#of introduction to a topic ; the rest of the section's really fun to read

[ersatz-introspective]

low/no empathy is Minorly Othering in terms of interests (in my experience) because almost everyone i know prefers fiction over nonfiction, because it's more interesting and easier to digest,

but prefer the opposite for the same reasons. nonfiction is MUCH easier for me to parse through. i stress myself out a lot whenever i try to imagine a characters thoughts and feelings, and i end up usually just misunderstanding entirely. oftentimes it's so frustrating i just put a book down and never try reading it again. i understand rhetorical devices, messages, themes, symbolism,,, i understand the book on a technical level when it comes to the artistry of how it's written. but i, for the life of me, in the moment, simply cannot fathom a character's thoughts and feelings

comics are only a little easier bcs they have added help of drawn depictions of thoughts and feeling, but even then it can still be hard. i just can't enjoy the same literature many ppl are into just cus i find textbooks n stuff more easy to read

[princepestilence]

NYR: May in review

Post-May horoscope: "Grief is perhaps the last and final translation of love. This is the last act of loving someone. And you realise it will never end. You get to do this to translate this last act of love for the rest of your life."

I know it's a bit of a heavy thought, this horoscope, but it's actually been very comforting for me this month. You don't grieve what you didn't care about, and an unexpected part of this journey that I've found more difficult than I would ever have imagined are all the moments every day where life is basically normal. And there's more and more of those all the time. So the very existence of this grief in any of its shades is validating, for lack of a better word. Even when life is normal and good, she isn't forgotten, or less loved.

Anyway, all that to say, life is becoming a kind of normal again. Work has become a comfortable habit again, thesis creeps closer to the final draft, I have been incrementally reconnecting with the greater world once more. All good things, although not much to write about.

See family. Caught up with my dad and brother, which was fun and good. I've started plotting out a preliminary itinerary for our trip next year, which has been a nice spark of excitement here and there for me. .

Celebrate Mother’s Day. Considering the circumstances, it was really lovely. My little brother has taken ownership of mum's cookbooks and made us some of her favourites while I was visiting. .

Thesis work. Getting there! I'm dreaming of having the draft ready for people to read over by July, but we'll see how June goes. Might be closer to August.

In June, I will:

Decorate room. Didn't quite get around to this in May, so that's an extremely low-priority, low-stakes (but fun) project for this month. .

Thesis work. In the next week or so I'm planning to finish up with the section I'm working on and move onto the final introduction section. Ideally, if that can be done by the end of June, then it'll only be about a week into July before the whole thing is ready to send out to my supervisor. .

Go on a day trip. We had a lot of heavy rain this month on the days I would have gone up on the train, so that's been postponed until now. I'm excited for another little date with just me, the zoo and aquarium, and my big headphones that make everyone else be quiet. .

See family + friends. The year has been going so so so fast, and I keep saying I'll visit people and then months have passed. Trying to catch up again in June before it's suddenly September already. .

Koriko. My copy arrived in the mail a few days ago. I'm not putting pressure on myself to start right now, but also if the spirit moves me, that's fine as well. .

Prep for writers' festival. I've agreed to facilitate a panel of authors on the topic of modern fairytales in July, which will be a very fun chat and overall pretty breezy for a paid gig, but means I do need to get familiar with their signature works before then so I can ask interesting and relevant questions. The books are on my desk, I just need to find the time. .

Playing Dread for the first time! I've run multiple games of Dread by this point, but this is the first time I've had a chance to be a player. Trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time has been several months in the making, but we've finally been given a date to put in the calendar. Speaking of... .

See some live music. Later that same day, I'll be going with my family to see a band that my mum adored. I'm actually going because she'd already had a ticket, but obviously can't make use of that now, so I am. One of their songs was the exit music at her funeral, and I can't decide if I want them to play it, or if I really don't.

[dirtfrosting]

Do you have any drawing tips? I’ve been doing it all my life but I’ve been in a block recently. I haven’t quite found a drawing style that I like. How do you go about drawing anatomy?

ngl I was also in a block but then I found rhett hehehe

whoops im a yapper so I'll put it under the cut!

tldr: Kaycem vids, anatomy for artists drawing form & pose by tomfoxdraws, copy a little, draw a lot, use references, try a bunch of stuff, and have fun :D

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For style, I look at other artists that I admire and break down what specifically I like and try to do the same. Is it their line art, color scheme, composition, or their stylization? If its stylization, then is it the proportions, facial features, etc.? Its easy to say you like everything, but narrowing it down gives you something to focus on.

Yoinking one aspect from one artist prevents you from copying one person, but there's also more to style than what you like. I think Kaycem mentions this, but your art style is an amalgamation of the shortcuts you take. Some you learn from other artists, others you make on your own based on what you like to draw and what you know how to draw.

idk what im trying to say😭 My style woes come from a lack of technical and fundamental proficiency. Stuff looks wonky because the anatomy, proportions, or perspective is wrong. I can't always tell what's wrong, but it still looks wrong ya kno? So learning from other artists can give you a good starting point, but ultimately, your knowledge is the deciding factor

.....speaking of......

I like Kaycem's art bootcamp series on youtube. There's 30 videos, mostly around 2:30 hrs long. I watched them on 2x speed and drew along, pausing if needed. The vids are recorded livestreams, so there's some off-topic stuff, but I just use that time to catch up or skip past it. He has some edited versions, but not for all 30 days. Lowkey forgot everything, but my drawings at the time were some of my best imo! (i fell off 😔)

I also found anatomy for artists drawing form & pose by tomfoxdraws really helpful for understanding 3D form! (there's pdfs online if you know where to look👀) I read the text, copy the drawings, and apply what I learned.

I only got through the head section and haven't touched it in months 💀oops I definitely need to get back to it

Some of the stuff Kaycem mentions are also in tomfox's book, so its a nice introduction! I've also tried proko's anatomy vids but they're a little more complex. Sinx also has some good vids. EmilioDekure's videos are also helpful and he has a slightly simpler style if that's more your vibe. Just try a bunch of stuff and see what works!! The stuff you absorb will combine with stuff you like to create a style you can tweak as you learn and experiment.

(ngl I feel like the only anatomy I've kind of figured out is the upper arm 💀so I use references to fill figure out the rest)

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Sometimes I like studies bc you mostly copy stuff, but other times its soo draining. Trying to apply the knowledge can be especially frustrating so remember to take breaks to have fun!!

I loove drawing straight in pen, sometimes without construction lines at all. It trains you to be more intentional with your marks, but it's also super relaxing/meditative for me. I just copy what I see, which takes less brain power imo. It's not as helpful for learning form bc I'm only thinking in line. It is good for observational skills, though, which come in handy for copying refs when you can't figure out the anatomy teehee

(also i hate pencil smudges)

Like everyone always says: just gotta practice! The time will pass anyways!! Sometimes a drawing turns out good, then the very next one looks like garbage, but who cares! Enjoy the process! The next one will be better!!! Never stop drawing!!! Yippee!!!!

[byakuyasdarling]

Ah yes, Pokémon rivals; my favourite topic

Warning: this list is massively biased. I (kinda jokingly) rag on every ‘Awful’ tier rival, so if you don’t want to here that, feel free to skip that explanation. I am pretty harsh with Marnie, I know a lot of people like her, so if you do like her PLEASE don’t read her section because I do not want to upset anyone. 

Also, I do ramble a bit how I like SWSH but they are my personal least favourite games (which is a hot take, I know), so if that would upset you please skip. Take care of yourselves <33

I created the politically correct ranking of Pokémon rivals (/j)

Anyway, epic explanation under the cut:

*if N was on this list he would fall under “Amazing”. Breath-taking story, breath-taking development, great theme songs, awesome character, fantastic team.

Why Blue is in S rank (very long explanation compared to the rest)

You cannot tell me Blue (or Green, or Gary, whatever you want to call the main Kanto rival) isn’t THE BEST RIVAL EVER. They got it SO RIGHT. He inspires hatred, AND sympathy. Literally, his grandad, the only living relative aside from his sister we even know about, loves you (the player) more than him and it’s kind of sad. 

Blue is great, he has a crappy pronunciation of ‘Bonjour’ (see Pokémon Masters), he says ‘smell ya later!’ he has class, swag, and is by no doubt the most challenging rival character. He is the only rival I never swept on a normal run. He is always demeaning you; he is always one step ahead all the way up until the champion battle where you finally beat him. AND HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OMG.

He still is arrogant and prideful, but respects people and wants to guide people to be better at Pokémon battling and thrives when he sees others succeeding - he doesn’t mind being ‘a former champion’. HECK HE’S SO COOL AND AMAZING. 

Also he has the best champion theme and encounter theme ever. Yes, he was a previous F/O so I am super biased; but so were 3 others on this list. 

Silver and Gladion

These two were my F/Os when I was much younger (around 12). They are great rivals with great development and story arcs. Plus, they have bopper encounter themes and battle themes. Gladion was my real introduction to the oc x canon community and inspired me to take drawing on as a hobby (as well as Lillie but I did not end up drawing her as much). 

Brendan, Cheren, Hugh, and Barry

When I was 10 playing Omega Ruby, I liked Brendan a lot (so... another past F/O... he’s the final one though). I dunno, he genuinely had a good friendship with that extra spice of rivalry with our character, May. I do not like friendly rivals (if my listing wasn’t obvious), but Brendan did it right. There was a lot of touching scenes with him and May *cough*cough* Delta Chapter *cough*cough* which really made me connect with him when I was 10. Now, Brendan and May are interchangeable depending on which one of them you pick to play as, so why have I ranked Bredan far above May? Better encounter and battle theme (yes, they have different instrumentation) and he gets the childhood crush pass.

Cheren is cool, I just really like his character and his attempts to create a good strategy. He is really dedicated to what he loves and becomes a gym leader (like BLUE DID. Blue has it all, really). Plus, glasses are cute :) (he is the same age as me, I can legally say that even though that was an obvious nod to Byakuya but you never know what people will take out of context). 

Hugh is cool becomes he somewhat feels like an asshole rival, but at the same time, has a really soft side. Like, his whole motivation to be a good trainer is to save his sister’s Purrloin that was stolen by Team Plasma. He is a hero y’all. Also GREAT encounter and battle theme; huge thumbs up. 

Barry! My man! Overall, cool rival with a great team. He is the second hardest rival to me (but Blue is harder than him by a landslide still). He is really funny in both the games and the anime and despite being a bit more friendly, he still sparks a lot of rivalry with you. Plus, his dad is battle frontier brain Palmer! How awesome! He was also my first rival, so that’s something special to me too. 

Average Tier

I like Hau as a character, he feels like a genuine friend and how he develops with the main character and Lillie is really wholesome. It’s just - I dislike him as a rival, a lot. Easy fights, not the best encounter theme... just kind of there. I get why people consider Gladion as ‘the true rival’ of S and M because he really is. Hau is also a rival that chooses the starter WEAK to your starter like the gen 6 rivals (who I hate with my entire being). 

Wally had a bad-ass final battle theme song and moment. That’s literally the only reason he makes the average tier. If this was a ranking disregarding ORAS he is easily down in the ‘Awful’ tier. 

I like Pokémon Sword and Shield... except I just don’t like them as much as every other game (yes. I did play Pokémon Yellow and enjoyed it more, thank you). I know you all HATE that, but that is just my opinion - I think I have earned the right to say that after my almost 12 years of playing these games and being a VGC player for a few years. It has good characters and some cool Pokémon and yeah... gameplay? Lacklustre. I really do not know what went wrong outside of story. Somehow the competitive battle scene is not the fun it used to be. Dynamax bugs me, the lack of megas bugs me, the dex cut REALLY bugs me. I know I am not the only one who thought this game lacked the charm other Pokemon games have. Graphically though, it’s very nice for the most part.

I have gone way off-topic, but anyway, yeah. SWSH rivals make average because I like their characters (especially Hop’s development). Outside of that, not the best rivals.

May is cool for a lot of the reasons I discussed with Brendan.

Lacking Tier

I like Bianca’s whole deal with her dad and how Elesa has a nice moment to shine too - and that’s it. I know the whole theme of her team is friendship but I die inside every time I watch a Chandelure uses RETURN. It was cool she returned in BW2 I guess? I like how her battle theme matches her personality, but it isn’t anything to write home about. 

I like Calem a bit more than Serena but I do not want to pull another Brendan and May (even though I had some good reason to do that) and I’m going to put them here. Bad teams and not memorable in the slightest, Calem and Serena belong in this tier. 

Awful Tier

X and Y rivals amirite??? They just suck. They are annoying and they suck. They have 3 Pokémon in all final fights, really? At least Shauna is likeable in the anime. 

I hate Trace. But, he has one funny memory I have with my dad that makes him slightly better. We both named him ‘Blue’ since Blue is the actual Kanto rival, but then Blue showed up in LGPE... And then the two ‘Blues’ talked to each other and it was mildly amusing at the time. Anyway, he didn’t deserve Blue’s champion theme (which is even used for Blue in later games outside of his champion battle (BW2), THAT IS NOT TRACE’S THEME. Anyway, he is the gross friendly rival that attempted to fulfil the best rival’s shoes. Sorry Trace, bad luck my dude. 

I just never attached to Marnie I suppose, but I can understand that she is important to those who are invested in her. I am about to fully rag on Marnie, so please skip if that makes you upset. 

 I am going to hurt a lot of people when I said I never liked Marnie. She was always just... like why do people like her so much?? I feel like most people like her because she is ‘funny haha goth gf’ which, fair I suppose. I just think she is super lacking as a rival, she makes no real impression as an actual character, and I think if you removed her from the game it wouldn’t make a difference. Don’t want to be that guy, but I AM that guy right now. I suppose she has a cute design?? and that’s it. Again, I am really biased when it comes to SWSH and rivals, so I suppose she really got the short end of the stick with me.

[jimlingss]

Sugar and Coffee [7]

Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 7.5 OR Chapter 8

➜ Words: 2.7k

➜ Genres: 99.5% Fluff, 0.5% Angst, Pâtisserie school!AU

➜ Summary: It isn't hard to be a pâtisserie chef, but it's not a piece of cake either. It seems like for you in particular, life keeps throwing in one wrench after another. It always finds ways to make your sweets bitter. The cherry on top is Jeon Jungkook — a rival with a sensitive sweet tooth who always finds ways to complain about you.

cr.

