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anyasmcm · 5 months

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November 14th - 20th research

Observational research:

I've been thinking a little more about material in reference to my piece, and Isabelle referenced Anna Mlasowsky's piece "Chorus of One" during my Capstone Update presentation. It's really hard for me to think about material and its meaning because a lot of materials have multiple meanings. It reminds me of Kara Walker's piece "A Subtlety" and her use of sugar. I'd really like my material to have personal meaning, but it's also overwhelming because I don't think I can assign 1 material to encompass the meaning of my piece. I think I will do a lot of material research over winter break so I have time to experiment with a lot of different things.

Active research:

I wanted to think a little about how my work will present in an exhibit/gallery setting.

In this sketch, the people speaking in the foreground are recorded by microphones placed throughout the gallery. What they are saying is then sent to the computer, which then prints what is said onto a receipt-like piece of paper. What is said is continuously printed onto the paper, and I sit at the end of the table and roll up the paper like a scroll. I've been thinking a lot about speech-to-text after playing around with it for pre-recorded audio. I usually watch movies and shows with captions because I struggle to understand what the characters are saying at times, so speech-to-text reminds me of captions. I also want to unpack what my function is in my piece, since I feel like I haven't done that a whole lot or unpacked it as much as I'd like to.

Another idea I had for my piece was a more guerilla approach to interacting with the viewers. I would go around asking people, non-verbally, if I can have their number. Then, I would text the numbers that I do acquire and display our messages on a projection behind me or on a wall in the gallery. I was thinking about the function of phones and how they have changed from exclusively verbal communication devices into these mini computers that can verbally, through texts and words, and also through emotions (emojis). I wanted to think about the difference between flip phones and smart phones, since my generation grew up in the period where the majority of the public was transitioning from a flip phone to a smart phone. How are messages different on the two devices? Flip phones take longer to type on and therefore encouraged a language of short-hands and abbreviations. However, since the messages took longer to send, it was more meaningful or important when someone sent a message because it meant that they wanted that communicated in writing and also wanted the person to be able to read it whenever they want, which shows compassion. On the other hand, smart phones also picked up on abbreviations, but they are no longer as necessary because it doesn't take a whole lot of time out of your day to use the entire word/phrase. Additionally, we can send messages quickly whenever and where-ever, so it seems as though we are desensitized to the marvel of text messaging. I'm not sure if I'll go with this idea, but I do think it has potential.

I also wanted to collect a couple of the questions I have surrounding my presence in my piece. I haven't really attempted to answer any of these questions, but I am keeping them at the back of my mind while I try and narrow my focus on my piece.

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annity369578 · 2 years

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akatsuki-shin · 3 years

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Review: 默读 Mò Dú (Silent Reading)

Notes:

(Very) long post ahead

Contains spoiler

This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience, you are free to agree or not agree with what I’ve written here

Feel free to reply/send me a message if there are things you want to discuss

Using the Donghua poster because it fits the overall story more than the Audio Drama cover. :'))

Summary:

Yan City is a bright, bustling metropolis filled with all sorts of wonders, all sorts of people. From the richest occupying the city's most prestigious residential areas to the poorest huddling together in rundown slums, from the most fortunate blessed with a life of comfort to the wretched deemed to struggle until their last breath, from the virtuous walking in the path of light to the wicked lurking under the cover of darkness.

There is as much good as there is evil, and days gone by, people coming and going along with the passage of time.

Since their first meeting during a certain case seven years ago, Captain of the City Bureau's Crime Investigation Unit Luo Wenzhou thought he would never see eye to eye with Fei Du, son of a well-known conglomerate who inherited his father's position and wealth after the latter fell into comatose due to a near-fatal accident three years ago.

Words as sharp as knives dyed their bitter exchanges, even their personality was like the heaven and earth; the bold, blunt, and straightforward Luo Wenzhou - and the astute, secretive Fei Du, with his beautiful peach blossom eyes and a smile that is not quite a smile seducing countless people, his very presence seems as if it was covered under layers and layers of deceit.

Every single time they meet, they would always part on bad terms. Yet Luo Wenzhou would never have thought that a seemingly ordinary murder case of an ordinary deliveryman would lead him into the mystery of multiple long forgotten unsolved cases, turning over the Yan City and the City Bureau itself upside down, making him question his faith to those he respected and trust - and along with it, opening a door to the truth of Fei Du's past never once known to others.

STORY: 9/10

At first glance, the overall plot of Silent Reading seems neither extravagant nor exceptional. It's just one of those police drama where the main leads had to wrestle in a battle of wits with the villains looming around them, struggling to outsmart each other and eventually, bringing justice to those who deserve it.

But that is exactly what is so good about it. Silent reading could take all of those cliche and packed them into one nerve-wrecking, enticing journey from start to finish, complete with both intense and amusing interactions, and just the right amount of romance that does not disturb the flow of the main story.

And it actually does have its own uniqueness.

In most police dramas I've ever seen, the enemy is usually either a corrupt high-ranking official committing some hideous criminal acts by abusing their authority, or an individual/group with some very extreme values or obsession. Silent Reading, however, have both of those two most general types of villains in the story and what's more? It pits them against each other, pulling around and forcing the main leads to wreck their brains, slowly unravel the tangled mess until the truth finally comes to light.

The action and suspense, the atmosphere, the analysis, everything was almost impeccable to the point of perfection.

I have to especially give my kudos to how the author (Priest) structured the mystery in such a way, connecting one dots to the other from beginning to end. During the first few cases, I thought the resolution of the case didn't feel very solid, as if there are still some details that have yet to be properly elaborated. Yet halfway through, I realize that there is actually a bigger plot that encompass everything, tying all loose ends together.

And here, I would also like to highlight my two most favorite scene.

The first one is in Chapter 114-115 when Luo Wenzhou finally peeled of Fei Du's defense and for the first time exposed his true feelings, making Fei Du faced and spoke what he truly felt for Luo Wenzhou - that he really, actually did care for him. Their entire interactions and development up to this scene fits so well with these two main characters. There was no nonsense, no sappy crying and needless drama. Luo Wenzhou was as blunt as he was desperate and Fei Du, for once, admitted to the truth straight out with his own mouth.

The second one is in Chapter 157. In this case, one of Fei Du's most trusted men and an extremely important witness (that would later become their ally) were being chased and surrounded by thugs hired by their enemy. At this point of the story, the City Bureau was already in turmoil. Luo Wenzhou was suspended, nobody knows who they could or could not trust. Yet still, his subordinates all set out swiftly under his command and followed him to save the two witnesses, appearing at the most critical time.

It was actually a typical scene that exist in many police action drama, but given the development of the story, the well-built character relationship and interactions, I think it is Luo Wenzhou's coolest scene in the entire story and it makes me admire him a lot as the main lead and a leader figure.

One thing that does not quite sit well with me is Fan Siyuan's obsessiveness towards the late Gu Zhao. His motive for the crime was clear and I understand that he was using Gu Zhao's case as an example of injustice. But his extreme emotions whenever Gu Zhao was mentioned seems strange, even baseless. It makes me think whether he considers Gu Zhao as his own family or he was maybe madly in love with Gu Zhao, whereas in the entire story, unless I'm missing something, I have only ever known that Gu Zhao was Fan Siyuan's student - nothing more, nothing less.

CHARACTERS: 9/10

Silent Reading has a balanced, yet still very much appealing casts, from the major characters to the minor ones. Even the suspects and witnesses each had their own distinguishing features that didn't make them look like they were just there as canon fodders.

The composition of Luo Wenzhou's team itself is ideal; they've got the dependable leader, the smart advisor, the best friend and trustworthy right-hand man, the genius nerd, and the dependable aide.

I especially like Tao Ran (and I think most readers would agree with me). While he looks like the typical good guy type, he really, truly is a very good person. It's hard not to find him lovable. His relationship with Chang Ning was as cliche as it could get, but hey, as long as he's happy. Dude deserve it after everything he's done.

As for the two main leads, they are probably one of the most interesting couple I've found in the past few years.

Individually, Luo Wenzhou is the type of character I always like. He is confident to the point of having a narcissistic streak, but all of those are based on real talents and experiences. He speaks bluntly, but he cares for others through his action. He does not sugarcoat things and speaks the truth for what it is. Everything about him simply screams "reliable" as a leader (and a significant other to a certain someone). He deserves all of the respect and loyalty his subordinates gave to him.

Fei Du at first looks like a complex character whose real self is hidden beneath countless coats of pretense, but at the core, he is just a pitiful young man who does not know how to value himself, does not know how to love and be loved due to the abuse he suffered during childhood in the hands of his sadistic father. Despite his composure, his intelligence, his capability, he is almost like a lost little child, wandering in the darkness, going wherever the flow would take him until Luo Wenzhou pulled him out of that abyss. It is nothing less than commendable that he could restrain himself from succumbing into his father's manipulation, even if he has to correct himself through such extreme means for a long time.

And I'm glad that now he has someone who gives him the love he has long since been bereft of.

