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Dept. of Really, Really Scattershot
The Sun is Shining and I Must Too
As in, I must really, really do something other than play endless games of solitaire today. Posting is the first thing I can do to make myself feel as if the brain is actually working. So, in short order I can tell you things.
I finally finished Chapter 19 of Hearts & Moons and am working on Chapter 20. I have been working on this story for more than five years; I don't know whether that's a testament to my persistence, my lack of writing discipline and ability to plot properly, or all three. I can testify that the story has become something more than I expected it to be, back when I was first started writing it off a prompt from the gifted![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cathica. I will finish it, but I suspect it will need massive early-chapter revisions once I do. Ah, well.
Speaking ofcathica, who does what I can not, she was featured in February as part of Women in Horror month on Colleen Anderson's blog. Anderson asks interesting questions, but I don't think it's possible to capture cathica's essence in such a short piece. If you haven't read her fiction over on Teaspoon, you should; she does have a dab hand at horror, but she's also damned striking at everything else, too.
Hmmm, what else? I attended a day-long workshop on union mobilization, which was extremely helpful. Our union has found a new office, so we are safe from the predations of the previous and very unstable landlord. I am reading a non-genre book, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, as a work-connected exercise. I am reminded again of how difficult it is for me to read books that aren't science fiction, speculative, fantasy or poetry. It undoubtedly says a great deal about my inability to concentrate.
I also read Stormdancer, by Jay Kristoff. It's Japanese steampunk, but it's also a very good portrait of the way a 16-year-old girl might deal with a tough family situation, and a vivid painting of a polluted but vibrant world. Sadly, it's the first book of some sort of series, and it was just written last year, so I'm afraid I'll have to wait for the next one. I understand that the reviews on this are wildly divergent, with negatives dealing with issues of cultural appropriation, etc. Since fantasy is, to my mind, a morass - or a celebration - of cultural appropriations of all kinds, I'm going to stick to the story and say I liked it a lot.
For the second time ever, I went with BB and our good friendapostle_of_eris to Hausermann's Orchid's, in the Chicago suburb of Villa Park. Hausermann's is a family owned business that grows, distributes and sells orchids. Once a year, for two weekends, Hausermann's opens to the public, and apostle_of_eris, an orchid lover, introduced us to the place a few years back (I was last there in 2010).
As I said, Hausermann's grows and sells orchids (and the occasional bromeliad.) Nothing but orchids. Acres of orchids, of all genuses growing in tiny bottles before they are brought out to grow in rows and rows in the moist warmth of greenhouses ... big florid blooms, and tiny sprays that look like snowflakes or strings of pearls, lady-slippers of all types, from simple bedroom ivory to ballroom carnelian and gold, huge scarlet-orange explosions and ... PURPLE! Every possible shape of orchid in every possible shade of purple! I adore purple ...
It was wonderful - not least because, for me, the various aromas and fragrances are as much a draw as the beauty of the blooms. Sure, not all orchids have fragrance and some that do have fragrances you might not expect, but they smell!
There are so many words for smell, each with its own connotation: smell, odor, aroma, fragrance (I suppose it's a bit like the old saying that horses sweat, men perspire and women glow.) And normally, I would say that Hausermann's was filled with fragrance, because "smell" would seem so pedestrian.
But the word smell is also so direct. And the smells of those flowers - so fragrant sometimes, so surprising other times, sometimes so odd - spoke for themselves; they needed no compliments. They went straight to whatever part of my brain responds to smell, and they touched it. Caressed it, tickled it, punched it sometimes, then got right back to caressing it. So ... smell. I left Hausermann's giddy. Almost drunk with the smells. I'll go back next year for the smells. And the pretty. Here are a few pictures. (They're thumbnails, because they're rather huge, and the one thing LJ still has over Dreamwidth for me is ease of uploading pictures. Gah.)
Finally, there are birthdays I forgot and some birthdays coming up. But they deserve their own post.
P.S. Is it March 30 yet?
As in, I must really, really do something other than play endless games of solitaire today. Posting is the first thing I can do to make myself feel as if the brain is actually working. So, in short order I can tell you things.
I finally finished Chapter 19 of Hearts & Moons and am working on Chapter 20. I have been working on this story for more than five years; I don't know whether that's a testament to my persistence, my lack of writing discipline and ability to plot properly, or all three. I can testify that the story has become something more than I expected it to be, back when I was first started writing it off a prompt from the gifted
cathica. I will finish it, but I suspect it will need massive early-chapter revisions once I do. Ah, well. Speaking of
cathica, who does what I can not, she was featured in February as part of Women in Horror month on Colleen Anderson's blog. Anderson asks interesting questions, but I don't think it's possible to capture cathica's essence in such a short piece. If you haven't read her fiction over on Teaspoon, you should; she does have a dab hand at horror, but she's also damned striking at everything else, too.Hmmm, what else? I attended a day-long workshop on union mobilization, which was extremely helpful. Our union has found a new office, so we are safe from the predations of the previous and very unstable landlord. I am reading a non-genre book, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, as a work-connected exercise. I am reminded again of how difficult it is for me to read books that aren't science fiction, speculative, fantasy or poetry. It undoubtedly says a great deal about my inability to concentrate.