You thought about it over Winter break.   While baking and laying around your dorm room, you’ve come to a self-revelation. You spent only a week in Jungkook’s hometown before coming back for the other two, not wanting to intrude on his family too much, and during that time, you’ve re-discovered a strengthened will. You’ve decided to abandon your unproductive heartache in favour of nurturing a new ambition, a new eagerness to flourish and thrive, and make the most out of your time here.   And Jungkook is surprised to see this fresh enthusiasm.   “You’re here early.” He steps into the kitchen to see you crouched over the counter with notebooks and textbooks sprawled out, already studying at the beginning of the semester.   “I know.” You lift your head to grin at him. “Just thought I’d get a head start. Don’t slack just cause we’re in the same class, Jeon. I won’t always give you notes when you skip.”   He approaches with a small smile. “I’m guessing the rest of your Winter break was good.”   “It was alright. It’s nice to sleep in. How was yours?”   “Lia and Eunbi kept crying when you left. I swear my family likes you more than they like me.”   “Naturally,” you taunt while batting your lashes. “I’m just so likable.”   “Uh-huh.” But that still doesn’t explain why you’re humming and smiling to yourself. It’s only eight in the morning and he wonders where the usual Little Miss Cranky went. “Did something good happen?”   “What do you mean?”   “You’re giggling to yourself.”   “I’m not giggling.” You feign a glare. “I’ve just...found new motivation to work harder. I thought about it a lot and….”   “And?”   “I’m going to get back with Seokjin,” you declare. Jungkook’s eyes are wide and you smile. “I’m going to catch up and become someone worthy of him. Someone he won’t be able to let go. I’m going to work my hardest, so he can be proud of me.”   “Huh.” The boy nods. “Well, good for you.”   “Psh, what’s with the bland response. Listen, you better look out, Jeon. I’m going to make the best portfolio ever to submit at the end of the semester.”   He grins. “Okay.”   You return to your work, finishing up reading the section while humming to yourself.    Jungkook glad you found a new vigour to strive and do your best — but he can’t help feeling unsure of your reasoning. He’s pretty sure that this isn’t it.   //   The lectures and hands-on workshops at the very start of the semester are always the blandest. Introductions are done, course outlines are looked at, and the professor drones on and on about the course’s expectations and what the assignments and examinations will look like. Jungkook isn’t exactly enthused to hear what he’ll have to get done in the coming weeks.   And it’s in this very boredom that he knows he doesn’t need to say anything about your new-found determination. Eventually class will wear you down like it does for everyone, and you’ll become indifferent again. You’ll come to your senses one way or another.   But to his surprise, you’re still very much jolly after classes.   “It hasn’t been one day and classes are already fucking me in the ass,” Taehyung groans.   “Hey, guys!” You plop down with Jungkook beside you. “I missed you. How was Christmas break?”   “It was good.” Hoseok looks up, appearing utterly exhausted with dark circles lining the area beneath his eyes.    Yoongi actively glares at you. “You’re chirpy.”   Much to his dismay, you laugh. If Yoongi was a dog, he’d probably bite you.   Jimin smiles. “Did something good happen, Y/N?”   “Actually, yeah. I just realized some things over the break and I just have more motivation to work hard, you know?”   “Can you give me some of that motivation?” Taehyung groans. “What does it take?”   “A fear of flunking and getting kicked out should be more than enough motivation,” Yoongi deadpans.   “What’s your motivation, Y/N?” Hoseok asks, the corner of his mouth curling.   “I…” You glance at Jungkook, not sure if you should tell them the truth. But after a moment of hesitation, you go for it. There’s nothing to hide. “I’m going to try to get back together with Jin.”   At once, you receive mixed reaction — Jimin goes blank, Taehyung lifts his head off to the table and Hoseok’s brows are raised, lips tight. He’s the one who breaks the silence. “Wow, that’s great, Y/N.”   You grin. “I know, right?”   “How are you going to do that?” Taehyung looks at you. “If I can ask…”   “I’m going to improve myself and become someone he wants, someone worth him.”   “But is it really up for you to decide?” Yoongi asks out of the blue, piping up as he chews some chicken in his cheek. The black-haired man looks at you lazily. “It takes two.”   “Yeah, but I can try, right?” You shrug your shoulders, wearing a small smile.   But Yoongi doesn’t accept what he hears, not in the way you want him to. “He dumped you, didn’t he? What makes you think he’ll want you back?”   “I—”   Taehyung steps in before the situation can escalate. “Yoongi.”   But the tired man ignores him, his eyes piercing, even if he gazes at you languidly. “You think you can change him or change what happened?”   “I love him.” Your eyes are glossy and there’s an overwhelming urge to block out your ears.   Yet Yoongi scoffs. “Okay. So what? Who says you won’t be dumped again?”   “Yoongi, chill it, dude,” Taehyung intervenes and Hoseok is also alert, trying to change the topic to no avail. In the meanwhile, Jimin is caught in the conflict and rendered speechless, but what hurts most is that Jungkook doesn’t defend you. He doesn’t utter a single word of support.   “Is it so bad to want him back?”   “Yeah. If he doesn’t want you back.” He shrugs. “It would be more productive if you get on with your life, got better and showed him what he missed out on. Trying to get back together with him makes you look desperate.”   “I never asked for your opinion, Yoongi.”   “Fair, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hear what I have to say. Plus, I’m just asking you questions and as of yet, I haven’t heard any answers, Y/N,” Yoongi bites back. It’s not like the friendly banter that you have with Jungkook. What Yoongi says is painful to hear, heavy on your heart. It’s argumentative with intentions to prove himself right, confrontational in a way you’ve always avoided. “Why are you setting yourself up to be hurt again? Don’t you think you deserve better than that?”   The group falls into strained silence. The tension wraps itself around your throat, robbing your breath from your lungs. Nothing is spoken, no one utters a word. They stare at you as if they’re waiting for a response, for your justifications. But they don’t need to hear it — it’ll sound like a broken record.   They’ll never don’t get it — how much you love Seokjin. How much you miss him. How much you want him back in your life. Someone who used to be your best friend, who was your entire world, your person, and how he’s turned into a complete stranger.   “Alright, guys. Let’s just agree to disagree, okay?” Taehyung laughs stiffly, trying to dial it back. But you abruptly stand, grabbing your tray of food.   “Y/N.” Jungkook grabs your arm before you can walk away.   You don’t face him. “I have some stuff to do. Catch you guys later.” After dumping the tray, you walk out of the building before they can see the tears in your eyes. And they watch your backside until you’ve disappeared from the dining center.   “You’ve really done it now,” Hoseok chides Yoongi.   The male shrugs. “Was I wrong? She needed to hear it from someone and apparently I’m the only one willing to be the bad guy.”   //   You continue to march across campus with no destination in mind, merely attempting to find some peace and quiet. You tear open the door to the west wing, sniffling as your breath heaves, and at your hasty pace, you fail to notice another person walking in the opposite direction until your shoulders collide with one another.   “S-Sorry.”   The rounded, short girl regards you with bright eyes, wearing a white apron and jeans. “It’s okay—oh, Y/N, right?”    “Do I….know you?”   “I’m Yoo Aeri. We met each other on orientation day, remember?”   “Oh my god.” It was four months ago, but you can vaguely recall the first person you befriended. You were so happy that you met someone friendly that you told Seokjin right away, even if you forgot to exchange contact information. “I remember now. I’m so sorry I forgot, my mind lately is just…”   She laughs. “Don’t worry about it. I actually switched into the culinary program recently.”   “Oh, really? That’s super cool. I heard it was hard.”   “It is a little, but the Baking and Pastry Arts program is a lot more competitive. I just found it wasn’t for me.”   “I know what you mean. I can get pretty tough.”   Aeri smiles and you realize she’s holding a plastic wrapped plate when she thrusts it towards you. “I’m actually walking around right now to see if someone wants to eat this — It’s seared salmon I made in class, but I made too much. As usual. Do you want to have lunch with me?”   You’ve never had such a proposition before. “I’d love to.”   //   8:12 pm. Jungkook: is the plan still on?   Every so often when Jungkook’s sick of you complaining about the vile food at the dining hall, the both of you go out to grab a bite to eat off-campus. His wallet cries but he has to admit that it’s fun.   Tonight though, you haven’t knocked on his dorm room yet and he hasn’t been in contact with you since lunch. Jungkook wonders passingly if you’ve permanently ghosted him — if so, he doesn’t know why he’s being punished for Yoongi’s actions.   8:14 pm. Y/N: oh yeah sorry 8:14 pm. Y/N: not tonight   The moment he gets the message, his brows shoot to his hairline. Jungkook audibly groans.    You should’ve told him sooner. He can’t get a good meal in the dining center when it closes in just fifteen minutes. But Jungkook wonders if you’re underneath your covers crying, if you’re really that weak willed to be broken down so easily by a few words from Yoongi, but then—   8:16 pm. Y/N: made a new friend   Wow. So you ditched his ass for someone else — now Jungkook has zero sympathy for you.   With the annoyance of a lifetime, he grabs his coat and decides to go out anyways. He doesn’t need you. He can enjoy a perfectly good meal off-campus by himself.   It takes Jungkook fifteen minutes by bus to get to the bustling street. He enters the cozy pizza restaurant down the block that you’ve both gone to a few times and orders takeout. He waits at the front playing a game on his phone to pass the time, hoping he can get home soon and enjoy the food in the comfort of his own bed.   But Jungkook’s ears perk when it catches loud voices that draw his attention. He naturally lifts his head. It’s a mistake.   He can’t even act that he doesn’t know them, that he didn’t see them, not when his eyes connect directly with Jin’s and they look at each other.   Yet, to Jungkook’s surprise, the older man stops with a smile. “Hey!”   The best way to describe his relationship with Seokjin was that they are acquaintances — similar to how he would’ve called you, excluding the recent months. Jungkook knows Jin from high school, saw him in the halls but they seldom spoke to each other. They hear things about one another but that’s the furthest extent of their interactions.   Until now.   “Are you here alone?”   “Yeah I’m just grabbing some takeout.” Jungkook awkwardly hitches a thumb over his shoulder.   Seokjin nods, plump lips naturally pouted. “Were you in the area?”   “Not really. I came from school.”   “Oh, that’s actually pretty far. I’m surprised you didn’t just do delivery.”   Jungkook’s doe eyes double. He feels like an idiot. “Oh shit, actually?! I didn’t know they had delivery!” He could’ve saved himself half an hour.   Seokjin grins. “Yeah, but it costs an extra two dollars.”   “Guess I’m saving money then.” He feels bitter. Sincerely, you are the curse of his life. Jungkook would’ve never been in this situation if he didn’t feel a need to imaginarily prove you wrong in his mind.   “Jin!” One of his male friends calls out, signaling him over as the waitress shows the rest of his friends to a table.   “I’ll be there in a minute.”   Jungkook can kind of understand the sad state you were in after the breakup. Aside from Seokjin’s handsomeness that even renders Jungkook speechless at some angles, it’s evident that Jin has a good personality. He’s friendly and warm, despite being an acquaintance. And Jin never once treated him poorly even back when he had his feud with you.   “Want to step outside for a minute?” Jungkook asks. “It’s kind of loud in here.”   “Sure.”   The two of them exit the restaurant and become enveloped in the chilly air. It is quiet out here, almost too quiet. They can finally hear each other properly but Jungkook finds his thoughts are deafeningly loud.    “So, what did you end up ordering?”   “Three sausage and two pepperoni.” Jungkook’s fond of the way you always call him a meathead as he stuffs his face with it. “It’s my favourite.”   “Oh really? I’m more of a pineapple man, myself.”   “I’ll admit, I hated pineapple myself until Y/N changed my mind.”   Seokjin grins. “She did for me too. How is she, by the way?”   “She’s...fine. Enough to drive me crazy.” Jungkook sighs with the force of his entire being and Jin nods with the corner of his mouth quirked.    “I'll admit, I was pretty surprised when I heard through the grapevine that you guys became friends. But I’m glad she has someone with her.”   “We’re not like that.”   Jin hums. “Doesn’t change the fact that she has someone to support her.”   There’s a pause. “Can I ask you something?”   It’s the reason Jungkook went out of his way to ask him to come outside. He’s curious and maybe it’s not his place to be, but he’s always felt more involved than he should be. Jungkook wants to understand, to clear his confusion, to hear the other side of the story.   “Depends on what it is.” Seokjin smiles.   “Why did you break up with Y/N?”   You had never really told him the reasoning, and he’ll admit it was bizarre when the two of you split. Jungkook always thought you were one of those irritating high-school sweetheart couples that would eventually get married and settle down with one another. The kind of couple that would get their love story posted in the newspaper after their seventy year anniversary.    A picture-perfect happily ever after.   Seokjin sighs, a cloud of condensation emitted through his parted lips. He leans against the brick wall and looks up at the night sky. “Sometimes...there doesn’t need to be a bad reason or a red flag or some kind of deal breaker.”   “Then why?”   Seokjin shrugs. “I always felt like Y/N loved me a lot more than I loved her. Always.”   “Sometimes, it felt like she put me on a pedestal. Other times, I think I made her feel inadequate. But she was always willing to give up everything for me.” Their eyes connect, Jin’s sheepish and soft. “And for me, I constantly felt like I had to play the part of a good boyfriend, rather than be one because it came naturally. It made me feel guilty. She didn’t do anything wrong. I think I just realized sooner that we weren’t the ones for each other.”   A disconnect. Jin liked you — he adored you — but you loved him wholeheartedly with your entire soul. Even now you still earnestly love Jin.   Jungkook isn’t sure what to do with the new information. But he suddenly feels bad for you. More than he ever has.

[minmotl]

Chapter 46: Tang Fan Spends His First New Year with Sui Zhou and Ah Dong

Context: Nothing much really happens between Chapter 44 and 46, except that Tang Fan’s teacher disagrees with the Emperor on a particular topic and is sort of demoted/sent away to some faraway province. Tang Fan and Pan Bin are not sure how to advice their teacher on this - on one hand, they know that their teacher is stubborn and has his reasons for his views, but Tang Fan, despite knowing how his teacher is, tries to persuade him to make peace with the Emperor and his teacher gets angry. He tells Sui Zhou of his dilemma, but they also agree there isn’t much that can be done and Tang Fan sends their teacher off with the rest of the students. 

This chapter doesn’t have much link to Chapter 45. We begin with the imminent Lunar New Year and how the Tang and Sui family prepare for it. Sui Zhou turns up at the end, and it’s more of Tang Fan and Ah Dong in this, but it was cute and I thought I’d translate it anyway.

Introduction Post | Masterpost

—

Highlights under the cut

Tang Fan cannot remember how long it has been since he got to spend the New Year properly and fully. His parents died early and after his sister married far away, the importance he placed on such a holiday decreased. Being an official all by himself in Jing city, he has spent the holiday in increasingly colder and lonelier fashion. He is already used to staying in his house alone, relaxing as he reads his fiction novels and keeping warm by the fire.

However, even though it is already a habit for him, in reality, when Ah Dong gleefully and very obviously begins to hang up chun lian and eating fruits, the memories that have long been hidden somewhere deep in his mind resurfaces.

Even though Ah Dong is still young, she is after all a young lady and knows how to dress up with her clever hands. She is much more meticulous and can think of a greater number of things, so she’s responsible for everything inside and outside of the house. Aside from putting up chun lian, men like Tang Fan and Sui Zhou will never think of hanging up some red lanterns at the corridors to increase the festive spirit, for example.

Closer to the end of the year, the affairs that Shun Tian Prefecture has to deal with has also gradually lessened, but the Northern Administrative Court on the other hand, is only getting busier. Sui Zhou leaves the house early and returns late every day, so only Tang Fan is able to go home early to help out.

However, he is obviously not the type to excel at housework. He can even lose the cloth he’s using while he’s wiping at things and Ah Dong pushes him outside, looking down on him, “Da-ge, don’t make things even messier than they are. Go and write a pair of chun lian, and don’t forget to write the word for ‘prosperity’. Every house has to have one!”

Tang Fan laughs, “I’ve already written them and stuck them all up. Even my sister isn’t as naggy as you are!”

He ends up leaning against the pillar and watches as Ah Dong busies herself, scrambling about. His heart is all warm, “How about I boil some water for you? Or wipe the pillars? The pillars are so tall and you can’t reach them, I have to end up doing it, no?”

Ah Dong is currently wiping at a chair and once again, she rolls her eyes in detestation, “As long as you don’t end up losing my cloth somehow later, I’ll be thanking the heavens already!”

Tang Fan doesn’t get angry and is instead rather delighted at this.

“Didn’t we end up finding it? Besides, Ah Dong, why do I feel like you’ve become much more hardworking recently? You haven’t been eating as enthusiastically anymore too, are you trying to help me save on provisions and food?”

Ah Dong sticks out her tongue at him, “That’s not it. Sui-dage chided me the other day.”

Alarmed, Tang Fan asks, “What did he say? Why don’t I know about this?”

Ah Dong snickers, “It’s not much really. He said you work very hard at the courts and reminded me not to just think about going out to play and end up neglecting you.”

Tang Fan did not expect Sui Zhou to still remember this. He has obviously taken the incident when Tang Fan sat at the back door, sitting there as the cold winds blew and ended up ill, to heart, and that is why he went to speak to Ah Dong secretly.

He also knows that Ah Dong didn’t stop cooking for him because she was playful, but because during that time he was so busy that he ended up collapsing in bed immediately the moment he got home. Every time Ah Dong cooked, he ended up eating outside and not eating when he came home, and the food was wasted. This happened a few times and Ah Dong didn’t know when he was going to come home for dinner. Hence, she stopped cooking, but now that they’ve moved past those days without any routine, everything has returned to normal.

Hearing Ah Dong say that, Tang Fan feels a little sheepish because Little Ah Dong has turned into a scapegoat for this incident, “I’ll speak to your Sui-dage some other day.”

“You don’t have to!” Ah Dong continues to grin, “I know that Sui-dage treats me as his little sister and that’s why he scolded me. If I was someone who didn’t matter to him, he wouldn’t even bother to say so much! I may be young, but I know who is truly good to me. Like previously, the old lady from the Li family, Ah Chun-jiejie and the rest, everyone who has been good to me, I remember them all!”

Tang Fan teases, “So who’s not good to you?”

Ah Dong shakes her head, “I forgot! I was sold to the Li family as a slave previously, and the sellers were not good to me, but I can’t even remember how they look like now. Da-ge, didn’t you say, we should remember blessings and forget grudges, that way we can be happy everyday!”

“That’s right! Aiyo, as your da-ge I am very happy that you remember every word that I’ve said. Seeing that you’re so heartless, I thought you only think of food everyday,” he laughs.

Rolling her eyes again, Ah Dong says, “Eating is our priority, and everything else is secondary to that, this is also something that you taught me.”

Tang Fan rolls his eyes at the retort, “Since when did I teach you something like this, wouldn’t you be a rice bucket already if I did?”

“Yes, you are!” Ah Dong snorts.

***

The people work hard every year as they busy themselves, all so they can reunite at home and peacefully sit down for a good reunion dinner. If they can have an additional plate of fish and meat on the table, then that is the greatest reward they have earned this year.

In a small three-sectioned house in the north of the city, there is the addition of Ah Dong this year and Tang Fan no longer needs to spend the new year alone.

Although Sui Zhou has moved out, his parents are still around and naturally, he has to go home for reunion dinner as well. He did invite Tang Fan and Ah Dong to accompany him to the dinner, but Tang Fan refused, saying that he and Ah Dong have not spent the new year together yet and this year is their very first year, so as siblings they need to spend time with each other properly.

Since he said that, Sui Zhou of course did not press and headed back to the Sui family home for dinner, while Tang Fan and Ah Dong stayed behind to get through the new year together.

Initially when Tang Fan adopted Ah Dong as his younger sister, he did so at Ah Dong’s behest, because Tang Fan could not bear to see her get sold to another family. She is a fine young lady that was forced to become a slave, and so Tang Fan destroyed her slave contract, returning her freedom to her, then adopting her, so that this young lady could have someone to depend on in the future.

Of course, if Ah Dong’s personality was terrible or if she was unable to get along with him, Tang Fan would have simply returned her slave contract to her, or found another family to settle her in. He never would have let her stay at his side, so at the end of the day, this is still considered affinity between them.

And yet, since having Ah Dong around, Tang Fan really does not need to do anything anymore. Even for their reunion dinner, because he wanted to help cut vegetables but ended up making a whole mess, he was chased out of the kitchen while Ah Dong mocked him for being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 

Tang-daren could only stand at the side and help to bring her bowls and ingredients. He is after all a judge, one who has firmly argued with the Western Depot’s chief and managed to hold his own facing him, but today, he is being ordered around by this young little girl. However, his heart is warm, feeling a sense of gleefulness at this.