With Luo Wenzhou, Fei Du finally has a color in his life, someone to make happy memories with, and someone who genuinely love him for who he is. Likewise, with Fei Du, not only Luo Wenzhou got someone he could genuinely care for, he also finally has a place where he could relax, taking off the strong front he'd been putting before others all day long.

It was just so fulfilling to see two characters growing from "cat and dog" into inseparable lovers. They weren't sickeningly sweet, but just two people who are content with each other and would be each other's strength. I was especially happy when I saw how Fei Du changed his phone's ring tone into the one Luo Wenzhou in the extra chapter.

Now that I've finished reading this story, these two straight up went to the top of my all-time most favorite pairing list. But of course, this is just a personal opinion. Luo Wenzhou and Fei Du simply hits all of my favorite tropes, that's why. 😂

If I really have to point out one mini flaw, I suppose it's that the main villains aren't as appealing as the rest of the casts. They were practically overshadowed, even by some minor characters that only appeared for a short while.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: 9/10

Just some very minor complaints:

1). When the story first introduced Fei Du in the beginning, it felt kind of abrupt. The narration had only been addressing him with his physical appearance, but suddenly they changed it into "Fei Du" with barely any proper start.

2). The international conference in Yan City (Chapter 2) was supposed to be a background information of the general setting of the first case, yet it was not properly mentioned at the start - rather, one sort paragraph about said conference was simply being slipped in the middle just for the sake to be there.

3). The switching of scenes between characters in the 3rd person POV are sometimes too quick with no signs of incoming transitions beforehand like taking shortcuts.

And by that, I mean that other than those three issues above, everything else was nothing less than perfect.

OVERALL SCORE: 9/10

A realistic story with perfectly balanced action, mystery, suspense, and romance - with a dash of comedy sprinkled at the right time and place.

Reading the novel from start to finish was nothing less than enjoyable. Whenever there needed to be a flashback or explanation, it didn't feel like info dump being thrown in all of a sudden.

I would like to point out a bit about the Zhou Conglomerate Case in Book 3.

Personally speaking, I think this is the most realistic case out of the others, and by that, I don't mean the crazy rich family drama.

The other cases in the books are something that to me feels "faraway"; murders, child trafficking, psychopath, organized criminal gangs. Yet in Book 3, due to the nature of the case, it was posted publicly for all to see, and damn if it didn't bring out the most annoying thing I actually hate in real life.

Clout-chasing media, meddlesome netizens commenting without thinking on the Internet, spreading personal information of the involved individuals without consent, handing down judgment based on rumors and personal opinions even if they have nothing to do with it (and know nothing about it), crashing the website due to mere curiosity, further hindering the police working on the case from doing their job.

They weren't thinking about those actually involved in the case, especially the victim. They don't care, or maybe don't even think that their meddlesome acts could cost a human's life because they see everything as mere passing entertainment. And if something were to happen because of their meddling, the most they would say is, of course, as quoted from Chapter 72:

"I didn't do it on purpose"

"I wasn't doing it to you"

"I didn't expect this to be the outcome"

"From a certain point of view, I'm a victim, too"

Even if I was just reading a fiction, at that moment I truly wished I could shut down the Internet for a bit. 😂

Anyway, amazing story. I might re-read everything from the start again when I have some free time.

#Mo Du #Silent Reading #Luo Wenzhou #Fei Du #ZhouDu #Review #Danmei #Priest

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russianwave · 4 years

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As someone with bad social anxiety, I put off finding a language tutor (or even speaking the language) for many months into my studies. I eventually plucked up the courage to book myself onto various trial lessons with tutors and I’ve decided to share what I’ve learnt.

1) Think about your learning style

Before even going on to a language tutoring platform, take some time to think about your learning style and what things you want to rule out. Having a checklist of criteria will make the process a lot less overwhelming, and it’ll give you things to look out for. There’s no point going for a tutor who teaches in a style that you already know doesn’t work. If you haven’t had any language classroom experience at all and/or really don’t know your style, that’s okay! But think about the materials you like to work with. Do you hate working through books? Some teachers just want to guide you through workbooks. Others are open to teaching through news articles, video clips, and so on.

For me, I know that a tutor not speaking any English to me would be too overwhelming. I wouldn’t be able to pick up new vocabulary through context and I’d find the process too stressful. Whilst this definitely works for other people, I knew that I could rule it out for myself. I also knew I could rule out tutors who don’t want to teach grammar - I knew that I wasn’t picking up grammar through patterns, so I looked for tutors that would do that. But also consider this: some teachers want to give you a lot of homework and then just have you discuss the answers and ask further questions in class whilst others will give you very minimal (if any) homework and have it be all about class time. Think about which style works for you.

2) What do you want out of tutoring?

For some people, tutoring is just a way to get quality speaking practice. They may find it hard to find people that are willing to give them the feedback they like, or a consistent / long enough speaking partner. Others are looking for a tutor to teach them the absolute basics, and others just want someone who can explain tricky concepts to them. Some tutors are only looking to teach people of a particular level, or just want to offer a particular kind of teaching (e.g. vocabulary or academic writing).

For me, I wanted tutors to be able to help me understand grammatical concepts as well as being a safe place to develop conversational practice. With a tutor it feels safer to make mistakes, and I feel like I’m less of a burden than trying to make an unpaid language partner correct everything I have to say. I also struggle with understanding grammar explanations, and I need the motivation that another person can bring to the lesson.

3) Think about your budget

This might seem really obvious, but it’s definitely something to bear in mind. £10 an hour might seem cheap now, but you’re likely going to be buying much more than one lesson. How many lessons can you afford to take each month? It might be better to turn down a good person that’s at the very max of your budget to go with someone (who’s still good) that’s lower priced and who you can have more consistent lessons with. Consistency with a tutor is a really good way to build upon work and progress through the programs and materials they have.

Some tutors will offer free or massively discounted trial lessons, but then have a very high hourly rate. It might seem great to take advantage of someone who’s usually £30 an hour for free, but you want to develop a connection with a tutor that you can actually afford. There’s no point trying someone out of your budget because your trial lesson won’t be enough to work from. You’d need consistent lessons with them and you can’t get that if they’re out of your budget.

4) How many tutors do you want?

This isn’t talking about how many tutors you want to try out, but how many you want to have in the long run. You could stick with just one tutor, but you might find you get too comfortable with them and lessons become less effective. It also means if they can’t explain a particular issue to you, then you may not be able to get an easy explanation than if you had more than one.

For me, I knew that I wanted two as it’d give me the variety I need to really stretch my language skills. This doesn’t mean going way outside of my comfort zone, it was about finding two people I could feel a comfortable connection with that I knew would push me. They have a slightly different approach with regards to explanations, material worked with, and their personalities. As someone with an attention disorder, I need variety to stop myself getting burnt out. If I was constantly having to use the same material and dealing with the same style I would get quickly burnt out.

Consider how you might want to approach having multiple tutors. It’s about striking a balance between seeing each tutor individually at a frequent enough rate to properly build upon material, as well as ensuring you’re not doing too many lessons each week. You might decide on alternating weeks with each tutor, or spreading each tutor out through the week.

5) What platform do you want to use?

There’s many different platforms for meeting a tutor, such as Tandem, iTalki, Verbling, Preply, etc. It might be worth checking each of these out and seeing what each of the platforms have to offer. A lot of tutors, no matter the platform, would rather conduct the lessons through Skype or something similar. So if you haven’t got one already, it’s a good idea to make a Skype account.

iTalki is probably the most well known tutoring platform, but it’s worth considering that another platform might be popular with people of your target language. Some platforms also require you to go through a proper vetting process or to have certain qualifications. Whilst this makes the quality of tutors better than those that have zero vetting process, you also have to consider how that might affect cost.

6) Properly watch their introductory video and read their profile description

Now that you’ve sorted out a lot of the crucial prep, it’s time to actually consider a tutor. Whilst it can be hard to judge personality through video and/or text, it’s worth seeing what they have to say. If they’ve barely put any effort into talking about themselves, then it’s probably best to give them a miss. If they can’t be bothered to even advertise themselves for money, how can you guarantee they’d put the effort in to teach you once they have your cash?

As someone who’s not very good at continuing a conversation, I looked for tutors who seemed like they could fill the awkward pauses. I also considered how clear their audio quality is (not to say it has to be super high quality, but if I can barely hear them then it’s going to be a struggle). If they offer demonstrations of how they teach vocabulary / grammar etc, I consider if their explanations are in a style that I like. As I’m very much a beginner to the language, I need someone that can demonstrate that they can explain concepts in English so I can understand them. Some tutors are aimed at more advanced learners that can comfortably discuss concepts in the target language, or might just be there for some professional speaking practice.

Check back to your criteria and see if they touch upon the styles that you’re looking for or the styles you want to avoid. They’ll also often list the material that they use, it’s worth considering if this is the kind of material that you like to work with. Some tutors are very workbook or quiz orientated, others like to bring out flashcards. It’s about what works best for you.

