothes with her friend Tesh, and she was bullied and humiliated for wanting to ‘dress like a girl’. But when her parents were called into the school to discuss the matter, her mother was so enraged and embarrassed that she slapped her daughter right across the face and, in her hysterics, began shaking Nouka and screaming at her.

Needless to say, the display did not go over well with an audience of youth educators and caretakers. Though the physical violence was a first between Nouka and her parents, by the 2040s, trans rights were taken very seriously, and depriving minors of the proper attention and care in this matter was, in most states, considered a form of neglectful abuse. Social services were called, and Nouka was placed with a foster family after it was established that her birth mother had been emotionally abusive, and had refused Nouka the tools necessary to express her own gender, not to mention, the right.

This new family encouraged her to grow her hair out, if that’s what she wanted, and pick her own clothes from the store. At first, not being allowed to see her parents hurt Nouka more than anything, and she didn’t think anything terrible had happened to her to deserve being apart from her family. But her new family was patient and generous. They provided her access to hormone therapy and other resources she needed as she grew into herself, and they made a point of having family outings, and home cooked dinners together. All the normal things a family ought to do.

Through her teenage years, Nouka slid back and forth across the spectrum of expression, trying to find what made her most happy. She went from aggressively feminine—growing her hair out and layering on makeup and wearing heels and doing ballet—to experimenting with more neutral expression, with cropped hair and baggy t-shirts and joining the football team. In the end, though, she decided she was happiest just being her, and not worrying about presentation for the sake of anybody else’s expectations. She liked her long hair, because it was fun trying different styles on it, and she liked playing football because, like any youth, it was good to have an outlet for aggression. She did the things that made her happy, and gender had nothing to do with it.

After graduation, Nouka spent a few years just working and carving out her independence. She wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do with her life, and still had a lot of self-discovery to do. But eventually, inspired by the confidence and help her therapist gave her over the years, Nouka decided to study youth trauma therapy. If she could work with insecure, vulnerable children and guide them towards a stronger place, that would be a good way to spend a life. She studied hard, and made friends, and had high hopes. She was almost two years into practicing, post-graduation, when D-Day hit.

Nouka Today:

Nouka’s greatest flaw has always been her unwavering trust in what people tell her. It’s led to a fair amount of heartbreak in the past, yet she rarely learns from it. When the New Wave first emerged in Pennsylvania, they poisoned her with their severe notions, using fear as manipulation.

She’s not stupid by any means, and doesn’t believe that the Infected are going to kill them all. But, she was raised in a Catholic household and a childhood of sermons and fear mongering had its impact on her. Despite having learned to advocate for gender diversity for others, not to mention herself, she still faces real internal conflict with her religious upbringing. And so she really did feel that the Infections developing around her were unnatural. Gender, no matter which way you looked at it, was human. But supernatural powers and unexplained forces? It was beyond her understanding—perhaps even satanic. She pities the Infected, and fears them, because with their powers, they could do a lot of damage.

When the NWRF group she had joined suggested she transfer to the UK and help spread the word, Nouka agreed. It was her desire to help that brought her to the small, island-bound British Colony, a few months after the rise of the New Wave. Chancellor Dervilia was grateful to receive another therapist into their midst who aligned with NWRF values; he told her that she could help immensely by illuminating her perspective on the ‘non-believers’ here—of which there were many. She had power here, he told her, and with perseverance, she could help people see, regardless of their status, that the Infected were a misfortunate side effect of the apocalypse and deserved to be treated for these inhuman afflictions. But it went without saying that she must be subtle, and convince them gently and with empathy.

From her side of things, she feels like she is helping quell rebellion. It’s not that the Infected are inherently bad people, but they might be tempted by their powers, and she’s simply happy to do her bit to extinguish those thoughts before they boil over.

When she arrived, Mitch Douglas had been demoted from his position as Calyset Head of House, due to his infection status, and she was chosen to take his place. Though she doesn’t have much experience in the way of leadership roles, the NWRF would sooner trust a (somewhat naive) Reformist Rep who is more likely to blindly follow their orders, than an Infected Elite liable to take up arms against the new government.

OPEN

#jamie clayton #jamie clayton fc #literate rp #sci fi rp #original rp #nouka fang #calyset #nwrf #head of house #trauma therapist #open #female #uninfected #elite #open female #open elite #open uninfected #open female elite #open female uninfected

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our-legacy-rp-blog · 7 years

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KARI has been accepted for the character LEANDER PARRISH

A thoughtful and detailed application, Kari! You went above and beyond with Leander, and I can feel how much you connect with the character - we can’t wait to see you get started. Welcome back for another round of OL, and be sure you fill out the checklist HERE.

OOC name & pronouns: Kari (they/them)

Age: 21

Timezone: PST

Note: Kari will be dropping Lyana and taking Leander.

IC INFORMATION:

Character’s name: Leander Parish

FC: Jacob Artist

Position request: None

Birthday: August 25th

Virgos are always paying attention to the smallest details and their deep sense of humanity makes them one of the most careful signs of the zodiac. Their methodical approach to life ensures that nothing is left to chance, and although they are often tender, their heart might be closed for the outer world. This is a sign often misunderstood, not because they lack the ability to express, but because they won’t accept their feelings as valid, true, or even relevant when opposed to reason. Though they are enthusiastic learners, Virgo’s tend to be shy so they don’t always bask in the limelight as well as others. They often prefer to work in the background

Sources:

http://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/zodiac-signs/virgo/

https://exemplore.com/astrology/A-Beginners-Guide-To-Astrological-Signs-And-What-They-Mean-For-Your-Personality

Wand: Birch and Phoenix Feather, 12 ½ inches

Birch wood is known for its good physical healing abilities and can help in recuperation and restoration of one’s own strength. A birch wand will never refuse any who are in need of its support and its properties make it good for expelling evil spirits and spirits of the past. However it cannot destroy them. This wand performs well in healing spells and charms, and is suited well for transfiguration - specifically in the creation of a new structure or rejuvenating an old one. It also performs well for spells dealing with light. This wand is successful in dispelling evil curses, whoever it is less suited for direct combat.

Source: www.unfading.net/wselen.html

Patronus: Praying Mantis.

To Leander the praying mantis represents the inner strength and patience that he practises. The praying mantis hides in plain sight, watching and waiting for it’s prey to come to pass by before it strikes. The praying mantis will not move until it is 100% sure that it is doing the correct thing. Leander takes inspiration and strength from it, knowing that patience is important until he is able to carry out his action. It reminds Leander to have patience in acquiring things they want and to remain balanced throughout the duration of the wait.

Source: http://www.sunsigns.org/praying-mantis-animal-totem-symbolism-meanings/

Boggart: Dead Werewolf.

Not only a dead werewolf, but a werewolf dead with the implication that Leander was the one to have ended its life. With Leander’s family history and the propaganda that he was fed through his life, he does struggle to see werewolves as people, but he still thinks that killing them mercilessly is wrong. What Leander fears most is turning into the person that his family wants him to be: a ruthless hunter following in their footsteps.