I also read Stormdancer, by Jay Kristoff. It's Japanese steampunk, but it's also a very good portrait of the way a 16-year-old girl might deal with a tough family situation, and a vivid painting of a polluted but vibrant world. Sadly, it's the first book of some sort of series, and it was just written last year, so I'm afraid I'll have to wait for the next one. I understand that the reviews on this are wildly divergent, with negatives dealing with issues of cultural appropriation, etc. Since fantasy is, to my mind, a morass - or a celebration - of cultural appropriations of all kinds, I'm going to stick to the story and say I liked it a lot.
For the second time ever, I went with BB and our good friend
apostle_of_eris to Hausermann's Orchid's, in the Chicago suburb of Villa Park. Hausermann's is a family owned business that grows, distributes and sells orchids. Once a year, for two weekends, Hausermann's opens to the public, and apostle_of_eris, an orchid lover, introduced us to the place a few years back (I was last there in 2010).As I said, Hausermann's grows and sells orchids (and the occasional bromeliad.) Nothing but orchids. Acres of orchids, of all genuses growing in tiny bottles before they are brought out to grow in rows and rows in the moist warmth of greenhouses ... big florid blooms, and tiny sprays that look like snowflakes or strings of pearls, lady-slippers of all types, from simple bedroom ivory to ballroom carnelian and gold, huge scarlet-orange explosions and ... PURPLE! Every possible shape of orchid in every possible shade of purple! I adore purple ...
It was wonderful - not least because, for me, the various aromas and fragrances are as much a draw as the beauty of the blooms. Sure, not all orchids have fragrance and some that do have fragrances you might not expect, but they smell!
There are so many words for smell, each with its own connotation: smell, odor, aroma, fragrance (I suppose it's a bit like the old saying that horses sweat, men perspire and women glow.) And normally, I would say that Hausermann's was filled with fragrance, because "smell" would seem so pedestrian.
But the word smell is also so direct. And the smells of those flowers - so fragrant sometimes, so surprising other times, sometimes so odd - spoke for themselves; they needed no compliments. They went straight to whatever part of my brain responds to smell, and they touched it. Caressed it, tickled it, punched it sometimes, then got right back to caressing it. So ... smell. I left Hausermann's giddy. Almost drunk with the smells. I'll go back next year for the smells. And the pretty. Here are a few pictures. (They're thumbnails, because they're rather huge, and the one thing LJ still has over Dreamwidth for me is ease of uploading pictures. Gah.)
Finally, there are birthdays I forgot and some birthdays coming up. But they deserve their own post.
P.S. Is it March 30 yet?
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What is it?
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Most of the reasonable concerns I've seen voiced or written don't seem to believe that only members of any given culture are allowed to write anything associated with or inspired by that culture.
What they do seem to have concerns with are a) fetishizing a culture, largely in the same pew as romanticizing, only even more skeevy; b) treating an entire culture as "ooo! A new toy that I can use to dress in/write with/borrow from!" without acknowledging that there is a, you know, culture behind those Japanese phrases, indigenous American myths, Indian saris, etc.
I think it boils down to respect or lack thereof. People who make it clear that they've taken the trouble to study the culture from which they are borrowing, or by which they are inspired (hell, if something inspires you, you should take the time to learn a bit about it before you use parts of it); that they've gone to the trouble of asking folks from the culture some respectful questions; people who also make clear that they will take some liberties, but will clearly state what is a liberty, what is an invention and what comes from the culture ... those people are probably less apt to get side-eyed by folks from the culture.
I think it has a lot to do with perception of whether the culture being borrowed from/appropriated/used as inspiration is, in the real world, a marginalized culture or one that has a certain amount of power in this world. The more marginalized a culture, the more apt its members are to feel that they are being dealt with in terms of an unequal balance of power. If you have no power, and you feel as if you're belittled and denigrated every day of your life - and then you watch people come and take one more thing from you, whilst exclaiming over its "cuteness" or "exotic charm", I imagine the urge to kill can get pretty immediate.
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It's like... using stuff without bothering to do one's research. I've seen this with SF that's written by USAians while trying to have an Australian setting or an Australian character (worst case - an Australian Aboriginal character) while getting things wrong that any Australian would spot straight away. Like they couldn't be bothered getting a beta-reader, but still wanted to exploit the exoticism of an Australian setting.
Where the lines blur, I think, are where one is dealing with SF/F universes where one can make stuff up that doesn't necessarily correspond to existing real cultures.
