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digitalwebmastery · 1 month ago

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Not Just Posting: The Strategic Blueprint Behind Our Social Media Success

Scroll through any social media feed, and you'll see a deluge of brand posts. Some might be visually appealing, others perhaps informative, but many seem… random. A product shot here, a company update there, maybe a shared article or a trendy meme tossed in for good measure. This scattergun approach, often born from the pressure to "be active" on social media, is incredibly common. Many businesses equate social media marketing with simply posting stuff. But this perspective drastically misunderstands what truly drives success on these powerful platforms. Effective, results-oriented social media marketing isn't about haphazardly throwing content against the digital wall and hoping something sticks. It's about meticulous planning, deep understanding, and unwavering execution based on a comprehensive strategic blueprint.

Think of it like building a house. You wouldn't just start nailing boards together randomly, hoping it eventually resembles a sturdy structure. You'd start with architectural blueprints – detailed plans outlining the foundation, structure, room layouts, electrical wiring, plumbing – everything needed to ensure the final building is functional, safe, and meets the inhabitants' needs. Similarly, achieving meaningful results with a social media marketing service in India requires far more than just scheduling posts. It demands a carefully crafted blueprint that guides every decision, every piece of content, every interaction, ensuring all efforts align with specific business goals and resonate deeply with the target audience. Without this strategic foundation, you're essentially building on sand, likely wasting resources and missing the immense potential social platforms offer.

The Chaos of Unplanned Posting: Why 'Just Posting' Doesn't Work

Operating without a strategic blueprint leads to a predictable set of problems:

Inconsistent Messaging & Branding: Random posts often lack a cohesive voice or visual identity, confusing the audience and diluting brand recognition.

Irrelevant Content: Without understanding audience needs, content often fails to resonate, leading to low engagement and wasted creative effort.

Missed Opportunities: Reactive posting means failing to proactively plan for key dates, industry events, or integrated campaigns, leaving opportunities on the table.

Inefficient Resource Allocation: Time and budget are spent creating content that doesn't contribute to specific goals, leading to poor ROI.

Inability to Measure Success: Without clear goals and KPIs defined upfront, it's impossible to know if your social media efforts are actually working or making a difference.

Algorithm Penalties: Platforms often favour consistent, high-quality, engaging content planned within a broader strategy. Random, low-engagement posts can actually hurt your visibility.

Simply put, "just posting" is the social media equivalent of shouting randomly into a crowded room – mostly ignored, occasionally annoying, and rarely productive. Achieving the best social media marketing outcomes requires a different, more deliberate approach.

Deconstructing the Blueprint: The Pillars of Strategic Social Media Success

So, what does this essential strategic blueprint actually involve? It's a multi-faceted plan, developed collaboratively between the client and their social media marketing agency in India, covering several critical components:

Phase 1: Deep Discovery & Goal Definition (The Foundation)

Understanding the 'Why': Before anything else, we need absolute clarity on the business objectives. What are we trying to achieve? Increase leads? Drive sales? Boost brand awareness? Improve customer loyalty? Enhance brand reputation?

Audience Immersion: Who are we trying to reach? Developing detailed buyer personas – understanding their demographics, psychographics, pain points, motivations, online behaviour, and preferred platforms – is crucial.

Competitive Analysis: What are competitors doing on social media? What's working for them? Where are the gaps and opportunities for differentiation?

Brand Audit: Reviewing the current social media presence, brand voice, visual identity, and past performance to establish a baseline.

Setting SMART Goals: Translating business objectives into Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound social media goals (e.g., "Increase website referral traffic from Instagram by 20% within six months").

Phase 2: Platform Strategy (Choosing the Right Battlefield)

Platform Selection: Based on audience research and goals, identifying the primary social media platforms where efforts should be concentrated. It's better to excel on a few relevant platforms than be mediocre on many irrelevant ones.

Platform Optimization: Tailoring profile setups, content formats, posting frequency, and engagement tactics specifically for the nuances of each chosen platform (e.g., LinkedIn requires a different approach than TikTok).

Phase 3: Content Strategy & Pillars (The Building Blocks)

Defining Content Pillars: Establishing core themes or topics that align with brand values, audience interests, and business goals. These pillars guide content creation and ensure consistency.

Content Mix & Formats: Planning a diverse mix of content formats (e.g., blog post links, infographics, short videos, user-generated content campaigns, live streams, stories, polls) designed to engage different segments of the audience at various stages of the customer journey.

Value Proposition: Ensuring content provides genuine value – educating, entertaining, inspiring, or solving problems – rather than just overtly selling.

Content Calendar: Developing a detailed schedule outlining what will be posted, when, and on which platform, ensuring consistency and allowing for proactive planning around key dates or campaigns.

Phase 4: Engagement & Community Management Protocol (The Interaction Plan)

Brand Voice & Tone Guidelines: Defining how the brand should communicate in comments, messages, and interactions – friendly, formal, witty, expert?

Response Strategy: Establishing protocols for response times, handling negative feedback or complaints, and escalating issues when necessary.

Proactive Engagement: Outlining tactics for actively participating in relevant conversations, engaging with influencers or complementary brands, and fostering a sense of community.

Phase 5: Paid Social Strategy (Amplification & Targeting)

Objective Alignment: Defining specific goals for paid campaigns (e.g., lead generation, website traffic, conversions, reach).

Audience Targeting: Leveraging platform tools to target specific demographics, interests, behaviours, or custom audiences (like website visitors or email lists).

Budget Allocation & Bidding: Determining budget allocation across campaigns and platforms and setting appropriate bidding strategies.

Ad Creative & Testing: Designing compelling ad creative and implementing A/B testing to optimize performance.

Phase 6: Measurement, Analysis & Reporting Framework (The Accountability Check)

Defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Identifying the specific metrics (beyond vanity metrics) that will be tracked to measure progress against the defined SMART goals.

Tracking Implementation: Setting up necessary tracking tools (UTM parameters, platform pixels, analytics goals).

Reporting Cadence & Format: Establishing how often performance will be reported and what insights the reports will contain.

Optimization Cycle: Creating a process for regularly analyzing performance data and using those insights to refine the strategy, content, and tactics on an ongoing basis.

This comprehensive blueprint ensures that every action taken within the social media services provided is purposeful, measurable, and contributes to the overarching business objectives.

The Pink Shadow Media Difference: Strategy is Our Standard

At Pink Shadow Media, we firmly believe that social media success is built on strategy, not serendipity. We differentiate ourselves as a social media management company in India by making this strategic blueprint the absolute cornerstone of every client engagement. We don't offer cookie-cutter packages or engage in random acts of posting.

Our process begins with an intensive discovery phase, immersing ourselves in your business and goals. We then collaboratively develop a bespoke strategic blueprint, meticulously outlining every component detailed above. This plan becomes our shared roadmap, guiding our expert team of strategists, content creators, designers, community managers, and ad specialists. We execute the plan with precision, constantly monitor performance against defined KPIs, and provide transparent, insightful reporting that focuses on tangible results. For Pink Shadow Media, the blueprint isn't just a document; it's the operational framework that ensures our social media marketing service in India delivers predictable, measurable success.

Build Deliberately, Succeed Measurably

Stop treating social media like a guessing game. The path to achieving real business growth through these platforms isn't paved with random posts; it's built upon the solid foundation of a strategic blueprint. This deliberate, thoughtful approach ensures consistency, relevance, efficiency, and measurability, transforming your social media presence from a potential liability into a powerful, results-driven asset.

If you're tired of feeling like your social media efforts lack direction or impact, it's time to demand more than just posting. It's time to demand a strategy. Partner with a social media marketing agency in India that prioritizes planning and proven processes. Contact Pink Shadow Media today. Let's build your unique blueprint for social media success together.

#website development #seo #pinkshadowmedia #digital marketing

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demoexx · 8 months ago

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Shellharbour House Demolition: A New Chapter in Urban Development

Shellharbour, a picturesque coastal town in New South Wales, is known for its stunning beaches and vibrant community. However, as the town evolves, some homes are giving way to new developments, and Shellharbour House Demolition is becoming a significant part of this transformation. While the prospect of demolishing a house can evoke mixed emotions, it is essential to understand the broader context of urban growth, community needs, and the opportunities that come with such changes.

In this blog post, we will delve into the reasons behind house demolitions in Shellharbour, the processes involved, the environmental considerations, and the potential benefits for the community. Let’s explore how these transformations contribute to the town’s evolving landscape.

Why Demolish? Understanding the Need for Change

The decision to demolish a house often arises from various factors, including structural issues, outdated designs, and changing community needs. In Shellharbour, many older homes no longer meet modern living standards. Families are seeking more spacious, energy-efficient homes that can accommodate their lifestyles. Consequently, these outdated properties are making way for new constructions that are better suited to contemporary demands.

Additionally, local government initiatives encourage redevelopment to enhance the area’s appeal. As Shellharbour attracts more residents and visitors, upgrading infrastructure and housing becomes essential. The drive for modernity is not just about aesthetics; it’s about creating a functional and sustainable living environment for everyone. By understanding these motivations, residents can better appreciate the necessity of house demolitions in their community.

The Demolition Process: What to Expect

Embarking on a Shellharbour House Demolition involves several key steps to ensure a safe and efficient operation. Initially, homeowners must obtain the necessary permits and approvals from local authorities. This stage includes assessing the property for any hazardous materials, such as asbestos, which requires specialized handling and disposal.

Once all approvals are secured, the demolition team prepares the site by disconnecting utilities and ensuring safety measures are in place. This preparation is crucial to prevent accidents and minimize disruption to the surrounding area. The demolition itself can involve various methods, including mechanical demolition, which uses heavy machinery, or deconstruction, which allows for salvaging materials. Each approach has its advantages, depending on the specific circumstances of the property.

Environmental Considerations: Demolition with Care

As communities become more environmentally conscious, the demolition process in Shellharbour also reflects this awareness. Responsible demolition practices emphasize sustainability, focusing on recycling and repurposing materials whenever possible. This approach minimizes waste sent to landfills and reduces the environmental impact of construction activities.

In Shellharbour, demolition companies are increasingly adopting green practices. For example, salvaged timber, bricks, and fixtures can be repurposed in new constructions or sold to eco-conscious homeowners. Furthermore, many demolition teams work closely with environmental specialists to ensure compliance with regulations, safeguarding the surrounding ecosystems during the process.

The Community Impact: Building a Brighter Future

The effects of Shellharbour House Demolition extend beyond the physical structures being torn down. As new developments rise from the remnants of old homes, the community can experience a revitalization. Modern housing projects often come with improved amenities, such as parks, retail spaces, and recreational areas that cater to residents’ needs.

Moreover, the construction phase can boost the local economy by providing jobs and stimulating business for suppliers and contractors. The influx of new residents may also lead to increased demand for local services, benefiting shops, restaurants, and other establishments in the area. Ultimately, these transformations pave the way for a thriving community that embraces growth while maintaining its unique charm.

Looking Ahead: Embracing Change in Shellharbour

As Shellharbour continues to evolve, the conversation around Shellharbour House Demolition remains vital. While change can be challenging, it also brings opportunities for revitalization and improvement. Community members are encouraged to engage in discussions about future developments, ensuring their voices are heard in shaping the town’s direction.