Headcanons:

Leander’s sorting was almost classified as a hatstall. For 4 minutes and 50 seconds the Sorting Hat and Leander fought over where the Sorting Hat would place him. Many children in the past had asked the Sorting Hat to place them in a different house. For many of the students whom asked, the Sorting Hat took their decision into consideration due to the fact that the child displayed traits of that house anyways. Leander showed so little traits of Ravenclaw that the Sorting Hat was hesitant to place him there. He would fit so flawlessly into Slytherin, cunning and ambitious, Leander looked out for himself above all else. Leander’s steadfast desire to not be placed in Slytherin is perhaps a testament to why he should have been placed in Slytherin. But as Leander laid out the evidence as to why he should be placed into a different house, the Sorting Hat decided that Ravenclaw would perhaps be the better suited of the remaining three houses and promptly placed Leander there, 10 seconds shy of a proper hatstall.

Leander’s wand is unsuited for direct combat, which he finds extremely ironic considering his family’s history. His wand is better suited for creation than destruction, and hates when Leander uses it for dueling or related purposes. At times it refuses to work for the particularly aggressive duels, and when Leander forces it to perform it will proceed to throw fits for days afterwards. The first time that he forced his wand to duel (in his third year) he thought he was going crazy and losing his magic since he was struggling with the most basic of spells. Since that day, Leander endeavoured to build a relationship of trust with his wand. He even goes as far as leaving his wand behind while going off on hunting trips, so as not to expose it to the horrors that it would have to face.

Leander’s magic has always been heavily influenced by his emotions, which means that as a child his magic was particularly volatile. Even when he first began Hogwarts his magic was unstable and he was prone to bouts of accidental magic. After a few incidents his first year, his head of house recommended that he find some way to control his emotions and pointed him on the path of meditation and yoga. Leander has come to rely heavily on these techniques to control his magic. He wakes up early every morning and goes through his yoga routine and then meditation before class every day. It helps hims feel grounded and more in control of his life, even when he really isn’t.

Extra Family Headcanon: Leander has always had a confusing grasp of how exactly everyone in his family is related to him. This mostly stems from the fact that his mother’s family had only 4 children, but they were spread out so that the oldest was 24 when the youngest child was born. It also stems from the fact that the two youngest children were mostly raised by their brother after their parents died. Samuel and Elizabeth Sinclair died, leaving their two youngest, Magnolia (7) and Juniper (1). To be raised by their oldest son, Aspen, who was 25 at the time. Aspen and his wife Renee had two children of their own, Laurel (7) and Jackson (3). Hudson was 2 years old when Magnolia and Juniper went to live with their brother Aspen, and Leander was born the year after. The six children were only 8 years apart from the youngest to the oldest, and were thusly raised and socialized together. They were the original Sleepover Squad as they began to call themselves, spending the night at a rotation of each other’s houses every month as their parents attended hunts. The six of them were educated together too, the families saving money on tutors who would educated all of the children together. The group was later joined by Tabitha (3 years younger than Leander), Georgiana (6 years younger than Leander), and Kenneth (5 years younger than Leander). These three were related to Leander on his father’s side instead of his mother’s, but as the two families were friends long before Jon and Olive got married, they too were enveloped into this group of children. These nine children all just considered each other cousins. They were playmates and friends, keeping each other company when their parents were away. This constant exposure to people made Leander very comfortable with interactions with others, and made him used to having constant noise and chatter. He loves to be surrounded by his friends at Hogwarts, because it reminds him of his childhood and growing up with near constant companionship. To the point where Leander grows very uncomfortable if he is completely alone, preferring to have at least one person around him at all times.

History:

Jon Parrish and Olive Sinclair were both raised and indoctrinated to believe that werewolves were a blight on society and unfit to live amongst the Wizarding community or around humans at all. The Parrish family was amongst a few Wizarding families who shared a highly specific and dangerous hobby - werewolf hunting. When Jon and Olive graduated Hogwarts, they were arranged to be married. Bound by honor and duty (and a shared love of hunting) Olive took the Parrish name and the two became a most fearsome hunting duo. They two could not sit by as the Wizarding World faced increasing attacks from werewolves on innocent wizards and muggles alike. Olive and Jon were among the few who pushed for more and frequent hunts, increasing the frequency from once or twice a year to almost monthly by the time that Olive grew pregnant with the couple’s first child.

The Parrish family wears their scars proudly, as trophies of a hunt well done. It pained Olive to give up hunting, even for a short while, but the whole family agreed that their family needed heirs. Olive gave birth to two sons: Hudson and Leander, but was always up fighting as soon as she was give a clean bill of health after the births.

Hudson and Leander were three years apart in age, but light years away in personality. There have been many times in Leander’s life when he wondered if he truly belonged in his family. Everyone in his family possessed a ruthlessness and a drive that he just didn’t. Even as a young child he was always more content with reading or quiet activities rather than join in with his brother and cousins rough-housing. Not that Leander never played with them. On the contrary, he possessed an exorbitant amount of hero worship for his older brother and cousins which meant he tried his hardest to fit in and play with them. Though he always did enjoy his books more. The Parrish house was always a revolving door of family members. Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were always over visiting which meant that Leander seldom had a shortage of people to play with. He especially loved when his cousins would spend the night over at their house when their parents would go out on camping trips. One adult or older cousin would stay behind with all of the younger children. It was always changing and it kept Leander’s life interesting and exciting.

When Leander was six, his world was tilted on its axis. One evening he hadn’t been able to sleep, and was wandering around his house. His cousins were asleep upstairs after another fun sleepover night when he heard a commotion coming from the basement. The door to the basement was usually locked and the secrets that it held were things that he’d “learn about when he was older”. This evening the door had been left ajar and he heard the voices of his parents and grandfather drifting up from below. What six year old could resist? For the rest of his life, Leander would wish that he could go back in time. Back to that moment that he began down the stairs and stop it. He wished that he could go back to the childhood where his family secrets stayed buried there under the house. That evening he learned a secret that all Parrish children learned at 10 years old. He finally learned why all of the Parrish children begun stamina and strength training at age 7 and combat training at 9. He saw the family’s trophy room, lined with the heads of their conquests, of the werewolves that they had killed. The most shocking thing that evening to little Leander was the dead body lying on a table, with his family standing around each other congratulating each other on a hunt well done. Leander was paralyzed, frozen in fear on the stairs until he was spotted.

Not too long after that, Leander and Hudson were sat down and told the dark and dangerous secrets of the Parrish family. Leander was 6, too young for that knowledge, and Hudson was 9, only a year before he would have been told anyways. Hudson, who had already begun combat training, was indoctrinated into the Parrish’s views of werewolves being horrible monsters that needed to be eradicated. Leander was too soft for all of this. He was the child that cried for the small rodents that they fed their owls. Leander didn’t see the heads in the basement as proof of the family’s good deeds for this world, he saw it as needless killing of animals that had their own thoughts and feelings. His knowledge was still warped by his family though, and even to this day Leander has difficulty seeing werewolves as people, but that doesn’t mean that they should be eradicated for merely existing.

