Writing With Empathy

Writing is a way to communicate, and as such, you need to approach it with communication skills. I believe writing with empathy is one of these skills. Empathy in writing comes across as respect for different points of view. Respecting your audience and maybe not throwing your own opinions in their faces. We practiced this some in our Wikipedia articles, but that was just for the sake of professionalism and contribution to an unbiased source. It's good form to incorporate into all your writing.

Right to Bear Arms (ROAR!)

Can you believe the people in the South who would rather lose the freedom of religion than their right to keep deadly weapons that cause millions of deaths every year in the U.S. in their homes?

I think that question sums up my opinion on the matter.

I think life would be easier if all the guns were taken away and replaced with real bears. They would be significantly less dangerous in the hands of Southerners. I couldn't be that cruel to the bears, though.

Family conflict

Family life can be hard. Not for me, but for some people, I'm sure. Like Sarah Vowell.

My parents are both democrats. They may not understand some of the new gender and sexuality plectrums, but for the most part they're accepting of them. They don't like gun violence, they're feminist and unbiased. So we get along pretty well. 

A family that isn't mine.

One time I really wanted a magic spinning fairy wand from a booth at the fair and they told me "Maybe later", so I tried to get them to go back and buy it for me when we were walking to the car, and they said no. That wasn't a fun day for me. But I was seven, so it wasn't as traumatic as you might think.

"Nuclear" family

I know nuclear means immediate family, but I have a great, uneventful relationship with my family, so I thought, what if I compared them to a nuclear explosion? They're not, of course. We are some of the calmest people you will ever meet. We are all artists, writers and illustrators and singers and actors, but like I said, we have a constant, even relationship. If anything, I was the nuclear explosion a few years ago. " ", writes Manning. I've got to say I know a little about what that's like. I was a lit fuse ready to blow in my self-identity crisis when I was thirteen and fourteen, trying to dye my hair black and understand the secrets of the universe. No, my family has always been supportive and patient, even through my "hatred" phase (don't lie, we all had one). They were my gas mask in the nuclear disaster of growing up. Wow, that sounded a lot better in my head. No, that was a lie, it didn't. It sounded just as bad.

Others' Posts?

A lot of the posts I saw were pretty sad, and I realized I'm pretty lucky that I'm very close with my family and have two parents who are still married. I could relate to a few: Matthew Griffin wrote about his relationship with his sister, which "could get heated at times", but when she left for college they hugged and knew they loved each other. I have a younger brother that I fight with sometimes, but I know he loves me.
Another one I could relate to was Tiffany's post about how close she is with her family. She writes "A lot of people think I'm weird for not wanting to move out." I still think the world is a little scary, and I'm excited of course, but also a bit nervous to move out next year for my real freshman year.

Info from my Wiki Article

I really don't know what I'm going to write about for this paper, and it's kind of freaking me out. My topic I wrote about was the Muppets in Disney theme parks (I want to work at Disney World while in college, and after college I'd like to work for Muppets Studios, so this was kind of a combination of both of those). I did find out a lot of information (the future of attractions according to the VP of Muppet Studios, for example), but I don't know how to use that for my paper. Maybe I'll argue something from the Disney side rather than the Muppets side. An academic paper about Disney World...I could do that. But what do I argue??

Writer's Block & Tattoos

One of our assignments was to write about two of our classmates' posts. I enjoyed reading a post from Erica Barbour about writer's block, in which Barbour describes the feeling as an "unfortunate disease". I'm not sure why I found that phrasing so funny, but I laughed for a while. She goes on to capture pretty well the frustrations that come with writer's block.

The other post was about tattoos, and was written by Mariah Cummings. Cummings generously included pictures in her posts that show beautiful sketch tattoos of flowers and an eye. Her favorite, and my personal favorite also, is a watercolor tattoo, with beautiful coloring and a wolf. Cummings says under the picture that watercolor is her "favorite kind of tattooing". I agree; I really think watercolor lines and blending are beautiful in tattoos.

Effective Intro to Wiki

A Wikipedia introduction needs to be, above all, informative. The hook that engages the reader can often be new information provided; I've found that works well to captivate the reader and keep them...well...reading. An opening just generally needs to reinforce what they're about to read in the meat of the article, so I'd say keep in simple, interesting, and informative.

Wiki Editing

I think it's not as much what I learned from the research (which was a good bit...now I'm thinking about maybe studying business for my field...that would be a pretty big change though, I don't know) as what I learned about editing Wikipedia - a very useful skill to have, for you and for others- and academic writing in general. This was good practice for learning to write in a specific tone and style appropriate to the situation. A lot of students out of high school are used to writing persuasively, and it's important to know how to get away from that. Wikipedia has served as a writing window, sort of as a professional practice field for our writing.