In the end, embracing change is essential for progress. By understanding the reasons behind house demolitions, the processes involved, and their potential impact on the community, residents can foster a sense of ownership and pride in their town. Shellharbour’s future is bright, and with each demolition, a new chapter in urban development unfolds.

Conclusion: A New Era for Shellharbour

In conclusion, Shellharbour House Demolition is more than just a process of tearing down structures; it is a reflection of the community's evolution and aspirations. By addressing the needs of residents, prioritizing environmental sustainability, and promoting economic growth, these demolitions play a crucial role in shaping a vibrant and dynamic Shellharbour. As the town continues to grow and transform, the spirit of community will always remain at the forefront of these changes.

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capyboba-down-the-rabbit-hole · 1 year ago

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1st Stop: Cirque du tumblr's Identity Performers

Anyone can be anyone on Tumblr. It is not hard to imagine a Capybara being a feminist social media researcher here.

Navigating this highly personalized landscape requires a specific type of subcultural capital (Clawson & Thornton 1997) to discover an alternate world—a queer, carnival-like atmosphere where diverse individuals converge over shared passions, desires, and identities. Comparable to a circus, Tumblr's pleasures are both vast and unpredictable; its heightened drama breathes life and inspiration into users, but occasionally takes an ugly turn and leaves wounds in its wake.

Who are you, and what are you doing on Tumblr?

Tumblr transcends the label of a mere platform; for many, it's a home, especially for the socially and politically disenfranchised. These counterpublics have their own audiences, develop their own language, and offer a circulating discourse that is oriented toward the future (Warner 2002). As a deinstitutionalized, underfunded, and countercultural space, Tumblr fosters alternative pleasures, education, resource sharing, and creative and critical work.

However, the freedom and spontaneity of Tumblr come with a double-edged sword, allowing for misunderstandings, misrepresentation, harassment, plagiarism, trolling, and threats. While celebrated as a "social justice" platform, some researchers view it more as a network, a "contact zone," or even a "landmine" than a cohesive community (McCracken et al. 2020). Subcultures on Tumblr vary widely, with some far from progressive or empowering, condoning self-harm, promoting racism and transphobia, and turning inward in ways that are devastating. Unfortunately, the same "call-out culture" and social justice rhetoric that check privilege can be weaponized to hurt, ridicule, and dehumanize others (Mccracken 2017).

The Home for Double-life Performers

“The magic of Tumblr is we let you put anything in and get it out any way you want.” - David Karp

Tumblr's design and aesthetics have left an indelible mark on social media and popular culture in the 2010s.

Its features encourage heartfelt confessions, heated discussions, and dreamy creations, with the only boundary being one's imagination. Understanding Tumblr's social dynamics and its value requires recognizing it as a space affording young people a particular kind of social privacy aligned with their believes, than the more conventionally prioritized informational privacy. This stands in contrast to mainstream spaces like Facebook, which are more tightly integrated with offline lives, norms, and practices.

Drawing from Judith Butler's ideas of performativity (1988), which suggest that identity is not something inherently fixed but is instead performed and constructed through social and cultural practices, Tumblr users engage in digital identity performance—curating content, creating original posts, and interacting with others. The platform becomes a space for individuals to express nuanced and complex identities with dual lives—online and offline.

Tumblr embodies postmodern ideals as users navigate a space where traditional hierarchies and structures are often deconstructed. The emphasis on user-generated content and the blending of various media forms contribute to the creation of hyperrealities. The platform's interface attracted users seeking creative agency and an egalitarian, nonhierarchical, uncensored media environment. Adopting pseudonyms and high personalization allowed users to change identities at will, providing a protective opacity to separate online life from work and personal spheres. Tumblr's content pool, notably broader than other platforms, historically permitted adult sexual content (Ashley 2019), and users largely ignored commercial copyrights. In essence, Tumblr granted users control over what to post, how their blog looked, its connection to real life, and the ongoing presence and identity of their online persona.

Many people, therefore, view life on Tumblr as their second life, especially teenagers with privacy pervading issues within their own homes. The fact that the most significant threats to young people’s ability to manage social privacy typically come from within the “private sphere” of the home and close aquaintances often leads them to seek out moments of privacy in “public” spaces like Tumblr, where—despite the presence of a much larger potential audience—they find that they can exert more personal agency over information about themselves because no unwanted audience is (usually) paying specific attention to them (Marwick & boyd 2014).

Of course, it does not always turn out that way. At the end, this place is like a circus with loads of strangers having the same burdens and mental states.

Reference

Ashley, V 2019, ‘Tumblr porn eulogy’, Porn Studies, pp. 1–4.

Butler, J 1988, ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: an Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’, Theatre Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 519–531.

Clawson, MA & Thornton, S 1997, ‘Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital’, Contemporary Sociology, vol. 26, no. 4, p. 510.

Marwick, AE & boyd, danah 2014, ‘Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media’, New Media & Society, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 1051–1067.

Mccracken, A 2017, ‘Tumblr Youth Subcultures and Media Engagement’, Cinema Journal, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 151–161.

McCracken, A, Cho, A, Stein, L & Hoch, IN 2020, a tumblr book: platform and cultures, University of Michigan Press, viewed 2 February 2024, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11537055.

Nunes, M 1995, ‘Jean Baudrillard in Cyberspace: Internet, Virtuality, and Postmodernity’, Style, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 314–327.

Warner, M 2002, ‘Publics and Counterpublics’, Public Culture, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 49–90.

Wu, T 2013, ‘David Karp Is Tumblr’s Reluctant Technologist’, The New York Times, 11 September.

#week 3 #MDA20009 #Digital Community: Tumblr Case Study

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qlddemolition · 2 years ago

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Demolition vs. Deconstruction: Which is the More Sustainable Option

When it comes to renovating or removing old structures, the choice between demolition and deconstruction can have a significant impact on the environment and your project's sustainability. In this blog post, we'll explore the key differences between demolition and deconstruction, highlighting the environmental benefits of each option. If you're in Townsville and searching for demolition contractors Townsville, this guide will help you make an informed decision.

Demolition: The Traditional Approach

Demolition is the more conventional method for removing buildings or structures. It typically involves using heavy machinery like bulldozers, excavators, and wrecking balls to bring down the entire structure quickly. The debris generated during demolition is usually hauled away to landfills.

Pros of Demolition

1. Speed: Demolition is a faster process compared to deconstruction. It can be a more time-efficient choice for large-scale projects.

2. Lower Initial Costs: Demolition tends to be less expensive upfront since it requires fewer labor hours and specialized equipment.

Cons of Demolition

1. Waste Generation: One of the most significant drawbacks of demolition is the substantial amount of waste generated. Much of this waste ends up in landfills, contributing to environmental degradation.

2. Resource Wastage: Demolition doesn't salvage materials for reuse. Valuable resources like wood, metal, and concrete often go to waste.

Deconstruction: The Sustainable Alternative

Deconstruction is an eco-friendly approach to building removal. Instead of bulldozers and wrecking balls, it involves the careful disassembly of a structure, salvaging reusable materials as it goes. This method requires skilled labor and can take longer than traditional demolition.

Pros of Deconstruction

1. Environmental Benefits: Deconstruction significantly reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills, making it a more sustainable option. Salvaged materials can be repurposed, reducing the demand for new resources.

2. Resource Recovery: Deconstruction maximizes resource recovery. Valuable materials such as timber, bricks, and fixtures can be resold or reused, reducing the need for new manufacturing.

3. Local Economy Boost: Deconstruction creates job opportunities for skilled workers in the area, contributing to the local economy.

Cons of Deconstruction

1. Higher Costs: Deconstruction can be more expensive due to the skilled labor required and the longer timeline.

2. Potential Delays: Deconstruction may take longer than demolition, potentially causing delays in your project schedule.

Which Option Is More Sustainable?

The sustainability of your project depends on your priorities and the scale of the project. If you're searching for demolition contractors in Townsville and sustainability is a top concern, consider the following factors:

1. Project Size: For smaller projects, deconstruction may be a more viable and sustainable option. It's especially attractive if you're keen on reducing waste and maximizing resource recovery.

2. Budget: If you have a strict budget and time constraints, traditional demolition may be the more practical choice.

3. Environmental Impact: If reducing your environmental footprint is a priority, deconstruction is the more sustainable option, as it significantly reduces waste and promotes resource reuse.

4. Community Engagement: Deconstruction can be a valuable choice for engaging with the local community, as it creates jobs and contributes to the circular economy.

Conclusion

In the battle between demolition and deconstruction, the choice ultimately depends on your project's specific needs and sustainability goals. If you're in Townsville and searching for demolition contractors Townsville, consider discussing both options with Queensland Demolition & Remediation we can provide insights tailored to your circumstances. By making an informed decision, you can contribute to a more sustainable future while achieving your project goals.

#demolitioncontractorstownsville #demolitioncontractors #demolitioncompaniestownsville #demolitioncontractorsnearme #demolitionservicestownsville

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cmccormicksvad2022-2025 · 2 years ago

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Week 5: Project #4 - Remaking Language

I have been dedicating most of my time this week to Project #4, which has the ambitious goal of designing the 27th letter of the English alphabet. As I highlighted in my previous blog post, the primary objective of this project is to familiarize myself with typography terminology, specifically serifs and sans serifs in typefaces. In general, the project is proving to be a valuable opportunity to enhance my comprehension of typography and its significant contribution to design.

During my experimentation period, I devoted the majority of my time to exploring different fonts and typefaces with the aim of improving my comprehension of letterforms and the various elements that constitute the final form. After testing out various alternatives, I ultimately settled on Roboto Slab (regular) for my serif letter form and Ubuntu (regular) for my sans-serif letter form. I selected these fonts because they have a timeless and structured feel, and their styles and shapes are quite similar. To dive deeper into these choices, I created 21 sketches that encompassed multiple concepts for a potential 27th letter, with 12 ideas for the serif letter form and 9 for the sans-serif letter form.

After receiving feedback from my peers and professor, I realized that I needed to broaden my experimentation with letterforms. They advised me to further break down the shapes and create a more cohesive flow between the selected letters. Although the shapes were intriguing, they were too obvious. To gain a deeper understanding of how to deconstruct these concepts, I opted to transfer my work to the computer for additional experimentation. Nevertheless, this phase of the process presented some challenges. Creating these letterforms without distorting the type was difficult, and I had a learning curve when manipulating the letter forms in Illustrator. Fortunately, my professor supplied me with extra videos and resources to help me overcome these obstacles.

Once I've chosen two ideas from my sketches, I'll transform them into vector graphics using Illustrator. These vector files will be exported to InDesign, where I will design three specimen spreads inspired by Emigre Type Foundry's famous specimens or Lost Type.

The readings for this week have provided me with crucial concepts and ideas that can assist me in my design process. Kerning, tracking, line spacing, alignment, and vertical alignment are all vital factors that must be taken into consideration when designing a layout for a spread. Of particular importance are tracking and alignment, as they can impact the expression of meaning and the commentary on conflicts between different types. According to the text, the author states "You can express the meaning of a word or idea through the spacing, sizing, and placement of letters on a page…combining different types can comment on conflicts between hard and soft, industrial and natural, and planning and chance." The exercises conducted on these pages have been inspiring, as they have shown me how type can be utilized to foster a sense of emotion or clarity. Words are not just a means of conveying information but can also contribute to the mood of a page. This is especially relevant in magazines or printed advertisements, where the placement and shaping of text can add to the overall emotion or feeling conveyed by the material. Although text is a form of information, it should also be treated as an object or material that can add interest to the piece. However, it is important to exercise caution and review to ensure that the text remains legible and organized. These factors will be crucial as I move forward with the second portion of this project. All of these elements are necessary to create a successful layout for my three design spreads for my 27th letter.