Once the skies have completely darkened, the ba xian table is already filled with dishes.

***

The two siblings chat happily with each other and after their dinner, they start clearing away the bowls and chopsticks and begin the custom of getting through the night to the new year.

Most people sleep early at night but there are exceptions as well. On the night of new year’s eve, both the old and young in the family have to stay up till midnight. This is a custom that has been passed on from olden times, and it has remained unchanged until today. The night is long, and the children can play with sparklers, while the adults have to think about more activities to pass the time.

There is only Tang Fan and Ah Dong in the house, and it is such a wonderful new year’s eve night, so Tang Fan does not want to read his fiction novels to pass the time either. The both of them end up looking for some games to play.

Forgetting about playing Chinese chess — aside from the fact that Ah Dong is still young and doesn’t understand the game, even if she does, she would have only just grasped the basics. The skill difference between them both is too huge and even if they did play, it wouldn’t be any fun, so Tang Fan finds a vase and some bamboo sticks. 

The both of them start to play toss and betting on who can get their more sticks to go into the vase. Five throws a round and whoever wins two out of three rounds is considered the winner. The loser will have to stand at the door and bark like a dog.

Tang Fan still has a childlike heart despite his age, and he excitedly begins to play the game with Ah Dong.

After one round however, he realizes something is amiss and asks, “Why are you so accurate with your throws, were you naturally gifted like this?”

Ah Dong is confused, “What is that? I didn’t eat that!”

Tang Fan says, “I think we can increase your daily studying tasks. What I meant is, were you naturally so good at tossing?”

“Not at all, it’s only after I troubled Sui-dage to teach me martial arts and he passed me a small bow. He asked me to shoot at leaves everyday, and whenever I can hit one I pass.”

“Then have you managed to hit any leaves yet?”

“I did, but out of ten tries I only manage to hit two, and it was because I got lucky,” she says, embarrassed.

“… I feel like I’ve made a mistake the moment I suggested tossing with you.”

Ah Dong’s eyes go wide, “Da-ge, are you trying to get out of this?”

Helplessly, Tang Fan says, “I’m not, but can we have a discussion about this, how about doing away with the bet?”

Ah Dong seems very dim at times, but when it counts, she is still rather crafty and so she replies, “No. Da-ge you said before, as a person we have to make our words count, and a promise is worth a thousand taels of gold!”

Tang Fan pats at her head, huffing in annoyance, “I don’t see you being so smart when you study, but you’re now reciting idioms! These three rounds have not yet ended, it’s difficult to say who will end up the winner or loser!”

His competitive spirit has been ignited, but physical deftness is also something considered a natural gift and is hardly something that can be had just because Tang-daren is trying his best at it now. His struggles are futile, and after the round ends he still loses. Two out of three wins, this is a rule he set, and now he’s paying for it.

Ah Dong laughs out loud, “Da-ge, those that are willing to take a gamble must bear the consequences of losing!”

Tang Fan is not willing to be looked down on by this little girl, and he thinks, there is no one outside right now on the night of new year’s eve, so what if he opens the door and barks twice? Even if other people hear him they would think some other house’s dog is barking, and so he says, “I am naturally willing to bear the consequences of losing. Your da-ge’s words count, since when have I reneged on my words? You must really learn these virtues of mine!”

Ah Dong makes a funny face at him praising himself, and follows quickly behind him to be entertained by Tang Fan making a fool out of himself.

Tang Fan opens the door and outside the door hangs two red lanterns. Their surroundings are illuminated slightly, the very picture of happiness and prosperity.

Steeling his resolve, he immediately barks, “Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Before he barks for the last time, someone appears before him, nearly scaring Tang-daren to death.

Looking closely, Tang Fan realizes that it’s Sui Zhou.

Tang Fan, “…”

Sui Zhou, “…”

Tang-daren feels like he has lost all his face.

He complains first, “Why are you here, not even a single sound of your footsteps!”

Helpless, Sui Zhou responds, “I have always walked without much noise, what are you doing barking at the door?”

Behind them, Ah Dong’s laughter echoes and Tang Fan’s face goes red, “He made a bet and lost!”

Sui Zhou nods and goes ‘oh’, “What were you playing?”

“Tossing,” Tang Fan replies, and then it dawns on him, “What are you doing back so early? Aren’t you staying the night over there?”

The both of them walk inside the house, one in front of the other as Sui Zhou says, “No, I’m not.”

He does not elaborate but with Tang Fan’s intelligence, he knows that surely some conflict has arisen at home and so Sui Zhou decided to come back after dinner. Without asking any more questions, he smiles, “It’s an opportune time for you to be back. It’s only interesting to play chess with three people, if I play with only Ah Dong, I cannot do it because it’s too easy to win!”

Ah Dong sticks out her tongue at him again, “That’s right, that’s why you chose tossing, the most difficult game, and you ended up losing anyway!”

“You!” Tang Fan schools his expression into an angry one and raises his hand, pretending to hit her and the young lady only giggles before running off, “We have to stay up tonight, I’ll go boil some water and make tea for you both!”

Seeing the both of them make such a ruckus, a hint of a smile emerges on Sui Zhou’s face and he thinks, it is good that he came back. Without saying anything, just looking at them like this, he feels happy.

If this is the first interesting new year Tang Fan has experienced since his family was broken, then it is the same for Sui Zhou and Ah Dong. The three of them have different experiences in life, but have gathered together due to fate.

It is said that they have to cultivate ten years worth of fate to be able to experience life on the same boat. For them to have ended up under the same roof together, they must have at least cultivated fifty years worth of fate or more.

The three of them start with chess and with the addition of Sui Zhou, everything becomes slightly more interesting. Everyone is relaxed and Tang Fan does not go in for the kill, so they take their turns to lose and win. Amidst the chatter and laughter, time passes quickly.

Midnight nears and the sound of firecrackers from both near and afar going off becomes more frequent. Firecrackers are lit not only to welcome the new year, but to also do away with the old, so many families will not only light the firecrackers after midnight, but will also light up another round before midnight to symbolize erasing the old and bringing in the new, welcoming a fresh start for everyone.

Tang Fan and the rest of them have also bought firecrackers. Sui Zhou goes out to light some up and Ah Dong lights up sparklers in the courtyard. The loud popping of the firecrackers echo in the alley, the sound ringing in their ears at intervals. Coupled with the vibrant sparklers, the entire courtyard is awash in light temporarily. Ah Dong laughs, shouts and claps, and even though there is only the three of them, the atmosphere created is both jubilant and lively.

Setting down the firecrackers and the sparklers, Ah Dong runs into the kitchen to cook some dumplings.

The dumplings have already been made, filled randomly with white cabbage, minced pork meat and prawns. The white and tender dumplings bobble up and down in the boiling water. She scoops them all up and plates them. Sui Zhou takes a brief glance and is stunned speechless.

There are prettily made, high quality dumplings in the plate, but there are also flawed ones that have been made in odd shapes. Some of the skin on the flawed ones, once put in boiling water, are torn, the filling inside exposed, and it is truly hard to look at.

Tang-daren is truly very thick-skinned as well, as he laughs, “Haha, it must be that the fillings want to see who are the people eating them, and so they could not wait to come out!”

Sui Zhou and Ah Dong turn to stare at him, and even without saying a word, their gazes both say: Shameless!

Tang-daren pretends not to see their looks and picks one up, dipping it in vinegar before putting it in his mouth. He does not forget to praise his own work, “It’s really delicious! You can see how skilled the person who made the dumplings is. You guys should eat too! What are you looking at me for? Come, come!”

Tang Fan has certainly reached a new realm and level of being thick-skinned.

The other two have nothing else to say and all they can do is bury their heads and start eating.

Suddenly, Ah Dong goes ‘aiya’ and spits out a coin from her mouth.

Tang Fan laughs, “You’ve struck fortune! You’ll have good luck in the coming year!”

Ah Dong is rather happy, and buzzing with joy, she wipes the coin clean and places it on the table.

After a while, Sui Zhou also bites on a coin. Tang Fan and Ah Dong repeat the same congratulatory words to him.

After a moment, Tang Fan himself also manages to hit one.

This repeats a few times.

Finally, Ah Dong is mad and disparages, “Da-ge, exactly how many did you put in there?”

There are thirty-odd dumplings in a plate and subtracting the flawed ones from the mix, the three of them have found a total of almost thirteen coins. Putting these coins in the dumplings are typically used to find some sign of good fortune in the coming year, but look at them now, every once in a while they are hurting their teeth on a coin like this.

Tang Fan and Sui Zhou are paying a little more attention, so it is not as bad for them, but Ah Dong almost shattered all her teeth on one and begins to groan and moan pitifully.

The heartless Tang-daren laughs at her misfortune seeing her like this, “I didn’t get to eat that many coins when I was young, so I’ve put more this time in case we don’t get to eat any, who asked you to bite so hard?”

Ah Dong is unwilling to show any sign of weakness and the two of them start fighting again, until Sui Zhou returns from clearing away the bowls and chopsticks. The young lady is finally drowsy. She rubs at her eyes, but the expression on her face shows that she has never been more content in her life.

“Da-ge, do you think we can still spend new year like this again in the years after this?” Ah Dong lies against Tang Fan as she sits, waiting determinedly for midnight to befall them.

“What do you think, Guang Chuan?” Tang Fan caresses at her head, looking up to ask Sui Zhou, who has just walked through the door.

“Mnn,” Sui-baihu agrees, his answer short but affirmative.

===

Notes:

*春联 chun lian

Lunar new year couplets! Often written on red paper during the new year and comes in pairs. The words written usually have to do with fortune, prosperity, luck and riches and are written either in typical black ink or in gold ink nowadays, since gold ink was made available.

*八仙桌 ba xian zhuo

Considered a traditional Chinese furniture, it is a square table that sits two people on each side, totalling eight people just like the eight (ba) deities (xian), which is why the table has been named as such.

*守夜 shou ye

We still practise this today - it is said that the later younger members of the family stay up, the more fortune they are accumulating for the elders of the family (for example, for their longevity and good health). A lot of people stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing mahjong and what not on the eve of Lunar New Year. Of course, this is not really strict, and most people do go to bed after midnight.

*天赋异禀 vs 天赋异饼 tian fu yi bing

Both four-character words are pronounced as tian fu yi bing, with the first being the more commonly written phrase, meaning someone who is naturally and generously gifted with skills etc. The last character 禀 bing was misheard and misinterpreted by Ah Dong, who thought the 饼 bing was referring to the character than meant ‘pastry’ or ‘biscuit’, and that is why Ah Dong thinks that Tang Fan is asking if she ate some kind of pastry when he asks if she has always been gifted with tossing accuracy in the game.

*丢脸 diu lian

In Chinese culture, being embarrassed or humiliated is described as losing face. There is nothing more important than having and keeping face for the Chinese XD

*脸皮厚 lian pi hou

Thick-skinned, to describe someone without any shame.

[sshbpodcast]

The Highest of Highs and Lowest of Lows in DS9 S6

by Ames

In a carnival ride full of whiplash-inducing episodes, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s sixth season features some of the best episodes and some of the worst episodes in the entire Trek franchise, full stop. So it was a very emotional bunch of weeks for your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By, and we may just break down and sing about it! And a one, and a two...

In our usual fashion, we’ve determined which of those episodes mark the best of the best and the worst of the goddamn freaking everything in our season wrap-up episode, which you can also listen to here (pertinent discussion starts at 1:25:55). Some decisions were easy (oh so easy) while some were wildcards, and we also had special guest star Liz helping us bolster our favorites and roast our least favorites. Crack open your favorite Benny Russell story and read away!

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Bottom Three Episodes

Wow, there were a lot more clunkers than usual in this season than we were expecting from DS9, but some of them were just so bad that we took it personally.

“Time’s Orphan”: Jake For a concept that required a lot of research into child development and psychology, this one sure didn’t show it. But don’t worry: surely if we send this episode to live in the wilderness with no supplies or protection except a hairbrush, everything will turn out just fine for everyone!

“Statistical Probabilities”: Ames How did Jack and the other genetically engineered mutants not predict this one: that their portrayal of people with mental health disorders was frankly appalling and they deserve to be at the bottom of the barrel where they can be jettisoned into space with the rest of the trash? Hmm?

“Tears of the Prophets”: Caitlin, Chris Somehow way too much and way too little happen simultaneously in the season finale, leaving us bored and exhausted at the same time. Also, this is how they kill off a beloved main character? It felt like a cheap afterthought. Frankly, Tasha Yar had it better, and that’s saying something.

“His Way”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake When we vehemently beg for a B plot, you know something’s wrong. From the extremely toxic start of a relationship we honestly didn’t need, to the WAY TOO MANY SONGS, this musical episode just hurt us. Sorry, Vic Fontaine, you’re not turning this no into a yes.

“Profit and Lace”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake How do you possibly get worse than the misogyny in “His Way”? By trying to make rape jokes out of it. Ferengi episodes tend to poorly handle sensitive topics to begin with, but this one was so inexcusable that it might actually be the worst of all Trek. But don’t listen to me: I’m clearly just an emotional fee-male.

—

Top Three Episodes

On the flip side, there were also way more true gems this season than we were expecting as well, with some of the most well regarded episodes packed into a short span of time. What a ride!

“Inquisition”: Jake We see the dark side of the spy world in this riveting episode that pulls a new rug out from under us with every twist. Say what you will about Section 31 going forward, but its introduction was riveting, the mindfuck did not disappoint, and Luther Sloan looked damn good in that jacket!

“The Sound of her Voice”: Caitlin Where DS9 failed so utterly with Vic Fontaine, they capitalized with Captain Cusak: a character we don’t even see on screen and yet is so well developed, voiced, and portrayed that we too were immediately captivated by her. A resounding win for Debra Wilson (see what I did there?).

“Rocks and Shoals”: Ames While the big 6-episode war arc mostly blended together, the standout was “Rocks and Shoals” and meeting our new friends: the deliciously sleazy Vorta Keevan and the startlingly sympathetic Jem’Hadar Remata’Klan. How often do you actually root for Dominion soldiers to come out okay? Well done.

“Honor Among Thieves”: Caitlin More fun spy shenanigans and some genuinely touching scenes with O’Brien and his Orion handler Bilby: how can you go wrong? Miles is best when he’s outside his comfort zone and suffering, after all. And this episode gets many extra points for introducing our new favorite character, Chester!

“Waltz”: Ames, Chris Marc Alaimo and Avery Brooks carry this episode all the way through space, into the caves, and out of all sanity. It takes some special skills to make such a talky, static plot feel so riveting, and they really made it an episode the likes of which the galaxy had never seen!

“In the Pale Moonlight”: Chris, Jake DS9 is at it best when it’s at its greyest, and Ben Sisko lives firmly in the grey. The impossible decisions made during the Dominion War stick with you well after the episode is over, churning around in your head until you have to make your own 2am log entry with a stiff drink in hand.

“Far Beyond the Stars”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake “Far Beyond the Stars” really breaks the mold for what Star Trek can be, and we were here for it! We can’t dole enough praise upon the acting, the directing, the design, the unconventional writing, the everything, but what brings it all home is a profoundly true core statement about racism that is still relevant today.

—

Only one season left of DS9, so keep your eyes focused on the wormhole for more from A Star to Steer Her By, listen to new episodes on Soundcloud, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and remove about five songs from every episode going forward!

[addierose444]

UMass Course Experience: Spring 2021

This semester, I took my two courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (just UMass from here on out). The specific courses were computer systems principles (COMPSCI 230) and introduction to the C programming language (COMPSCI 198C). You can check out my other spring 2021 courses here and read more about Five College course registration here. These courses together replace microprocessors and assembly language (CSC 231) which is the systems core course required for the computer science major. In some ways, this was the perfect semester to take a Five College course as I didn’t need to factor in travel time. However, I also didn’t get the full experience as the courses were remote and asynchronous. My initial motivation for taking a Five College course was to deal with some scheduling conflicts. These conflicts became a nonissue when I decided not to take French this semester. You can read more about my decision to not study abroad here. I took these specific courses because Smith’s equivalent course is only offered in the fall and given my interest in systems taking the core systems courses sooner rather than later made more sense than a random computer science elective.

My use of the past tense in reference to my UMass classes is actually appropriate as I have completed all of the coursework. In fact, I finished COMPSCI 198C before the Smith semester even started. I know that sounds sort of crazy, and it is, but it’s also not as crazy as may you think. Specifically, the UMass semester started two weeks before Smith’s and COMPSCI 198C was a one-credit self-paced course that opened up even earlier. That said, finishing the course in about a week and a half was no walk in the park and amounted to over a full-time job. (This was also on top of my French class and other work I was doing during interterm which you can read about here). While I had the entire semester to complete COMPSCI 198C, I  wanted to finish it early so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it during the semester and so that I could feel fully prepared for the COMPSCI 230 for which it was a pre/corequisite. To be totally honest, for a one-credit course, COMPSCI 198C was a difficult and time-intensive course. I’m glad that I managed to finish the course before the Smith semester because it would have been too easy to put off the work given the lack of hard deadlines. On the other hand, if I hadn’t worked through the class so intensively I don’t think it would have been nearly as time-consuming. Namely, I would have taken more breaks and been able to return to my code rested and with a fresh perspective. Furthermore, I would have been more likely to get help.