When a Parrish child was 10, if they showed enough promise in their training, were allowed to attend their family’s monthly “camping trips”. On a child’s first hunting trips, they were allowed to watch the proceedings from a safe distance, guarded by more experienced family members every month. By age 11 they are expected to be able to help participate in the hunt rather than observing, and on the full moon closest to their 17th birthday they are expected to make their first solo kill. The scars that the family gained from these hunts were worn like badges of honor, proof that their family was contributing to this world. Even if the secret had to be carried with them to the grave. Leander seldom attended these hunts, feigning illness and volunteering to babysit the younger children as often as he could. Leander’s disdain for the family business was on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis. Everyone knew that Leander was not cut out for their way of life, but refused to acknowledge it. It was the white elephant in the room, and the family allowed him to take up the job of babysitter. They used to rotate, all hating to be left behind and held back from the hunt, so many jumped at the chance to leave their nephew behind and attend the hunt.

Leander packed up his room the moment that he received his Hogwarts letter. The call of Hogwarts was that of safety. A place where he could get away from the family business and be the person that he wanted to be without his family pressuring him to participate. There are still occasions where his brother would come barging into his dorm, pulling him out of bed and dragging him along on the family hunts. The Parrish’s knew passageways to sneak out of the castle and return before they were noted to be out of bed. The Slytherins never asked questions, so Hudson was able to move around with confidence. It was during these times that Leander wished that he had somehow managed to convince the Sorting Hat to put him into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. At least then he would be protected from his brother dragging him off to hunts behind a password protected portrait not just a riddle that other students can answer as well. Nothing made Leander happier than when his brother graduated from Hogwarts and he was finally out from under the immediate watchful eye of his family.

Now:

Leander is one of the more powerful magic wielders in his family, and an adept dueler as well. Despite his absence on most hunts, his family still trained him along side of his brother and cousins. In order to not draw even more attention to himself in his family politics, he dutifully trained harder and longer than everyone else. He goes along with most things that his family tells him, not making waves to try to keep their gaze off of him for as long as he could imagine. When he trained he imagines that he was training to fight his family instead of the werewolves they were training him to fight against. Leander rarely showcases his talents at dueling, but rumours still circulate Hogwarts from the few times that he has attended and participated in duels around the school. The common consensus is not to mess with Leander, because despite his quiet demeanor lurks a fierce and powerful dueler. Leander does his best to reject these rumours. He might be quiet, but is the type of person to have a smile for everyone. Making friends and hanging out with people he cares about are very important to him. His friends receive the love that he stopped giving to his family when he was young, to a point where he might smother his friends with his love.

Starting in Leander’s 4th year, the first year his brother was not attending Hogwarts, he flourished. It was the first time that he had been truly free from the gaze of a family member, and now more free from the reach of his family than he ever had been. Leander still avoided the limelight, but smiled more and found that it was easier to have friends. He wasn’t worried about looking over his shoulder or having his brother remind him of his duties to his family.

It was in this time that Leander found the time to explore his gender and sexuality to find that they are not so easily contained into a box. He is not so fond of labels, but knows that the way that he relates to his gender is not the same way that other might. He identifies as genderfluid, somewhere in flux between male and female. He does not mind being called by male pronouns or by male identifiers, however he knows that the truth is somewhere slightly off center from male. Hogwarts is a more accepting place, and he found little resistance to his identification as genderfluid. For this he is thankful as he knows that his family would never find this acceptable.

This summer Leander will turn seventeen. Most wix eagerly await the day that the Trace is no longer in effect and they are considered adults in the Wizarding world, but Leander is dreading it. For a Parrish child, seventeen marks your first solos kill, the first time that they are expected to find, track, and kill a werewolf with minimal help from the members of the hunt. Leander has managed to avoid killing at all, and merely watches on the hunts that he is forced on. He knows though that this is one thing that his family will not let him avoid. To be a Parrish you must kill, so Leander would at the very least be forced to cut all ties with his family and never see them again. That is assuming that the family will be merciful, though with the collective ruthlessness of the family Leander wonders if he would be allowed to leave, or if they would eliminate him like the werewolves that they hunt for disgracing the family name.

#accepted

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col22promo · 5 years

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Nouka Fang | Thirty; Head of Calyset House

House: Calyset Status: Uninfected Elite Specification: Trauma Therapist and Head of Calyset House Alignment: New Wave Reformist

History:

Shooting stars and spaceships look a lot alike, and Nouka wasted wishes on the cargo shuttles until she learned the difference. She had always been a wishful child, pensive and wanting more—it wasn’t that she was unhappy, it’s just that there was always something more to be found. As many children are, she was more observant than her mother wanted to give her credit for, and more intuitive with it. Even from a young age, Nouka knew that something wasn’t quite right.

She knew that her mother loved her very much. That much was obvious, at least to her. She was doted upon by the woman: but it was as a beloved son. Raised in Pennsylvania, in a half Cuban, half Chinese, but 100% Catholic household, Nouka neither had the vocabulary nor the exposure to know how to articulate her identity. But more importantly, she was never given the opportunity to. With her hair cut short and only trucks and toy tools to play with, her lot in life was decided for her as soon as she was born into the body granted to her, and so she would be scolded and chastised for even asking for a doll. ‘Boys don’t play with dolls,’ her mother would say. And though transgender identity had begun to be much more actively accepted in North American culture by the 2020s, fear and ignorance had deep roots in some more traditional family lines. Documentaries and All Gender restrooms had had a domino effect that eventually changed the world, but that didn’t mean it also changed everybody in it.

When Nouka was too young to know or understand the difference, she expressed all kinds of things that caused her parents concern—things they’d rather keep under wraps from their neighbours and friends. Everything from wanting to wear heels or pantyhose, to wanting to marry her best friend Kabir when she grew up. Upon first hearing this, her mother had told her that “boys don’t marry boys,” to which Nouka calmly explained that she would be a girl, by then, and so it wouldn’t matter.

It was this innocent transparency that had Nouka’s parents stifling her self-expression every way they knew how. And it carried on for far longer than it should have; everything was excused because the Fang household was known to be a devoutly religious one. Of course Nouka couldn’t get changed in front of the other boys; of course Nouka couldn’t participate in sex and gender education; of course Nouka couldn’t play on the skins team during sporting events. But the truth was, they were afraid of what she might say, or how the exposure to a more modern and widely accepted view on gender would ‘influence’ her already ‘unacceptable’ or ‘unorthodox’ inclinations.

Social services were called, and Nouka was placed with a foster family after it was established that her birth mother had been emotional abusive, and had refused Nouka the tools necessary to decide her own gender, not to mention, the right. This new family encouraged her to grow her hair out, if that’s what she wanted, and pick her own clothes from the store. At first, not being allowed to see her parents, hurt Nouka more than anything, and she didn’t think anything terrible had happened to her to deserve being apart from her family. Even now, she stands by the belief that if she’d wanted to live the way her mother wanted, it would have been fine. The issue was having an identity forced upon her, and being spanked for even asking for a dolly. But her new family was patient and generous. They provided her access to hormone therapy and other resources she needed as she grew into herself, and they made a point of having family outings, and home cooked dinners together. All the normal things a family ought to do.

From there, Nouka’s life adjusted to something close to normality. She struggled often with her identity, and her new parents gave her all the time and space she needed to figure it out. Through her teenage years, Nouka slid back and forth across the spectrum, trying to find what made her most happy. She went from aggressively feminine—growing her hair out and layering on makeup and wearing heels and doing ballet—to experimenting with more neutral expression, with cropped hair and baggy t-shirts and joining the football team. In the end, though, she decided she was happiest just being her, and not worrying about presentation for the sake of anybody else’s expectations. She liked her long hair, because it was fun trying different styles on it, and she liked playing football because, like any youth, it was good to have an outlet for aggression. She did the things that made her happy, rather than the things that were ‘girly’ or the things that were ‘boyish’.