* I mean, are the bits of Mandarin in Firefly "cultural appropriation"? I suppose it would be if the Mandarin was incorrect. (I don't know if it is).
* Are the kimino-like robes worn by the Minbari "cultural appropriation"?
* Are the cultures in Avatar: The Last Airbender "cultural appropriation"?
The difficulty is that, it's harder to say "they got it wrong" when the cultures in question are inspired by, rather than more directly based on, a known culture. I think part of that is... if you get the impression that the author has been meticulous in their world-building, that there is thought and internal consistency with it, then it feels less like a cultural grab-bag and more of a work of art. If, on the other hand, it looks like trappings without context, visual/characterisation short-cuts, then the author is neither respecting their art nor the culture they're borrowing from.
Which possibly means that perceiving something as cultural appropriation would depend a great deal on whether one likes it in the first place.
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I've read some people didn't think much of the Mandarin, but more people, I think, saw it as someone extrapolating a future in which one of the dominant cultures to have escaped from Earth That Was, was Chinese. In that sense, it wasn't appropriation at all.
With Avatar: The Last Airbender, I've seen people thrilled by the original cartoon, because its major characters are recognizably not dominant culture Caucasian. In fact, that may be a clue to when something is more apt to be realio, trulio bad cultural appropriation: when one uses bits and pieces of someone else's culture, only to use it solely as background for the main cast to remain unmistakeably dominant culture in. If you see what I mean.
And the points you make about respect vs. lack of respect, and trappings w/o context - yeah, that's all playing into it.
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My WIP-o-Doom, which I have only posted tentatively buried in the anon threads of a kink meme (even though it's not really kink) is at about 40K words and I have been working on it since January 2011. I did have to take time off for about 6 months to finish my dissertation before my graduation deadline, but still, slow write commiserates with you and sends virtual hugs and chocolate for continuing and keeping with it!
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I've watched you post the chronicle of the WIP-o-doom (what kink meme, where?)and I admit, it does help to know that others create at a similar pace to my own. Good luck to you in your efforts; perhaps we shall both complete our stories soon?
Or not. Heh. (Just so long as we finish. Unfinished fics, while very understandable, and I don't berate authors who have to leave a story unfinished; it's their decision, do make my heart sad. There are a couple of stories on my Teaspoon faves list which will never be finished. I'll defend to the death their authors' rights to leave them unfinished, but I grieve just a little. So, yeah, as long as there's a synapse processing in my brain, I'll keep at it.)
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Thanks! I have to get out of data analysis mindset and back into writing mindset first. I'm better at it when I can sit outside on the patio, so hopefully the weather will start obliging soon. As for now it's still snowing. It's been 5 months since I wrote anything substantial on the WIP, and I've not really written anything at all in that time frame. I guess I have to buckle down.
What's out there of my story is buried in
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You should never worry about how long the fic is taking. I have some that have been in rotation more years than I like to think about - tis a wonder anyone reads my work, lol!!
Thank you for the update, sweetness...love hearing from you.
*HUGS*
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*hugs back*
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Heh. It's a sort of low-key, stubborn, intermittent persistence, but it persists in persisting, and therein lies my eventual salvation. At least I hope so.
The orchids were ... I loved them this year even more than the last year I was out there. I don't remember ever being made quite so giddy by all the fragrances. (As for the pictures, BB was saying that some of the shots were really good, and I said, "Taking pictures of flowers is really cheating, because flowers don't take bad pictures. It's all the beauty of the flowers, and none of the photographer's skill." Still, it's wonderful to have the images as a way of conjuring the day up again.)
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Oh, I'm sure. You know, I only came back to fanfic writing and online fandom because I'd left a fic unfinished the first time round and I couldn't bear it - so, 8 years later, I finished it. I hope yours doesn't take you as long, but persistence is the thing, in the end, isn't it?
Well, the photographer can take some credit. It's still possible to end up with blurred things, stuff out of shot or in shot that shouldn't be! :-)
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Oh, you have no idea how much hope this gives me! (Also it makes me wonder whether you're my Internet Twin. *g*
It's still possible to end up with blurred things, stuff out of shot or in shot that shouldn't be!
Ah yes, the "thumb on the lens" school of photography. I am a master at that. Heh.
but wait! there's more!!
I have never been able describe the place extravagantly enough that it didn't still come as a shock to someone going for the first time. (And I am known for sounding extravagant and implausible and not making things up.) ((Is that a fair statement, "kaffyr"?))
Another part of the atmosphere is that it is a family business. Half the people working there have name badges saying "Hausermann".
During the Open House, the break area
servesgives away sweet rolls in the morning and hot dogs at lunch time (and there is a popcorn machine). There is a little sign asking you to please take only one sweet roll or one hot dog.Re: but wait! there's more!!