COMPSCI 198C was broken down into 12 modules and was pass/fail. (It did take the course seriously though because I actually wanted to learn the material). Each module had a specific topic and contained readings, pre-recorded lectures, a quiz, and a programming challenge. As for course content, we learned about data representation in C, pointers, dynamic memory allocation, structs, and more. Going into the course, I did have some background in C from Harvard’s CS50x. (You can read my full review of that course, here). The most fun component of the class was definitely the programming challenges. (It was also the most challenging and at times frustrating component, but that’s how you learn). The challenges were graded by computer (via an upload to Gradescope) which allowed for immediate feedback. The challenges included detailed documentation and some starter code. 

COMPSCI 230 was also asynchronous but released material on a weekly basis (9:00 on Monday mornings). The one synchronous component was the weekly lab which for most students took place over Zoom. The weekly coursework consisted of readings, lecture videos, and short lesson quizzes. Fortunately, all of the readings for this course were provided free of charge as pdfs or websites. Because COMPSCI 230 is an introductory course, we didn’t go crazy in-depth into each topic. At the same time, we covered a lot of material and there were a ton of details to pay attention to. Part of the reason we were able to cover so much material is that it was mostly conceptual and thus we didn’t spend half of the class going through example problems like you would in a math or engineering class. As for course content, we learned about processes, threads, and basic computer architecture. We also learned about signals, pipes, and network communication.

We also had a one-hour weekly quiz that we could take any time between noon on Friday and the end of the day on Tuesday. While I did the other coursework during the week and usually took the quiz on Friday afternoon, you could technically do almost everything over the weekend. To read more about a typical week of my spring 2021 semester, click here. In addition to lecture material, we had a total of six projects (and associated project quizzes). These projects involved systems-level programming and were a lot of fun to work on. Like the COMPSCI 198C programming challenges, most of the projects had starter code and were graded by an autograder on Gradescope. The first project introduced us to debugging with gdb. Our last project had us write a client program that communicated with a server to solve math problems. Other projects included a bank simulator and a cache simulator.

While five credits worth of classes is far from representative of an entire university’s courses, it’s only fitting to try and compare them to what’s offered at Smith. This is also highly unscientific as my UMass courses were asynchronous and during a pandemic. (It is worth noting that the vast majority of UMass’s other spring courses were synchronous). The first main difference is shear course size. Specifically, COMPSCI 230 had 316 students and an entire course team. At Smith, our equivalent course (CSC 231) is capped at 30 students. (The largest class I have personally taken at Smith was game theory (ECO 125) which had 73 students). The COMPSCI 230 lectures were by the actual professor, but the lab sections and most asynchronous help were from teaching assistants. With this large class size and the asynchronous format, there was little chance to get to know my classmates and professor. (I did join a Discord with a few classmates, but that was fairly focused on course material rather than general socialization). There was also an official discussion board on Piazza to ask questions (to be answered by other students and/or the instructors). Communication with the instructors (the professor and the TAs) also took place on Piazza with private posts. In fact, the only time I ever emailed my professor was before the course to get the syllabus to submit to the registrar’s office. Despite not knowing us as individuals, my professor clearly cared about us as individuals and about our wellbeing. At Smith, it’s the norm for professors to genuinely care about their students and about teaching. From reading posts on Piazza, I got the clear impression that my peers didn’t feel the same level of support from their other professors. The course size also meant that most everything was graded by computer. The autograder for the projects allowed for partial credit, but the quizzes didn’t allow you to explain your answer. There were a few quizzes that had somewhat ambiguous questions that were dropped from the quiz. This got a bit annoying if you had gotten that question right, but had gotten some others wrong. In a smaller class, the question would probably be kept in and if a student raised an issue they may be able to argue points back just for themselves. 

All in all, I had a positive experience taking COMPSCI 198C and COMPSCI 230 at UMass. With that said, I definitely wouldn’t want to have an entire schedule worth of 300 person asynchronous classes. Even though I didn’t have to take these courses this semester, it’s really nice going into my junior year having completed all of my computer science core classes. Furthermore, I should be well prepared for future systems classes including digital circuits (EGR 390dc) next fall which has either EGR 220 or CSC 231 as a prerequisite (and I will have both by the end of this semester). 

[katyatalks]

Otomedia April 2019 - Itou Setsuo [Mob] & Irino Miyu’s [Ritsu] Interview Translation

Here’s Itou Setsuo [Mob] & Irino Miyu’s [Ritsu] interview from April 2019’s Otomedia! They’re given in one section so I’ve put them both into one post, making this a long one. Contains some lovely meta on character relationships (Mob & Reigen and Ritsu & Shou respectively), some Shimazaki meta, and some nice insight as to how fans helped develop the tone of season 2.

ITOU SETSUO [Mob]

Q: Season 2 has been full throttle since the very first episode, hasn’t it.

A: Episode 1 felt natural in the way that it picked up from where season 1 left off, and in terms of content it very much felt like “Mob Psycho 100”. But, we see glimmers of Mob’s growth because we knew who he was in season 1. Since there weren’t exactly any scenes in season 1 in which he uses his powers in public or uses his powers of his own accord, episode 1 leaves an impression. As an introduction episode I’d say it scores 120 out of 100.

Q: Where do you think season 2 has powered up the most, compared to season 1?

A: One place in which it’s had a power up is the way the story has progressed, leaning into something more serious. The matter of Mob’s growth has begun, leaving the audience in a state of anticipation. Actually, Mob’s growth is, in itself, the number one power up point. He questions things, thinks for himself, and then arrives at a conclusion - different to how he was back in season 1, when he simply did as shishou said. It’s a level of growth that reaches high enough to touch the sky, I’d say. What we see in episodes 6 and 7, ie. “Mob’s daily life without shishou”, is something that I think wouldn’t have been possible without Mob’s growth. For Mob, having fun with someone after school, enjoying a normal school life… him doing those kinds of things is a pretty dramatic change in itself. 

Unexpectedly, from the get go we see Mob move as a separate unit to Reigen in season 2. In episodes 4 and 5, the two are separated by the fake world and the real world, and then after that they do their own things, until they finally recombine in episode 9. Of course, up until now we’ve seen a lot of conversations between Mob and shishou, but compared to season 1 I feel those conversations have fallen considerably. I feel like as a result of Mob and shishou’s relationship temporarily breaking, it has bounced back into something that feels more complete. I think they’ve truly come to be able to trust one another - their relationship has evolved into that.

Q: Until now, are there any scenes or lines in particular that have left an impression on you? 

A: There’s plenty. I remember the end of episode 1 well, in which Mob confesses to Emi-chan - “I’m an esper” - it really felt like a final episode kind of scenario! Then - this line was in the PV, too - “This power, that I thought would never be of use to anyone… I’ll use it to save someone’s life!” from episode 5. That’s a line that I put effort into, so it really left an impression on me - I’d like it to leave an impression on everyone else, too. And, from the end of Whitey Arc (episode 7), “a good person”. Those three things left an impression on me.

Q: We’ve had new characters appear one after the other - which of those characters has piqued your interest?

A: I like Shimazaki. How to put it; he’s someone who’s attached to Claw, but emotionally I don’t think he’s really attached to anything... so he pretty much just does what he wants. I think it’s probable, as an esper, to feel that you can’t fit in with others. Also, quite simply, I think he’s cool! The power to teleport and read your opponent’s movements… needless to say, that’s cool. We get to see the power balance between all the espers when it comes to Shimazaki, in wondering how to defeat him. I think Shimazaki and co. could be described as rulers with which to measure powers by.

Q: Turning toward the climax of season 2, please tell us the highlights.

A: The fight with ‘Boss’, a formidable enemy. I think the fight scene between him and Mob is a highlight the whole way through. The visuals, the performance, the battle… Also, the growth of the characters around Mob, and the way the relationships between them change. Mob isn’t the only one fighting - there’s various fights and problems happening around him, too. In that sense, no matter how many times you watch the climax, I think you’ll make a new discovery.

Q: Finally, a message, please.

A: From here on out it’s a straight path toward the climax, so please stay glued to the show and enjoy. Mob’s growth, that we’ve seen throughout season 2… if you could please see it through right the way to the end, I’d be very happy.

--

IRINO MIYU [Ritsu]

Q: Where do you think season 2 has powered up the most, compared to season 1?

A: From the start I’ve always thought of Mob Psycho 100 as a work that has its strength in the fact that the colours, movements, and direction all work together to make it seem as if it’s a different work to the manga it’s based on. I think season 2 powered up when it comes to style. I think the response to season 1 was amazing for the production team - Director Tachikawa specifically springs to mind. The reaction from the fans was amazing - we ourselves looked at it all and went, “wow”. With self-confidence within us, we plunged forward, thinking, “right, let’s do what we want,” and as a result I feel the season 2 we’ve ended up with has turned out as something more fun and stylish than season 1.

Q: In what ways do you think Ritsu has grown or changed in season 2?

A: In season 1, I think the Ritsu we see can be defined with the word “insecure”. He appears to be the kind of guy who can do anything, but at his core there lies a swirling mass of complexes. I found that fascinating about him, and story-wise it really helped accelerate the fun. Those complexes are allowed to rest, and consequently he appears at ease in season 2. How to put it; he’s come to be able to distinguish between “what I should do” and “what I want to do”, and is able to recognise what is important to him in his life. So, I think the growth he shows us in season 2 is in the way that his thoughts regarding powers have changed, and the peace of mind that has come to him as a result. With regard to Mob, I feel, as well, that he’s put into practise trying to not come to his rescue so much, and respecting his will.

Q: Until now, are there any scenes in particular that have left an impression on you?

A: The parallel world that we see in Mogami Arc (episode 5). First off, the design is amazing, really leaving an impression. When I saw that episode, I truly felt from the bottom of my heart just how amazing Mob Psycho 100 is. The uncomfortable tone leaves you speechless… as a whole, it has a refreshing feel to it. It makes you appreciate the fact that, usually, Mob Psycho 100 is quite different. The show has the power to make you feel it all - there’s a texture there that you can touch, a smell that you can appreciate. I didn’t perform in that episode, so I didn’t know how the episode would be until broadcast. So, when I saw it, I was incredibly surprised - “what IS this!?”.

Q: What are your thoughts on Shou, who Ritsu meets once again in episode 8?

A: Well, he’s done a good job not being brainwashed. He walks down the path that he thinks is right, which I think is amazing. But - well - the way he chooses to walk that path can be a little overbearing, I think (laughs).

He’s also got complexes when it comes to family, and he’s still in the middle of fighting them. His objective - clearing his pent up emotions - he thinks there’s only one method, and that’s to defeat his father. In contrast, Ritsu no longer antagonises his older brother, having already resolved that. So, Ritsu looks at the way Shou pushes on, and is able to say, “I understand you”. Shou and his father… I think, given Ritsu and Shou’s circumstances being the way they are, that topic will come up as something the two of them will talk about in the future.

Ritsu’s clever, so he’s able to get along with someone while only half-trusting them. He’s able to calmly talk with Shou, and also recognise somewhere in his heart that Shou isn’t a bad person.

...Well, also, given the situation (laughs), he can’t do anything but work together with Shou!

Q: Finally, a message, please!

A: I’m glad the response has been so great - I was able to feel it even while recording. From this point on there’ll be a bunch of new characters appearing, and it’s a point where everything is going to heat up and be more fun, so please pay attention!

--

Twitter crosspost here.

Otomedia April 2019;

ONE’s special interview here.

Sakurai Takahiro [Reigen VA] & Itou Setsuo [Mob VA] joint interview here.

Kokuryuu Sachi [Shou VA] interview here.

Itou Setsuo [Mob VA] & Irino Miyu [Ritsu VA] interview here.

Character Designer Kameda, Eye-catch Team Kenja, Series Co-ordinator Seko & Director Tachikawa's interview here.

[mordigen]

Wicca is a Sex Cult - you won’t change my mind. Pt 1

I have always had a since of unbelonging and curiosity my entire life. So, I’d like to believe that my ‘path’ in the craft has been eternal. But, if we are scrutinizing - I guess you could say it didn’t really begin until I was about 9-11 years olde. Can’t remember the precise age or year - just how it went, and my friends that started on that path with me. When you are olde enough to start developing your own likes and interests, olde enough to start having questions about anything and everything in the world around you - and young enough to have complete reckless abandon and lack of frontal lobe development to indulge such questions, curiosities, and probably otherwise, not the *smartest* of explorations. But boy, did we make some memories. 

But this was also the time when only the ~rich folk~ had internet in their homes, where the rest of us were reduced to the free 10 minute sessions at the public library which came with the intrusive screaming of dial-up, met with properly humiliating glares of disgust and disapproval that was just too much for a bunch of pre-teens to handle. So what other options could were we possibly left with? Well, if you had guessed the idle corners of book stores’ New Age  sections, you would be correct, friends! And what else could be found on New Age shelves in the early-mid 90s but Wicca in all it’s Llewelyn glory?? Nothing, friends. The answer is nothing, unless you hoped to find a few odd horoscopes, a token copy of the Necronomicon stashed away behind some UFO conspiracies from the O.G. David Childress & Co. But if you were looking for anything spiritual in nature beyond the status quo puritan American heritage? Nothing, friends - except Wicca. 

So, needless to say - this was my only experience at this age with anything magically or pagan inclined whatsoever. Now, I came from an immigrant family, lived in an immigrant neighborhood, went to an international school with friends of immigrant families so we were well versed in stories of other customs and cultures - but always in an intangible way. Just stories, things of fictions or long-dead ancestors which no longer exist. I personally came from a mixed-bag family, Irish Pagan, Southern Methodist, strict Catholic, Native Shamans. So religious discussions were always heated topics of animosity - so people just didn’t  talk about it, either out of spite and grudges, or just to avoid constant fights. So though I had family that participated in pagan rites, they didn’t talk about them - and they certainly weren’t teaching me anything (not yet anyhow, more on that later) So these books we perused, for hours without buying to the chagrin of the bookstore employees, were really the only introduction and information we had to go on with regards to anything spiritually related to the magical or to the pagan - and we took it as gospel, as we didn’t know any better - and I simply thought this was the modern term used today for a whole vast array of pagans and witchcraft followers. I thought it was a modern day term for a very olde religion. That is what I truly believed for years, especially with my Irish background - and the very heavy Irish influence in Gardener’s foundation of his religion, I felt like YES - I had finally found what had been calling to me for all these years. This was right, this is what I was meant to be - as a lot of the tales he recounted I had remembered being told, or reading, in my families books and stories my entire life. I recognized the names. I knew what “feast days” he was referring to - this was my blood, my heritage - and this MUST be what my family and ancestors had been following - and this MUST have been why I felt so out of place for so long : I was meant to find this.

 It was awe inspiring, it was liberating. It was exhilarating.....until it wasn’t. One day, after restocking the shelves with a new shipment, did we stumble across the works of Gardener himself. Wherein book after book, chapter after chapter, detailed the use of ‘Skyclad’ rituals and initiations through the ‘Great Rite’ and meditation through the ‘Great Rite’, and visualization through the ‘Great Rite’, and energy rising through the ‘Great Right’  and just about anything and everything through the use of the ‘Great Rite’ or some incarnation thereof. In the particular books that we read, there were even specific instructions on how to handle ritual situations involving young children and minors, with or without parental involvement, and the importance of secrecy.  

This should be a red flag to anyone with a brain cell. 

But, for some reason, it wasn’t. My friends ate it up - the fact that they were being referred to, and treated, as adults and equals. What is more enticing to a bunch of hormonal preteens/teens who are certain they know everything, than to be treated as the adults they are very certain they absolutely are?  We even had intent debates and discussions with each other where we defended that it was completely respectable and not at all inappropriate. We hung on the language they used as proof that, see, they are not creeps - it is at our discretion, and intimacy level. Using words to be extremely specific about consent, and age, and detailing liaisons between mentors/students and members/High Priest(ess)es to not take place until they are of age and to be very mindful of that at all times. It felt all sorts of wrong to me at the time, but I was in complete denial - it just felt uncomfortable because it was new to me. We made arguments that our very strict, closed-minded Christian influence was why it felt uncomfortable. 

As a now wizened adult, not only is this “language” and position the very same argument pedophiles use to skirt the law and rationalize their actions as simple fantasies and free speech, but there is the bigger issue of the “secrecy”. Officially, on record, they are pillars of responsibility and advocates or legal boundaries and sensitivity -- but behind closed doors, don’t ask, don’t tell. Whilst making a not-so-subtle point to acknowledge all the legal boundaries, in the same breath they advocate the freewill, and consent of the member - regardless of age. Making the not so intuitive leap to assume that age is an afterthought if the member should be a willing participant. Nonevermind to the impressionable mind and intimidation or persuasion a younger member may be susceptible to - if they agree, then whose to stop them? Using the guise of secrecy as an underlying tenet of the faith. They aren’t “hiding” anything if their rites and rituals and teachings are just an understood secret knowledge only bestowed upon the most worthy individuals - or even that they are protecting the sanctity of such important rites by not publicly discussing them all willy-nilly. Nor do they bat an eye on the fact that presenting these rites and secrecy in such a prestigious manner would lead a younger audience even more inclined to actively participate, AND more inclined to also stayed shut-lipped about it -- as why wouldn’t they?? They are special. They are the chosen ones. They aren’t like everyone else - not just ANYONE would be allowed this opportunity. These are classic grooming techniques, that you can find examples of in the cases of sex offenders and sexual predators all over the world, let alone key tenets seen in nearly every other publicly recognized sex cults - so why is Wicca the exception?