7) Look to the reviews, not just the star rating

On sites like iTalki it’s very difficult for a tutor to get below 5 stars. This is because we want to be polite, and we might just rate a lesson 5 stars and move on rather than voice our complaints. While a lot of reviews are just going to be very basic, some of them will touch upon teaching style and materials used. Also look to mentions of personality - e.g. stern, patient, outgoing, well prepared etc. Whilst these are all subjective, it can give you a better idea. Also look to see if students are booking multiple lessons. If most of a tutor’s students are only booking 1 or 2 lessons then it’s likely that they’re not going to be great. You want to see students returning again and again to a tutor as it demonstrates their ability to build upon content and remain a good tutor.

8) Send them a message before booking a lesson

Before booking any trial lesson I sent the tutors I was considering a short message briefly explaining my current level of the language and what I want to get out of it. I mentioned the concerns I had and included that I had never had language lessons outside of school.

I found this a really good way of assessing a tutor, as well as just a polite way to allow them to prepare for the lesson. It was nice when a tutor picked up on specific issues I mentioned, and it was a way of allowing them to talk about the material they’d use to address my specific points of concern. If a tutor just ignored all of that and was just like ‘yes yes whatever book a lesson’, then I didn’t. Tutoring is a job, and people are in it for money, but they also have to be in it out of a genuine interest in helping others. If I didn’t feel like they wanted to help me and just saw me as a future purse to dip into, then I didn’t book a lesson.

This doesn’t always work though. Some tutors seemed to forget by the time the lesson came around what things I had mentioned, and the lesson came across as unprepared. Whilst others referred back to the notes I had sent, and built upon that. It meant that I wasn’t just doing alphabet lessons again and again with tutors, and it gave me a much better assessment of their lessons as a result.

9) Prepare for the lesson

This can be tricky when it’s just a trial lesson and we’re likely not going to receive any material beforehand from the tutor but there’s ways we can prepare. Look over their tutor profile and through their intro video again, is there anything about them that you want to ask? Is there anything specific that they could help you with that day? Do they expect you to pay for additional material? Do they have a specific course of content, and how many tutoring sessions does it take to complete it?

Some tutors will already know what they want to cover, but some will be open to suggestions. Having questions is also a good way of finding out more about their tutoring without having to commit to further lessons. For example, you could ask them what kind of workbooks they use. Once the trial lesson is over you could have a look at previews of the workbook/s and see if that’s the kind of content you’d enjoy working with.

10) Sometimes a tutor will look amazing in theory but not in practice

It’s unfortunate, but even with all the research we’ve previously done we can get it wrong. A tutor might seem really outgoing and friendly in their introductory video, and then be lifeless and bored during the lesson. They might be a really nice person and we just don’t click with them or their teaching style.

This isn’t a reflection on you, and it certainly doesn’t make you a bad student. It also doesn’t mean that they’re an awful tutor, it just means they’re not a right fit for you. This is why it’s so important to experiment with tutors and see which one/s are the right fit for us. Likewise we can have a tutor that we get on great with, but we don’t actually learn much from them. Sometimes this can take a few lessons to really shine through, but when we do notice it then it’s time to move on.

Don’t beat yourself up, and try and not fret over the lesson. It’s completed now. This person isn’t going to remember you, and you don’t have to do a lesson with them again. Just politely thank them for the lesson and move on. The next person you have a lesson with might be an amazing fit. It’s not all wasted time though, it can give us a better understanding of what styles work for us and what don’t. And just because we don’t click with a tutor, doesn’t mean we don’t learn anything about the language.

The opposite can be true also! One of the tutors I booked I started having second thoughts about before the lesson. But when the actual lesson happened I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was definitely one of the best lessons out of the wide range of tutors I tried. What this means is that it can be hard to tell how well we connect with someone until we have a trial lesson with them. It’s not your fault for picking a tutor that you don’t connect with, and it doesn’t mean that all the other tutors are going to be the wrong fit for you also.

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Hopefully this will help make finding a language tutor less stressful. I know for me that doing a lot of research on language tutoring, and on the tutors I enquired with helped me feel a lot less anxious. I personally found it useful to group my different tutoring trials close together, so I didn’t have to worry about weeks and weeks of trials. But for some people that might be overwhelming, and they might find it easier to spread it out over a longer period.

If you’re like me and struggle with the concept of ‘letting people down’, and feel like you might be pressured into sticking with the first tutor or two that you try then I would recommend setting a specific date which you then invest in a tutor. For me, even though I really liked the first tutor (and he was one of the ones I stuck with) I had upcoming tutors to meet. By having to wait until I tried out the other tutors, I could be confident in that I was picking someone as a result of being a good fit.

If you’re considering getting a language tutor then I would recommend the platform iTalki. I’ve tried out other platforms such as Preply, but this was the best one for me. It’s the platform I used to meet a wide range of tutors, and it’s through that platform that I found the two tutors I really liked. If you sign up with this link and buy some iTalki credits, then you and I will receive $10 iTalki credits as a free bonus. This could cover the cost of 1 or more lessons!

#Langblr #Studyblr #Language study #Language tutor #I will do a post about language tutors and social anxiety at some point #but I thought covering some of the research methods that helped me might benefit others #plus honestly doing a lot of research helped me feel more confident in doing it

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dailyaudiobible · 3 years

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03/12/2021 DAB Transcript

Numbers 16:41-18:32, Mark 16:1-20, Psalms 55:1-23, Proverbs 11:7

Today is the 12th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you today as we continue our journey, the journey that leads us through the Bible in a year. And we’re well on our way in that journey. But there is so much out in front of us to experience and see. And, so, we have a grateful heart for the distance that we’ve traveled and the things we've learned so far. But we also have a grateful, an anticipation, a grateful anticipation, for all that is yet to…to be, all it is out in front of us. But we’re here. We’re right here right now. And, so, the next step forward is before us. We’ve been reading from the New International Version this week. Picking up from yesterday. Numbers chapter 16 verse 41 through 18 verse 32.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And as we bring to a close the second of the gospel narratives, the book of Mark, we thank You for the witness to Your life and to Your ministry and to Your personality and to Your posture. We've witnessed Your determination to bring the truth out into the open and that the false be eradicated. And yet we’re 2000 years in the future and we’re still in the same struggle. And, so, come Holy Spirit You have promised to lead us into all truth and yet so often we choose to veil ourselves in something false because we’re naked and ashamed and running because we’re afraid to be exposed. And so often that comes because we…we’re ashamed. And maybe for good reason. Maybe we have plenty of things that we’ve been involved in while bearing Your name that we shouldn't have been involved in, and were they exposed we would be ashamed. But we’re here with open hands and open hearts saying remove these things from us, reveal these things to us, reorganize our lives, bring us back into complete alignment so that we are who we are supposed to be, and we have nothing to hide, we are true, we are true and righteous before You. Come Holy Spirit we pray. Make us more like Jesus, that we might be conformed to his likeness, that we would be Christ like, that we would be like Christ. Come Jesus we pray. In Your precious name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it's where the Global Campfire burns in a virtual world. So, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can find out what's going on around here using the app as well. Just know about the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner.

You push that and it opens up a drawer and then you find like the Community section, which is where the Prayer Wall is and where we…we continually pray for each other and ask for prayer. So, be aware of that. That's also where there are different links to social media channels we participate in. So, the Community section, that's where to find these things.

Also check out the daily audio Bible Shop. There are resources there for our journey that kinda cover all kinds of different spectrums.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Wind Farm coffee. We roast it fresh and send it to you whether you just want to bag or whether you'd like a couple bags delivered per month. We can do that. There's a whole coffee club or coffee or tea club. I have been a coffee snob a long, long time but I have found deep love for tea as well and usually throughout the course of a day drink some of both. So, I’m…I’m kinda in the middle there. But I…I love them both and love what we’re doing in sourcing these and roasting these and offering them fresh. It's a tactile thing. When it shows up its this touch point in the mail that we’re a community and we’re going through this together. And I drink coffee well I'm doing the Daily Audio Bible, while we’re doing this work. And, so, at least for me it's just a reminder constantly of a community out there all over the world seeking God through the Scriptures, seeking direction and clarity for life and seeking community together. And, so, all these little things like coffee and tea, all these different resources connect us together in one way or another. And, so, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission that we hold in common to just keep day by day step-by-step taking the next step forward, bringing the Scriptures fresh every day offering them to the world and taking the journey in community, sailing across a year together on the voyage of a lifetime. If that is something that matters to you then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, as always, we’re a community that prays for each other. And if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my dear DAB family this is Maria Missionary in Mexico. So, as you know we are here to be a service to the people the missionaries who work among the native indigenous people groups here. A lot of people ask, “why are you in Mexico? Isn't it a reached country already?” You know what? Missions has evolved through the years and I think of the old days people just kind of thought that if they came spoke the national language to…to the native people, that they would understand, get saved, and that would be that but it just didn't work out like that and a lot of the people have…have syncretism, which is they took Christianity just kind of what they understood of it which wasn't a lot and mixed it with their native beliefs. And, so, for example in the Guataheal tribe they believe that the sun in the sky is god the moon is his wife and they had two children, they had Satan and Jesus and Satan is the older brother. They are the children of god and the rest of us in the world are the rest children are the devil. And their god only speaks Guataheal, he doesn't speak Spanish or any other language. So, if you go to them and tell them we have a message for you from God in Spanish well you can imagine they automatically dismiss you because it doesn't make sense to them culturally. So, that's just a little bit of a taste of what missionaries that work among native groups face as they translate the Bible and love these people and help them with their physical needs and plant churches. So, please be praying. Please be praying for missionaries who do work among them, that they would have wisdom, and that…that hearts would be open to hear the truth. Also praise the Lord with us that there is a church now among the Guadaheal people, a young church and that there are missionaries from among them as well helping with the translation and one lady and her husband are reaching out to an entirely new tribe for her. So, that's really exciting.