Lupton, Ellen. “Kerning, Tracking, Line Spacing, Alignment, Vertical Alignment.” Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2010, pp. 102–123.

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gimme-mor · 4 years ago

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ACOTAR THINK PIECE: ELAIN AND THE CONCEPT OF CHOICE

*DISCLAIMER*

Please take the time to read this post in its entirety and truly reflect on the message I am trying to send before commenting. My goal is to use my background in Gender and Women’s Studies to deconstruct the behaviors and comments I have seen on Tumblr and Twitter, and, more importantly, bring awareness to the ACOTAR fandom. I WILL NOT tolerate anyone who tries to twist my words and say I am attacking people and their personal shipping preferences. In fact, I AM CRITIQUING THE ARGUMENTS THEMSELVES NOT THE PEOPLE USING THE ARGUMENTS.

As someone who has been a long time lurker on all sides of the ACOTAR fandom, the growing toxicity and hostility has become more apparent to the point that civil discourse is, for the most part, entirely lost. More times than not, the cause of the communication breakdown centers around Elain and the relationships she has with those around her. Before and after the release of ACOSF, I’ve noticed that when the fandom expresses its opinions about Elain and her development as a character, whether in a romantic light or generally, the conversation wholly hinges on the concept of choice. Common examples I’ve seen include:

Elain has been stripped of her choice for a majority of her life

Elain should be able to make her own choices

The King of Hybern took away Elain’s choice to be human when he had her tossed into the Cauldron

Elain did not choose the mating bond for herself, instead it was forced upon her

Elain feels pressured to choose Lucien

Elain should have the choice to stray away from what is expected of her

Elain and Azriel being together represents a different and stronger type of love because she’s choosing to be with him

If you ship Elucien, you’re not Pro-Elain because you’re taking away Elain’s right to choose who she wants to be with and forcing her to accept the mating bond

Elain chose to accept Azriel’s advances in the bonus chapter

When Rhysand called Azriel away after catching him and Elain together, Elain was stripped of her choice to be sexually intimate with Azriel

When Azriel and Rhysand are talking in the bonus chapter, Elain’s choices aren’t at the center of their conversation

If you suggest that Elain should leave the Night Court, you’re stripping Elain of her choice to remain with her family

If you suggest that Elain should be friends with someone else, you’re ignoring Elain’s choice to be friends with Nuala and Cerridwen

Why is the concept of choice exclusively tied to Elain and everything surrounding her character while simultaneously ignoring that other characters in the ACOTAR series have, to varying degrees, been stripped of their choices at some point in their lives? And why isn’t the concept of choice connected to these characters in the same way that it is connected to Elain? For example:

Did the High Lords strip Feyre of her choice to consent when they turned her into a High Fae?

Did Tamlin and Ianthe strip Feyre of her choice to consent when they started to control every aspect of her life in the Spring Court?

Was Vassa stripped of her choice when the other Mortal Queens sold her to Koschei, which resulted in her being cursed to turn into a firebird?

Was Feyre stripped of her choice to know the risks involved in the pregnancy?

Did the King of Hybern strip Nesta of her choice to be human when he had her tossed into the Cauldron?

Was everyone stripped of their choices under Amarantha’s rule?

Was Feyre stripped of her choice to just be a daughter and a sister when the Archeron family failed to contribute to their survival, which resulted in Feyre being the family’s sole provider?

Did Lucien’s family strip him and Jesminda of their choice to be together when they killed her because of her status as a Lesser Faerie?

Are Illyrian females stripped of their choice to consent when their wings are clipped?

Did the Hybern general strip Gwyn of her choice to consent?

Did Ianthe strip Lucien of his choice to consent?

Did Keir strip Mor of her choice to consent to her engagement to Eris?

Universally, femininity is synonymous with weakness and women often face discrimination because the patriarchy is part of an interactive system that perpetuates women’s oppression. Since the ACOTAR universe is set up to mirror a patriarchal society, it’s clear that the imbalance of power between males and females stems from sexism. The thing that sets Elain apart from other female characters in the ACOTAR series is the fact that SJM has portrayed Elain as a traditionally feminine character based on her actions and the ways in which Elain carries herself. Compared to them, Elain is inherently held to a different standard because her femalehood takes precedence over other aspects of her character in fandom discussions. These conversations indirectly place Elain on a pedestal and hail her as the epitome of traditional femininity; and when her character is criticized in any way, it’s seen as a direct attack against women, specifically women who are traditionally feminine. Also, these conversations fall back on Elain’s femaleness when analyzing her character since it can be assumed from a reader’s perspective that Elain, despite being the middle sibling, is coddled by those around her because her ultra-feminine nature is perceived as a sort of weakness in need of protection. However, the fact that the concept of choice is used as an argument to primarily focus on Elain’s femalehood highlights the narrow lens through which Elain, as a character, is viewed. It implies that Elain’s femaleness is all her character has to offer to the series overall and insinuates that Elain’s character development is dependent on her femaleness. To suggest, through the choice argument, that ACOTAR’s patriarchal society constrains Elain’s agency and prevents her from enacting her feminist right to choose while failing to examine the patriarchal structure of the ACOTAR universe and its impact on the female characters in the series, the choice argument ultimately falls apart because it shows that it’s only used to focus on Elain’s femalehood. Furthermore, the implication that Elain’s right to choose is, in itself, a feminist act in the series indicates that the concept of choice as an argument is used to promote choice feminism.

Feminism is a social movement that seeks to promote equality and equity to all genders, and feminists work toward eradicating gender disparities on a macro-level, in addition to challenging gender biases on a micro-level. Historically, feminism prioritized the voices of white women, specifically white women who were cisgender, able-bodied, affluent, educated, and heterosexual. But over the decades, the inclusion of women of color and other marginalized women’s voices has broadened the scope of feminism and caused it to take an intersectional approach when discussing social identities and the ways in which these identities result in overlapping systems of oppression and discrimination. On the other hand, choice feminism, a form of feminism, greatly differs from what feminism is aiming to accomplish. In the article “It’s Time to Move Past Choice Feminism”, Bhat states:

“Choice feminism can be understood as the idea that any action or decision that a woman takes inherently becomes a feminist act. Essentially, the decision becomes a feminist one because a woman chose it for herself. What could this look like? It could really be anything. Wearing makeup is a feminist act. Not wearing it is also a feminist act. Shaving or not shaving. Watching one TV show over another. Choosing a certain job over another. Listening to one artist over another. Picking a STEM career. Choosing to dress modestly or not. The list goes on. At first glance, there does not seem to be an apparent negative consequence of choice feminism. A woman’s power is within her choices, and those choices can line up with a feminist ideology. For example, a woman’s decision not to shave may be her response to Western beauty standards that are forced onto women. Not shaving may make her feel beautiful, comfortable, and powerful, and there is nothing wrong with that. Women making choices that make them feel good is not the issue. The issue lies in calling these decisions feminist ones. Choice feminism accompanies an amalgamation of problems‒the first being that this iteration of feminism operates on faulty assumptions about said choices. Liberal feminism neglects the different realities that exist for different women‒especially the difference between white women and women of color, transgender women and cis women, etc. Not all women have the same circumstance and access to choices, not all choices made by women are treated equally, and not all choices are inherently feminist” (https://www.34st.com/article/2021/01/feminism-choice-liberal-patriarchy-misogyny-bimbo-capitalism).

Just as white feminism ignores intersectionality and refuses to acknowledge the discriminations experienced by women of color, choice feminism and arguments supporting choice feminism have, by default, made the concept of choice exclusionary. The individualization of choice feminism glorifies the act of a woman making an individual choice and, by extension, gives the illusion that women’s liberation from gendered oppression can be achieved by enacting their rights to make personal, professional, and political choices. Herein lies the problem with choice feminism: it (the argument of “But it’s my choice!”) stifles feminist conversations from exploring the depths and intricacies of the decision making process because it’s used as a way to shut communication down entirely, shield arguments from criticism, and condemn those who criticize choice feminism for its disconnection from a larger feminist framework. Contrary to what choice feminism advocates for, it lulls the feminist movement into complacency because women’s individual choices do nothing to alleviate gendered oppression. Choice feminism’s leniency towards choice fails to address the limitations of choice in regards to women’s intersectional identities and enables society to shift the blame of women’s oppression away from the societal and institutional structures in place to women themselves for making the wrong choices that ultimately resulted in their circumstances. Choice is not always accessible to every woman. For instance, choices made by white women are, in some way, inaccessible to women of color, in the same way that choices made by cisgender women are inaccessible to transgender women. Choice is one of the founding concepts of the feminist movement and it “became a key part of feminist language and action as an integral aspect and rallying call within the fight for reproductive rights‒the right to choose whether or not we wanted to get pregnant and to choose what we wanted for our bodies and lives” (https://www.feministcurrent.com/2011/03/11/the-trouble-with-choosing-your-choice/). When choice, in a feminist context, is framed as something that is solely about the individual as opposed to the collective, the feminist foundation on which it stands “leads to an inflated sense of accomplishment while distracting from the collective action needed to produce real change that would have a lasting effect for the majority of women” (https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/03/i-am-not-feminist-jessa-crispin-review/).

By linking the choice argument with choice feminist rhetoric and extreme acts of progressiveness, it plays into today’s negative understanding of a social justice warrior and normalizes fake wokeness. In its original conception, a social justice warrior was another way to refer to an activist and had a positive connotation; nowadays, the term carries a negative connotation and is:

“. . . a pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most popular blogger or commenter of the moment, hoping that they will ‘get SJ points’ and become popular in return. They are very sure to adopt stances that are ‘correct’ in their social circle” (https://fee.org/articles/how-the-term-social-justice-warrior-became-an-insult/).

Today’s perception of the term social justice warrior is directly tied to fake wokeness because both are performative in nature, fueled by the drive to be seen as progressive, and derail necessary conversations from taking place by prioritizing toxicity. According to the article titled, “Three signs of fake ‘wokeness’ and why they hurt activism”, it states:

“. . . social media did not create activism: it did, however, create a legion of hashtags and accounts dedicated to issues . . . Sadly, fake woke people will use these hashtags or create these accounts, see that as contributing to a cause, and just call it a day; these same people tend to shame those without the same level of interest or devotion to a given cause . . . Ironically, as open-minded as the fake woke claim to be, they struggle to deal with opposition. More often than not, those who fit the fake woke bill will ignore, misconstrue, or shutdown anything remotely opposing their stances . . . Now yes, human nature often leads us to possess a bias against that which contradicts our views, but human nature should not serve as an excuse for irrational behavior. Opposition to our stances on issues helps activists more than it harms: it allows them to look at the causes they champion from a perspective they possibly ignored before, further enlightening them. More importantly, by discovering information that may refute what they believe, they can find and eliminate any flaws in their reasoning and strengthen their arguments. Activism involves opening up to change, something one stuck in an echo chamber can never achieve” (https://nchschant.com/16684/opinions/three-signs-of-fake-wokeness-and-why-they-hurt-activism/).