Inspired by the confidence and help her therapist gave her over the years, Nouka decided to study youth trauma therapy. If she could work with an insecure, hurt child and guide them towards a stronger place, that would be a good way to spend a life. She studied hard, and made friends, and had high hopes. She was almost a year into practicing, post-graduation, when D-Day hit.

Nouka Today:

Nouka’s greatest flaw has always been her unwavering trust in what people tell her. It led to a fair amount of heartbreak, yet she rarely learns from it. When the New Wave began emerging in Pennsylvania, it was only bad luck that let them get to her, whispering their poisonous notions to her before anyone could tell her otherwise.

She’s not stupid by any means, and doesn’t believe that the Infected are going to kill them all. But, she was raised in a Catholic household. Her grandma had been, as described by her birth mother, ‘more shamanistic’, but apparently now, in America, they were to be ‘good, pure Christians’. And that childhood of sermons had its impact on her; despite having learned to advocate for gender diversity for others, not to mention herself, she still faces real internal conflict with her religious upbringing. She really did feel that the Infections developing around her were unnatural. Gender, no matter which way you looked at it, was human. But supernatural powers and unexplained forces? It was beyond her understanding—perhaps even satanic. She pities the Infected, and fears them, because with their powers, they could do a lot of damage.

When the NWRF group she had joined with suggested she transfer to the UK and help spread the word, Nouka agreed. She wanted to help, and that was how she came to Colony 22, a few months after the arrival of the New Wave at the small, island-bound British Colony. Chancellor Dervilia was grateful to receive another therapist into their midst who aligned with NWRF values; he told her that she could help immensely by illuminating her perspective on the ‘non-believers’ here—of which there were many. She had power here, he told her, and with perseverance, she could people see, regardless of their status, that the Infected were a a misfortunate side effect of the apocalypse and deserved to be treated for these inhuman afflictions. But it went without saying that she must be subtle, and convince them gently and with empathy.

From her side of things, she feels like she is helping quell rebellion. It’s not that the Infected are inherently bad people: but they might be tempted by their powers, and she’s simply happy to do her bit to quash those thoughts before they rise.

When she arrived, Mitch Douglas had been demoted from his position as Calyset Head of House, due to his status, and they had yet to fill the position. Due to their lack of appropriate representatives, they asked her to take up the role on a temporary basis. Though she didn’t have much experience in leadership roles, they would sooner trust a (somewhat naive) Reformist Rep who was more likely to blindly follow their orders, than an Infected Elite liable to take up arms against the new government.

HOME | PLOT | SURVIVORS | INFECTIONS | 2157 was the end of the world.

#sci fi rp #original rp #lsrpg #rosa salazar #rosa salazar fc

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jcdamc · 7 years

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Creating different support systems: healthier spaces and trusting other families (PART 1) EDITED

A couple days ago, my homegirl/ sista in the struggle Candy made me think about something that has troubled me for years, as an adult and as a man of color with a disability that on one hand, has had the support of an overprotective yet loving family; and on the other hand has had years of experience being independent and self- sufficient. Both scenarios have pros and cons, but the truth is they can both burn you out in different ways. As a proud man of color with a physical disability, I have often struggled when it comes to asking for help, especially when I really need it. With immediate family and chosen family or close friends the same issue comes up: Who, how and when do we ask for support if most of us have been socialized to believe that we only have one main support group (which is usually your blood family)?

Here are a few answers I have from experience, people around me and recent questions I`ve been asked....

My immediate family has done the best they can to raise me right, the best way they knew. I`ve let them know that and am eternally grateful, from my parents to my siblings to my cousins. My father always taught me that as I grew older I had to build an extended support network or family, because you never knew what could happen in life, personally or professionally. Throughout my school and even grad school years I had great associates and some good friends, no doubt. I even had a Hip Hop and BBoy crew that made me feel at home in college. We would help each other out, my boys would give me a ride home if it was late (or I had a lil too much fun lol) and my homegirls and their sense of humor would be the ones pushing me to study, focus and stay up to finish homework at the library many times.

In grad school, I had one true mentor that always kept it real with me and was genuinely supportive and made time for me in his busy schedule as a professor. My big brother figure, STOVE. He was the first brotha to show me how to navigate schools, balance life and how to deal with the workplace in the city in a healthier way. Till this day, STOVE still break it down in a way I can understand, where he doesn`t make me feel guilty for my choices and it`s easy for me to digest his advice. He don`t have to get all technical with me, he is clear, passionate and he listen to me whenever I`m going through something. STOVE and my cousins RodStarz- a community activist, organizer and hip hop artist raised on the north side of Chicago- Nano and Julito, were the big brothers I never had. At different points of my life, I could talk about anything and just chill, kick it with my cousins, no judgment. I guess what I`m trying to say is that depending on your circumstances, a support group could be one person or a group of folks closest to you.

My support system has revolved around my parents, women in my family and women close to me, in my social circles. I get along better with women, have way more female friends (which I have discussed before). In part, it`s natural because I was the only boy in my family. And the only one with a disability. On the other hand, aside from my male cousins, STOVE and my mentee Pharaoh, I have trust issues with most men in my generation. Getting along is one thing, but being friends and opening up is a whole notha ball game y`all.

My folks and siblings moved around a lot before I was born. Once my folks settled in IL, in the Chicago area, I was a year and a half old. My dad wanted me to get consistent professional help since many Chicago hospitals and therapy centers was known to have real good service in the mid 80`s. My family and friends of the family (aka adoptive/ chosen family) where real supportive, influential and caring as I grew during my childhood and even adulthood. My momma was involved in my school activities, back in the day when they used to cram every student that had a disability (or might have been misdiagnosed or labelled) in one special ed classroom. We had basic accommodations but no real community supports. This just was before the ADA was passed. Many of us adults with disabilities today are a product of that, consciously or unconsciously.

My family did their best like I said. I have a mixed cultural background, born in the Midwest, bilingual with South American and Caribbean roots, a city guy fighting to be proud, to stand out in a good way. I have lived in and learned from a few different places like Santiago, Chile during my teenage years, yet I always managed to come back to Chicago where my heart is. I am blessed and thankful to be here, despite having racing thoughts sometimes. I`m much older, continue learning and need and want to find my swag again. It`s up to me. My folks can listen and support what I do. My father hugs me more often, he is wise and my momma always been there through thick n thin, mixing her affection and her tough love all together. They have, despite disagreements and misunderstandings. But I am crying out for help on this new journey, because I also feel like I`m on a big ass island by myself, even when it`s a party around me.