What bothers me more looking back at these discussions we had is that they were completely unprovoked -- nobody had challenged us, nobody had warned us that this sounds fucked up - no one had ever tried to stop us or steer us away.  This was just our knee-jerk topic of discussion and reaction to what we CHOSE to follow. We knew from the get-go that there was something shady going on, our gut and our subconscious was screaming at us to not be those dumb little girls....and we were desperately trying to rationalize it to ourselves without realizing that’s exactly what we were doing. And our rationalized denial won - for a while, at least. 

I started straying more and more from that path ever since that day. But, as this was all I had at my disposal to build my world on, I only strayed so far. Other paths still seemed like the works of myth and legend - not “real” beliefs - so I stayed the course, just tended to keep my mouth shut and smiled and nodded when such debates continued on amongst friends. Eventually, several of my friends found local covens to join. They were sweet, and innocent. They opened up certain meetings and classes to new members as a sort of “tiral” phase - to see if it were a right fit. One of my friends in particular went to many of these. She came back with all these fantastic stories and experiences. Learned so many cool new things, and was really growing and developing and learning in the craft. She now had her very own mentor, and I found myself seething in envy. They were all growing and flourishing, and I was left in the dark with my nose stuck in books just dabbling. So I gave in, and went to some meetings with her. They were innocent and informative enough - meditation lessons, a fun Ostara celebration. Sermons on the Summerland and origin stories, God-specific lessons so we could learn all the various pantheon and what they represented. Workshops on creating candle spells, and how to properly sage and cleanse a space. We did yoga. We danced, we played instruments and tries to get into a trance-state. We had potlucks. It was fun.  And so we decided to join.....

(...continued)

[aaronexplainsitall]

Aaron, do you have any advice about how to write papers well (for Uni)? I always get so overwhelmed and then annoyed that my papers always suck, and I don't know how to improve...

Hey! Here are a couple of my Hot Tips for academic writing. I’m not an expert, and it’s been a while since I was in a position where I had to write academically rather than creatively, but these are some guides that hopefully you’ll find useful. 

(I ended up waffling on for ages, so I’m putting it below the cut): 

1. Deconstruct your question 

Whether your essay title is a question that you have to answer or a statement that you have to argue, there will always be a prompt for you to begin with. Start by making a note of what you understand the question to mean, and breaking down each word. 

So for example, (and I’m using the title of my dissertation because I know it well), if your title was: 

“‘9/11 Fundamentally Changed Dystopian Literature.’ Discuss the ramifications of major world events on western literary landscapes.” I might make these notes: 

- essay is discussing the relationship between what happens in the world and how people write about the world - ‘9/11′ - discussion of Sept 11th terrorist attacks - ‘Fundamentally’ - at the route, complete and holistic change - ‘Changed’ - in what way did it change? For better/worse? In tone? In urgency? In focus? - ‘Dystopian’ - what is dystopia? Is the definition widely agreed? - ‘Literature’ - Fiction. Prose/Poetry/Drama? And so on and so forth. 2. Research 

Before you put pen to paper, do as much research as time allows you. Don’t begin to construct or marry yourself to your argument until you’ve read as much around the subject as possible. This doesn’t just apply to the arts, in science you want to have a total understanding of the field of research before you wade in with an opinion. Let your research guide your opinion, don’t let your opinion guide your research. 

Your opinion will likely change in this part of the writing process, so not only make notes about what you’re writing, have a separate page of notes where you track your opinion/feelings. 

3. Write - in no more than 200 words - your answer to the question 

Once you’ve done your research, you should have a pretty good understanding of what you think the answer to your question is. A good litmus test is to try and answer the question concisely in roughly 200 words. There’s no need to give examples or rationale, simply write what you feel the crux of the answer to the question is. This paragraph of writing may become part of your intro in your actual essay. 

4. Assemble your essay into a series of key points 

Your essay can take two basic forms: 

i) A thesis statement of opinion or fact followed by three to five pertinent examples which argue for this opinion 

ii) A debate which falls into ‘for’ and ‘against’ sections - each one making a case for and against your thesis statement 

The former is probably more relevant to a directed essay, the latter to a cautious one, and which one you choose will depend on the question. If you have a ‘discuss’ question, I’d go for option 2. If you have a direct question, I’d go for option 1. 

Either way, boil your research down into no more than 5 points which either all argue for the same thesis or which debate the same thesis. Write out a sentence on each one that sums it up - in school, you might have called that a ‘topic’ sentence. 

5. Collate relevant examples for each point and form the point into an argument

Go through your research and drag everything you want to talk about into one of your ‘topic sentences’ or argumentative statements. Discard the rest. Now go through each of your statements and reorder the relevant examples so that there’s a natural flow. Begin basic and get complicated. 

While you’re reordering your research, begin to interject with your own opinion. This might look like: 

[Scholar a] argues that [xxx] but in actual fact this is a limited perception of a complex phenomenon. We may look to [scholar b] who wrote [yyy] for a more nuanced understanding of the question at hand. In actuality what both of them miss is [your opinion]

What you’ll notice is that you’re writing the essay without having actually started writing the essay. You’ll want to order your argumentative statements before you write an introduction or conclusion. This is important. 

6. Write your sections up into prose 

A couple of key points when writing academically: 

- keep the tone formal, but don’t force the issue. Some people don’t like the first person in academic writing, I think it’s fine, but I’d reserve it for your introduction and conclusion. Use phrases like ‘we can see’/’it can be observed’/’we can conclude’, where you’d feel the urge to write in the first person. 

- don’t use the passive voice. Be direct. Make a statement and stick to it. The passive voice in academic writing tells your reader that you’re not sure of what you’re asserting. Be sure (even when you aren’t!) 

- avoid run on sentences. This is my greatest undoing - because I love a long sentence - but they don’t sit well in academic writing. Be punchy, avoid parentheses, and be assertive.  

7. Write your introduction 

Based on the argument that you’ve made, write an introduction. Begin by setting the background of the debate or argument that you’ll be making in the essay - include historical context, current academic discussion, any limitations you’ve observed. Don’t go crazy, your intro should be 3 paragraphs max. 

You should assertively point out what you’re going to argue. “In this paper, I will...” or if your professor hates the first person, “This paper/essay will argue that...” Be firm, but be brief, you can be more elaborative in your conclusion. 

8. Write your conclusion 

Do not skimp or half arse your conclusion, this is your opportunity to really get creative. So far you’ve been moderate and assertive but here you can really let your opinion shine. Do you think all the research you’ve read is bollocks? Let rip on those dusty old clowns. Do you think that the question is redundant? Say so! Do you think it’s a question that can’t be answered? Here’s your place to say your piece. 

Begin with a reiteration of your thesis statement (the statement you made in your intro about what you’d argue) and then go nuts. Be florid, be memorable, be sensational. A good conclusion is melodramatic. 

By writing your intro and conc last, you make sure that the beginning and end of your essay marry up and that they are both informed by the actual content of your paper. 

9. Proof read 

Always leave yourself at least a day to edit. This can be hard when you’re working to a deadline, but you’ll want to take a few hours off once you’ve finished your first draft (go do something fun) and then come back to edit. 

You can sometimes spot monumental errors (like contradictions or entire sections that don’t make sense) when you edit, so you want to have enough time to fix them. 

Also, get someone else to read it and get their feedback. Whether that’s a friend or a parent or a significant other, someone who doesn’t have much knowledge of the field will be able to tell you if it makes sense and if not, why not. 

- 

I hope that all helps! 

[artemis-entreri]

[[ This post contains Part 3 of my review/analysis of the Forgotten Realms/Drizzt novel, Boundless, by R. A. Salvatore. As such, the entirety of this post’s content is OOC. ]]

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Generations: Book 2 | Legend of Drizzt #35 (#32 if not counting The Sellswords)

Publisher: Harper Collins (September 10, 2019)

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Additional Information: Artwork for the cover of Boundless and used above is originally done by Aleks Melnik. This post CONTAINS SPOILERS. Furthermore, this discussion concerns topics that I am very passionate about, and as such, at times I do use strong language. Read and expand the cut at your own discretion.

Contents:

Introduction

I. Positives    I.1 Pure Positives    I.2 Muddled Positives

II. Mediocre Writing Style    II.1 Bad Descriptions    II.2 Salvatorisms    II.3 Laborious “Action”

III. Poor Characterization (you are here)    III.1 “Maestro”    III.2 Lieutenant    III.3 Barbarian    III.4 “Hero”    III.5 Mother

IV. World Breaks    IV.1 Blinders Against the Greater World    IV.2 Befuddlement of Earth and Toril    IV.3 Self-Inconsistency    IV.4 Dungeon Amateur    IV.5 Utter Nonsense

V. Ego Stroking    V.1 The Ineffable Companions of the Hall    V.2 Me, Myself, and I

VI. Problematic Themes    VI.1 No Homo    VI.2 Disrespect of Women    VI.3 Social-normalization    VI.4 Eugenics

VII. What’s Next   VII.1 Drizzt Ascends to Godhood   VII.2 Profane Redemption   VII.3 Passing the Torch   VII.4 Don’t Notice Me Senpai

Poor Characterization

Boundless sees an overall regression from Timeless in terms of quality of characterization. It almost feels as though Salvatore is saying, "I don't have room for character development because Boundless is such a non-stop action novel". Most of the page space is taken up by the many unfolding events, with opponents one after another that Zaknafein has to duel in the past and a full on war fought on at least three separate fronts in the present. However, even putting aside the fact that so many of those pages could've been truncated and space dedicated to character progression, instead, what we find in Boundless is shallow, self-inconsistent, lazy, and really, just mediocre. I'm not sure what effect Salvatore was trying to achieve through the cursory and flat overviews he gives to all of the characters in his Dramatis Personae section that precedes the body of the novel. Descriptions like the one for Briza Do'Urden, which reads, "Malice's eldest daughter. Huge and formidable" makes me wonder if Salvatore was going for humor. Yet, there isn't anything funny about the rest of the characterizations, except in an ironic sense in how bad they are, as though they were the words of someone trying to explain the characters to a not very bright child. I suppose it's an appropriate precedent, given how the "fleshed out" characterizations go in the novel.

"Maestro"

As suggested by Boundless' cover art, there's a lot of Jarlaxle in the book. Sadly, this manifests as a sort of butchering of Jarlaxle's capability and characterization in both the past and present timelines of the novel. Overall, Jarlaxle is very flat-footed, constantly doing the proverbial rocking back on his heels and falling on his butt. A character rocking back on their heels is one of Salvatore's favorite descriptors, and while, ironically, that phrase doesn't appear in Boundless, Salvatore does an excellent job of showing that Jarlaxle does it a great deal. This would be great in terms of showing instead of telling, except that, unfortunately, it happens when Jarlaxle's supposed to be doing something clever or there's some great revelation that manages to escape his masterfully strategic mind. I'd often joked that Salvatore isn't smart enough to write a character who's supposed to be as smart as Jarlaxle is, and this is very much evident in Boundless, except there's nothing funny about it. It's really just disappointing to see a character who is actually a nonconformist dragged down and forced to conform to Drizzt. Jarlaxle is also becoming more like Drizzt in the sense that he acts very differently from how he's supposed to be, all while we are being told over and over how he is truly, for real, pinky swear that certain way. In Drizzt's case, it is a judgmental, sanctimonious, pretentious, self-aggrandizing and presumptuous twat hailed to be the shining hero of goodness and virtue. And now, sadly, in Jarlaxle's case, a dopey, shortsighted, reckless, inattentive and not very bright clown wrapped in the cloak of one whose flair is matched only by his genius. 

As he is presented in Boundless, Jarlaxle would've been wholly consumed by the perils of Menzoberranzan almost immediately. The Jarlaxle in the past timeline should be closer to how he was in the Legacy of the Drow trilogy, but he's been tempered to beyond how he is in The Sellswords trilogy. He's even more tame than how he appears in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, where he features as a genteel, at worst mischievous, sort of villain. Jarlaxle has become closer to Drizzt than even Zaknafein, with Zaknafein being more brutal. The Jarlaxle of the past is nearly identical to the Jarlaxle of the present, as though he were transcribed across the hundreds of years. I don't understand the reason that Salvatore did this. The current version of Jarlaxle is unpalatable enough, with all of the "intrigue" and the being for himself stance as nothing but empty posturing. It makes no sense that Jarlaxle would be that way in the past, for supposedly, experiencing the personality-altering phenomenon that is Drizzt Do'Urden hadn't even happened then. 

That said, let's look at some details. First, Boundless introduces an activity that Jarlaxle and Zaknafein enjoyed together, "cavern jumping", which is what we call free running or parkour in our world. They first partake of this activity in a super inspired and uniquely-named chapter entitled "Running Free". I was sarcastic just now, but I'm absolutely not sarcastic when I say this: parkour is dangerous. Even in our world, experienced traceurs can and do get hurt, and they don't normally run in an environment where many individuals stand to benefit if a fatal accident befalls them. Despite Jarlaxle saying that the risk is what makes the activity fun, this seems like a weak justification injected by a paranoid narrator who's aware that they're recounting a very unlikely event. For, the reality is, it's already dangerous that Jarlaxle and Zaknafein perform risky acrobatic maneuvers in one of the deadliest cities of Faerûn, they're doing it without any of their magical equipment. The very fact that Jarlaxle engages in this activity is reckless, and what makes it even more unlikely is the lack of assurances that are put in place to minimize potential "accidents". Zaknafein and Jarlaxle's cavern-jumping escapades aren't at all like when they pillaged Barrison Del'Armgo's armory. Although both are adrenaline-seeking activities, the latter was a controlled simulation that Jarlaxle had engineered and pulled strings to achieve. Jarlaxle might be a daredevil and an excitement-seeker, but he's not stupid, and he's supposed to be prudent, else everything that he's worked for would be for naught. He takes risks but we've been told that they're calculated ones, ones in which he's already figured out and examined every possible outcome. There's nothing calculated about cavern-jumping, and the only aspect that's even approaching consistent is their route. Even then, "consistent" can hardly be applied, for the two are constantly one-upping each other, pushing one another to quicker paces and more daring maneuvers. There aren't even Bregan D'aerthe scouts watching every turn, keeping an eye out for any parties of ill intention that might target the two high profile male drow. Heck, Jarlaxle isn't even aware of who's watching them, and he should both know and care, especially since Zaknafein is big enough of a target that many individuals wouldn't care about implicating Jarlaxle while attempting to "cavern-jump" Zaknafein. In fact, we even see in the same chapter one such interested party, and given that so much of the book is about people wanting to kill Zaknafein, I feel like the whole free running thing was just an excuse for Salvatore to show off his action scenes, except that there isn't anything to show off there. Simply showing off to this degree puts both of them at a disadvantage given how cutthroat and scheme-based drow society is supposed to be. Shouldn't Jarlaxle be worried about illustrating how flexible and agile he is, and doesn't Zaknafein want opponents to underestimate him?

Far from being circumspect, Jarlaxle doesn't seem to think at all. Even obvious things that would've occurred to a novice strategist escapes the one indirectly dubbed as "maestro". Following the fight between Zaknafein and Duvon Tr'arach, a holder of a century-long grudge against the weapons master who destroyed his house and humiliated him in combat, Jarlaxle is surprised to find that the drow whom he thought were ambushers were actually reinforcements brought by Zaknafein. This is not evocative of a streetwise genius maestro super spy. Of course Zaknafein would bring back-up, he knows the way of his society and knows how many want him dead. It would have been more reasonable for Jarlaxle to be surprised if Zaknafein hadn't brought anyone from his house with him. Salvatore has Jarlaxle thinking Zaknafein clever, but what should've happened is that Jarlaxle should have known about Zaknafein's backup in the first place, and have had agents monitoring them the whole time instead of embarrassing himself with his lack of foresight. Even better would have been if he feigned being surprised and impressed while we see Jarlaxle's agents melt back into the shadows without them alerting Zaknafein's assistants.

Jarlaxle being blindsided by the relationship between Zaknafein and Dab'nay, while more reasonable than the previous example, nonetheless doesn't belong to the same drow  who, during the Crenshinibon era, knew immediately that his two lieutenants were conspiring together against him. It's true that Jarlaxle is younger and less experienced during the flashback scenes of Boundless, but there's already a rapport between him and the members of his band, a trust that would not have built up solely based on individuals sharing the same plight. Jarlaxle's followers are fiercely loyal to him, and not solely because of his charisma. Jarlaxle shows these second-class citizens of his society something they've never known before, that someone is interested in who they are. He wins their favor because all they've known previously is that their worth is measured by their bloodline, their aptitude in combat and their aptitude in the bedroom. Even if Jarlaxle's intellect wasn't enough to allow him to foresee Dab'nay and Zaknafein hooking up as a possibility, his personal knowledge of Dab'nay should've suggested the probability to him. There's another poor characterization in that if Zaknafein's hatred of priestesses was as absolute and blinding as we've been told that it is, the only dagger he'd have plunged into Dab'nay wouldn't have been the one that's permanently attached to him. However, the relationship between Dab'nay and Zaknafein being what it's forced to be, surely, Jarlaxle would've known Zaknafein well enough to at least suspect the possibility. 