Rather than critiquing ideas, thoughts, and theories about Elain and her character development with textual evidence, the concept of choice as an argument is used to silence opposing viewpoints. This is similar to choice feminism because the conversations start and end with the concept of choice, leaving no room for a critical analysis of Elain’s character. Although the concept of choice as an argument is intended to shed light on how ACOTAR’s patriarchal structure limits females’ agency to some degree, the fact that it’s only applied to Elain invalidates the point of the argument because it doesn’t include the experiences of other female characters when examining the impact of sexism in the ACOTAR universe. The failure to do so calls the intent of the choice argument into question. As it stands, the concept of choice as an argument frames Elucien shippers and those who are critical of Elain as woman haters, misogynists, and anti-feminists, especially if they identify as women. The belief that a woman is anti-feminist or a woman hater any time she dislikes another woman suggests that women have to be held to a different emotional standard than men. If men are able to dislike other individual men without their characters being compromised, why can’t women? Feminism and what it means to be a feminist do not require women to like every woman they encounter. One of the many things feminism hopes to accomplish is granting women the same emotional privileges afforded to men.

Terms like “oppression”, “the right to choose”, “feminist”, “feminism”, “anti-feminist”, “anti-feminism”, “internalized misogyny”, “misogyny”, “misogynist”, “sexist”, “sexism”, “racist”, “racism”, “classist”, “classism”, “discrimination”, and “patriarchy” are all used in specific ways to draw attention to the plight of marginalized people and challenge those who deny the existence of systems of oppression. Yet these words and their meanings can be twisted to attack, exclude, and invalidate people with differing opinions on any given topic. When social justice and feminist terms are thrown around antagonistically and carelessly to push a personal agenda, it becomes clear that these terms are being used to engage in disingenuous discourse and pursue personal validation rather than being used out of any deep-seated conviction to dismantle systemic oppression. The personal weaponization of social justice and feminist concepts is a gateway for people who oppose these movements to strip these terms of their credibility in order to delegitimize the societal and institutional impacts on marginalized people.

It’s important to question how an argument is framed and why it’s framed the way that it is to critically examine the intent behind that argument: is it used as a tool to push a personal agenda that reinforces dismissive, condescending, and problematic behaviors, or is it used as an opportunity to share, learn, enlighten, and educate? The concept of choice as an argument is extremely problematic because: it limits fruitful discussions about Elain within the fandom; enables arguments that oppose opinions about Elain and her narrative development to masquerade as progressive by pushing social justice and feminist language to their extremes; normalizes the vilification and condemnation of individuals who are either critical of a ship, Elain as a character, or prefer her with Lucien; encourages an in-group and out-group mentality with differing opinions about Elain’s development resulting in politically charged insults; exploits social justice and feminist terms; ignores that harm done on a micro-level is just as damaging as harm done on a macro-level; and cheapens Elain’s character and her development.

There is more to Elain than her being a female who is traditionally feminine. Elain has the potential to be as complex of a character as Feyre, Nesta, Rhysand, Lucien, Cassian, Azriel, Amren, and Mor, and to reduce her character to her femalehood in fandom discussions is a disservice to Elain as a character, the ACOTAR fandom, and SJM’s writing. So I ask this: is there a reason why the fandom heavily emphasizes the concept of choice when discussing Elain that goes beyond a simplistic analysis of her as a character (i.e. using the concept of choice as an argument to reinforce Elain’s femaleness), or is the concept of choice used as a shield to prop up one ship over another?

gimme-mor library

#elucien #elain archeron #acosf #acotar: fandom critical

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canardroublard · 6 years ago

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A non-exhaustive list of academic-ish articles on film theory that I’d love to write but probably won’t get around to:

Alita: Battle Angel, Avatar, Aliens, Terminator, James Cameron’s broader filmography, and the separation of the self from the body (aka what the hell is this guy’s deal. I need to know)

Alita: Battle Angel, “Strong Female Characters” and how the cure to cinematic misogyny is not having a woman punch people (why we need to deconstruct story structures which promote or condone misogyny and toxic masculinity, rather than simply centering a woman in these story structures)

A related, or possibly the same essay, Alita Battle Angel vs Wonder Woman 2017, or how to write a naïve character without depriving her of agency

And finally, Alita Battle Angel is racist, mostly in typical ways that should be apparent to anyone with decent critical thinking skills, but I could probably circle back to my first topic (separation of self from the body) specifically as it relates to Mahershala Ali’s character and get into some meaty stuff there

The Man From UNCLE as a film which consistently subverts gender tropes and stereotypes, especially surrounding masculinity and the expectations for the male action movie lead, and why this may have contributed to its poor performance with reviewers

Beasts of the Southern Wild - I don’t have any firm theses on this yet, it’s been a few years since I’ve watched it so I’d have to refresh my memory, but probably lots that could be said about the magical realism aspects of the film, and of course racism and classism

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, and why this film does everything that A Star is Born tried to do, but does it way better and much more interestingly and didn’t make me feel like I’d wasted 2 hours of my life

The Handmaiden - A loooot to talk about here. Power dynamics between Japan and its neighbouring countries (obviously Korea, in this specific case, but that dynamic has parallels within the region) as played out on a personal level, fetishization of queer women (not saying that’s what the movie does, I’d have to rewatch and dig into it more to get a thesis on that). Oh and I am FASCINATED by this film’s use of gaze. And how gaze interacts with architecture and space.

The Circle - Yes, that Emma Watson/Tom Hanks tech company film. It was spectacularly unsuccessful as a film, a story, or really as anything, and I want to deconstruct why it sucked so bad

A non-exhaustive list of other films I’d write about in no particular order

The Favourite

Romeo + Juliet

Wes Anderson I like your films but you are kinda a misogynist (yeah let’s just cover his whole filmography because why not)

Widows (race, relationships, misogyny, and the messy intersection between those three things. Also women’s platonic relationships)

Disobedience

The Red Turtle and why I, a lover of animation, fucking hated it (spoiler: because the male main character, who admittedly has been having a bad time lately but that isn’t a valid excuse imho, acts like a dick and is rewarded for it)

The Beguiled (gaze, power dynamics)

The Florida Project

Annihilation (admittedly first I’d have to understand this mindfuck of a film before writing about it, but if I could get there I’m sure there’s lots to be said)

The Fall (not the Gillian Anderson tv show, the Lee Pace movie)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (idk if I’d get much further than “it’s racist” but if I were really motivated I might be able to deconstruct that a bit further) Update: wrote the “it’s racist” post. HERE

Dunkirk and perpetuating the myth of White History

Atomic Blonde

ETA

Tomb Raider (2018) and why it is at best “two-steps-forward-one-step-back” to give a white woman no romance in a story if by doing so you deprive characters of colour, namely a Chinese man and iirc a black woman, the opportunity to be romantic interests/leads

Beauty and the Beast (Emma Watson version) it’s almost impressive how this film goes out of its way to subvert its own marketing department’s attempts to make it sound feminist

Their Finest - something something war something lesbianism (I’d have to watch this again)

London Road - yes I know no one else saw this film. Even I can concede that “musical about a series of horrific serial killings” is a difficult sell to most people. But it’s a good film. Watch it. There’s lots to talk about here

Home (Dreamworks) which has a surprising amount to say about colonialism for a children’s film

Boy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, absent parents and the struggle of self-determination for boys coming of age. Or, portrayals of boyhood in the filmography of Taika Waititi

Kill Bill , Strong Female Characters” and how the cure to cinematic misogyny is not having a woman punch people and JFC these films are misogynistic

Anna Karenina is unadaptable as a film so please stop trying to make that happen, everyone, because by trying to cram it into a 2-3 hour movie everyone drops the Levin/Kitty story and without that you lose literally half of the actual story of the book

ETA (29/03/2019) wrote a post at least touching on the basics about racism in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri so I’m crossing that off the list for now.

#someone pay me to write these #meta #film theory

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english-ext-2 · 7 years ago

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Viva Voce (NEW)

Please note exact requirements will vary across schools, and all analysis here is based on the sample assessment/support material from the NESA website

The Viva Voce is the first formal assessment task, worth 30% of your internal mark. It’s the only assessment carried over from the old course, so some of the information here is recycled from my original post.

The Viva is a 15-20 minute panel interview where you present your Major Work to your teachers and respond to their questions. It’s basically “selling” your MW and its concept: “hey, look at how great my idea is! This is the form it’ll take, here’s the research I’ve done so far, and this is how I intend to carry it out.” You will also need to submit your Major Work Journal for review.

According to the sample assessment material on the NESA website, the presentation could include the following:

A thorough explanation of the purpose, audience, context and form of your Major Work

Acknowledgement of the sources you have used in developing the proposal and inquiry question

An outline of your plan to complete the Major Work project including a timeline

References to your journal to assist in explaining choices made and research completed.

Before I unpack the above, I want to briefly address concept. You obviously need to explain to the panel what your MW is about, but concept also underpins your understanding of purpose, audience, context and form. I have other detailed posts on developing a concept, but for our purposes here I just wanted to highlight concept as key to how you explain everything else required of you in the Viva.

Explanation of purpose, audience, context and form (+ concept) of your MW

While it’s important to explain each of these individually, it’s just as (if not more) important to link them together.

Purpose: Basically what you’ve set out to do with your MW. At this stage, it should not be something bland like “I aim to entertain my audience” or “I want to make people think”. Literally anybody could say that about their major. What is it that you want your MW to do specifically? What is the “conceptual purpose” of your MW, if you will. You might like to start out brainstorming a list of verbs, or thinking about the messages/themes you want to explore in your major.

Audience: Who is your Major Work intended for? Which group of people will respond to your major in the way you want them to? Again, broad answers along the lines of “the general public”, “high school students”, or “young people” won’t cut it. You need to delve a little deeper. Running with the last two examples, it’d be more “high school students who are highly active on social media” or “young people frustrated with their experience of the political system”. Specificity! It’s your friend.

Context: To quote the NESA glossary, context is “the range of personal, social, historical, cultural and workplace conditions in which a text is responded to and composed.” Replace “text” with “major work”, focus on “composed”, and you’ve got the gist. You need to be aware of your context (how your MW links to Advanced and Extension, for example) AND situate your MW in its context, e.g. a critical response on female journalists in WWII would require some knowledge of wartime reporting, government propaganda, censorship, attitudes towards women in journalism, etc.

Form: Most obviously, what is your form? And why have you chosen it? I’m not sure as to how detailed an answer teachers expect from the second question, but you should have some idea beyond “I like it.” This is where tying form to the other elements becomes important. What makes your form the most appropriate for your concept, purpose, and audience?

Putting it all together

Running through every permutation of purpose, audience, context and form would take far too long, so I’m going to limit this section to the relationships I personally find to be the most important. Please note that I’ve chosen to pair the elements for simplicity’s sake, but they all feed back into and overlap with one another.

Form and audience

Let’s say your major is a short story. Your intended audience would obviously not be film critics or even people who enjoy watching films. In other words, your intended audience should be directly related to your chosen form.

But there should also be a consideration of how your concept factors in: for example, why did you choose poetry to explore environmental activism on climate change? It could be because poetry is a strongly emotive form, and climate change is an issue that rouses great passion in your intended audience of green activists seeking new, culturally relevant ways to express their concerns around the consequences of failure to act on this issue.