Fast forward... It wasn`t until 2011 that my life and thoughts shifted forever. It was hard to forgive and fully support myself on my own. I was more of a loner just going through the city till then. And I wanna thank everybody that was a part of that change in me. It was a REBIRTH that made see and understand Chicago much better. Yall made me a better and much more mature person, yall made me look in the mirror and accept compliments and my body and feel good about it. Too many folks to name, yall will always be with me in my heart. From 2011 till present day, I`ve built alternative support networks, helped facilitate large events, made great friends, organized and mobilized young people that needed and still seek just as much support and compassion as I do. Most importantly, I improved not only my professional skills, but my relationship building skills and had and still have strong friendships and associates within and outside the disability community. Yall were my angels in some way. Although the last few years have been pretty rough on me, I am finding my way. I will be working on a book of poems and lost poems. My poems are the real me, beyond the boxes, where I can be healthy and not be policed by nobody, where God loves disability, where God love people of color and God love who you all love. I am learning to love myself, yes I am. It`s hard as hell.... Without the support of my brothers and sisters and my cousins in and out the Chi, I wouldn`t BE Here, I wouldn`t be the ME I am TODAY. Y`all will forever be my family too.

It`s really important to find and keep your chosen families and support groups close.... remember that. If not, it might cost you later on... How can I heal when other people close to me are burnt out emotionally or financially? Or some don`t know how or when to have healthy conversations about mental illness and disability? Or when tough love or fussing or cussing each other out is all they have known most of their lives? What happens when you yourself have several things to deal with already, and you have to witness drama or arguments every day? What happens when you are an advocate, and you in the middle of all this, living it today? And YOU need HELP beyond this bullshit ass system?

A lotta things ain`t my business today or ever, only my story and my will to support myself and others in the struggle DOES matter. Passing judgment and blame like a hot potato ain`t neva helped nobody, it sure as hell ain`t helped me. Takes time to change that...

Struggles look different person to person, the issue is when you don`t know somebody, when we don`t TRUST or bond with somebody through their STRUGGLE. Being raised right doesn`t always mean we are all raised the same way. Don`t judge a book by its cover. Read its story.

Honest to God, we need to have a huge peace circle within AND outside the disability community... because not everybody that has a disability or mental illness has had proper support systems or knows how to deal with their reality in a positive way. I`m seeing that every day, and it`s real awkward and uncomfortable. The (original) support system that I have had is barely staying afloat on its own today regarding their health, in part because some people don`t know what to do to change things and due to a huge generational gap in the way some families of color treat each other when it comes to xyz disability, mental illness or any other health conditions. There is a lack of patience and compassion among the same generation at times. It`s a “culture of blame” because 50 years ago talking about your health and disabilities equaled shame or being “sick” all the time. And to some extent, that culture of blame or silence creates unhealthy relationships and psychological issues from head to toe, and many people are not aware of that. It`s done unconsciously in part because of the effects of ableism. Exposure or lack of exposure changes everything, because that`s the difference between knowing how to help and helping without knowing. Love was caring with a tough shell 50 years ago, especially in some families and cultures of color where holding feelings in was real common.

I grew up around elders, with one foot in a ableist society and the other foot in the disability community, and I ain`t realize it till my late 20`s.... Gotta keep helping myself heal. One foot told me it`s something wrong with me, the other one taught me I`m beautiful just the way I am. I realize I cannot help everybody, not even my loved ones in general, if I am not supporting or hugging myself first.

People are people, and nobody, regardless of disability or age or ethnicity, should be feeling like they are a constant burden or isolated, not even myself. As of right now, I can only support and save myself writing every single day, through the power of music and my prayers, for my own sanity. I have enough tryna shut my mind up so I can breathe and listen to God. I refuse to deal with or let other people`s headaches get to me. I am also doing what I can, thankful and humbled. We all need to express support and show up when help is WANTED, not just say it. Takes time.

The problem ain`t people that need help, the issue is people that need healthy supports but don`t WANT THE HELP because they proud, ignorant or just plain scared. It`s hard to ask for help when you might be so used to being the one helping others or the one that is independent to a fault or the giving one...

One of my siblings told me, “You might not have abc right now... but all you got is you. Do you and don`t be worrying about other people” She right. Sometimes, after hearing the same message in different ways and from different people that care, ish finally sink in G.

My writing and my music are my babies. Lately, writing and my jams are more like a punching bag and I`m Ali. I`ve cussed, talked trash, been disappointed in the system and fussed enough. Yes, I like many more, desperately need to find or strengthen other/ different and kinder support groups within our complicated lives. Support networks where we value ourselves as individuals with disabilities and/or mental illnesses, where we become more patient with ourselves, and more importantly where we find healthier outlets. We might not understand everything, but we damn sure need to listen better and TREAT ourselves with much more love.

You`d be surprised how many folks in our community need just one person to talk to, because they want attention, because they are severely depressed, have anxiety, are shut down or because they themselves feel like they live on a island too. Kindness and patience starts with ourselves, and it`s these things that an ableist society makes way too hard for people with disabilities and mental illness to see. Fight self- pity and self- hate or lashing out and realize that you do matter. That`s a start to support yourself and your brothers and sisters, and families. Disability pride is a important part of us individually and as a community. Breathe, be kind, be patient and pray. Too many of us have been conditioned by society to worry, to lynch ourselves, instead of having confidence and building on it. We all gotta get that swag back. It might not look pretty at times, but we gotta have faith AGAIN.

Part 2 of this Support System blog series will introduce the idea of building a non profit organization for and by people with disabilities to maintain more supportive networks, be more self-aware, self- sufficient and empowering in their lives and communities starting this year. Something along the lines of “Disability Arts and Education Collective” inspired by my peoples a while ago... in the works. I could always use more help, no doubt.

Over the past 2 to 3 weeks, I have been doing my part, tryna find my rhythm and I gotta do my own, eat my leftover food, maybe even breakdance again, and smile one smile at a time, even if it`s only on the outside at the moment. Hopefully more people will join me.

Peace and Blessings,

JC Da MC.

#new piece #2017 #community supports #saveyourself #chicity #heart #self advocacy #backgrounds

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top1course · 4 years

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How To Build A Real Personal Brand Online

youtube

How do you build a real personal brand, online, honey green tea, chicken, north Center, a lot of people want to know how do I build a personal brand, around what I do around my expertise my, skills mine, hobby, just like Jay-Z said I’m not a businessman, i am, a piston, man, is very very true I want to look at some the biggest personal brand in the world today, michael Jordan Floyd Mayweather, martha Stewart rice George Foreman grill, the many many personal brand in the world, but exactly how do you do it now, social media nowadays, much easier for you to get your messages story, and your chest Persona out there, the problem is I can’t even young kids they come up to me, does 16 17 years old and asked me, then how do I do a personal brand online, and my reply is always a bill to blonde at the own f****** what, All f******, what you’re 17 years old, is he in order for a brand, i mean it bright I’m not just talking about being famous, now there are some people out there they say Paris Hilton, kim Kardashian they are getting paid because, they are simply, famous the famous, for being famous, you see that’s only a very very small percentage of the influencers in this world that are able to judge, being rich, simply by being, famous I always say, spain without Fortune is frustration, nothing is worse, then having Fame and Fortune, because if you think about it if you got no money and you’re broke you should be thankful that you’re broke, which is worse, you are famous, and your fans think your rich but your brother, and you can’t even pay rent, that sucks, big time, so when it comes to personal brand, In order to build a long-term sustainable, personal brand, do you need a bill on something to have, stockton, i want to look at again the biggest brands in the world, most of them almost all of them, building around either the person skill, the performance excellence, the Knoll for something, i’m fucking good at what I do, only a handful of things but I’m very very good at what I do, you look at Michael Jordan why does he have such, a brand of personal brand even now he’s retired play basketball for, many use now but Michael Jordan Nike just do something shoes, they’re still selling Merchant, because he is, an icon, why he’s an iconic, personal brand, know how do you do it I could only share with you, my own experience, drake disses on a shortcut, boxer with you, what I know when it comes to building a purse, You do that.