Hey neighbors it's Lisa the Encourager. Today I want to reach out to Maria and her daughter Taylor. And I heard your story and it really gripped me. And I just can't even imagine what your heart must be feeling every day thinking about your sweet Taylor that you gave birth to and you never dreamed that something so awful could happen to her. And I just pray tonight especially for Taylor and I just want you to know that my heart aches for you and I know that God is gonna be able to see this through for you and I am going to pray now. Dear God thank You for Maria and thank You for her being brave to call us this evening and tell us about Taylor and Taylor’s story Lord. And we know that You love Taylor so much and You do not want this for her life. And God thank You so much for the ministry of the men that are going to intervene in Taylor's life and do their best to take her out of the horrible situation with somebody. And I pray God that that will be successful. I thank You so much for the bravery of those men and I just pray that they will be…and women…I pray that they will be able to convince Taylor to leave and that You will just break her heart and help her to give up and surrender to You Lord. And I just pray God that You will forgive her and help her to get her life back and lead her with the Holy Spirit back to You.

Hello DAB family this is Greg from Bothell. I…I've called before for…for my own prayer requests but today I just feel led to…to reach out and…and let some DABbers know that I'm…I’m listening to…to your requests and I want to just take the time to acknowledge you all. Just I've been behind a little bit and I'm going through the 5th of…of…of March and I listened to Lynn and her family, her grandchildren, her four grown children and her daughter and this unbeliever husband that's inattentive. I just I'm going pray that Lord Jesus just will open his eyes and…and…and…and reveal himself to…to this this family and this father that…that…that he will take care of you and…and keep you in…in…in his loving arms. Maria follower of Jesus, daughter Taylor 26 that's in this…this relationship with this man that's pimped her out and she's…she's involved in drugs and prostitution and this massage parlor and…and…and team Andrew that's going in to rescue her. O Lord Jesus just…I just pray for Taylor and Maria and Andrew that You would…that You would be there in the midst this that You would come Lord. O my God Lord rescue Taylor and bring her home. O Lord Jesus and…and…and Julie in southern Illinois, your marriage, that God God…that God use you and He knows your heart and He knows your husband's heart. And Lord I just pray that You rescue Julie in her desperation and her sadness. In her loneliness she says she's lost…

Good morning DAB. Good morning DAB family it's Nadene calling from East to Midwest praises to God. Woo…out of breath…I just lifted something, but anyway praises to God. This morning as I was listening to Brian March 9th and listening to the prayer requests. There's so much I could pray for. And add to all who had prayed for all the others…others who had asked for prayer I just want to say DAB family we are a strong bunch. I mean those who are going through things right now it's so difficult. And, you know, of course I won't make light of it, but we are winning. You are on a winning team. It's a fixed fight and we've already won the fight. God is so good and I just love the fact that this DAB team is getting stronger and bolder and we are praying in faith and we are believing in faith and we're gonna to win. We're gonna win. So, let's keep our eyes with eyes looked to eternity and from eternity because it's just one big story, God's story and we are blessed to be a part of it. It's not an easy…not an easy journey. Once you become, you know, a follower of Jesus we have a target on our back and somehow, it's an honor to know that the enemy feels that…feels that we are such a threat. Anyway, God bless you everybody and I just wanted to put my log in the fire. Nadene from East to Midwest. God bless.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community my name is Kelly from Boston Mass and I called in last fall. My husband and I have been separated for almost a year. It'll be a year this month and I called in for prayers of reconciliation and restoration in healing. And we had our first grandchild that was due to arrive or did arrive on New Year's Day. So, it was a beautiful way to start the 2021 year out. We celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary last Thursday night. Ironically, I was listening to Brian because it was his anniversary with DAB. And it was…it just breathed some life into me that there might be some light or some kind of shift in my husband's heart for us to restore our marriage. I can feel little nudges from God here and there and I'm trying to pay attention to them. We have a long way to go but I just want prayers from all of you if you can that this 32 year marriage can be saved. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of months, and we had very little communication, but it was probably one of the nicer anniversary dinners we've had in many years. So, again I'm just praying and hopeful that God will find our way…help us find our way back to each other and have a healing and happy second half to our marriage and a beautiful ending together with our first grandson born on New Year's Day. I appreciate the prayers and I pray for you all on a daily basis. I love this app. Thank you.

Good morning family it is Wednesday March 10th. Good morning good morning. I'm calling in a prayer request anonymously. Hence, I have gotten myself into a pickle. I have taken my eyes off Christ and put them on myself and what I want and what I desire and who I desire and how I can get what I want. And spoiler alert it's a hot mess. O my goodness friends and family, turns out when you take your eyes off Christ and you focus only on yourself it's harmful and sin is the result and sin damages relationships. And, so, I'm watching the fallout of all these relationships be harmed because I took my eyes off God and put them on myself. Friends, cautionary tale. If you would lift me up and just really help me put my eyes back on God and what He wants and the work He has for me and prayers for the healing of the relationships I've damaged through my sin. Thank you, friends and family. Peace to you.

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stateofellagrace · 5 years

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Comm 10: Assignment 2

A. What are the differences between primary oral cultures and literary cultures? How are they related with each other?

Primary oral cultures are cultures that involve talking and listening. There is no knowledge of writing meaning, the information heard was collected in the minds of the people. The absence of writing made it difficult to preserve the information thus, paving the emergence of literary culture, which in turn employs the manner of reading and writing. However, in literary, there is no involvement of the bodies unlike oral cultures; just pure text and interpretation, but the edge is that, it’s easier to grab the information since everything is written. Regardless of the differences, they’re important because both contribute to the effectiveness of our communication in the present time as well as to the next generations.

B. What does Walter Ong mean by the intersubjectivity of communication? How does this differentiate communication from media?

Intersubjectivity happens when individuals agree on a given set of meanings. In short, it can also be synonymous to the word “agreement.” To achieve an effective communication, an understanding between the sender and receiver and an exchange of roles happens as the sender becomes the receiver expecting for a respond. However, in media, there is only a one-way process allowing the sender to send the information, having to receive no feedback at all. A good example would be reading a newspaper. We may have different stands on the issues yet, we cannot oppose as to what the editor says. Hence, there is no intersubjectivity between the sender and the receiver.

C. How does the ‘media’ model of communication show chirographic (i.e. writing) conditioning?

The media model of communication shows chirographic conditioning in such a way that written text conveys information, specifically a one-way informational process, in which there is no actual receiver. When information is changed from speech to written medium, chirographic conditioning occurs. It implies that whatever the sender broadcasts, none of the receivers can respond since the information and messages can be grasped by any person.

D. What are the industrial or economic factors in the evolution of media from print to radio to television?

In the earlier years, print media was a great way to disseminate information. Newspapers were the leading forms of prints as they serve as a way for people to connect on communal issues. As time goes by, prints from newspapers evolved into radio news, which technically marked the start of convergent media since there is already a merging of different forms. In no time, another medium was invented and it was the television. The process of the evolution of media had made people access information without any struggle. And because how fast-paced the demands of the people are, it resulted to the fast evolution of mass media.

E. What does the digitization of videos mean for information producers and consumers?

The digitization of videos for both producers and consumers mean that the information we need can now be easily accessed. It is basically in this process that has revolutionized the communication system because of the capacity and ease it provides for both production and consumption of media. For producers, information could be disseminated in different ways whereas for consumers, it makes life convenient because we can easily look and search for the things, we want to know easily. Digitization of videos also means transforming traditional home media into various digital formats that could be accessed anywhere through the help of the internet.

F. What are the pros and cons of media accessibility?

The best thing accessibility of media probably brings is that it makes us all connected. In an instant, it makes us aware of the news and information happening across the globe. Media is also used for advertising and marketing business. With it, it has help businesses reach potential consumers faster and easier. Broadcast media is a way of conveying information in vast audiences and keeps us updated with news. But in every progress accompanies downsides. The fact that it has already existed everywhere, it leads to lesser human interaction and more time on social media. It can also be used for misinformation because media as a whole is vulnerable to propaganda and lies. Knowing these cons, it is our responsibility to teach ourselves how to become media literate individuals.