(Btw there’s no shame in saying that you chose a form because it means a great deal to you personally! Familiarity with and fondness for a particular form is a perfectly legit reason to choose it. Just that it can’t be the only reason.)

(I pulled that poetry/climate change example from thin air, but turns out it’s a real thing.)

Audience and purpose

Your understanding of one is shaped by the other, the why of your MW informing the who and vice versa. Just as you wouldn’t buy someone a gift you know they’ll absolutely hate, you wouldn’t create a MW for an audience unlikely to appreciate it.

Say your major aims to deconstruct the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope in science fiction film and encourage change in the way women are represented in this genre. Film critics and/or cultural studies academics might be interested, but they’re not in the best position to push for change. A better fit would be, say, directors and producers working in the sci-fi genre who are interested in subversive or transformative gender narratives.

Form obviously plays a part here too, since you may have decided a podcast is the best way to reach your affluent and online audience.

Form and purpose

Why is your form best suited to doing the thing you want your MW to do? Or to quote from the NESA description of the Major Work: “The form of the Major Work must be chosen deliberately to contribute to the authenticity, originality and overall conceptual purpose of the work.”

To go with my sci-fi example from above, deconstructions of popular tropes are very well-suited to critical responses (and academic audiences). But as I noted, the purpose of encouraging change in the film industry demands a more visible platform that you’d get with a podcast. If, however, you were more interested in deconstruction-through-satire, a short story or short film would be the better choice.

Acknowledgement of the sources you have used in developing the proposal and inquiry question

It should be self-evident, but bears spelling out in full: cite specific sources. “I read an interesting article online” isn’t as strong as “I read an Atlantic article about how teenagers use Instagram to debate the news, which informed my thinking about the ability of social media to polarise, and the evolution of news consumption among young people.” Let the extent of your independent investigation shine! Show off the knowledge you’ve accumulated! Own your research, basically. (Also ironic in that you’re acknowledging other people’s work, but you get what I mean.)

It wouldn’t hurt to link those specific sources to your proposal and inquiry question. I don’t know how thoroughly you’ll be expected to explain those links, but something like the following would be a decent example: “This Atlantic article helped to narrow the scope of my inquiry question about the impact of social media on news-gathering behaviour to young people, instead of everyone.” The key thing is to at least mention various sources and show the teachers you’ve actually been doing relevant research.

Action plan outline, including timeline

Hint: structure your plan in relation to the composition process. Obviously, the particulars are going to be specific to your major. But be realistic in your planning. Try to strike a balance between micromanagement and no time management at all: while you don’t strictly need to break the entire EE2 course up into minuscule steps like “week two: write the opening scene”, it’s also not helpful to say you’ll tackle the entire investigating stage in January. To reiterate: the points under each stage of the composition process provide a good guide for your action plan.

Be aware of your own and others’ limits too! If you know you’re a serial procrastinator, can you really crank out a first draft in three weeks? Will you be able to secure feedback from your learning community in the week before an assessment block? You also need to account for any other Major Works you’ve got and remember the workload from your other subjects. How will you fit EE2 around them? There’s nothing wrong in keeping your timeline tight, a kind of platonic ideal to which you aspire, but it shouldn’t be so unrealistic as to be impossible.

I say it in my guide to the composition process, but remember that your action plan will likely change throughout the year. Life happens! Something might happen in your personal life; you could come down with the flu; maybe a friend is late in getting their feedback to you, and you find yourself falling behind schedule. It’s not the end of the world. You can adjust your action plan as you go - working around obstacles is part and parcel of EE2.

References to your journal to assist in explaining choices made and research completed

You should be able to point to specific entries in your journal to explain why you made a decision, which is a good time to remind you to keep your journal up to date!! Back-filling entries is a pain but also procedurally unsound, since you can’t return to your state of mind and exact train of thought when you made a decision.

Preparing for the Viva

You’ll be given the questions 15 minutes beforehand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare. Make sure you are familiar with and prepared to discuss your major’s concept, form, purpose, audience and context (particularly links to Advanced and Extension coursework).

If you’re still in doubt, the old English Extension 2 Support Document includes a handy list of starting questions, a sample of which I’ve copied below:

Concept

What concept have you developed for your Major Work? Describe it.

Why are you interested in this concept?

What are your sources of inspiration?

How is your concept an extension of the knowledge, understanding and skills developed in English (Advanced) and (Extension) courses?

Purpose

What are you aiming to achieve during the Extension 2 course?

How are you planning to achieve this purpose?

Form

Have you decided on the form in which you would like to compose?

Why have you chosen this particular form?

Intended Audience

Who is the target audience of your work and why?

The questions you answer in the Viva will be different and/or tailored to your MW specifically, but the list above broadly covers the things you’ll be asked. You don’t need to write an entire essay in response to each question; dot points are fine. The Viva is not a speech, so your language doesn’t need to be as formal.

Practice, practice, practice

If you’re worried or anxious about fronting up before a panel, I recommend doing a practice run with a close friend. Grab your notes, MW journal, a stopwatch, and someone you trust, then get them to pitch you the list of questions you’ve prepared for. Use the stopwatch to keep yourself within 15-20 minutes. Practicing will build your confidence and familiarity with your notes, as well as help you cut down on any waffle you might be inclined to.

During the Viva

The preparation is one thing, communicating what you’ve prepared to the panel is another. Of course, a lot depends on who the teachers are, how comfortable you are with them, your own confidence levels, etc. I can’t really help you there. All I can suggest is that you try to convey your interest and enthusiasm to the panel. It’s your project, and you want it to succeed. Channel some of that passion into the way you present your MW. You’re pretty much stopping short of grabbing each teacher by their lapels and yelling LOOK AT THIS FANTASTIC IDEA I HAVE.

The teachers will ask you questions related specifically to your MW, ones which are spontaneous and based on their understanding of your MW as you’ve presented it to them in the Viva. Again, try not to stress. The teachers are not looking for ways to trip you up, they’re helping you to think about the direction your MW could take. One of the most important things you’ll learn from the EE2 course that isn’t mentioned in the learning outcomes is taking criticism. It’s about being able to accept (reasonable) critique of your work and striving to improve those areas, as well as exercising control over your creative process, i.e. not taking absolutely every single suggestion put forward unless you truly believe they’ll all benefit you.

Post-Viva

When you get your marks back there should be comments as well, like suggestions on what you could be reading, or questions that might help you orientate the direction of your MW. Take these on board, and discuss them with your English teacher(s) as soon as possible. The assessment tasks are certainly there to assess you, but they’re also ways to keep you on track and help you to make your MW better. (Keep in mind what I mentioned above about taking criticism/feedback.)

#viva voce #assessments #my posts #hsc #english extension 2 #this got very long #im sorry for everyone on mobile

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lowcarbnutrients · 6 years ago

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7 Ways To Get Your Children To Eat Their School Lunches

After reviewing among my fellow YMC Blogger's articles on just how her preschooler rejects to consume her lunch, I thought I'd 'reply' by creating a post with some ideas. Gurpreet Randev, just like lots of parents of young kids, has actually attempted whatever from vibrant finger foods to pin-worthy elegant food skewers. Her child proceeds to come house from school with an unblemished lunch bag. Gurpreet is at completion of her rope when it comes to institution lunches, and her child is just one month into preschool. I understand she's not alone, as well as I recognize that lots of parents, like her, have read many post and also write-ups on particular consuming and also 'how you can get your child to consume more.' As a parent of a preschooler myself, I could envision the frustration that Gurpreet is feeling, so I hope that some of these (rather unconventional) ideas will certainly aid her and also other parents who really feel the very same pain.

1. Include your kid in lunch preparation, setting up and packing

When offered the possibility, young youngsters love to assist plan as well as prepare meals. When kids have a say in just what they eat, they really feel a feeling of control. This, consequently, increases the possibilities of them eating it. Offer your youngsters 2 to 3 options for each component of their lunch. Ask 'Would you such as to have a plum or peach for your fruit?' or 'Would you such as a pita or a tortilla wrap for your sandwich?' When you as well as your child have actually decided just what will certainly enter into his lunch, put every little thing out on the counter or table and obtain your kid in order to help construct it and/or load it right into his lunch bag. Handing over a little of control will give your kid a confidence increase as well as a feeling of satisfaction in contributing to his meal.

2. Try separating their foods

I couldn't figure out why my three-year-old kid quit wishing to consume his peanut butter and also banana sandwiches (he generally enjoyed them) up until I asked him if he'd prefer the banana on the side of his sandwich. He stated yes and happily demolished his lunch. Many preschoolers or young school-aged kids experience a stage where they do not like their food to touch. This is typical and will certainly pass eventually. Although your youngsters might be declining to consume their macaroni as well as cheese with peas mixed in, they may happily eat it if you take the peas out and put them on the side. Attempt deconstructing their sandwiches or putting all their pizza active ingredients into different parts in a container (meat, grated cheese, cut-up veggies, and also mini pitas).

3. Have an open dialogue

Your kid may go on a certain food 'strike' where they choose not to eat a food or combination of foods. This is entirely normal as well as is normally absolutely nothing to fret about. However it's vital to have an open dialog concerning food selections and preferences to make sure that you could stay up to date with these 'food stages' (as well as not assume that your kid will consume the previous best option). Young kids can be picky with food (as highlighted in my previous point) and also although it's not ok to be a 'short-order cook,' it's vital that your child feels as though they have a say in exactly what they consume. Ask your child why they are no longer intending to eat a food-you could be stunned at what you discover. Probably it is the shade or texture that is turning them off. Perhaps the banana that you send out in the morning finishes up being brownish and mushy by the time lunch duties around. Let them recognize that it's OK to not want to eat a specific food which they could attempt something brand-new or a different variant of an old favourite.

4. Make sure that your kid can open their containers/baggies

This seems silly, yet in more youthful kids, lack of manual mastery could really be among the reasons they come residence with unopened containers of food. Technique opening baggies and also containers in the house prior to you send them complete of food to college.

5. Make a snack-inspired lunch

Kids love finger foods. Attempt making lunch right into a 'bento box' by getting an amazing container with numerous areas and placing snack-like foods (that together form a healthy well balanced dish) with great deals of different colors, structures, and also shapes. Include vibrant veggies as well as fruits (of your child's picking) with tasty dips, healthy protein options such as cut-up meats, hardboiled eggs, chickpeas, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, and afterwards entire grain foods such as breads, homemade muffins, biscuits, etc. Once again, involve your child in choosing what she wishes to have in her bento box, even if it is an uncommon combination of foods.

6. Dial down the too much creativity

If you, like numerous moms and dads, are spending hours scouring Pinterest for Martha Stewart-worthy lunch concepts, you might be going a little bit overboard on the innovative side of things. Children aren't as high upkeep as we could believe. Your youngsters will dislike the bunny-shaped sandwich or star-shaped cheese pieces as high as your think they will. It's important to provide a selection of foods at lunch (3 to 5 various foods in numerous shades as well as shapes) for nourishment objectives but also to avoid college lunch monotony, however this doesn't have to take hours at a time. As opposed to reducing your child's sandwich into 4 squares, eventually cut it right into triangles. As opposed to supplying cheddar cheese, deal mozzarella someday. As opposed to offering carrots and also celery, deal cucumber and also baby tomatoes. As opposed to an egg salad sandwich, use a sliced up hard steamed egg and also whole grain crackers. Switching it up-even a little bit-will pique your child's interest and motivate them to munch a little bit greater than they otherwise would.