One Fannin, i remember back then when I was, a speaker just learning, how to, speak, professional, i will conduct My First Watch Shop, the only hat, a few people, to see people, coming to my first Workshop including my mom, but even that workshop with only a few people, i gave 100% the best that I could, that’s it, deaths, what I did, and from there it grew and grew and they tell the people and I started building my, reputation, impressive ready to think about it it’s nothing more than your personal reputation, that’s the way that I see it, then when people buy your personal brand when people buy from you they have, it’s unexpectation, because you’re known for, something, you known for being creative, will you know for, ascertain, characteristic, that when I wear that Michael Jordan shirt or when I didn’t wear them Michael Jordan shoes, It is a statement is a starter you represent, something, that’s what it is that’s why people buy, those Merchant, not just a product that buying a Feeling. By emotions, so what you think about that when I was speaking, 2tb but doesn’t matter I gave 100%, i see green when I speak to you, 10 people 20 people 5100 people 2000 people it does not matter I always always give, my heart beat percent and death how you build your personal brand, you don’t become famous, then you say I’m going to be my personal brand that’s not how you do it, you build your personal brand, one fan at a time, how you treat that one fan, your first, bad your first, 10 fan, hundred, we upload video Even if you only have a handful of bills, even you had the first comment, give them a heart, Look at the common, look at what they looking for, get feedback from them so we can become better that’s what I did my channel didn’t start off with, 1 million subscribers, i said off with, one one fan one at a time, you got to earn it, i believe personal brand got a f****** furniture, one at a time, i think about even, the greatest personal branding safe David Copperfield, if you know his history, not like a big personal brand one of the greatest magicians of all time in history, and guess what he started off performing magic just for, his mom is Dad its relatives, in the living room, doing some small tricks, trying different things out Indulgence, that’s how they got started, starting small, you start mowing you earned it one at a time even great magician great artists, you think about it it would perform a b as a kid, Piano guitar drum doesn’t matter in the living room, ford apparel, that’s right then they grew and they grew and they grew and then a small fan days, when is social media exposure, multi-window about, one at a time one at a time there’s no shortcut you have to earn it one step at a time, and you have to cherish your fan, the minute you lose connection with your fan, that’s when you lose your personal brand, dominical I’m so successful I’m so famous, i need to pay attention my personal fans, that’s when you would lose, your brand, still what I want video, i look at your comment, on YouTube look at what you said, sometimes it common is a heart attack, sometimes I’ll even give you a short reply because I know, that’s what does a personal brand, so, if you can do that one at a time and you Bill on something solid I’m not talking about doing stupid s*** doing like meme, Videos but we are known for being a drunk you know for doing stupid s***.

If that’s your path, that’s perfectly fine, but I think, down the road you’ll be, regretting. The decision that you make, because it might sound good hey I’m very popular and are famous, i got people watching my stuff yeah, but just because they’re watching the stuff that I need to buying us., that’s a big difference, we could have Fame but doesn’t mean that you have Fortune, the only way you convert that is, do white light conversion mechanism, how do you take the, attention and converted into Revenue into income into money, the conversion mechanism that could be product that could be a service you could get merchandise, right just look at all the people that’s out there, He has some kind of conversion mechanism convert that, love the respect your attention, death band bass into actual review, until you have this, all this Fame the world means nothing, because you cannot convert it, don’t wait till that you know what I will get to a million fans then, my problems would go away then suddenly I will be rich, no, you need to be getting rich along the way that with a proper conversion, not going to, i’m right, just like this green tea, i think it’s like, 30 minutes, to think about, until next time, keep walking your personal brand, i’ll see you in my next video.

from WordPress https://top1course.com/how-to-build-a-real-personal-brand-online/

#Education #build your personal brand from scratch #building a personal brand #building your brand #b

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onlinebrand-us · 5 years

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How To Build A Real Personal Brand Online

How do you build a real personal brand online? Honey green tea, shaken, not stirred. A lot of people want to know, how do I build a personal brand around what I do, around my expertise, my skills, my hobby? Just like Jay-Z said, "I'm not a business man, I am a business, man." It's very very true, I want you to look at some of the biggest personal brands in the wold today. Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather, Martha Stewart, right, George Foreman Grill, there are many many personal brands in the world, but exactly how do you do it? Now with social media nowadays, it's much easier for you to get your message, your story, and your just, persona out there. The problem is I can see even young kids, they come up to me, they're 16, 17 years old, and ask me, "Dan, how I do build a personal brand online?" and my reply is always very very blunt, I say, "On fucking what? "On fucking what? "You're 17 years old." You see, in order for a brand, I mean a brand, I'm not just talking about being famous. Now there are some people out there, let's say Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, they are getting paid because they are simply famous, they're famous for being famous. You see, that's only a very very small percentage of the influencers in this world that are able to just be rich simply by being famous. I always say fame without fortune is frustration. Nothing is worse than having fame, and not fortune because if you think about it, if you've got no money, and you're broke, you should be thankful that you're broke which is worse. You are famous, and your fans think you're rich but you're broke, and you can't even pay rent. That sucks big time. So when it comes to a personal brand, in order to build a long term sustainable personal brand, you need to build on something that has substance. I want you to look at again, the biggest brands in the world. Most of them, almost all of them build it around either the person's skill, their performance, their excellence. They're known for something, I'm fucking good what what I do. Only a handful of things, but I'm very very good at what I do. You look at Michael Jordan, why does he have such a brand, a personal brand? Even now he's retired playing basketball for many years now, but Michael Jordan, Nike, they're still selling shoes, they're still selling merchandise because he is an icon, right? He's an iconic personal brand. Now, how do you do it? I could only share with you my own experience. Now this is not a sexy answer, this is not a trick, this is not a shortcut. But I'll share with you what I know when it comes to building a personal brand. You do that one fan at a time, I remember back then when I was a speaker just learning how to speak professionally, and I would conduct my first workshop that only had a few people, two, three people coming to my first workshop including my mom. But even that workshop with only a few people, I gave my 100%, the best that I could, that's it, that's what I did. And from there, it grew, and grew, and they tell other people, and I started building my reputation, and personal brand, if you think about it is nothing more than your personal reputation, that's the way that I see it. That when people buy your personal brand, when people buy from you, they have certain exceptions because you're known for something, you're known for being great at what you do. Or you're know for a certain characteristic that when I wear that Michael Jordan shirt, or when I wear the Michael Jordan shoes, it is a statement, it's a status, right? It represents something, that's what it is, that's why people are buying those merchandise. Not just the product, they're buying a feeling, they're buying emotions. So I want you to think about that. When I was speaking, two, three people, it doesn't matter, I gave 100%. As it grew, when I speak to 10 people, 20 people, 50 people, 100 people, 2000 people, it does not matter, I always always give my 100%, and that's how you build your personal brand. You don't become famous, then you say I'm gonna build my personal brand, that's not how you do it. You build your personal brand one fan at a time. How you treat that one fan, your first fan, your first 10 fans, 100. When you upload a video, even if you only have a handful of views, even you have that first comment, give them a heart, look at the comment, look at what they're looking for. Get feedback from them so you can become better. That's what I did, my channel didn't start off with 1 million subscribers, I started off with one. And I earned that one fan, one at a time, you gotta earn it. I believe personal brand, you gotta fucking earn it, one at a time. Think about even the greatest personal brand, like say, David Copperfield, if you know his history, now has a big personal brand, one of the greatest magicians of all time in history. And guess what? He started off performing magic just for his mom, his dad, his relatives in the living room, doing some small tricks, trying different things out, illusions, that's how he got started, that's how a lot of us got started. Starting small, so I don't care where you start, you start small, and you earn it one at a time. Even great magician, great artist, you think about it, they were performing maybe as a kid, piano, guitar, drum, doesn't matter, in the living room for the parents, right? Then they grew, and they grew, and they grew, and then a small fan base, and then social media, more exposure, more people know about them. One at a time, one a time, there's no shortcut, you have to earn it one step at a time. And you have to cherish your fan, the minute you lose connection with your fan that's when you lose your personal brand. Many think well, I'm so successful, I'm so famous, I don't need to pay attention to my personal fans, that's when you lose your brand equity. Still, when I upload a video, I look at your comments on YouTube. I look at what you're saying, sometimes the comment is good, I will heart it, sometimes I'll even give you a short reply because I know that's what builds a personal brand. So if you can do that one at a time, and you build on something solid, I'm not talking about doing stupid shit, or doing like, meme videos where you're known for being a drunk, you're known for doing stupid shit. If that's your path, that's perfectly fine, but I think down the road you will be regretting that's the decision that you make because if my son go, "Hey, I'm very popular, "I'm very famous, I got a lot of people "watching my stuff." Yeah, but just because they're watching your stuff, doesn't mean they're buying your stuff, there's a big difference. So you could have fame, but doesn't mean that you will have fortune. The only way you'll convert that is through what I call a conversion mechanism, how do you take that attention, and convert it into revenue, into income, into money? That conversion mechanism, it could be product, it could be a service, it could be a merchandise, right? Just look at all the people that's out there because some kind of conversion mechanism convert that love, the respect, the attention, that fan base into actual revenue. Until you have this, all this fame in the world means nothing because you cannot convert it. Don't wait until that you know what, I will get to a million fans, then my problems will go away. Then suddenly, I will be rich. No, you need to be getting rich along the way with a proper conversion mechanism, right? Just like this green tea, I think it's like 30 minute vintage, so think about that. Until next time, keep working your personal brand, I'll see you in my next video.