G. What constitutes a convergent media? How is it differentiated from traditional media? Would you consider convergent media under the categories of new media? Explain your answer.

Media convergence, generally means the merging of different media channels- e.g, magazines, radio programs, TV shows- into a single digital bit-stream accessed through mobile digital system. Convergent and traditional media do not differ really, because both are tools for communication. I guess the distinguishable difference between the two is the period of existence in which traditional media obviously came out first which had involved the use of prints. The convergence of media is somehow under new media since it refers also to the combination of traditional and new media considering that it has allowed us to communicate in a whole new level. Technically, convergent media has just started before but has further elaborated at present through the combination of text, videos and audios

H. How does convergent media empower individuals to assert themselves in the bigger society? Think of the metaphor of David and Goliath.

In a world wherein technology is constantly evolving, media convergence has become an important element to people most especially that we are bombarded with different issues today. Let us think of the bigger society as Goliath, wherein along with him lies the societal issues which needed to be given attention. But David, who basically represents us, believes in the power of voicing out our thoughts and feelings. With the help of the sling and rock, David was able to take down Goliath by hitting his weak spot. And that sling and rock, depicts media convergence. It has become a medium for us to fight against the unending issues in the society. Through it, we could also be a part of a positive change, and could plan for an effective solution for the betterment of the society.

I. Compare and contrast the evolution of communication from orality to literacy and the evolution of media from traditional media to convergent media. Reflecting on how these developments came about, what could be assumed (or predicted) for the future of media production and consumption and/or mass communication?

The evolution of communication from orality and literacy is not that apart from the evolution of media from traditional to convergent. Basically, orality paved the way to the existence of literacy in the same manner the convergent media came from traditional media. These evolutions differ according to the period of time they emerge but they are similar in the way that both developed through time and became into something much more helpful and convenient. In the next years to come, we can expect that there will be greater and even more advanced inventions to improve our accessibility to media and communication. We can also assume that more individuals will likely engage in the use of media to further connect and adapt in the constant change technology has brought to the world.

J. What is Bitzer’s definition of a rhetorical situation?

In the context of Lloyd Bitzer, rhetorical situation refers to the natural context of persons, events, objects, relations and an exigence which strongly invites utterance. In addition, a rhetorical discourse can only occur if there is a rhetorical situation. It serves as a guide of the rhetoric to consider what must be conveyed to the audience.

K. What are the different aspects of a rhetorical situation?

Lloyd Bitzer mentioned that in order for the situation to be considered rhetorical, it must comprise the three components which basically are- (1) exigence, which refers to the importance of the subject; (2) the audience, that introduces the discourse and actions, and (3) the constraints, which limit the decision or actions.

I. Which of the issues you encounter today do you think warrant rhetorical discourse?

The issue that I personally believe still warrants rhetorical discourse is the War on Drugs by our President Rodrigo Duterte.

m.i. What were the different persuasive strategies mentioned in the chapter?

The different persuasive strategies mentioned in the chapter are: Taking and Avoiding Sides; Explicit Appeals to Common In-Group Membership; Constructing Aspirational Identities; Implicit Displays of Rhetorical Alignment; Who are “WE” Flexibility and Vagueness in the use of first-person pronouns; Using Pronouns to Display Complex Political Allegiances; Using First-Person Plural Pronouns to Convey Ideological Messages.

m.ii. Of these strategies, which have you encountered during political campaigns?

For me, the most usual persuasive strategy I have encountered so far that was used by politicians during political campaigns would be taking the side of the common people.

m.iii. Were these strategies effective for you? Why or why not?

Personally, the strategies mentioned in the chapter are effective since without the strategies, the political discussions and debates would no longer matter. We have our leaders and politicians sitting in the government, leading us today because we, citizens were convinced by their rhetoric discourses which had influenced us to vote for them.

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millie-mae-morris · 4 years

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Module Evaluation

This anti-sketchbook project has been very fun for me. As much as I love traditional sketchbooks, using a blog has allowed me to upload videos and show processes in different ways. For example, I was able to make a short but comedic clip of my supplements popping out of their packets one by one in a stop motion animation simply to show I had removed them. It’s pushed me to think about how I exhibit my work, whether a quick note or a more developed piece. As for ‘Understanding Context’ I feel I have learned a lot.

Whilst I’ve always kept the audiences experience in mind when relating to my work, I’ve not particularly ever thought about the different types of context present in each person and how my context can connect. This has also been an eye opener when looking into practitioner’s work. Although I didn’t do much in this project, which definitely would’ve helped, it’s now something I will pick a part when researching an artist in future projects - what their world view is, what time period they were from or whether they were wealthy and how this affected their work.

When given the assignment to pick an object, originally I was going to pick an old pocket watch my Mum had previously used as a Halloween accessory, but I felt no connection to it other than thinking it was pretty. Instead I looked around my flat and saw a few empty Jack Daniel’s bottles I hadn’t thrown away yet and something clicked. The first few workshops certainly allowed me to dig into what the bottle meant to me and I produced a lot of emotive work. I also found myself doodling a lot, creating bottles with expressions. From this point I knew I wanted to produce work based around my emotional relationship with the bottle (with drinking). My intention was to connect with other people like me who had struggled with alcohol abuse especially when the second object was introduced. The contrast between my JD bottle and supplements strengthened my idea further and a narrative began.

Whilst I explored a lot of different ways of combining my objects I don’t feel I did nearly enough research into artists and designers to help me narrow down ideas. My work jumped from one thing to another and I really struggled with a direction. However, this experimentation meant I tried a few different mediums; collage, painting, animation. I think my best ideas where ones that were more personal because these are what I naturally created more of such as mini story lines. I put more effort into them because I had a stronger desire to explore them.

Before creating my final piece I had explored a few different ways of approaching movement in my work to mimic the movement of my mind. I tried a flip book, a thaumatrope and short animations. Also, work by Henri Matisse and Grayson Perry influenced my final piece the most out of the artist’s I’d looked at. Just like Matisse I’d used bold shapes and began to think about negative space. With Graysons work I thought about the appearance vs the concept just like how his vases appear beautiful and shiny yet they depicted dark themes.

The process of making my final piece took quite a bit of time as I had to draw out my images and scan them onto my laptop and then crop and edit them into a video. I thought of the scanning process as symbolic of how our brains scan information. I would usually prefer to paint or stitch but I thought seeing as this project was already pushing me out my comfort one by being a blog that I would push myself to try different techniques too.

All in all I believe my final piece was successful in achieving the message I wanted to send out to people whilst leaving room for interpretation too. I think it developed well and I could see progression not just in my idea but in my work too. I think the layout of my blog is engaging and interesting although it would have been better if I’d added an Audio aspect as this isn’t entirely possible when interacting with a physical sketchbook. For future projects I will definitely look into artists more, I admit I barely touched on them in this project which is probably why I had such a hard time choosing a direction. I’ll keep in mind to use a range of practitioners, not just artist and designs but directors and photographers too. I feel this module has taught me a lot, I particularly enjoyed the lecture on Visual Language and am looking forward to using what I have learnt in the next project

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james-tiernan · 4 years

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WEEK 3- WRITING FOR PERFORMANCE.

Q1- DRAMATURGICAL CHOICES IN OUT OF THE WOODS.

When talking about this pieces dramaturgical choices, the moments that stood out for me were mostly visual. The piece is set as if we are watching through somebodies phone. They are using an app, something similar to ‘Snapchat’ where people communicate via small video conversations. The people that he’s communicating with are shown on the left hand side of our screens. When he sends a message to them their profile and picture lights up and sits at the top left. This is to show us as audience members, who precisely is getting the message. These profile pictures give us a direct sense of those characters he is talking to. The first character we are introduced too is his daughter. Her profile photo is a blonde haired girl, smiling ecstatically at the camera. This depicts her character as one who gives our main character strong positive emotions of happiness, love and affection. The next character we are introduced to his mother. In contrast to his daughters profile picture, his mother has a rather unflattering photo. She has a pale white face and is frowning rather than smiling. This gives connotations to the audience that this person gives our main character negative emotions. To further this point, our main character says during the piece: “I chose him over you didn't I?” This line is said through tears. This shows how our protagonists character has been made to make some hard and hurtful decisions because of his mother. As an audience member, these two different dramaturgical techniques of language and visual representation in media form have come together to tell me about a character who has not yet said a word.

In terms of urgency, I think that its best created via the tempo of which the videos have been edited together. There is never a pause between videos, the change from one conversation to the next is rapid. The topic also shifts quickly too. You can tell this is a successful attempt to increase the tempo and thus increase urgency as the play still flows effortlessly and we are always intrigued. I think the tempo actually helps keep the audience on its toes and always wondering what he is going to say next.