7. Take the pressure off on your own and your child

It is TOUGH not to place the pressure on your youngsters when they choose not to consume a dish, however here's the point: when you put the stress on, it will likely transform them off of it even much more. My idea is to back off (I indicate that in the nicest method feasible). Toddlers as well as kids were birthed intuitive eaters, and it's crucial to support that intuition as long as you possibly can. By pressuring your kids, you are in fact encouraging them to NOT follow their interior hunger/fullness signs. This is the opposite of exactly what you want to do. As Ellyn Satter's Department of Duty describes, our obligation as the parent is to guarantee your youngster is supplied a healthy and balanced, delicious, well balanced meal 3 times a day and also healthy and balanced treats in between many meals. It's your children's duty to choose whether they consume as well as just how much. As long as you are holding up your end of the offer and your kid is expanding well and also not falling off the growth contour, they is likely satisfying their calorie demands by the end of the week (even if they eat extremely little in one meal and even in someday). Attempt your ideal to grit your teeth and bite your tongue when you see your very carefully crafted lunch returned uneaten and know that it won't be like this forever. It's a phase not unlike various other challenging stages that our darlings go through.

I blog post daily suggestions, sources, and response to challenging concerns about nutrition for family members over on my Facebook Web page, so do not hesitate to check it out!

#diet #high fiber diet #nutrition

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radiqueer · 7 years ago

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I’ve been trying to figure out how to contribute to the “born this way” conversation, but I’m not fully sure how to articulate my ideas. For me I feel like my identity... like I feel I was “born this way” like I’ve had intermittent dysphoria for as long as I can remember. But also as far as mspec labels go I could ID as pan, or poly, or Omni, but I’ve always felt bi fits and that’s the identity I choose. My partner tho, feels that they, more than anything, chose to be bi (1/2)

My partner feels that they had no inclination towards being anything other than a straight man until well into their thirties, when, due to a lot of factors, they decided any company was good company and decided to see if they liked being with men. They had a good experience, and they feel they could have left it at that but CHOSE to continue to pursue their attraction to men, and then much more recently, in doing their own research about gender identity and being around me (2/3 oops)

They chose to question their gender identity (which as of right now is inconclusive), and my partner feels happy as a bi questioning person, but also felt happy as a straight man and could have remained so but chose to be happy a different way. Idk it’s complicated/messy and I don’t really get it but it’s how my partner feels and I believe them. And then Political lesbianism is a thing. Idk it’s hard for me to wrap my head around I wish I could contribute more. It’s def not one size fits all tho

this makes a ton of sense, thanks for sharing!

I feel like - in a lot of ways, being queer and identifying as queer changed me as a person. it changed everything, from the way I think about and approach new topics, the way I see myself and the world, my politics, my tastes in books and art. queerness is fundamental to me, but I can conceive not being queer. if I didn’t know it was an option to identify this way, if I didn’t grow in a home that encouraged me to question and pursue new avenues, I would be a different person. and I cannot with any certainty say that I would definitely identify as queer at some point, if not at 14 then at 17, 19, 25, 40. I think I am happier for being queer, because it is relieving to share an experience and a community (things which have been difficult for me in the past) with people who love and support me. I like having a voice and an opinion on issues. I like my politics. I don’t like being discriminated against, but who does?

there are so many ways to have a fluid identity. you can be the same person all your life with the same experiences and label yourself differently over time. like your partner. one could be happy in one’s assigned roles but happier in a different set that they sought out and choose (kudos to your partner for keeping an open mind and allowing themselves to be happy in a non-normative way, btw), you can have a fluid identity that changes with time, you can be one thing and identify as another, you can refuse a labels on principle, you can be a political lesbian (or it’s equivalents, I suppose? I don’t know if we have something analogous to political lesbianism in other queer subgroups. I think certain parts of the ace community are the closest we’ve come)

the problem is the idea that there’s only one way to be and feel about queerness and identity and labels. which, IME, is what the BTW crowd seeks to do - normalise us because we are an expression of naturally occurring human diversity. we deserve equality because we are people, just slightly different, and we didn’t choose to be this way any more than you did. it’s not our fault! give us some money! [/s]

people who are written over by this narrative, in no particular order:

questioning people who don’t even know whether they’re straight - they may or may not be

nb people who are often told we are special snowflakes, a symptoms of the excesses of liberal/left wing politics. that we wouldn’t exist if not for the internet [true of me if not for you / ymmv]

bisexual and mspec people

people with fluid identities

people who choose to present a certain way

political [orientation]

people who are choosing to not labels themselves out of fear

people whose identity is informed by trauma

etc

the problem is the dichotomy that seems to be essential to this debate - that you can only have one or the other, that people on one side keep trying to erase the opposing narrative. I frankly don’t know. I’ve only been a part of this debate for a few months and all my thoughts about BTW are informed by personal experience and what I have stumbled across on tumblr. not a comprehensive start by any means. but ime it’s always the BTWs who are trying to shove differing narratives away, and not the choicers. maybe @korrasera and i have different experiences! in fact, I think we have very different experiences

The problem I’m trying to highlight, the whole reason I made this post, is that I’ve never seen someone suggest that only BTW is valid. In fact, the only times I’ve ever seen people discussing BTW was to specifically suggest that we have to do whatever we can to erase it as an idea because they perceive it as being inherently exclusionary, as though the existence of people who were BTW meant that people could not be queer, gay, lesbian, or trans without having been born in that state. I think it’s a reasonable assumption to consider such intentions as being somewhat noble, since they’re meant to criticize and deconstruct social constructs of legitimacy, but I literally never see the topic raised without it being ‘let’s get rid of the idea that BTW people exist, it’s not true and it hurts the cause’.

[emphasis added all mine; taken from this post]

I have a different experience. I’ve seen BTW discussed as the only right way to be, and not only by exclusionists (I wouldn’t be able to find receipts on this - I remade my blog recently, and lost all my likes and the people I was following). even when I talk to people irl, I’m forced to resort to a narrative I don’t have any stake in to get my point across, a narrative that doesn’t help me. it’s frustrating and alienating. and I still don’t think we should do away with BTW. I think we make room for people like me to exist and talk, and define clearly what it means so more people can figure out whether or not they fit.

I read around some while I was writing this post, so here’s some stuff tangential but essential to my thoughts:

this post about the relationship of radfems to what constitutes essential womanhood

this post by the same user about why some people may choose a certain labels

another post by the same user

this post, which possibly everyone has read, but I was thinking about this part (emphasis mine)

My girlfriend Marna has been a queer activist since the late 80s. She’s told me about the incredible deliberation and debates LGBTQ+ activists had, in the late 90s and early 00s as the community began to see past the AIDS crisis and immediate goals of “surviving a plague” and “burying our dead.” There were a lot of things we wanted to achieve, but we had to decide how to allocate our scarce reserves of money, labour, publicity, and public goodwiil. Those were the discussions that decided the next big goals we’d pursue were same-sex marriage equality and legal recognition of medical gender transition.

From hearing her tell it, it seems like it was actually a wrenching decision, because it absolutely left a lot of people in the dust. A lot of people, her included, had broad agendas based on sexual freedom and the rights of people to do whatever they wanted with their bodies and consenting partners—and they agreed to put their broader concerns aside and drill down, very specifically, onto the rights of cis gays and lesbians to marry, and the ability to legally change your sex and gender.

As a political tactic it was terrifically effective. […]

Activists of 20 years ago chose to sideline and diminish efforts to blur and abolish the gender binary. Efforts to promote alternative family structures, including polyamorous families and non-sexual bonds between non-related adults. Efforts to fight the Christian cultural message that sex is dirty, sinful, bad, and in need of containment. Efforts to promote sexual pleasure as a positive good.

I couldn’t tell you why these posts stuck out to me while I was writing this, but they do a better job, by and large, of contextualising what I’ve said here

#sorry for hijacking ur point into a longwinded ramble #it stands pretty damn well on its own #im just rambly #original #born this way

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farfromsugafanfic · 7 years ago

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Sammy Interview

Before we get started, do you mind introducing yourself and telling a bit about yourself?

My name is Sammy. I’m 34 years old, a college graduate with a background in cultural anthropology as well as women, gender, and sexuality studies. I’m particularly interested in queer and feminist methodologies. I live with my partner of some 15 years, who is also a fanfiction writer.

Q1: So, you told me that you’ve been writing fan fiction for 20+ years which is awesome! How did it all get started and what kind of fan fiction have you written in that time?

A1: Like a lot of fangirls of my generation, anime was my introduction to fanfiction. I grew up watching Sailor Moon when it first aired on American network television. It was love at first sight. There was nothing else like it on TV. At my local Blockbuster I discovered anime. It wasn’t as readily available then as it is now. Because the english dubs were so limited I ended up watching the same OVA rentals over and over - Ranma ½, RG Veda, Vampire Princess Miyu. First I wrote stories in my head, then I started writing them down. When I recieved my own computer and constant access to the internet, I went searching for fansites. Secreted behind unassuming links I found small clutches of fanfiction. This was before fanfiction.net first took off, and An Archive of Our Own was well over a decade away. Fansites had webrings, which took me to the next fansite, and so on. It really was a matter of finding the right webring for a given show and following the thread.

I began with writing Sailor Moon fanfiction, and as Cartoon Network’s late night block of programming (Toonami) expanded, the more I wrote. Gundam Wing fandom introduced me to shipping and it blew my mind.

I moved away from anime when the Harry Potter movies happened. A lot of us made the transition to book and movie based fandoms when someone discovered Harry/Draco. After that I found DC comics, and then became very active in the Star Trek reboot fandom. I’ve written for Stargate: Atlantis, BBC Sherlock and Hannibal and so, so many other shows/books/video games. I’ve been an active participant in Yuletide, which is an anonymous holiday fanfic exchange, and multiple Big Bangs -another fanfic/fanart exchange- as well as a kinkmeme prompt filler for years.

Q2: What pushed you to begin sharing your fan fiction?

A2: The mailing lists. In the early days of fandom private yahoo groups and message boards were the main venue for posting and reading fanfiction. Most mailing lists were fandom based and created for specific content - like Gundam Wing Slash, GundamWingGEN and CRACKSHIP. These became high volume, tight knit communities. It wasn’t unusual to have your mail box refreshing on the left side of the monitor, while you chatted with members on AIM on the right side. There was a lot of encouragement, experimentation, and collaboration. You posted your fanfiction to the list, or board, and people cheered. It was all so exciting. It’s hard to describe now how close we all were, and just how much fellow-feeling fueled hundreds of emails a day. This was my online family, my community. I didn’t need a push or moment of courage to post my early fanfiction - I was delighted to share, invited to share. It was an electrifying thing to be part of.

Q3: Were you scared to post it online?

A3: Not at all. I didn’t need to be scared - none of us did. No one outside these early lists and boards knew what we were doing. I really can’t emphasize enough how guarded the early fanfiction community was. We were incredibly insulated. Our families didn’t know, our teachers and co-workers were oblivious, popular culture wasn’t shitting on fanfiction writers because it didn’t know we were writing. I wasn’t scared to press ‘send’, but it did feel dangerous, a little rebellious. There was a sense of getting away with something.