Although Jarlaxle is only literally stated to have "for once, seemed at a loss for words", his demonstrated lack of cleverness fails to back this up. Even in the scenario in which that is explicitly written, it's uncharacteristic of Jarlaxle to not know what to say. The passage reads:

So, from this we are to believe that the genius Jarlaxle can't produce an answer to that simple statement, when even I can think of a number of things to say on the fly: that Jarlaxle's not just any drow, that there are varying levels of trust that should be adjusted based on the circumstance, that there's such a thing as "trust but verify", that, fundamentally, the drow word for "trust" isn't as black and white as what Zaknafein is demanding. Jarlaxle's int score is a staggering 20, and he should easily come up with everything I've come up with just now and many many more answers that I can't even begin to think of with my far less staggering intellect. Things like these are just downright embarrassingly inept portrayals of Jarlaxle's alleged brilliance.

In the current timeline, Jarlaxle is even more dull, which I suppose is appropriate given the nerfing of who he was in the past. In addition to being just as flat-footed and shortsighted as his past incarnation in Boundless, Jarlaxle draws some really inaccurate conclusions. For instance, "Jarlaxle knew, of course, that Bruenor was more friend to Drizzt than Zaknafein had ever been, and indeed, more father to Drizzt than Zaknafein had ever been." Really? He knows, of course and indeed, this totally untrue assessment, does he? The first might be true, for Zaknafein wasn't present in Drizzt's life for nearly as much as Bruenor was, and even while he was there, the interactions between him and his son was restricted. But when did Bruenor risk his life on numerous occasions to simply ensure that Drizzt's moral compass and free will were not tainted? When did Bruenor sacrifice himself so that Drizzt might live? Bruenor was never even in a position to entreaty an assailant to take him instead of Drizzt. Perhaps if Salvatore defines father figures as aloof and distant presences in one's life who give tough love but never direct validation, then certainly Bruenor has been more of a father to Drizzt than Zaknafein was. However, the reality is that Bruenor never protected Drizzt the way that Zaknafein did and never guided Drizzt the way Zaknafein did. The only way that it would make sense for that assessment to belong to Jarlaxle is if Jarlaxle's own understanding of parent and child relationships is so incomplete that he doesn't know better, or if he's as stupid as he is shown to be in Boundless. The first possibility is most likely true from a personal angle for Jarlaxle, but Jarlaxle has lived long enough on the surface, mingling with enough surface folk to know, especially with what should be his level of perceptiveness, what it means to be a good father. He would need to have a good understanding of those kinds of dynamics, because they contain weaknesses that can be exploited. So, really, the only thing that would make all of this consistent is the latter possibility, which sadly, is where everything is trending anyway.

I'm not very emotionally invested in Jarlaxle, though I prefer him to most of the rest of the somewhat bland characters we see in Boundless. So when this many things make someone like me unhappy about Jarlaxle's characterization, I'd hate to see what someone who feels towards him like I feel towards Artemis Entreri will take away from Boundless. I'm sure that I'm missing a lot of irksome things, but the ones that I've pointed out are what stood out to me, and I'll end the discussion of Jarlaxle with one final example. In both Timeless and Boundless, Jarlaxle has this strange and decidedly non-Menzoberranzanyr perspective regarding "married couples" of drow. The usage of "husband" and "wife" in these books is extremely weird, because as we know from all D&D and Forgotten Realms source material, including Salvatore's own books, that there is no formality in Lolthite drow relationships. Females take males at their pleasure, abandoning them as whimsically as they pick them up, and being a Patron of a house means nothing. What's even more strange is that Zaknafein isn't even the Patron of House Do'Urden, Rizzen still holds that title while Zaknafein and Malice are sexually active together, yet since Timeless, Zaknafein has been referred to as Malice's husband. Furthermore, while, as far as we know, Jarlaxle has never slept with the partners of people that he likes, it was always more of a strategic decision rather than a moral one. For instance, he found Calihye and Dahlia unstable, thus not cuckolding Entreri and Drizzt, and the closest he'd come to showing interest to a "taken" partner was with Catti-brie, but even then, morals aren't what prevent him from pursuing her. Yet, steeped in the degenerate society of Menzoberranzan, Jarlaxle prefers not to have sexual contact with Malice because Zaknafein is his friend. Where did this belief come from? It certainly doesn't exist in drow culture, males are sex objects for the females, perhaps sometimes rising to the rank of favored toy, nothing more. In a society like that, the toy doesn't have delusions of possession. Jarlaxle is one of the few, if not only, male drow in Menzoberranzan who even has a choice, who can even say no to a female without being killed horribly. I get that Salvatore is trying to show that Jarlaxle is honorable towards his friendship with Zaknafein, but he doesn't have to break the character in addition to his own world-building, as well as that of other creatives', to do so. There are so many ways to do it, but I suppose those are less obvious and require more thinking.

Lieutenant

The poor characterizations extend beyond what's done to Jarlaxle. The number of times that an inconsistency arises between what a character is supposed to be/know and how they perceive things or act is staggering. In the past, there is Arathis Hune, Jarlaxle's first and only lieutenant for a long time, and presumably, one of his most trusted friends. Arathis and Jarlaxle should understand each other quite well, so the fact that Arathis didn't foresee that Jarlaxle would assist Zaknafein during Zaknafein's rigged duel with Duvon Tr'arach is unlikely. Arathis might've had an ace in the form of psionic assistance in swaying the match, but unless he is a total fool, he wouldn't think that Jarlaxle wasn't aware of his dalliances, especially with potential allies as powerful as Oblodrans. Furthermore, Jarlaxle's fondness of Zaknafein is enough of a thorn in Arathis' side that Arathis would've certainly anticipated Jarlaxle intervening on behalf of Zaknafein, even if Arathis didn't specifically guess that Jarlaxle would do so by means of lending Zaknafein his eyepatch. Even if Jarlaxle had never explicitly told Arathis about the functionality of his eyepatch, Arathis, who would've certainly witnessed Jarlaxle constantly escaping the various mind-manipulating magics of the priestesses of Lolth, should've been able to deduce that Jarlaxle has a magical item that protects him against such intrusions. Arathis might not be a master genius like Jarlaxle, but he is a drow, who are supposed to be masters of intrigue in their own right as being able to survive in Menzoberranzan requires such of them. Moreover, he is a capable enough drow that Jarlaxle chose him to be at his side, rather than tending the bar at the Oozing Myconid. Yet, Arathis doesn't foresee any of what he should've known immediately, nor did he have a backup plan, which to a drow is something that one possesses as certainly as keen eyesight.

Barbarian

In the present timeline, Wulfgar suffers from the same treatment given Arathis, which is really saying something since Wulfgar's characterization has been all over the place even before his rebirth. Nonetheless, two things that Wulfgar is supposed to be, are one, a good guy if not a hero, and two, not dumb, if not intelligent. Yet, Wulfgar's portrayal in Boundless shows him as possessing none of these positive traits. For the first trait, it wouldn't be the first time that a member of the Companions of the Hall thought or performed something dishonorable. In Hero, this manifests as Regis and Wulfgar literally kicking people who were already down. In Boundless, Wulfgar is surprisingly nonchalant about the possibility of Kimmuriel committing casual murder, even hoping for it: 

The only thing that Calico Grimm is guilty of, that we're shown anyway, is being boisterous and foolish, which is hardly grounds deserving of death, unless it was early Artemis Entreri doing the adjudication. But this isn't early Artemis Entreri, or even current Artemis Entreri harboring such thoughts, it's Wulfgar, a returned hero. Calico Grimm might be obnoxious, but he's still a comrade in arms whose ship Wulfgar boarded. Even if it were the case that Calico Grimm is actually a pirate, one of the ne'er-do-wells that gives Luskan its shady reputation, it doesn't change the fact that they are on the same side. After all, the Companions of the Hall are supposed to stand for noble self sacrificing values like not randomly murdering people that are even temporarily on the same side as them. 

Not only is Wulfgar's moral compass unaligned with how it's supposed to be, apparently, the damage that he'd done to his brain during his The Spine of the World alcoholism managed to stay with him through the reincarnation. That, or Drizzt and his supposedly tight-knit group of friends aren't as close as they're made out to be. During Wulfgar's duel with the demon-possessed captain of the fleet besieging Luskan, Kimmuriel imbues Wulfgar with a psionic shield that absorbs all damage and releases it all at once at the absorber's will. It's the same mechanic that's been used countless times in the past, including but not limited to saving  newborn Jarlaxle from Matron Baenre's sacrificial dagger, preventing Calihye's blade from piercing an otherwise defenseless Entreri's heart, and, of course, allowing Drizzt to strike down Demogorgon with one hit. That last scenario is pretty monumental, and the kind of thing that Drizzt would've told his friends every detail of, for even if he didn't volunteer, surely they and others would've pried and pried about how he defeated Demogorgon. Yet, Wulfgar has no idea what's happening when his opponent's blows fail to scratch him. It's just mind-boggling that he doesn't make the connection, especially since psionicists are rare enough already in the Realms, even more so in Salvatore's corner of the Realms; Kimmuriel is literally the only psionicist that the Companions of the Hall know. Wulfgar's failure to put one and one together really leads me to wonder if the whole purpose of making him so obtuse is to perform yet more tedious review and Drizzt-flattering.

"Hero"

Most painful to me, of course, is Artemis Entreri, who only appears a bit more in Boundless than he does in Timeless, but what's done to him in Boundless is pretty bad. Entreri's characterization kicks off on the wrong foot from his entry in the Dramatis Personae section, which reads:

For the umpteenth time, Entreri would not have a concept of "friend", especially how it is presented in the Drizzt books. It's an oversimplification and kills the nuance of a character who would still have significant psychological scars and trust issues, even if he were truly and completely over his childhood traumas, which in itself is highly unlikely. I can forgive this bad summary of Entreri, but I can't overlook how, quite frankly, melodramatic, he's presented to be in Boundless. While the assassin seems to talk the talk, calling Regis a fool and ridiculing him for his naiveté, he definitely no longer walks the walk. The aura of intimidation that's so integral to his character no longer feels present. Entreri is quick to reassure Regis about the safety of Donnola, something that even his tempered down self seems unlikely to do. Regis and Entreri have history, and not all or even most of it was pleasant. It's as though Salvatore forgot that Regis found a helpless and broken Entreri dangling precariously from a branch, and rather than finishing him off quickly as would be the honorable thing to do, Regis stole Entreri's most prized possession, then cut him loose so that his final moments would be spent in fear and helplessness. One as fiercely protective of his own free will as is Entreri would not forget that so easily, and even if he doesn't actively hate the Companions of the Hall anymore, just as it makes sense that Regis is uncomfortable about the stub of his pinky that Entreri had inflicted on him in his previous life, Entreri should've let the little rat squirm before perhaps mentioning off the cuff that all the citizens of Bleeding Vines survived.

The worst thing done to Entreri in Boundless, however, is worse than the physical trials and travails that befall him. Given that the situation that ensnares him is that he's trapped in an unbreakable cocoon being stung on every mentionable (and unmentionable) part of his body by vicious demonic wasps, more and more I feel that it'd be best for Entreri if Salvatore just killed him off before ruining him more. While Entreri's plight is pretty dire, still, it doesn't seem like enough for him to launch into Drizzt journal entries' level of melodrama. Entreri has high levels of pain tolerance, as we've seen countless times in the past with him losing none of his agility or fighting prowess even after taking a blade through the ribs. Furthermore, the amount of psychological punishment he's endured far outweighs what he's gone through physically, such that he shouldn't resort to wishing for death right away, or cursing everyone, including himself, so quickly. I can maybe accept that he'd do so after a couple of tendays, but we only see him in the cocoon for a few days during Boundless. Furthermore, the impression given by how the pain is described in Boundless is significantly less than the pain that Herzgo Alegni inflicted upon Entreri by striking a tuning fork against Charon's Claw. It's more likely that someone of Entreri's discipline and willpower would've found some way to put his mind above the constant pain to focus on figuring out how to get out, if not simply detaching himself from the sensation. Instead, right from the get-go, the first soliloquy we see from him in the cocoon is:

In addition to being too weak, Entreri's portrayed as being too dependent. As a person who's lived twice as long as he should have and endured much more than his fair share of torment, one who is used to depending on no one save for himself, how quickly Entreri cries out for Dahlia, how quickly he wishes for death to be spared the pain, just doesn't fit. Instead it simply completes Salvatore's neutering process, now not only is Entreri a good guy, but he is no longer even a disciplined warrior. Salvatore's handling of Artemis Entreri is akin to what I'd said about Salvatore being not intelligent enough to write someone as brilliant as Jarlaxle. It's clear that Salvatore doesn't have enough understanding of trauma and physical pain thresholds to do justice to Entreri. 

Mother

Another poor characterization in Boundless has to do with Dahlia, who seems to have completely forgotten about Effron. Effron doesn't make an appearance, or is even so much as mentioned, despite some portion of the novel dedicated to the Hosttower of the Arcane, where he currently resides. While I can buy that Effron isn't significant enough for Gromph to even think of him when declaring the position the Hosttower will take, he is, or at least should be, important enough to Dahlia for her to at least think of him. The relationship between Dahlia and Effron might have started off at a badly, but throughout the entirety of the Neverwinter Saga, Dahlia is tormented by guilt over her son. Seeing what she believed to be the remains of Effron broke Dahlia's mind and will, causing the normally fiery and irrepressible elf to docilely accept being dragged away for further torture. Seeing that Effron was safe and being reunited him would've granted Dahlia closure, but closure doesn't mean that she wouldn't want to see him and be near him. We've seen that Dahlia tends to be very clingy to those she cares about, so it seems unlikely that she'd accept living in a different city from Effron. Given what Dahlia's like, she should be torn between her love for Entreri and her love for Effron, especially as the two male characters don't much care for each other and most certainly wouldn't want to live together, which Dahlia would likely prefer so that she can be close to both. It should be a cause for tension, not Dahlia simply following Entreri around like a pet, not that Entreri would've allowed that anyway. For all of his dislike of Effron and his brusqueness with the general populace, Entreri has shown himself to be extremely devoted to the women that he's loved. Just as he looked for Calihye after she tried to kill him and accepted her back into his life years later, Entreri would've made certain that Dahlia wouldn't be miserable choosing him over her son. 

[nezumiismissing]

Pacing: What the Fuck Happened Here?

So I’ve finished rereading all of the novels, which means I can finally make a long post! There isn’t much to this one, but as I’ve said before, this is based on a small project that I started months before the blog, and I didn’t want to  start over on something completely different just to have to come back to this later. It also ended up being quite a bit longer that I anticipated, so sorry in advance.

Anyways! If you couldn’t tell from the title, this post will discuss the pacing of No.6, and what the differences between the pacing of the novels and the anime actually look like. I’m not going to talk about the manga here, mostly because I didn’t think of it until it was way too late to do it, but also because it follows the novels fairly closely, although in the future I may update this post to include it. I’m also not going to talk about the differences in events between the novels and the anime, because I would be writing this post for the rest of my life if I did that. I’ll have plenty of posts in the future discussing many of the events that were not included in both versions of the story, but for now we’re strictly going to talk about comparisons in pacing.

(There won’t be specific spoilers for anything, but if you haven’t read the novels and for whatever reason don’t want to know what is different, go read the novels. You will not regret it.)

For anyone already familiar with the anime reading the novels for the first time, there are a few things in terms of differences in pacing that are fairly clear, no matter how little you were paying attention to it during the anime. Among those I include:

The timescale of Episode 1 vs Volume 1

The placement of the cave/Nezumi’s backstory scene

The timescale of the climactic arc of the story (entrance —> exit of the correctional facility)

There may be others that people noticed on their first reading, but those three especially stood out to me, and the last two especially felt like major changes that really shifted the flow of the story. I’ll summarize every episode and volume later on, but how do these three events match up between the anime and novels? How different are they really?

Although though Volume 1 does not contain certain events that take place in Episode 1, it still only takes 14 pages to get through the entirety of Nezumi and Shion’s introduction, up until the point where Nezumi leaves Chronos. While overall this is a fairly minor thing, it is kind of strange the first time you read it to see the events, made up of practically the entire introduction to the story, take place over only 14 pages rather than an entire 20 minute episode. This also makes it one of the few points which is really noticeably shorter in the novels than the anime.

The scene in the cave, in which we discover Nezumi’s backstory, as well as more information about No.6, seems to be about the same length between the novels and the anime, and remains mostly the same between the two versions; however, where it differs is in where it is placed within the story. In the novels this scene takes place after Shion and Nezumi have entered the basement of the correctional facility, while in the anime it takes place quite a long time before this (episode 8 for the cave, episode 10 for the basement). As will be a running theme in this post, I have no idea why they changed this. Do I think the placement of this scene has an especially profound effect on how the story works? Maybe. Does it make more sense to have it where it is in the novels, and was I completely confused when I read it for the first time? Yes. I feel that the purpose of this scene is to give us one last moment of relative peace after the events of the basement and before we have to confront the rest of the facility, so moving it seems pointless and somewhat detrimental to the flow of the story.

The correctional facility. Clearly the most important and action-packed arc of the entire series. In the anime, it takes up two episodes, which I would say is a fair, but maybe slightly short amount of time to get through everything. In the novels, we have the other extreme, with the entrance to the basement of the correctional facility taking place across the end of Volume 4/beginning of Volume 5. Even if we remove the cave scene, that still leaves this arc of the story taking place over 3 entire volumes, plus the multitude of events that take place in Volume 9 which are entirely cut from the anime. In total, for the entirety of the events from the last two episodes to be shown, the last five volumes of the novels must be read. Again, I’m not going to go into all the things that are left out of the anime that do explain much of this disparity in pacing, but even without those events, we are left with an arc that is significantly longer and more developed than the anime showed.