https://youtu.be/wQQJspoghoM

#online brand

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buynewsoul · 6 years

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Socializing Neglected Dogs: What Goes on Behind the Scenes to Make a Mistreated Dog Adoptable

Pet lovers everywhere would likely agree: Any innocent creature who’s endured difficult circumstances deserves a beautiful life. Sadly, thousands of today’s shelter and rescue pets have experienced some pretty painful situations. Severely neglected dogs or mistreated dogs may have suffered any number of abuses: constant physical restraint or confinement; lack of appropriate nourishment; endless environmental stressors; even outright physical punishment.

Each individual canine may weather the storm a bit differently. Some, unfortunately, learn to fear and/or avoid social contact. Such dogs may become mistrustful, nervous or withdrawn. Some may growl or snap at the slightest provocation; urinate or defecate in terror; even retreat into the shadows.

Potential adopters may not always realize what a given pet has endured — all they see is an adorable face and a tentatively wagging tail. This could be because that particular pooch has benefitted from specialized socialization training, or behavioral intervention. Sometimes, quite a bit takes place behind the scenes to give a deserving dog a second chance at a normal life.

The humans involved in these focused efforts often represent a diverse range of organizations. What they share is a strong, abiding love for canines; combined with a desire to help educate and support responsible pet parents. We asked two of these experts to share a few firsthand observations. Their insights lend a whole new meaning to the term “rescued.”

Meet the Experts Who Work with Neglected or Mistreated Dogs

It takes a team of professionals to ensure that neglected dogs are ready to be adopted. Photography ©gaikphotos | Thinkstock.

Melissa Crampton is canine manager at Dogs Deserve Better (DDB), a 501©(3) nonprofit organization that helps rehabilitate and socialize severely neglected dogs. Founded in 2002, DDB places special emphasis on those canines who have been persistently chained or penned – largely deprived of regular human companionship.

Crampton explains that specially trained personnel work with most of these canines at DDB headquarters in Smithfield, Virginia. “Our current property was purchased in 2011,” notes Crampton. “It was once the home of Bad Newz Kennels, the dog fighting compound owned by Michael Vick.” DDB’s ongoing labor of love has essentially transformed a place of traumatic despair into the Good Newz Rehabilitation Center.

Steve Frost, KPA CTP, is director of in-home training at A Sound Beginning. He also serves as animal enrichment and behavior manager for Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin, Illinois. Frost doesn’t exclusively focus on pets with a background of abuse, neglect or mistreatment. However, he holds multiple training certifications — and has done more than his share of work with such dogs.

Severely Neglected Dogs — An Unfortunately All Too Common Problem

Both Crampton and Frost agree that pronounced neglect is a pervasive problem that can affect canine lives in countless ways.

“On an average weekly basis here at DDB, we receive anywhere from 50-70 e-mails and calls regarding animals suffering this degree of neglect,” notes Crampton. “The number tends to increase if there’s a natural disaster, or a dog fighting ring that’s abruptly shut down.”

Frost has witnessed something similar. “In the shelter setting, I’ve encountered many animals with a confirmed history of neglectful mistreatment,” he says. “One of the most common forms we actually see involves lack of proper socialization from a young age.”

Frost explains that this can stem from persistent disregard for an animal’s emotions, and/or chronic exposure to overwhelming stressors during early development. Sadly, he notes, mistreatment in any form often renders the same result: an adult dog who struggles to co-exist in a home environment.

Transforming the Lives of Abused Dogs

On the upside, however, both Crampton and Frost have helped to facilitate some fairly remarkable transformations. “Time and again at DDB, we’ve worked with dogs who have been chained with total disregard for their needs,” says Crampton. “Some literally panic when they first encounter any type of open space,” she says. This is one reason why the DDB facility is laid out like an actual house.

“Much of our early work often involves simple home-training,” says Crampton. “Over weeks, sometimes months, we get these dogs used to stairs. We help them feel comfortable in large rooms. We help them overcome fear of everyday noises most people take for granted, such as home appliances. We crate-train them, so they learn that smaller spaces can represent safety and security.”

Highly anxious dogs often get paired with other canines to help build their confidence. Once they become sufficiently comfortable, Crampton says they’re allowed to go on their very first “Freedom Run” in the fenced open yard. She describes each dog’s unrestrained joy as something incredible to behold.

Success Stories

Crampton recalls Elvi, the lone survivor of a residence where 21 dead canines were found in cages amidst dog fighting paraphernalia. Elvi had not necessarily been involved in the fighting, but was nonetheless petrified of everything.