Q2: Dramaturgy in: Where I Go (when i cant be where i am)

This piece offers more of an audio based experience in comparison to Out of The Woods. The piece is all about how a woman deals with her mental struggles. There is nothing physical causing her pain, however, these mental struggles she faces actually causes her physical pain. Because this pain is not caused by something physical, it is hard to put into words what she feels. The playwright has tackled this by using audio and imagery to show us as the audience what this pain looks and feels like. The imagery and audio play with our senses.

In terms of audio, there are many moments where we listen to the woman talk normally. She talks to us sometimes as if we are hearing her stream of consciousness come straight from her mouth, no filter. Sometimes she talks to us as if we are the person she talks about. She directly addresses the camera and speaks to us through the screen. This confuses us to what part we play as an audience member. Do we play that person she talks about, or are we just there to observe and listen. Our confusion reflects the characters mind-state too. She tells us, “I fucking Love you”. Then, a second later she says “I fucking hate you”. Another audio technique that is used to portray the characters pain is the reverberations and repetition of words, phrases and sounds. The reverb and echoes are unsettling to us viewers. We aren't used to hearing them, they sound almost alien and as our brains don’t quite understand what they are, this unsettles us, the unknown. Especially when these noises are sharp and loud. The repetition works the same way. We aren't used to hearing people repeat over and over and over in random situations. It’s unsettling to listen too.

The piece also uses imagery. The images within the piece are often distorted. They are distorted in many ways. One way was that our main character was talking but one moment her mouth was moving fast and the it would slow down, barely moving at all. This really resonated with me. I have experienced something very similar to this before having one of my epileptic seizures. The world slows down and the speeds up rapidly without warning. It’s as if you have a bad internet connection with the world around you. Another successful technique that was used, was when they overlapped two video images. This was usually used when the two images were the main characters face, overlapped with a carpet, or a corner of a dark room. The random spaces would usually have a dark colour. One that sticks out for me is the red carpet and a close up of the main characters face. For me, the colour red represented pain. Although you could not see the pain happening. It was there.

Q3- David Lane Essay. What Is Dramaturgy for me?

I look at the mapping of the play, the logic it has: what are its rules, what are its organising principles… I think about plays as a universe….everything in a play is there to exert some kind of force or pressure on another element somewhere in the play….whether that is an object, an idea, a line of dialogue, a gesture, everything in the script has an active purpose…an object exerts a pressure on character….location on person…..there is a dynamic universe of elements whizzing around, knocking together. I aim to learn the language of the play.- David Lane, Progressive Dramaturgy.

This passage from the David Lane essay really grabbed me. I loved the thought of thinking about each play as its own little universe. Like our universe, everything happens for a reason. The flap of a butterflies wing in Africa can change whether it’s sunny or rainy in London. Each and every single thing that happens on stage, happens for a reason. Everything you see or hear has a motive or reason for happening or being there. Dramaturgy aims to make sure that this happens. It makes sure that nothing on stage is happening for no reason. If there is something there, and it portrays little or no meaning, then either find it a meaning or get it out. Without a dramaturgist, plays may become filled with various misleading factors. For example, I saw an amateur production of the play “100″ in Swansea, South Wales around 2/3 years ago. There was a scene where Alex and his girlfriend , Nia , were recalling one of their loving memories. I remember being confused as to why the primary lighting colour was green. To me, green showed envy and disgust. Surely a warmer colour like red would have suited the moment better. I lost track of what was going on on-stage because i was too interested in this lighting choice. Now I recall this memory, I think about the differences that this play may have had, had it had a dramaturgist. My confusion may have been avoided.

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liliannorman · 4 years

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Learning will change with COVID-19’s social distancing

In response to the spread of COVID-19, on February 3, 2020 the islands off the east coast of China, known as Hong Kong, closed their schools. This sent home more than 900,000 students in this self-governing region of China. The students’ first priority: Begin some serious social distancing.

Here are some free resources for kids (and parents) now learning at home

With half the school year yet to go, nearly all schools reached out to offer those students online learning. Much like those in the United States soon would be, teachers and students were caught off-guard. They had little time to adapt.

After weeks of trial and error, Hong Kong’s teachers — and students — can share what they’ve learned. Plenty of challenges emerged. So did some tips for success. What they now share can help communities of students anywhere who may be forced to face the new normal of learning from home.

Student voices

For 11-year-old Emma, there hasn’t been much difference between distance learning and attending classes face-to-face. She begins her lessons at 8:30 a.m. Instead of walking into a classroom, she now turns on her computer to see live-streamed lessons. Emma takes about four classes per day. Each lasts around 30 to 40 minutes.

The seventh-grade student attends King George V. It’s an international school in Kowloon Tong. To Emma, “It’s good to keep a schedule. In the beginning, it was hard to get into a routine and I ended up missing a few deadlines. Now, I think of it as a normal school day.”

Students are using several online-learning platforms to join daily meetings with teachers and classmates. Some schools have paid for their classes to take place on Google Hangouts Meet. Others use Zoom, Microsoft Teams or BigBlueButton.

Webinars are live, usually interactive events that take place online. Instructors use audio and visual communication to share data, skills or information with their virtual students. The software for these programs allows teachers (or students) to share slides or uploaded pages. The group then can share or discuss these in real-time through chat boxes or other features. Some platforms also allow a webinar to be recorded and viewed by invited users at a later date.

In theory, webinars should make access to real-time communication easy. In practice, however, students have experienced some challenges.

“It can be easy to get distracted when you’re online,” says Marcus, an eighth-grade student at Island School. “I keep my camera on to help pay attention but get sidetracked when I see the gallery of faces. It can be hard to resist the temptation to send messages or check my email.”

Along with the challenges of online platforms, research shows that staring at a screen for long periods can lead to fatigue and stress. And coupled with kids’ already heavy use of screens for entertainment, using them all day for classwork from home may tempt students to overdo it. And many studies have shown that can be unhealthy.

‘Mindfulness’ defuses stress in classrooms and teaching

With a student’s health and wellbeing in mind, many schools have therefore set aside time for “brain breaks.” These allow students a chance to move, dance or play. Says Emma, “Taking regular breaks helps me relax and gets me ready for the next online session.” Also, in her small neighborhood, the kids have coordinated recess times to get together — at a distance. “Everyone needs to get out, exercise and talk to friends,” she says. “We just make sure to keep enough physical distance.”

Elsewhere, even such brief in-person meet-ups may be discouraged. The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has been especially aggressive in the United States. Since late March, people there have been asked to stay home as much as possible. They can congregate only via their phones or the internet.

Problems as opportunities

Zachary Post is the middle-school principal of the American International School in Hong Kong. He says that students’ online-learning experiences have been improving as they adapt to new technologies. “Teachers and support staff have been reaching out to parents and are working extremely hard to troubleshoot a variety of issues,” he finds. These can range from problems logging in to downloading the needed software.

Here’s the screenshot of a faculty meeting at the American International School in Hong Kong. Since the coronavirus pandemic, they’re convening online.Z. Post

Natalie Milman confirms the importance of communication during this “emergency remote teaching and learning.” She works at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There, she directs the Educational Technology Leadership program. Her advice for participants in this online-learning world is to communicate expectations and problems. Milman says, “They need to know the different platforms they are using and how often to check their email for announcements.”

There is no way to know everyone’s situation, she explains. So teachers need to be patient and flexible. And they also need to “go the extra mile and reach out” to those who may be struggling.

Post agrees that constant communication is vital to making sure all students can access their lessons and feel supported. Now, after weeks of watching kids build new tech skills, he sometimes drops in on their virtual classrooms. And he reports seeing students and teachers “confidently” navigating their digital portals to online learning.

His school has attained a very high attendance rate. This is true even though its students and teachers all work remotely. In the end, he “aims to achieve a level of progress similar to a typical school day,” he says.

Post acknowledges there have been some initial hurdles to online learning. But he also recognizes some new benefits. “I like to see problems as opportunities. I believe this situation is giving students a chance to effectively manage their time, apply their IT [information technology] skills and communicate across a broader setting. They are becoming true 21st-century learners.”

Dynamic collaboration

With little time to prepare, most teachers have been “learning on the go,” says Vanessa Sheppard. She’s a middle-school teacher at Kowloon Junior School. Most of its teachers were using computers or tablets to teach before the COVID-19 crisis. Since the pandemic shuttered their school, they have successfully adapted to moving all of their lessons and interactions with students online.

It took some work to make this transition, she says. But she’s finding that “teachers are learning from each other. Online programs are now shared between teachers at warp speed to help create a vibrant learning experience for students.”

Since early February, this Hong Kong eighth grader’s bedroom has doubled as her classroom.V. Sheppard

What’s changed, she notes, is the classroom interaction. “You don’t realize the micro-adjustments you make when getting live student feedback,” says Sheppard. She doesn’t see the look of puzzlement or boredom when students don’t understand something — or excitement when they suddenly experience a eureka moment. “I miss the active collaboration,” she says.

And students can experience similar frustrations. Teachers may not see how they are reacting to a lesson. Classmates no longer collaborate in hands-on projects. And when problems arise, students have to be more pro-active to let their teachers know. That can be hard for students who are shy.