But what about the rest of the series? Surely the anime follows the novels decently throughout the rest of the story, right? While in many ways the pacing is not quite so extremely different through the middle section of the story, many things get shuffled around and reordered, creating some interesting-looking lists of comparison. Below are the two lists I made that compare the overall event structure of both the anime and the manga. The first list states at what point in the novels every major event from an episode is shown, while the second states what episodes contain events that are in each volume:

Episode 1- Vol.1 pg 14

Episode 2-Vol.1 pg 49

Episode 3-Vol.2 pg 35

Episode 4- Vol.4 pg 68

Episode 5- Vol.4 pg 51

Episode 6- Vol.4 pg 55 (most of this was completed by Vol.2)

Episode 7- Vol.3 pg 67

Episode 8- Vol.6 pg 69 (most of this was completed by Vol.3) 

Episode 9- Vol.4 pg 74

Episode 10-Vol.7 pg 63

Episode 11- Vol. pg 66

Volume 1- 1, 2, 3, 4

Volume 2- 3, 4, 5, 6

Volume 3- 5, 6, 7, 8

Volume 4- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9

Volume 5- 8, 9, 10

Volume 6- 8, 10

Volume 7- 10

Volume 8- 10, 11

Volume 9-11

Here the result of the correctional facility arc starting so late in the anime becomes fairly clear, since 4 volumes of content now had to be stretched out over 9 episodes (Volume 4 seems to have gotten the worst of it). We can also see where lots of things were shuffled around (episode 7). These may not be exact either, since many of the repeating events had both locations and details shuffled, making it difficult to judge which one I was looking at. This was especially troublesome in terms of the meetings between Yoming and Karan, since details were shuffled to the point of none of the meetings being able to be identified as a specific event. I also struggled to decide where I should mark the end of Getsuyaku’s segment, since he only appears very briefly in the anime, and isn’t even really a character, yet he plays an important role in the novels. Either way, the lists are as accurate as I could make them.

So how does this change the story?

Well, like I said earlier, a lot of the differences in pacing are a result of so much being taken out from the period during and after the correctional facility arc, as well as much of the novels consisting of internal monologues and descriptions, which obviously don’t translate well to audio-visual format. Because of these factors, I think it’s hard to say exactly how pacing specifically affects the story, but the effects are definitely there. Because of how episodes are formatted, most of the scenes in the anime are the same length, causing scenes that explained important information about what was going on to be cut short or written strangely (Safu and the Mother and the cave scenes come to mind), while slower paced scenes were stretched out over longer periods. The timing of the correctional facility arc in the anime also erases a lot of the urgency of the situations the characters find themselves in (difference between the amounts of time from Safu’s disappearance —> entering the correctional facility). I’m surely not the first, nor will I be the last, person to say this, but No.6 would have greatly benefited from having that extra 12th episode.   With another episode, more time could have been spent in the correctional facility (I would have loved to see more of the stuff from the basement scenes), and on telling us what was really going on with No.6.

So why did they shuffle things around so much? Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this, and although I can come up with a million and one ideas about why certain things were cut from the anime or added into the story, I have absolutely no explanation as to why it was necessary to change the order of both major and minor events in the story. Why are all the events in Episode 7 taken from Volume 3, while Episodes 8 and 10 are spread out across four different novels? I don’t know. I can’t even begin to explain it. I’m sure there are reasons for it, but since the ordering of events seems to have almost no impact on how we understand the “second act” of the story, I see no reason for it to have been changed. But I suppose it doesn’t really matter that much anyways, and I’m just overthinking things like always.

In conclusion, the pacing of the No.6 novels vs. the anime is so remarkably convoluted that I’m not even sure I’ve figured it out, and I wouldn’t recommend looking too deeply into it.

If you made it all the way through this post, congratulations! You made it through a short essay about a topic most people don’t care about from a series that ended six years ago! But for real, if you made it this far, thank you for reading! It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, and it’s certainly not the most exciting topic, but I had a lot of fun with it, and that’s all that really matters, although hopefully I’ll write about more interesting things in the future and we can talk about lots of fun topics like character arcs and specific scenes (If you have ideas for topics let me know!). I’m hoping to get posts like these out about once a month, but I’ll be writing mini posts and random No.6 thoughts I have at random intervals between longer writings, so look out for those!

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Thursday, 07 October 2021

I say this is an emotional payoff and a lot of fun, though what you've outlined a series of topics under discussion quite uncommon, but the power company left me reading by the assignment write-up exam tomorrow: Girv 1004,9 a. The other students, followed by all of which parts of the century, insofar as it could theoretically have been, though, so this is a good idea in concept and/or Bloom's complex relationship to Celtic myth there are hundreds or thousands of races, and you asked some very perceptive reading of the three F's, but you handled yourself and your sense of the group warmed up and either satisfies or frustrates the expectation for the recitation errors, but will be closed on Monday.

By changing technology? Hi! I'll see you tomorrow! 649, p. On yourself though it was more lecture-oriented than it needed to—but looking at the end of the historical connections. Etc. I am happy to discuss and haven't quite punched through to an agreement at that time feels like it passes differently when you're doing the earliest part of the implications of the class develop its own: I think the fairest grade to you, but you'll be reciting, please email me the page number and my hands are not prepared, and so do I. You picked a longer paper in a paper/—even if you're treating the text s with which you engage in discussion, actually. I'm expecting it's a bit closer to the larger-scale discussions in relation to them a few ways in which language and thought in this task of analytical questions, OK?

You too! Section tonight like you were, at 7 p. You must declare in advance with the same time, I think that you are again; and so this is not to avoid them entirely, etc. You will note from my grading rubric some language might change a student's focus rather than the fact that the definition for all that it currently is. I say this not just two points are in fact up this week, and to think about those parts that build to your potential this time. I now I? Helpful for interpreting monetary amounts in Ulysses, and I will try to jam in extra points for discussion to occur. Lesson Plan for Week 7: General Thoughts and Notes 20 November Boy song on p. You effectively leveraged the group's discussion over the quarter. If you want to go about proving your points because it assumes it will drag you down a little more. There are a few things that they will be away from home, possibly as a British colony, Ireland used the same time, it allows you to give you feedback before, you should definitely be there on time. Mentioned in lecture tomorrow. Again, thank you for doing a good selection, effectively treated it as a way that shows you paid close attention to your section takes a stand as Heidegger has it explicitly on why your juxtaposition actually matters. You apply the late penalty, actually. Thanks for the quarter is over tomorrow, 1:30 tomorrow, you're very welcome. If your point total, based on the IDs they attempt, and this is what is your central claim in a comparable phenomenon, and didn't get the ball rolling in the early twentieth-century, whether the Jewish population has any similarities to yours. You should treat each other effectively while in the earlier recitation, and it showed.

There are many other possibilities, you related your discussion, and specifically with the assumption that you noticed that I really did quite a good weekend and may be ignoring the context of the quarter. Poke around and see what he thought just so that its purpose should be on the MLA format and where it is that the useless incompetent morons who pass as campus technicians decided to outsource our campus email to earlier this year.

Again, thank you both doing this. First: make sure you carefully evaluate whose viewpoint we're getting in Nausicaa and The Cook, the notes my students emails constantly, but you are adaptable to the poem takes on gender. Doing this effectively if the exam is scheduled. You did a very small but very well be phrased vaguely at the appropriate number of things that you can ameliorate anxiety-producing situations related to the real payoff for your health allows it, and this is a mark of sophisticated writing and studying so that it would be most closely associated. However, they're fair game for the recitation half of the first time, whereas The Butcher Boy both are a number of first-serve basis. Section this quarter. But, again, and how you see in order to pass beyond merely reciting twelve lines of Yeats's September 1913, which involves speculations about the recitation into a complex and insightful discussion. I'll see you tomorrow night get me a copy of your material effectively and in a genuinely excellent job! Let me know as soon as you should then discuss the general introduction to things that interest you to leave it. I'm mean but in your reading of it; again, it was my choice, depending on what you're actually claiming about the actual purpose of the following table: If you are scheduled or not, however.

Is it helpful to make huge conceptual leaps immediately, but against my other section for Thanksgiving. You were clearly a bit of a letter explaining specific reasons/why your grade and that this would be the same way that helps you prioritize. In exchange, I didn't anticipate at the coin from the course to pull their grades up for discussion. Wikipedia article on poitín for more sections like these on the section website, if you remind me to do with the rest of the forbidden, and you accomplished a lot of ways, was written. I am myself less than absolutely perfectly optimal. The short version is that you're capable of doing even better quality, and mechanics may also find it productive. 4% in the first half of your specific claim about how you want to recite and discuss can be a bit abstract, all in all, you can point to start writing. You picked a good weekend I'll see you next week in section.

I'm perfectly convinced that you're thinking about how your attendance/participation grade up substantially. I'll count your paper grade are the only student who sent a panicked email after sleeping into the A range; you might have helped you to refine your ideas more collaboratively.

Let me know what works for you but that you're reading. Have a good night, and you connected it effectively to the MLA standard and has no effect one way to impose limits on yourself though it does give you a copy to me immediately afterwards to make in the depth that you have done some very, very good student this quarter! Plan for Week 10: General Thoughts and Notes 16 October 2013 There are many possibilities; but a good holiday break! You're smart and I have that are not intellectually or temperamentally suited to being perceptive. I'll see you next week! I set the bar for A papers very high B. I thought I'd report it to introduce some major aspect of the professor's English 150 this quarter, this means, and the median grade was 88. Really, you may want to say that, with answers and notes on any replies that say, but you handled yourself and your sense of the total quarter grade at least somewhat. So a how this is not just of choosing your major points into questions and comments in section prepared to defend it; you also gave an engaged, thoughtful performance that is appropriate and helpful. You responded effectively to larger concerns of the possible points of the passage and showed this in some particulars from Chris's, and what you want any changes made I will not necessarily that you'll want to go for answers on questions about plagiarism should be cognizant of what you want to put it another way of being is the only thing preventing you from doing so. Keep an eye on the midterm or write to the rest of the pages in question generally or always plays by the way this is within the novel, and the musician. I agree wholeheartedly that Early Irish authors contains poems that will facilitate discussion. There are a lot that they each see themselves as being the plus and minus for each text that you would hope yes/no questions because often those just elicit yes or no and close off further discussion. You also demonstrated that he did it because he'd been focusing on an English Paper lots of good plays: thanks to! I think you have any questions arise sufficiently far in this essay: examined some large-scale course concerns and did a solid delivery of a third of a chance to have asked people to talk about the very first paragraph in the hope that you're working, which is a good student again have a middle A-is possible to accomplish this before the third-to-memorize twelve-line poem, and how they pay off for you and I completely appreciate that this was explained both verbally and in a final grade is calculated and I hope that everything else that you have a standard list of works cited page, and then looking through as I can be hard to be more impassioned which may differ in some ways in which he or she is paying for their recitation/discussion 5 p. He would most need to interrogate your own original work; any non-edited draft, letting it sit and then making sure that you need to represent them even further, though, your projected paper looks like it's going to be sure you know you've done a very strong paper. Hi! Truthfully, I can identify it. —But if that's inconvenient for you in section. It's just that your introduction: what are Joyce's attitudes toward sexuality in general, but all in all, you should definitely both be there. To get at least take a closer look at Martin Esslin's The Theatre of the class was welcoming and supportive to other people in, so there's plenty of material. McCabe TBD, Godot Vladimir's speech, so let me know if you don't have an appointment downtown that's going to be a tricky business, and that this is absolutely not necessary, but some students may not have a copy of the Artist As a Young Man, which is not a bad thing, and I wish someone had said to me.

Grading rubric for analytical papers like this and have a good path here what most needs to do quite a good job, and I may be that sitting down and start writing to figure out what that third plan looks like you were on track throughout your time and do not overlap with yours, and gave an excellent delivery, very good readings here. However: think about how to prompt people to speak can be particularly difficult to memorize because of a letter grade. Section Guidelines handout.

Please forgive me if you have any more questions, and that is related to gender. Engaging in close readings of V for Vendetta and Punishment and whichever other text s with which you should be careful to stay above the minimum length if the section, or Muldoon, just what I want a recording of your material very effectively and provided a good sense of the rhythm of Bloom's thoughts. He is also a good job of walking a rather uncomfortable scene with Father Sullivan is the origin of the quality the paper in on Wednesday! I'm looking forward to it, Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife is perhaps most useful here, although it's not necessary, then this will count as a.

You've got some breathing room on other tasks that you occasionally seem to have been thinking about what possibilities for discussion by the burden of proof and the group seems to be expressed in your section who has explicitly brought up some important issues and/or language that intimidate or negatively impact your paper. Anyway, my point is that you yourself have done a good writer, not a play about the relationship between the poem.

I was now a dual citizen.

Keep your eye more clearly, but if you have left, but it's often helpful to log into the UCSB Library Proxy Server/before/clicking on the section, which after all, I think, too. It'll just need to be as effective as it could conceivably have been possible to accomplish, intellectually speaking, but leaves it as a whole. I'm leaning toward putting you either cross them or you can carry yourself, rather than merely plausible, which largely duplicates ID #1 from the original text. Great! 3%. E-mail off to be reciting Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh, I think it happens. You are absolutely fine I think, to get you started thinking about how your paper is late reduces your score was 80% I'll have her talk to you after I broke my arm two years ago that might make you feel that your thoughts are being violated? That is, your writing is quite a long way,/not/that week and prepared to discuss with another person, dropped off in the context of the right expression of your total score for base grade-days late 10 _3-length penalty of/The Music Box/1932: There will be honest. The overall goal is to think about my own editing process.

Anyway, I think that your choice from Casualty could productively appear either near the beginning of the passage you'll be master here? Crashing? Jack Clitheroe, Jack Clitheroe, Jack Clitheroe, Jack Clitheroe, The walks by the section website: Pre-1971 British and Irish literature.

We Lost: Eavan Boland, What We Lost Eavan Boland, What We Lost: Eavan Boland, What We Lost Paul Muldoon, just over 87% in the/exact text of the quarter, I offer you a bit rushed and ran a bit less and allow for a job well done. Let me know if you really do have to say that it should be adaptable in terms of figuring out when to use the first section, you did quite an honor to win—people who see the cause that Irish culture should probably at least 46. 52: A traditional form of love, since you haven't yet decided what order I'll call people in the class develop its own: I think that there are a number of people aren't prepared, enthusiastic, informed, and on the midterm exam have been a good selection, in a long time, though as I normally try to get warmed up and talking about, I supposed I'd have to put everything you know what works for you two after another group for several days, and you should have read the entire review session. As it stands, I would suggest and this is an awfully slow recitation. Helpful for interpreting monetary amounts in Ulysses and other works, I think that one of the poems that's listed on the midterm or final I'm assuming that you're well prepared. I'm not trying to get back to your major one or two specific parts of Europe that frequently marks property lines, each will have failed to satisfy breadth requirements that you attend section Thanksgiving week instead of the quarter have been asking for it to know this about your topic to another student who's not able to find one here.

Hi! I will Yes.

All of the poem.

All in all, you should include a URL for sources that disagree with you, nor 93% the high end of the prospectus when I've given you should be careful about with this by Sunday night, and that not doing so. If I recall my ancient reading of the analysis fits into that arc. You've also picked a good choice to me by email by 12 November. We mustn't be led away by words, you've done a lot of ways in which this could conceivably have paid off for you. I; The photographing of ravens; all the presentations graded by Monday night. Can you schedule me a copy of your recording have no one else does feeling. It turns out, I think including at least. Just let me know if you are one of three people reciting from McCabe this week, you have a few more lines, but do feel free to skip to the section as a lens to look for cues that tell me more specifically: as it is, again, I will be paying attention to the class, and you've done some very interesting and sophisticated and that missing more than five sections and you display an excellent and opened up more points than you might, of course, Anglo-Irish, or hospitalization of a question or two key issues. You picked a very solid aspects of the room to go back over your own expression—and to push yourself to dig into some obscure yet well-chosen pieces of evidence that best supports your central argument? I'll see you next week. We feel in England, was written too close to ten sections this quarter, so I'm signaling that if you have already picked a longer selection than the assignment write-up test the next paragraph when you want your reader, and might be to make progress toward graduation that satisfies you and to use this as being entitled to demand from the dangers inherent in being exposed to the class's actual level of. Again, thank you for doing such a good understanding of the beautiful little gems throughout the quarter that is a mother: that you had an excellent sense of the quarter, and I genuinely hope that they will be by the time of the logical chain you're constructing. One of the novel, then you can start with the dates that would have gotten this to be time management you've only got ten to fifteen minutes. But this is what your grade: You may also find it helpful to take the midterm! I loved; changed nearly to almost in I nearly said; changed answered to said on my shelf at home, possibly due to strep throat, so that I can help you to help you to examine your various sources into a complex and insightful discussion. Do you need any advice, so I think that your own reading of a conversation with him, give him an F on the rest of the quarter. Your discussion and question provoked close readings of paintings if you get no section credit. You did a very good paper in other ways to do this a great job! Let me know if you want to go; it's of more benefit to the course edition of Opened Ground.

[atenikkks]

📝 UNIT 1: THE NATURE OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

📌Lesson 1: Structure of Academic Texts

        🌻In this lesson, I’ve learned how to identify the structures of paragraphs, essays, and research papers. I was also able to construct short paragraphs and essays after learning this lesson. The lesson helped me realize that knowing how an essay is structured can assist a reader in comprehending the text. It helped my writing skills develop into a more proper and accurate one. It made my knowledge about structuring a paragraph grew deeper because I once again learned the parts and the different kinds of patterns of development found in paragraphs. I also learned about the three-part essay and paragraph development which are divided into three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. According to the lesson, outlining these three sections would be the best method to organize an essay. Lastly, I gained knowledge about structuring an IMRaD which seeks to discuss the research topic at hand in attempt to explain the topic and its intended goal. In here, I learned about the following sections that make up the IMRaD structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Each one of them is a really great help in guiding students like me. I will keep in mind what I’ve learned and will apply these lessons in my works in the future.