Re-socialization initially involved giving Elvi her own separate room to decompress; then a secure open crate as her “safe area.” Volunteers spent weeks sitting quietly in Elvi’s presence, waiting for her to make the first move. “This little 35-pound girl would eventually come up, sniff your face, then mold herself perfectly into your lap,” recalls Crampton.

As Elvi gradually grew more settled with daily human contact, her caregivers tried introducing another dog. Pittie mix Turbo had been kept on the end of a short chain day and night, for nearly five years. But Elvi’s increasing confidence began rubbing off on Turbo. He progressively “learned” to play in her presence; while Elvi emerged even further from her own shell.

Next, Elvi met the highly anxious Ollie. Initially, Ollie completely ignored Elvi. But she began nurturing him — offering kisses, coaxing him to romp around. “They steadily became best friends,” says Crampton. “All the while, we watched Elvi blossom into a very special dog who went on to help reassure and heal other dogs.”

Frost remembers Kobe, a middle-aged Toy Poodle mix who came to a shelter with clear signs of neglect: horribly matted fur, plus severe ocular issues that wound up requiring daily eye drops. “Unfortunately, this little 20-pound dog quickly became aggressive in response to his medication,” recounts Frost. “His reaction was so pronounced that we became quite concerned about his adoptability and quality of life.”

In cooperation with a caring foster family, Frost taught Kobe to be an active, willing participant in his own daily care. “Over time, we used positive reinforcement that gradually trained Kobe to rest his chin on our knee in preparation for his eye drops,” explains Frost. “Whenever Kobe decided to lift his chin, the training session stopped. We were reassuring him that if he felt uncomfortable, he didn’t need to resort to violence. He could simply get up and walk away.” The eventual result? Kobe’s foster mom was so impressed with his progress that she adopted him herself.

Thinking of Adopting a Dog Who Previously Experienced Neglect or Cruelty? Great! But Keep This in Mind.

Here’s what you need to know about adopting a dog who previously experienced any sort of abuse. Photography ©AwaylGl | Thinkstock.

What’s the best way to determine if a dog you’re planning to adopt has required specialized socialization or behavioral intervention to become “adoption-ready?” First and foremost, ask. Shelters sometimes provide this insight on certain dogs. Second, remember that many of these animals are well worth considering. “One thing that makes dogs such wonderful companions is their resilience,” emphasizes Frost. “With the right care and socialization, they can absolutely thrive in a loving, caring home that provides for their needs.”

As an adoptive pet parent, proper preparation should include connecting with a qualified trainer or behaviorist. These professionals can help you learn to consider things from the dog’s perspective. “Initially, many of these pets may need extra time to decompress, adapt and learn about the adopter’s lifestyle,” observes Crampton. “If they seem to need space, let them observe from the sidelines.”

Both Crampton and Frost also emphasize that structure and direction are key. “It’s important, yet sometimes very hard, for adopters to understand that they should not overly coddle this type of canine,” Crampton explains. She notes that sympathetic humans will sometimes repeatedly indulge unwanted behaviors; unintentionally leading the dog to perceive himself as ruling the roost. Learning positive behavioral strategies from a skilled trainer can help your new pet understand his role from the outset.

“Socialization strategies based on positive reinforcement can help even severely neglected animals,” asserts Frost. “I’ve seen these canines go from being perceived as an unwanted nuisance to the treasure of an entire family.” Crampton adds that she also enjoys “watching adopters change their way of thinking, learning ways to do right by a canine who deserves a second chance.”

Viewed from these specialized perspectives, focused socialization can give many homeless canines the caring structure and guidance they need to become cherished lifetime companions.

Tell us: Did any of your dogs come from situations where they experienced neglect, cruelty or abuse? What are their stories? How did you socialize a previously mistreated dog?

Read more about dog adoption on Dogster.com:

What Inspired One Woman to Adopt an ‘Unadoptable’ Senior Dog

Pre-Adoption Checklist: Are You Really Ready to Adopt a Dog?

‘Finding Shelter’ Examines the Tough Work of Animal Shelter Volunteers

The post Socializing Neglected Dogs: What Goes on Behind the Scenes to Make a Mistreated Dog Adoptable appeared first on Dogster.

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jeffreyrwelch · 6 years

Text

Socializing Neglected Dogs: What Goes on Behind the Scenes to Make a Mistreated Dog Adoptable

Meet the Experts Who Work with Neglected or Mistreated Dogs

It takes a team of professionals to ensure that neglected dogs are ready to be adopted. Photography ©gaikphotos | Thinkstock.

Severely Neglected Dogs — An Unfortunately All Too Common Problem

Both Crampton and Frost agree that pronounced neglect is a pervasive problem that can affect canine lives in countless ways.

Transforming the Lives of Abused Dogs

Success Stories

Thinking of Adopting a Dog Who Previously Experienced Neglect or Cruelty? Great! But Keep This in Mind.

Here’s what you need to know about adopting a dog who previously experienced any sort of abuse. Photography ©AwaylGl | Thinkstock.

Viewed from these specialized perspectives, focused socialization can give many homeless canines the caring structure and guidance they need to become cherished lifetime companions.

Tell us: Did any of your dogs come from situations where they experienced neglect, cruelty or abuse? What are their stories? How did you socialize a previously mistreated dog?

Read more about dog adoption on Dogster.com:

What Inspired One Woman to Adopt an ‘Unadoptable’ Senior Dog

Pre-Adoption Checklist: Are You Really Ready to Adopt a Dog?

‘Finding Shelter’ Examines the Tough Work of Animal Shelter Volunteers

The post Socializing Neglected Dogs: What Goes on Behind the Scenes to Make a Mistreated Dog Adoptable appeared first on Dogster.

0 notes

daddyslittlejuliet · 6 years

Text

Socializing Neglected Dogs: What Goes on Behind the Scenes to Make a Mistreated Dog Adoptable

Meet the Experts Who Work with Neglected or Mistreated Dogs

It takes a team of professionals to ensure that neglected dogs are ready to be adopted. Photography ©gaikphotos | Thinkstock.

Severely Neglected Dogs — An Unfortunately All Too Common Problem

Both Crampton and Frost agree that pronounced neglect is a pervasive problem that can affect canine lives in countless ways.

Transforming the Lives of Abused Dogs

Success Stories

Thinking of Adopting a Dog Who Previously Experienced Neglect or Cruelty? Great! But Keep This in Mind.

Here’s what you need to know about adopting a dog who previously experienced any sort of abuse. Photography ©AwaylGl | Thinkstock.

Viewed from these specialized perspectives, focused socialization can give many homeless canines the caring structure and guidance they need to become cherished lifetime companions.

Tell us: Did any of your dogs come from situations where they experienced neglect, cruelty or abuse? What are their stories? How did you socialize a previously mistreated dog?

Read more about dog adoption on Dogster.com:

What Inspired One Woman to Adopt an ‘Unadoptable’ Senior Dog

Pre-Adoption Checklist: Are You Really Ready to Adopt a Dog?

‘Finding Shelter’ Examines the Tough Work of Animal Shelter Volunteers

The post Socializing Neglected Dogs: What Goes on Behind the Scenes to Make a Mistreated Dog Adoptable appeared first on Dogster.

0 notes