The American International School uses Zoom Pro. It features a Breakout Room function as well as live whiteboard tools. During lessons, students are assigned to small group discussions. They also can make presentations that are observed by parents and teachers alike. “This has created a more class-like social-learning environment,” says Post. Even online, there can be a “back-and-forth dialogue between multiple people.”

Also, teachers say creating a student-led learning community has increased student motivation and engagement. The result: Students have been turning in higher quality work.

Hurdles to learning online

Some research has found that students can perform equally well in in-person versus virtual classrooms. Among them is one study conducted more than a decade ago by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the University of Arizona in Tucson. It found that students could learn more from a course taught online than in the same class — taught by the same teachers — in a traditional school classroom.

This was true when the online lessons were paced by a learner’s needs, reported Dongsong Zhang at Maryland and his colleagues. Some materials for the class were posted online and could be replayed again and again until a student understood them. Or, students could skip ahead when coming to material they fully understood.

In fact, online classes may need to be presented somewhat differently, says Richard Culatta. He heads the nonprofit International Society of Technology in Education. It’s based in Arlington, Va. “So often, when we start to move over to online learning,” he says, “we immediately think of the content.” By that, he meant that teachers might upload their notes or text to an online portal for their students.

Kids today grow up on fast-paced games and entertainment. They may need to show some patience as their teachers learn how to make engaging lessons for delivery online.Courtney Hale/E+/Getty Images

But that can be boring and impede learning, he says. To be effective in the online world, teachers will have to do far more, he says. To help them, dozens of educational organizations (including his) created Learning Keeps Going. Produced in response to the COVID-19 crisis, this website has links to lots of tools.

Learning works best when it’s a social and engaging activity, he says. And, he adds, teachers have to “think about how to make sure there’s still times where everybody can get together” — even if it’s just online in a shared meet-up.

Of course, not all subjects transfer to online teaching equally well. Beverly is a seventh-grade student at Renaissance College in Hong Kong. She has found it especially challenging to keep up with science lessons. You can’t do the same lab work at home as in well-equipped classrooms. “At school, we would have the necessary equipment to conduct experiments,” she notes. “But we don’t have this at home.” While she can still learn knowledge and concepts, she misses “the hands-on experience.”

And that’s understandable. But Culatta points to virtual science labs as one alternative. For safety reasons, he notes, “a lot of schools say you have to do a virtual chem lab first [before doing labs in the classroom].” Are these as useful and rewarding as doing experiments in a real science lab? “Of course not,” he says. “But it is a pretty darn good solution if you don’t have access to one for a while.”

In times of social distancing, your teacher may be a few miles away, as the crow flies, but still right in front of you digitally. Don’t be afraid to chat, trade jokes or ask questions as you would have in the real-world classroom.fizkes/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Some teachers are trying to simulate the hands-on experience remotely. Caroline Pringle is one of them. She’s a middle-school science teacher at the American International School. Hands-on science and testing let students “learn from their mistakes,” she says. It also helps them understand the gap between theory (what should happen), she notes, and practice. (That’s what actually happened when you tried to do something.)

Pringle’s goal is to design experiments that students can do at home — ones that encourage them to develop their scientific skills. For instance, her eighth-grade students are modeling the process of cell division. Their equipment: Play-Doh, toothpicks and string. Seventh graders are using books to model plate tectonics. Pringle also uses programs that provide online science simulations (such as Gizmos and PhET by the University of Colorado Boulder).

“In the beginning, everyone was overwhelmed,” she says. “Students were easily distracted.” To counter this, she developed a range of ways to hook their interest. For instance, she might have students answer two questions posed by classmates. Or they might complete a mini-quiz on Padlet. That’s an online bulletin board where students can post their answers and ideas.

Pringle also finds that instead of setting one big deadline for the end of an assignment, it is better to break up tasks into smaller parts that are due throughout a week. “I am now getting well-thought-out projects. And the students find it easier to stay on track,” she says.

The virtual world

The biggest hurdle to online education, of course, would be a lack of access to the internet. And there are still families that don’t have a computer or a computer that can handle the needed software. Many households also lack the high-speed internet that would give kids stable access to virtual classrooms or an ability to browse the internet.

Such limitations can make online learning seem impossible. But it doesn’t have to be, Culatta says. In response to the ongoing pandemic, some U.S. schools and companies have stepped in and begun offering families laptops, tablets or other technology. This can include temporary access to school computers and very low-cost internet (see sidebar),

Without question, Culatta says, the COVID-19 pandemic is “a tragedy.” And the call for social distancing has created an extremely challenging environment for students, parents and teachers. Eventually, however, life will return to normal. When that time comes, he believes, online learning will also be normal.

When schools reopen, he predicts, students will return to them with a new appreciation for how well they can navigate in both the real world and the virtual world. In fact, he argues, both teachers and students are going to need their digital skills “to be successful in the future. This might not have been how we wanted them to get [those skills], but there is value that comes out of this [trying time].”

Post agrees. And those skills may not just be of use in the distant future. What kids are learning now, he says, will prepare them for future disruptions — and not just pandemics. “This experience will change how we approach school suspensions for things such as bad weather days,” he says. “The next time we need to move to remote learning, we will be prepared.”

Learning will change with COVID-19’s social distancing published first on https://triviaqaweb.tumblr.com/

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charlierejouis · 7 years

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My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Criticism and Art

I know what some of you are thinking: Wouldn’t that be a better thing to talk about on that other blog you run? Isn’t this a series from there?

Well, while I do think that my followers on @natsubeatsrock could definitely benefit from reading this, I think that this is an issue that extends farther than the Fairy Tail fandom. So while I’m going to use Fairy Tail as an example, this can go for a lot of things.

By the way, if you want to hear more about this idea, go to this really long essay about anti-snark, which was a partial inspiration for this post.

Stop me if any of these statements sound familiar. (You can't because this is text, but bear with me.)

“If you think that it's so bad, I'd like to see you try to do a better job.”

“If you have negative things to say about Fairy Tail, you should keep them to yourself.”

“Mashima works hard to bring us new chapters every week. How dare you bring down his work?”

“If you don't like this series so much, why don't you just read something else?”

“Kill yourself.”

Yeah, that last one was kinda extreme. I should stay off Youtube...

Otherwise, I see comments like this all the time.

Usually, someone who tries to defend Mashima from the “haters” will say something along those lines and get more notes than this post will probably get. And every time someone does, I cringe. Usually more because of the people going “Preach!” in the notes for the post than anything in the actual post.

Eww…

Of course, that’s not to say these are good arguments. Hence the rest of this post.

I don't normally do this, but let me say why some people might think that I shouldn't be arguing these points. Everyone has a bias behind their arguments. However, with this argument, there may seem to be a conflict of interest that I feel is necessary to address.

I am an art creator. More specifically, I am a musical composer. If you don't know what that means, I write music. I do a lot of other musical stuff, but I enjoy writing music the most. In fact, you might find a few pieces that I've posted here if you look hard enough on my blogs.

From the perspective of a composer, I totally understand the appeal of this arguments. I don't want someone who doesn't know the functional difference between an A sharp and a B flat (or, at the very least, that they sound the same) to try and devalue the hard work I've put into my work. Especially considering that, whenever I put notes on a page, I put a piece of myself on the page.

It's even worse when people don't know the struggle. It's been said that it takes minutes to consume art but hours to create art. I've spent weeks, months even, working on single songs. It's a combination of things that are hard to explain without going into too much detail.

So, why can I still say these arguments still fail?

Because they’re not about content being criticized. They’re about the critic. The problem is that the person making these arguments are essentially saying that the person who is criticizing something is unqualified to do so.

Think about the first one. It's impossible to say anything bad about a series if you're unable to create something as good or better?

How is it possible to have taste for anything if you can't have problems with something without being able to make something like it but better? Simply by having taste for something, you are saying that “I think this is better than that.” You may never vocalize or understand that you are doing so, but that's what's happening nonetheless.

Also, why does this always only apply to people who are saying bad things about the series? Why is it that I only can't say anything bad about Fairy Tail unless I've made my own manga series? Shouldn't it also work the other way around?

No one goes around and says “Stop saying good things about a series unless you can make your own.” Heck, imagine if someone said, “Stop saying anything about anything you can't make.” Again, how would we be able to have any taste for anything if we can only say things about things we can make?

As for the third argument, it honestly doesn't matter if there was a lot of hard work put into something if it isn't good. There are many instances where something that wasn't well made becomes popular and stuff with more thought put into it.

And often, as any honest arts creator will tell you, you'll work hard on something and realize how bad it is. Then, you'll show it to someone who isn't an art creator and they'll love it. The fun is usually figuring out who's right.

Now here's where it gets interesting. As an art creator, I value criticism differently than you'd probably think. I appreciate compliments from anyone and constructive criticism is always good. However, the criticism of the unintelligent means little to me. And often, I ignore criticism that is meant to be critical.

For example, I play electric guitar. I won't listen to people who don't like how loud I play a certain heavy rock piece. That's the point. However, if I'm told to put down my volume down because I'm causing audio issues, I definitely will.