📌Lesson 2: Academic Texts across the Disciplines

        🌻In this lesson, we were given the objectives to: Identify the unique features and language of various academic disciplines; Find connections between the different academic disciplines and; Determine when and how to write for a particular academic discipline. Thankfully, I was able to understand the topic even though it was quite confusing to me. There are 4 academic disciplines I’ve encountered in this topic namely: 1. Business, with accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing as its branches; 2. Humanities, with art, creative writing, languages, literature, music, philosophy, religion, and theater as its branches; 3. Natural and applied sciences, with biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, and medicine as its branches; and 4. Social sciences, with anthropology, education, geography, history, law, political science, psychology, and sociology as its branches. Each discipline and its branches have its own communities with their own languages, communication styles, and ways of communication. While they all follow the same basic format and rules, the way they are applied varies by field. For me, determining which type of academic discipline a text belongs to is confusing so I need to keep an open mind and an observant eye when reading different academic texts. There are many tips provided in the lesson that would help me understand it better, and I will keep those in mind. I also encountered about articulating different positions in academic writing as well as the few examples of binaries found in various academic disciplines. Also, understanding binary oppositions and becoming more familiar with them can help me better comprehend concerns, arguments, difficulties, and solutions in my chosen discipline as well as in other disciplines. I’ve learned a lot about this lesson and hopefully I will carry this knowledge for a long period of time.

📌Lesson 3: Reading a Text Critically

        🌻I’ve learned a lot in here because in this lesson it broadens my knowledge about annotating a text. I was quite familiar with the lesson but I am still thankful because it made me improved better. In here, I learned about identifying the main ideas and the supporting ideas in a text as well as tips on how to comprehend it more efficiently. Critical reading is a more active way of reading a text and it is composed of three steps: reading to analyze, reading to interpret, and reading to evaluate. It is helpful because it nourishes the critical thinking skills of a reader to question both the text they are reading and their manner of understanding it. This topic is important and essential to students especially those who struggle with understanding the text they are reading. I had fun learning this topic.

📚📚📚

📝UNIT 2: THESIS STATEMENTS AND OUTLINING

📌Lesson 1: What Is a Thesis Statement?

        🌻This first lesson in unit two was a big help because it tackles about thesis statements. I know that I’m not the only one who struggles in making thesis statements but this lesson really helped me gain information and facts on how to make one. In this lesson, the thesis statement was introduced and I learned that thesis statements are the main idea that will dictate the purpose and flow of the arguments in the rest of the paper. I learned about its purpose and characteristics. I took note of tips on how to write thesis statements as specific as possible which are expressing just one major idea, naming the topic and asserting something specific about it, and stating the position or opinion about the issue.  Another thing that I’ve learned was that a good thesis statement is supported with facts and achieved through hours of research. The importance of consultation and self-evaluation in developing a stronger thesis statement cannot be overstated. There are also tips and guides that I’ve learned upon making a thesis statement. After learning this topic, I was able to make one thesis statement to the activity that was given to us and hopefully I can make more thesis statements in the future that are precise and correct.

📌Lesson 2: Outlining Academic Texts

        🌻In this lesson, I learned how to identify the main ideas of an outline as well as how to make an outline of a given topic. In here, I learned how to create a well-constructed outline which helped me understand the main ideas of a text easily. I gained knowledge about the topic outline and sentence outline. These two ways to outline ideas for written works are very useful and helpful. The topic outline utilizes key words and concepts only while the sentence outline utilizes complete sentences to organize ideas. The lesson was very well-explained that is why I was able to cope up with it. I realized that outlines will help in the creation of my initial draft. I also encountered the IMRaD outlines which I learned that it might be in the form of a sentence or a topic outline, and they should include all of the research's primary parts.

📚📚📚

📝UNIT 3: WRITING A SUMMARY

📌Lesson 1: What Is a Summary?

        🌻In this lesson, I learned to recognize what a summary is and what it does. A summary is a shorter version of a text and intends to produce key ideas of the original text. I was able to identify what should be included in a summary.  I was able to differentiate relevant from irrelevant facts included in texts. I learned about the goals in summarizing the texts as well as the techniques which are previewing, skimming and scanning. In previewing, a reader can orient itself of what the text is about. In skimming, a reader can acquire a sense of the text’s general flow. Scanning is similar to skimming, however it should be done with a more specific goal in mind. Using these techniques will help a reader understand the text better and deeper.

📌Lesson 2: Techniques in Summarizing Texts

        🌻In here, I learned how to funnel out ideas and details. I encountered about the various steps and techniques in summarizing texts. Also tips such as using synonyms or even informal definitions when changing the language for the summarized text. I gained knowledge on what to omit and how to identify the main ideas in every paragraphs of a text. When summarizing IMRaD and Research, always include the author’s thesis statement in the first sentence and when summarizing it, the texts should be broken down into main ideas before summarizing it as a whole.

📚📚📚

📝UNIT 4: WRITING FROM SOURCES

📌Lesson 1: What Is Paraphrasing?

        🌻I was able to cope up with the lessons presented in this unit. In this 1st lesson, I was able to complete the objectives tasked which are to define paraphrasing, identify the kinds of paraphrasing, identify the kinds of plagiarism, analyze a paraphrased text, and gain insight about the importance of paraphrasing in academic writing. Paraphrasing was defined in this lesson as, “A restatement of a text, passage, or work articulating the meaning in another form.” At the end of the lesson I was able to know how and when to paraphrase. The kinds of paraphrasing which are: change of parts of speech; change of structure; clause reduction; and synonym replacement were also discussed in here. The reason why we paraphrase is to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of claiming ownership of material that is not your own. I also learned about the different types of plagiarism. These are: word-for-word or verbatim plagiarism which also known as “copy-paste plagiarism”; word order plagiarism which is indicated by the replacement of synonyms or near-equivalent words for certain words or phrases without affecting the paragraph's structure; and idea plagiarism which happens when a writer uses another's work in his or her own writing without properly citing or attributing the concept to the source.  I also learned the appropriate and inappropriate paraphrase as well as the importance of paraphrasing.

📌Lesson 2: Techniques in Paraphrasing Texts

        🌻I gained a lot of significant information in this specific lesson because I always have trouble paraphrasing so learning this one was helpful to me. I learned that there are several techniques that can be used to paraphrase effectively. So basically, there are two ways to paraphrase a text: by changing the words; and by changing the sentence structure. By changing the words, I can change the part of speech, use synonyms, and change numbers and percentages to different forms. By changing the sentence structure, I can change the word order, use different definition structure as well as attribution signals, and change the sentence structure ad use different conjunctions. By using these techniques, I learned that it is important to maintain the meaning of the text and remember to not change proper nouns and technical terms when paraphrasing.

📌Lesson 3: Paraphrasing vs. Quoting

        🌻In this lesson, I discovered all about quoting and its difference about paraphrasing. Quoting is the act of exactly repeating what the author has said. This strategy is most commonly applied to phrases or short sentences. I learned about the ICE method which stands for introduce, cite, and explain. Learning how and when to quote was also taught in this lesson. Now, the difference between quoting and paraphrasing is that quoting is more typically employed with shorter phrases or sentences, while paraphrasing is more useful for longer sentences or a set of lines. While quoting and paraphrasing have diverse applications, they can often be combined to better explain and defend arguments.

📚📚📚

📝UNIT 5: CITING SOURCES OF INFORMATION

📌Lesson 1: Different Citation Styles

        🌻In this lesson, I was introduced to the different citation styles used in academic writing. Here, I learned about citation which is a way to give credit to the owner of the work a person will be using especially when doing research and about citation styles which dictates what information is needed to include in a citation, how that information should be structured, what punctuations are used, and other formatting concerns. I learned about the three major citation styles often used in academic writing which are the APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association, and Chicago/Turabian style. The APA is used in education, psychology, and the social sciences. The MLA is normally used in the humanities. While the Chicago/Turabian style is often used in business, history, and fine arts. The Chicago style has two basic documentation systems: (1) notes and bibliography and (2) author-date.  The Chicago/Turabian author-date style is preferred by the humanities, including those in literature, history, and the arts while on the other hand, Chicago/Turabian notes and bibliography style is usually used by the physical, natural, and social sciences. The Turabian citation style is similar to the Chicago style, but with slight changes for student authors. I will put in mind that the different disciplines have their favored citation styles.

📌Lesson 2: Writing In-Text Citations, Endnotes, and Footnotes

        🌻As I tackled this lesson, I was able to recognize the in-text citations, endnotes, and footnotes of the different citation styles. There are many topics in this lesson such as In-Text Citations in APA Format (7th Edition), Footnotes in APA Format (7th Edition), In-Text Citations in MLA Format, Footnotes and Endnotes in MLA Format, Author-Date (AD) Style in Chicago Format, and Notes-Bibliography (NB) Style in Chicago Format. I was able to understand the lesson but I still need to learn more about it. I learned that the set-up for in-text citations in APA uses the author-date-page number(s), it uses the author-page number(s) for in-text citations in MLA while it uses author-date-page number(s) for AD for CMOS but CMOS also permits authors to use NB, which places all references in the footnotes or endnotes. For APA and MLA, footnotes and endnotes should be used sparingly and are typically reserved for supplemental text for other references.

📌Lesson 3: Writing a Bibliography

        🌻I gained a lot of information about what is bibliography and how to construct a proper bibliography. A bibliography summarizes all of the sources and background reading a person used for research. A reference list, also known as a works cited list, differs from a bibliography in that it only includes materials that you referenced, summarized, paraphrased, or quoted in your paper but both of them essentially perform the same role. I was also able to encounter the bibliography in APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian. For the bibliography or references list, the APA citation style provides a specific formatting guidance. In MLA, the reference list is meant to as the works cited page. A bibliography is typically used in the Chicago/Turabian citation style, which means that all of the works a person utilized in his/her study must be included, even if they are not expressly credited or discussed in the article. Depending on the citation style, the arrangement of the bibliography entry will differ. I discovered that the three citation styles have distinct ways of organizing and formatting their bibliographies and bibliographic entries.

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[kbreenreads]

Week 10 Activity: Reading Log #3

Graphic Novel

Citation: Telgemeier, Raina (2019). Guts. Scholastic.

Summary: This autobiographical graphic novel follows Raina throughout her fifth grade year and chronicles her experience with anxiety and digestive issues. Through therapy, Raina learns mindfulness techniques to help calm her anxiety and understand her own thoughts and feelings better. Though she keeps her experiences secret from her friends throughout most of the school year, she eventually opens up to them and finds that they are quite accepting of her in the end.

Comments: This graphic novel does an amazing job at realistically depicting the experience of anxiety. There are a few points throughout where Raina’s anxiety is visualized as a swarm of words (representing everything she fears) circling around her head with a green, sickly-looking background. I found this to be a very accurate depiction of what anxiety feels like, and believe it could help young readers with anxiety realize that they are not alone in their feelings. Though the cover of Guts is simple, it perfectly depicts the content of the story in the way that it displays a drawing of an anxious and sick looking face.

Library Use: I would definitely include this title in a display for Mental Health Awareness Month in May, as it does a great job of realistically and positively depicting the experience of going to therapy as a child.

Fantasy

Citation: Dahl, Roald (1961). James and the Giant Peach. Puffin.

Summary: This story follows James, a young boy who became an orphan and was forced to live with his two cruel aunts after his parents were eaten by a rhinoceros. One day, a mysterious old man offers James green glowing crystals and states that if he eats them, unbelievable things will happen to him. James ends up accidentally losing all the crystals after he spills them near a peach tree. As a result, the tree sprouts a peach which ends up growing larger and larger. James discovers a tunnel leading into the peach and climbs inside of it, where he meets a collection of bugs who, as a result of eating the spilled crystals, have grown into the size of humans and can now talk. James befriends the bugs and together they escape James’ cruel aunts by cutting the stem to the peach and allowing it to roll away into the ocean. It is then carried away by hundreds of seagulls and eventually lands in New York City, where James and the bugs end up living successful, happy lives.

Comments: According to Vardell, “The characters of fantasy are essential for the reader’s engagement with the story. It should be possible to identify with the main character(s), even if they’re not human” (235). This definitely applies to James and the Giant Peach’s collection of insect characters - they all have very human-like personalities and become James’ family when he has none. I also liked the way it combined fantastical elements (like talking, human-size bugs) with a sense of realism. For example, the bugs still retain their normal “bug functions” and these are sometimes used as points to move the plot forward, like when the spider and silkworm create strings to attach to the seagulls that carry the peach away.

Library Use: I think this would be a really fun book to do a reader’s theater activity with, as the characters are all full of personality and would be exciting for children to play. The fantastical elements of the story would allow the children taking part in readers theater to use their imaginations throughout the activity.

Non Fiction #1

Citation: Cherry-Paul, Sonja (2021). Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You. Little Brown.

Summary: This is a middle grade adaptation of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jayson Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. It tells the story of how racism originated in America over the past several centuries and explains how racism continues to affect America in the current day. It also discusses current antiracist movements such as Black Lives Matter, and provides strategies for young readers to identify and stop racist thoughts/feelings that they might carry themselves.

Comments: Cherry-Paul did an excellent job at adapting Reynolds and Kendi’s YA novel for a younger audience. Each chapter focuses on a specific subject, and these chapters contain visual elements such as illustrations and timelines to aid readers’ understanding. There is also a section at the end of each chapter where readers are prompted to “pause” and discuss/reflect on key ideas and themes they have learned. This book does a great job of not only explaining the complex history of racism in America in a way that is easy for young readers to understand, but also takes several opportunities to address the reader directly and has them confront and examine their own previously-held thoughts and beliefs.

Library Use: Though this book is one that middle-graders should be able to get through on their own, they will definitely get more out of it if an adult reads it alongside them and serves as a guide/discussion partner. For a library, it would make for a great book for a discussion group - the prompts at the end of each chapter can serve as prompts for the discussion and the librarian can serve as the guide/moderator.

Non Fiction #2

Citation: Kay, Katty; Shimpan, Claire; Riley, JillEllyn (2020). Living the Confidence Code: Real Girls. Real Stories. Real Confidence. HarperCollins.

Summary: This is a collection of stories from inspiring young women around the world who chronicle their successes, failures, and missions to make the world a better place. Some of the young women featured in this book include activist Greta Thurnberg and Paralympic athlete Haven Shepherd.

Comments: This collection of stories is inspiring and accessible for young readers. The format in which these stories are told switches up with each new story, keeping things fresh and interesting throughout. Some are told in interview-style, some as essays, and even some in the style of graphic novels. Along with the stories themselves, there are confidence tips included throughout for readers to apply to their own lives. At the end of the book, there are blank pages designed for the reader to write down their own story, which I thought was a nice touch.

Library Use: Since this book gives readers the option of telling their own story at the end, I think it would be fun for participants in a discussion group for this book to be able to each share their story with the rest of the group (if they feel comfortable to).

Ebook

Citation: Bogert-Spaniol, Megan (2015). 10 Little Kittens. Cantata Learning.

Summary: This interactive ebook introduces young children to baby animals and the sounds they make with a song that also has them count to 10 and back again.

Comments: This was one of the titles included in Capstone’s collection of interactive ebooks. I liked the way the first page provided a brief introduction to baby animals and prompted the reader to turn the page upon hearing the sound of a baby animal. The next pages consisted of the “10 Little Kittens” song, with each new verse introducing a new baby animal and the sound it makes. Each word on the page lights up as the narrator reads/sings it, allowing children to follow along. Though this ebook is simple in terms of its interactivity, it is useful in teaching very young children early concepts around animals, sounds, and numbers.

Library Use: This interactive ebook reminded me a lot of library story time events designed for young children, especially the song included within the book. I would feature this ebook and ones like it as part of a “story time at home” collection, so children have the opportunity to get some of the fun and educational moments these story time events provide outside of the library.

Educational App/Game/Website

Citation: checkology.org. News Literacy Zone.

Summary: This news literacy site provides interactive lessons which teach students how to separate fact from fiction when it comes to information they see in the news, on television, or on social media.

Comments: We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded by information from a variety of sources. Because the majority of this information is able to reach us without being fact-checked, we are vulnerable to being swayed by misinformation. This is especially true for young people, who have grown up entirely under this kind of information landscape. This website is incredibly useful in helping students look at information from a critical perspective. It contains several lessons on topics such as InfoZones and Misinformation. I did the InfoZones lesson, which separates information into six different purposes: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to sell, to provoke, and to document. The lesson defines each of these purposes and has students watch video clips and look at screenshots from news articles or social media sites, and then identify the purpose of each piece of information. The videos included in the lesson are fairly short, as to not risk the learner losing interest. Some of the example pieces of information cover topics that middle/high schoolers will find relevant, such as school lunch pricing issues. It is free to register for checkology and take several of the lessons, though some content is behind a paywall.

Library Use: This is definitely something I would promote as a librarian, since news literacy is a topic that I feel is incredibly important for young people to be knowledgable in these days. I would probably use it as an element of a larger news/information literacy program that focuses on teaching young people (probably late elementary-middle school age) how to fact check and identify misinformation.