Q4: Has writing fan fiction taught you anything? About writing? Reading? Something else?

A4: On a basic level, fanfiction taught me how to write. Structure, pace, dialogue - I was taught those things in a classroom, but I learned them by writing fanfiction. We all taught ourselves to write by writing for each other. We created an entire literary movement without an MA in literature, or a structured pedagogy. Fanfiction writers generated new narrative traditions, like the Five Things + 1 format (a breakaway from the three-act story), Hurt/Comfort, and a language of tagging that defies classical genre rules - all because we were messing around.

Writing fanfiction has taught me the value of questioning western literary rules and conventions, that writing for myself and my own pleasure is valid. It’s also taught me that I don’t like to write alone. One of the things that makes fanfiction so special for me is that so much of it happens in conversation with other writers and readers. My best writing experiences have been in simpatico with total strangers, on AIM, in livejournal comment threads, gchat. I’m not writing “original fiction” because I lack imagination; it’s just too lonely.

Q5: Do you ever want to be published in a professional capacity one day?

A5: I do, though I feel like this is a bit of a fraught subject for fanfiction writers. There’s an compulsion to say yes, of course I plan to publish one day, as if that end goal legitimates the fanfiction I write. I don’t want to contribute to the idea of fanfiction as a lesser form of literature- a stepping stone to Real Writing - but yes. I started writing creative nonfiction in community college. That writing comes from a very different place than fanfiction. It satisfies another hunger.

Q6: How you feel about the stigma surrounding fan fiction and fan fiction writers? Or, do you not feel any stigma at all?

A6: I think the stigma towards fanfiction is pushback from multiple sociological and institutional sources.

In the beginning we had the sense that fanfiction - slash fanfiction - wasn’t something to bring up outside of those digital spaces we made for ourselves. We knew it would be considered an auteur kink at best, or downright perverted plagiarism at worst (I think this is largely still the case). Before the community found the language to discuss slash and fanfiction as transformative works - as deconstructions of conventional media, gender roles, and sexuality - there was an ethos of compartmentalization to the whole thing.

Q7: Do you think that stigma is warranted? (Whether or not you have personally experience it?)

A7: No.

I touched on this earlier, but I believe the stigma and hostility towards fanfiction is firmly rooted in gender and non-normative sexuality. The writing we do is generally characterized as a feminine endeavour, which immediately marks it as inferior to a literary canon that values the masculine so highly. The perception that fanfiction is a plagiarism of male authored source material makes it all the more egregious.

Equally as foundational, is the reduction of fanfiction to gay porn written by straight cis women for straight cis women - fanfiction is not only shit writing, it’s perverted and weird.

I’ve never been ashamed of the fanfiction I write, or read. Embarrassed maybe, of those first earnest attempts at writing. But fanfiction does not have a monopoly on bad writing. I can just as easily find the same trash in Barnes & Noble. So, quality is not and never has been a valid criticism.

Q8: What’s your favorite piece of fan fiction you’ve ever written? Why?

A8: A gen fic I wrote for Star Trek (AOS). I’m a leisurely writer, and stories don’t just hit me whole and complete in one go. But this one did. It took three hours to write and I didn’t have to think about where I was going after finishing a paragraph, the next was already there, I just had to type it out. It’s never come that easy before or since. It’s not my most popular piece of fanfiction, but I can go back and read it and not feel like I need to change anything.

Q10: Do you write outside of fan fiction?

A10: I do - until recently I was writing up lesson plans for classes I was co-facilitating. Generally, when I’m not writing fanfiction I’m working on creative non-fiction. I use the frame of gender analysis and sexuality studies (among others) to write about my life.

Q11: What site do you prefer to write and post your fan fiction on?

A11: An Archive of Our Own (AO3). The tagging system is superior and the site is far more user friendly than ff.net, which is an absolute dumpster fire.

Q12: What’s something you want people outside the fan fiction community to know about the fan fiction community?

We’re not a monolith. Teenage girls are the cultural face of fanfiction, but so many of us are in our 30s and 40s, old fandom queens from those first private mailing lists, boards, and LiveJournal accounts. We have soul sucking jobs. We have degrees in STEM. We teach college, have kids and debt, and friendships that have lasted decades.. We are not, and never have been a homogenous group of straight cis women. Asexuality and gender fluidity abounds. Plenty of us experience disability and chronic illness. And we aren’t a small group of weirdos obsessed with Johnlock. We’re an enormous and diverse group of weirdos who have created a literary movement.

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Leeds Beckett University presents nine architecture and design projects

A "Recycled Fun Palace" and pottery studios for autistic and non-verbal people are included in Dezeen's latest school show by Leeds Beckett University.

Also included is a project that imagines a post-viral Blackpool and another that explores the idea that colonising another planet is the solution to climate change.

Leeds Beckett University

School: Leeds Beckett University, Leeds School of Architecture Courses: BA(Hons) Architecture, BA(Hons) Landscape Architecture and Design, BA(Hons) Interior Architecture and Design, MA Landscape Architecture, Master of Architecture (MArch) Tutors: Claire Hannibal, Tom Vigar, Simon Warren, Keith Andrews, Doreen Bernath, Nick Tyson, John Maccleary, Chris Royffe, Sarah Mills, George Epolito, Mohammad Taleghani, Alia Fadel, Amanda Wanner and Maryam Osman

School statement:

"Leeds School of Architecture questions what architecture and the built environment can contribute to the world we live in from a cultural, social and political point of view. As a result, we have expanded modes of practice, research, and inter-disciplinary work to inform new critical voices and collectively empower creative minds to tackle our current environmental and ethical challenges.

"Our continued school ethos of collaboration enables new design problems and solutions to emerge, and the projects exhibited within this showcase crucially engage with this theme.

"There have been many student successes as a result of the school's continued collective action, studio agendas, and the commitment of its students and course staff teams.

"During 20/21, opportunities for our students to locate their practice in wider contexts included collaborations on projects with Crescent Arts - Scarborough, the Forestry Commission, Henshaws Specialist College, Leeds Art Gallery, Portsmouth University, Temple University - Philadelphia, New Wortley Community Association, CATCH (Community Action to Create Hope) - Harehills, Halifax Opportunities Trust, and MAP Charity, Leeds.

"The work presented brings together student work from across the following programmes: BA(Hons) Architecture, BA(Hons) Interior Architecture, and Design, BA(Hons) Landscape Architecture and Design, MA Landscape Architecture and Master in Architecture (MArch)."

The Survivor's Sanctuary (The Black Plague of Blackpool, The Walking Dead) by Dominic Stewart

"Once a hamlet by the sea, Blackpool emerged as a significant seaside destination for the well-to-do in the nineteenth century. Since this period of boom, however, it has suffered a decline, and although it remains a destination, it currently exists in two states lodged between the permanent – its residents – and the transitory – its fleeting visitors.

"The project imagines a post-viral townscape that questions ideas of community and the fragile state of our urban fabric. Set within a global pandemic, the rebirth of civilisation forces inhabitants to examine historic ways of building whilst developing technologies of energy production.

"The Survivor's Sanctuary proposes a future that challenges ideas of self-sufficiency, sustainable building, and the structural adaptability of reclaimed materials. A testbed for ideas, the success of the future lies in the hands of those who have survived."

Student: Dominic Stewart Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Tutor: Claire Hannibal

The Recycled Fun Palace: Repurposing Philadelphia's Refinery Infrastructure through Community Institutes by Luke Singleton

"Citizen Agency studio projects were located in Philadelphia, USA, commencing with The Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Awards Student Competition. The site is a 1,300-acre redundant refinery close to Philadelphia's centre. 13 students prepared one group entry titled 'Community Institutes'.

"Our design studio was awarded third prize. From each student's contribution to the competition, a community institute proposition was developed.

"The Recycled Fun Palace reuses a disused gasometer. The immense structure takes on a new role, acting as the framework for a Cedric Price-inspired superstructure. In response to the ever-increasing climate emergency, the new architecture has been constructed by reusing refinery infrastructure."

Student: Luke Singleton Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Tutor: Simon Warren

The Seven Vails of The Lord by Cassie Norrish

"The Abstract Machines studio projects were based in York and explored the following propositional themes. Research into the cultural manifestations of political parties with students defining their position; exploration of the spatial systems through which party organisations could manifest themselves; and how an architectural language can represent the ideals and values of the defined organisation within a particular culture.

"Norrish's project called 'The Seven Vails of The Lord' examines institutional religion's subordination of women through hierarchy, ritual, and spatial exclusion.

"The project deconstructs the faith's given axioms through a series of narrative spatial sequences overlaid with subverted historical and contemporary church rituals."

Student: Cassie Norrish Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Tutor: Keith Andrews

The Colony by Sam Pick

"This studio explored plans. It considered how they are created and what implications this method has on their realisation as spaces.

"Students developed unique approaches to plans as counter positions to rational 2D methods. Projects were set in Greenwich, with students given free control over briefs and programmes to explore their approaches.

"This project proposes that colonising another planet is the only response to the increasing danger of climate change. The 'colony' uses 3D-printing methods to explore spatial limitations and consider how the inhabitants might cope with being in control of their own environment.

"The spatial consequences of 3D printing are explored alongside a politically charged narrative over time, with the colony inhabitants coming together and pulling apart as they modify their surroundings."

Student: Sam Pick Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Tutor: Tom Vigar

Breaking the Mould: Pottery Workshops for Autistic and Non-verbal Individuals by Hannah Elebert

"Through art-based studio practice and self-generated projects, our interior architecture and design graduating students create sustainable interior spaces, engaging with the adaptive reuse of buildings and structures in response to contemporary social, ethical and political issues.

"Elebert's project advocates for environmental inclusion through creating an interactive space designed to accommodate the needs of autistic and non-verbal individuals.

"Located in the Former Calcining Works, a Grade II Listed Building in Stoke-on-Trent, the project extends the legacy of the site including learning spaces and pottery workshops for the manipulation of clay.

"Focus is given to the detailing of transition spaces that address the specific accessibility needs of autistic and non-verbal children."

Student: Hannah Elebert Course: BA(Hons) Interior Architecture and Design Tutors: Maryam Osman and Amanda Wanner

Leeds Innovation District by Magdalena Maciejewska

"This studio was designed to create opportunities for students to demonstrate creativity, personal focus and design competence through undertaking a comprehensive landscape architecture challenge in Leeds Innovation District.

"Together with Leeds universities and the teaching hospitals NHS Trust, the city have embarked on creating a focal point for innovation in the city.

"Alongside development opportunities, they are encouraging collaboration between universities, health professionals and civic leaders to enable business and job creation and growth.

"This project is a landscape proposition at the heart of the proposed district, including sculptures built with solar panels and corten steel that will power street lighting and water features."

Student: Magdalena Maciejewska Course: BA(Hons) Landscape Architecture and Design Tutors: Alia Fadel and Mohammad Taleghani

Kirkstall Forge Sponge Park by Nisha Hawkridge

"The design of Kirkstall Forge Sponge Park on the River Aire in Leeds is driven by natural interventions. It creates a resilient landscape that responds to the impacts of flooding and climate change now and in the future.

"The park will support the river by protecting the surrounding settlements and filtering water runoff before it reaches the river; provide wildlife with biodiverse habitats along with clean river water which will promote aquatic life; and bring people together with both flooding and wildlife through natural strategies

"Kirkstall Forge Sponge Park will embrace flooding and proposes natural features that work with increased rainfall and not against it."