Hoodie Ideas?

I just got this new hoodie that's plain and light-grey, and I'm trying to figure out how to make it cool. I really like this collar idea.

Look at how cool that is!

I might splatter-paint it. That would be cool. But I don't love splatter painting. Then again, it may be the easiest option...

Another website has a way to take an old quilt a sew a patch on from it. That's definitely something I never would have thought of.

Pretty cool, but I don't have all the time in the world to do something like that to it. I still have to finish my Doc3.

Well, I'll think of something. 

Wikipedia Organization

I've already talked a little bit about my article and its lack of sufficient information. The subsectio. Of the article only features the Muppet movie at Disney World and Disneyland and the audio-animatronic roving lab deployed in Hong Kong. That leaves a lot to cover. In addition to revising those sections, I'm adding information about

• Muppet pins sets dating back to 1990
• Current closure of the MuppetVision attraction at Disneyland California Adventure due to the Frozen Celebration show
• The rumors and fear that Disneyland's MuppetVision and Hollywood Studios' Muppet area may be closing permanently to make room for expansions, and the interviews with Steve Whitmire and the VP of Muppet relations with Disney that address these rumors.
• The Give A Day Get A Disney Day campaign

I might do some more work, but I am working on finishing up my reading list and sources. Yay!

Find The Humor

Life is pretty short, and a lot of the time your control over situations is pretty limited. So my thinking has always been that I want to live well and fully, the best I can, and with a positive prescence. Trying your best to be happy will often actually make you feel better. And, personally, I'm a really empathetic person, so making other people happy makes me feel better about myself! I want to leave the world a little better than I found it, even if it just means making a few more people laugh.

So, having this philosophy, humor is your best friend in awkward situations. If someone's going to laugh at your mistakes, why can't you? Life is too short to take yourself so seriously.

Stereotypes

So I guess this post is supposed to be about gender stereotypes? Great. This'll be fun.

First, gender is a concept made up by men, sort of like the idea of time-- it keeps everything orderly and pigeonholed, but it doesn't really have any logical reasoning behind it. It's a huge spectrum. Female and male doesn't begin to cover it. Transgender, genderfluid, and agender all exist, too. So I just wanted to point out that gender is much bigger than male and female. (And by the way, none of these have to do with a person's sexuality, either: gender is who you are, and your sexuality is who you are attracted to.)

And now, male and female stereotypes. I understand that men are also sometimes stereotyped. And I hate that men aren't seen as emotional, or think they have to work out to be conventionally attractive, or something, but if you EVER believe that male stereotypes are more hurtful than female, you are KIDDING yourself. And you are living in ignorance.

Female stereotypes- weak, docile women who are never in control. Never leaders. Don't have the brains or bodies to hold power. Only exist for male satisfaction, or servitude, or anything. This thinking is what has created rape culture. This thinking is the reason that every two minutes a person is sexually assaulted. This thinking is the reason girls ages 16-19 are FOUR TIMES MORE LIKELY than the general population to be victims of sexual assault (x). While some men are tired of trying to act tough, thousands of women are being assaulted and killed every day because of what we call misogyny. Why? Because boys have not been taught that respect and consent are basic human rights. Because people ask questions like "What was she wearing?" Because women who are assaulted are scared to go to police for help. Because people think "the friendzone" is A REAL THING. Because women who choose to have sex are sluts but women who choose not to are prudes. Because of the lengths media and pop culture will go to to promote objectification. Because women are suffering and the men who are the cause do not seem to care. 

Women are not objects. A woman is not a "piece of ass" or a "She's got a nice rack". Women are people. Women are complex, and layered, and so, so different from each other. Strong, sensitive, funny, angry, brave, cowardly, neat, messy, nervous, tough, heroic, evil, well-rounded, real.

Women are important. And women have nothing to do with men's expectations.

Reading for my Wiki Topic

My Wikipedia topic research has been a little difficult. I'm writing about the Muppets, so naturally my academic sources are lacking. I am having to stick to video sourcing and professional blogs. I typed "Muppets" into Google Scholar, and apparently MUPPET is an abbreviation for Maryland University Project in Physics and Educational Technology.

I'm actually pretty excited about updating the Wikipedia. It is in serious need of one. My paragraph is pretty specific, but if I want to know information on the Muppets in theme parks, someone else SOMEWHERE must too, I hope.