Student: Nisha Hawkridge Course: Master of Landscape Architecture Tutors: John Maccleary and Chris Royffe

Skeletons, Skins and Parallaxes: Laboratories of Politics and Kinetic Inhabitation by Amy Ferguson

"The Cinematic Commons studio seeks to depart from the current challenging situation – isolation protocols, domestic implosion and disabled public realms – to probe alternative possibilities of spatial conditions to resist the control, disconnection and dissolution of urban public spaces.

"While the connection of homes and streets in terms of political demonstrations has in recent decade been altered due to the capabilities of instant and mobile documentation, this recent period of COVID-19 lockdown further magnified the desire towards the combination of remote and in-situ political movements – the era of 'armchair activism.'

"This project aims to recognise the potential of linking a locally immersive and adaptive environment of work and occupancy with globalised political campaigns on worldwide environmental and ecological issues.

"Thus, the project creates 'laboratories of politics' equipped with architecturally kinetic mechanisms of 'skeletons, skins and parallaxes', drawing inspiration from the adaptability of film and theatre production sets and multi-locational virtual reality relaying technologies for future inhabitants.

"The project probes a series of protest architecture for activists and a hub of 'politics-as-lived' for the like-minded to research, campaign and form communities of affinities.

"The adaptability of the architectural, kinetic mechanism activates the protest territories, occupying and transforming spaces within the street, on structures and within buildings.

"Many parts of the architectural, kinetic system can be re-distributed in the protest territory and also move to remote locations yet keeping a synchronic relation with the base labs. The parallax of space across time extends to a parallax of multiple situations and modes of activisms."

Student: Amy Ferguson Course: Master in Architecture (MArch) Tutor: Doreen Bernath

A Post Pandemic Pocket Book to Re-connect a Faceless Society by Grace Butcher

"The ‘Post Pandemic Story Book’ takes the opportunity to reconnect society through participatory design. The project focuses on 'care' to explore modes of inhabitation for a multi-generational population, providing user-modified spatial layouts connected by generous garden spaces that allow for escape or chance meeting.

"The Liverpool North Docks site is restructured through a series of engineered timber frameworks which are then populated by a set of conditions and increasingly finer material systems that negotiate from the strategic to human scale. The architectural outcome is driven by user appropriation and demand for open-ended programmes of occupation, offering creative capabilities for an uncertain future."

Student: Grace Butcher Course: Master in Architecture (MArch) Tutor: Nick Tyson

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Leeds Beckett University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Leeds Beckett University presents nine architecture and design projects appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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How the border problem caught the Biden team off guard, and how they've scrambled to fix it

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/how-the-border-problem-caught-the-biden-team-off-guard-and-how-theyve-scrambled-to-fix-it/

How the border problem caught the Biden team off guard, and how they've scrambled to fix it

“He was disappointed that we hadn’t gotten answers from other agencies faster or that (the facilities) wouldn’t be ready for children faster,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment of the response. “He made it pretty clear that there were times when he didn’t think we were moving fast enough.”

Republicans have assailed Biden’s handling of the situation, blaming his early actions to overturn some of the Trump administration’s draconian border enforcement policies for inducing what is shaping up to be a historic surge of migrants to the border.

“These are all self-inflicted wounds,” a Homeland Security official said.

Interviews with more than a dozen administration officials, people involved in the presidential transition, lawmakers and congressional aides provide an inside look at how the gravity of the situation along the border began to sink in for the administration as it took power two months ago — and how it’s struggled to address the problem ever since.

Biden administration officials say they expected the number of migrants arriving at the US border would swell once they took office, given their drastically different approach to immigration compared to former President Donald Trump’s, but they did not anticipate a surge this big, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warns will likely reach a two-decade peak.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who traveled to the border with Mayorkas Friday, described the conditions in border facilities, where there are now more than 5,000 minors in custody.

“Just left the border processing facility. 100s of kids packed into big open rooms. In a corner, I fought back tears as a 13 yr old girl sobbbed uncontrollably explaining thru a translator how terrified she was, having been separated from her grandmother and without her parents,” he tweeted Friday.

“The Biden Administration is trying their best to uphold the rule of law with humanity. They have a ton of work ahead to clean up the mess Trump left them, but their intentions are true,” Murphy added.

In dealing with the political fallout, Biden officials and congressional Democrats have attempted to deflect blame. A less-than-cooperative transition from the Trump administration, pent up demand stemming from Trump’s hardline immigration policies, and worsening conditions in Central America have all contributed to the surge, they say.

But the White House’s emergency actions in recent weeks — scrambling to find more beds for kids in federal custody and calling in the Federal Emergency Management Agency to jump start emergency intake sites — are all signs of an administration that’s been caught off guard by the sheer number of migrants arriving at the border.

‘We knew that this was going to be a challenge’

There were warning signs this would happen. Last summer, the number of migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border began to rise, after having dropped when the pandemic gripped the western hemisphere. Behind the scenes, federal border officials began to warn about a projected increase in the coming months.

“When Covid hit, we saw a precipitous drop in the numbers. But we knew from the beginning that at some point those numbers would creep up,” former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told Appradab, citing the worsening conditions in Latin America as a result of the pandemic and hurricane devastation.

Morgan said the Biden transition team was “specifically warned again and again and again,” adding that officials had worked on modeling to project the jump in encounters if Trump policies were pulled back.

Biden officials argue that the Trump team inhibited their ability to get a true grasp of the situation by not fully cooperating during the transition in the months after the election. That, according to one Biden official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, prevented the incoming administration from getting “under the hood in the time frame that other administrations would have been able to.”

This official also bristled at the notion they weren’t fully prepared. “Were we prepared? Yes,” the official said. “Everyone wants to be like ‘crisis, crisis, crisis, crisis’ — but it’s like, you know what, actually, things are going really well. Yes, we brought in FEMA, but you know what? That was the responsible thing to do.”

Not only was the transition truncated, but Biden officials argue they inherited an overall immigration and asylum system that had been deconstructed by Trump.

“As we were coming into the administration, we knew we were inheriting an absolute mess from the previous administration — that there were aspects of our legal immigration system that had been gutted and a department that lacked the personnel to administer our laws,” said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the director of the White House’s office of intergovernmental affairs.

“When we came into office, like, it was a disaster. I mean, really. The staffing wasn’t in place, the structures weren’t in place,” said another administration official.

Critics say the White House hasn’t helped itself. During his first week in office, Biden signed a slew of executive actions aimed at undoing Trump’s immigration policies and released comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Most notable among the changes has been the decision to no longer expel unaccompanied minors who show up at the border, resulting in more children coming into US custody.

Those policy changes, some argue, sent a signal to migrants that it was the time to come to the United States, despite administration officials warning them it wasn’t.

“The gulf between what the Trump administration did in enforced cruelty and where the Biden administration wanted to be was so great that I don’t really think there was a clearer example that needed to be made in how the government and the administration was going to change,” one senior administration official said.

“The previous administration had so radically changed what we did on migration that, I think, the President felt very strongly that we had to act really quickly and really decisively to demonstrate that it wasn’t going to be the same,” the official added.

Mark Greenberg, a former Health and Human Services official who was involved in the Biden transition, noted the difficulties in projecting the scope of the influx. “It’s always hard to estimate how big the numbers would be, but it was always clear there would be a need for more capacity if the government was going to stop expelling children,” he said.

“Because of Covid, they had greatly reduced bed capacity. That capacity has not been enough for the increased number of children. It was foreseeable months ago that there was going to be a problem if bed capacity wasn’t going to be increased,” Greenberg added.

The Trump policies barring people from coming to the US also contributed to more people waiting in Mexico to come to the United States, argued John Sandweg, a former senior Homeland Security official under the Obama administration.

The Trump administration had pushed non-Mexican asylum seekers to Mexico until their court dates in the United States, leaving tens of thousands languishing in Mexico, and invoked a public health law during the coronavirus pandemic that allowed border officials to turn away migrants, including adults, families and unaccompanied children, encountered at the border. Biden moved to undo those, though he’s still leaning on the public health law to turn most adult migrants away.

“We’ve had a little over a year of (Migrant Protection Protocols), two years, and then Title 42 and that created a real anomaly in the sense that we had hundreds of thousands of people staged in Mexico ready to come, Central Americans,” Sandweg told Appradab, citing another policy, known as the “remain in Mexico” program, which required migrants to wait in Mexico until their US court dates. “I think that’s playing a big role and artificially increasing the numbers.”

A source with knowledge of discussions during the transition said officials were aware the border would pose a challenge from the start. “We knew the Trump administration was turning away children. We knew there were camps in Matamoros (Mexico) because of ‘remain in Mexico.’ We knew that this was going to be a challenge immediately,” the source said.

“The transition was not in a position to open facilities because we weren’t the government. What we concentrated on was developing the policy that the new administration would be able to follow immediately,” the source added.

Tensions boil between lawmakers and the White House

Republicans have turned to immigration as their primary line of attack against Biden. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy led a Republican delegation to El Paso, Texas, this month and Sen. Ted Cruz is planning to head up a Senate GOP trip.

“The sad part about all this, it didn’t have to happen. This crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. There’s no other way to claim it than a Biden border crisis,” McCarthy said at a news conference.

Democrats have responded by charging that the outgoing Trump administration is responsible for creating the conditions that led to the border problems, by refusing to give the Biden administration a proper transition and with policies that led to migrants waiting in dangerous conditions in camps near the border.

“There’s a rush because people are so desperate,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat. “It was one of those things where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. What the Trump administration was doing was in many ways cruel forcing these people to wait in very dangerous situations on the other side of the border.”

“They’re just screaming about this to change the subject,” one administration official said of Republican criticism. “It’s used to distract and divide the American public and distract from the issue at hand. President Biden — 60% approval, huge approval — what do they do? They go to the border.”

Democrats have expressed anger toward the Biden administration over the failure to move children out of border facilities quickly enough, calling the situation unacceptable. One House Democrat involved in immigration issues said it’s been a “messy process” as the Biden administration has ramped up capacity to address the surge in unaccompanied minors.

There’s been particular frustration over the lack of shelter space to house the additional children, including the fact that the HHS facilities were being used at less-than-full capacity because of Covid restrictions.

“I’m not defending having a child in a Border Patrol station for more than three days — that’s not what the law requires and it’s not appropriate,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat. “Jamming kids in a Border Patrol station, that’s not Covid protocol — so you might as well get them out of there into some of the facilities.”

But Democrats charge that Republicans are trying to exploit the situation for political gain, scaring voters and ignoring the fact that the migration increases are cyclical and happened in the Trump administration, too.

“McCarthy goes down there — I never heard him once express concern about a 12-year-old girl being sent back on their own to some camp in Mexico,” Lofgren said.

On Thursday, the House passed two immigration bills — one to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” and another to provide legal status for farm workers — though they are expected to hit a wall in the Senate. The bills are a sign of the tough slog ahead for Congress to address immigration reform and the problems at the border.

“The reason why I find it so irritating to debate whether we should say there’s a crisis on the border or not is because saying that takes our focus off the broader picture,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from a Texas border district.

“If we don’t address the root causes now, and if we don’t change the system now, we will continue having this conversation every single year. And nothing will change. And things will get worse.”

Geneva Sands contributed to this report.

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