What is tricky is hearing what is meant to be constructive criticism that is not constructive at all. For example, one person I play with had the nerve to tell me that I was not creative enough with the intention of being helpful.

What?

I did appreciate one of my jazz instructors telling me that my own original solo skill needs to be developed. He explained that I sound like I'm searching for notes to play instead of playing a cohesive line. That hurt to hear, but I appreciate that more than “you’re not creative”, even if that was what the first person meant.

And, as an art creator, I don’t even have to listen to any kind of feedback. As shocking as it may sound, I don’t necessarily have to listen to people regardless of their opinions of my work. While the internet allows for more connections, it also allows people to distance themselves from people they don’t like.

Say I decide to take my music to the public. If I post music videos on Youtube, I can turn off comments. If I have a social media account, I can block people I don’t want to hear from. I can even swear off social media. If I sell my music online, I can ignore any and all reviews entirely.

Even if you want to argue that doesn’t stop criticism because people can send me their complaints through newspaper reviews, fan letters or in-person, I can still ignore criticism. I don’t have to read newspapers. I don’t have to share my address or have a PO Box. I don’t need to interact with anyone who only knows me through my music. With the advent of self-publishing and self-production, especially considering music, I don’t even need to have anyone help me with the creative process.

Now, what I’ve just described probably sounds depressing to some of you. Not being able to listen to any input on your work is probably disturbing. Sure, you get rid of the “haters”. But doesn’t your art suffer as a result?

That’s the point. I will admit that this is an extreme set of examples and that not listening to any criticism ever can cause an art creator never to grow. But, as an art creator, an important skill is being able to weigh out criticism. It is important to recognize when criticism is meant to encourage your style/work and when criticism is trying to discourage on your style/work.

Mind you, I say this as someone who took writing music seriously about 4 years ago. Hiro Mashima’s been making manga for longer than many of the fans in his core demographic have probably been alive. This guy has a Twitter account and gets messages from fans over all kinds of stuff on tweets about games (I know because I follow him). I’m pretty sure that by this point, anything bad that I have to say about Fairy Tail means very little him.

As a side note, some of you might be wondering why I’ve been using the term “art creator” instead of “artist”. Maybe this is just me, but the term “artist” implies visual arts of some form. I feel that the term “art creator” is more inclusive to other forms of arts. It includes people who make music, like me, others who film and edit videos and those who write stories or poems.

Now to that fourth comment. I feel like this defense is misguided. I don't think you should waste your time with something that you don't enjoy. There's plenty of great anime and manga out there. I'm taking my time reading three series, but I read each new chapter about three times each week and I often have to go back and remind myself of events from past chapters.

But let me ask you a question: Do you honestly think I would still be here if I didn't want to be?

Many people criticizing Fairy Tail are fans who have realized that this series is not as good as once thought. Heck, you can go through my posts in chronological order and see me be more cynical of Mashima. While some are here just to rag on the series, many of us criticize Fairy Tail because we want the series to be better than it is.

And honestly, at this point, is it even worth it to go? Fairy Tail is only a few months away from ending at this point. What would be the point of dropping the series now?

I think the worst thing about these arguments is that the people using them have a great opportunity to argue for the series but argue against the critics. If you genuinely think the series doesn't deserve this much flack, it's probably better that you prove why then stop all criticism of it.

In my last edition of this series, I mentioned that there is a similar problem with Sword Art Online and its fandom. Digibro, one of my favorite anime YouTubers (which probably says a lot about me), has gained a lot of fame by ragging on the series. In fact, I linked a few of his videos in that last post and he expressed similar qualms with the phrase “Why can’t you turn your brain off?” that I have with the first phrase. (read: I said almost the same thing)

Recently, he’s made the point that his popularity doesn’t come from being negative about the series, but by talking about the series. In fact, it would be better for him to say good things about SAO than to say bad things. The problem is that no big Youtuber has proven the “merits” of SAO.

The same is true about Fairy Tail. There are tons of people ripping Fairy Tail online. However, there is not a whole lot of people making a defense of the series. The biggest person on the Internet I know that might (Glass Reflection) has yet to finish the series and I don’t know if he still would.

Instead of less negative opinions about it, the Fairy Tail fandom needs more people to give good reasons to like the series and/or give a good defense for the problems people have for it. And as weird as it may sound, I actually want people to prove that Fairy Tail is really good. I want someone to justify following this series for years.

But I’ve seen plenty of arguments supporting different things about Fairy Tail and almost all of them range from just off to illogical to “Why is this an argument people use and believe?”. About the only things that don’t are for unpopular ships and some characters. But no one I’ve seen has made a great case for this series. A lot of the people that I think could are too busy telling people with negative opinions to shut up.

See the problem here?

In Conclusion:

If you think that we're wrong for not praising this series, then, instead of asking for less discussion about its flaws, create more discussion about its merits. Make good arguments that the series is better than me and other folks think.

#fairy tail #criticism #smarm #this is months in and coming #also i need this to exist for another series I'm doing #if I do this right #it should be the two year anniversary of my other blog #I DID IT!!!!#thanks digibro #i actually used this tag before?

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trendtshirtnewposts · 4 years

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stopsubstanceabuse1-blog · 5 years

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A Parent’s Guide to Teen Mental Health

New Post has been published on https://www.substanceabuseprevention.net/a-parents-guide-to-teen-mental-health/

A Parent’s Guide to Teen Mental Health

“Is this normal?”

As a therapist who works with children and teens, I hear this question frequently. Adolescents go through changes in such a short period, teens (and parents) may wonder if they’re losing their grip.

Unfortunately, many teens don’t share these thoughts with their parents. This, however, can have long-term consequences, so it’s important we don’t ignore our teen’s mental health and the potential long-term suffering associated. Consider these facts from the National Alliance on Mental Illness:

About 1 in 5 people between ages 13 and 18 experience a severe mental disorder

Half of all long-term mental illness begins by age 14

Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for people age 10-14, 2nd for those aged 15-24

A Teen’s Changing Brain

People assume puberty (and its surrounding awkwardness) is the only thing teens worry about. They often ignore the biggest influencer of mood and mental health — the brain.

As a teen’s body grows, so does their brain. During development it often changes in new, confusing ways — for both the teen and their parent. In early adolescence, teens tend to think in black-or-white, paying most attention to what’s immediately in front of them.

Later, when they’re a little older and their brain has finished developing, they may notice connections they hadn’t previously. Their thoughts turn toward the future and who they’d like to become. Friends become more important. They build their own values, often very different from those of parents or teachers.

In addition, some areas of the brain develop faster than others. Teenagers are just beginning to think about long-term consequences, even as they’re making sometimes confounding and impulsive decisions.

For example, your child may be determined to graduate on time, but choose to watch YouTube instead of studying for big tests. The unevenness of this development can lead to frustration from those who care most about their future — i.e., parents, guardians, and teachers.

Common Teen Mental Health Problems

Hormones present during puberty combine with these new ways of thinking, sometimes causing chaos in adolescent thought patterns. In addition to genetics and environmental factors, this is one reason why teens are at risk for numerous mental health or behavioral problems, such as:

These changes are enough to make anyone feel a little unstable, so it’s important to pinpoint the difference between normal teenage stress and more serious problems.

Fear of Getting Help

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, up to a third of teens with mental illness don’t get the help they need. Why?

Aside from the stigma mental illness carries, many teens worry about who will find out about their problems if they get help. They often don’t want parents or friends to know. Although teens sometimes underestimate their parents’ ability to help them work through their issues, many do in fact need help from an unbiased counselor outside the family. Additionally, while parents or guardians may feel a sense of shame that their teen needs help — that they’ve failed in some ways as a parent — this is most often not the case. Mental health conditions do not discriminate and struggle is not indicative of moral failure. The important thing is getting them help.

Depending on state of residence, teens can sometimes get mental health treatment without their parents’ permission. In most states (each state is different and there are exceptions) their counsellor will keep issues confidential — unless they’re a danger to themselves or others. Teen safety is the number one priority for counselor and mental health professionals and it’s important that you give your teen the space to work out issues that may feel too close or too uncomfortable to discuss with a close family member.

Talkspace for Teens requires a parent or guardian’s consent, but the process is streamlined so that your teen should be able to receive the care of a licensed counselor within just a few hours of signing up. Talkspace for Teens also employs banking-grade security to ensure your teen’s security. And rest assured, all of the 3,000+ counselors are experienced, licensed mental health professionals who have been through Talkspace’s rigorous vetting, credentialing, and onboarding process.

Warning Signs

Regardless of the rules in your state, pay attention to the following warning signs, which may signal you should seek help for your teen:

Their symptoms distract them in many settings — struggles are on their mind no matter what they do.

Grades or job performance get worse and stay that way over weeks or months.

Relationships suffer. They can’t get along with loved ones or they isolate themself.

Their moods feel out of control. Their usual coping strategies — the ways they deal with issues — no longer help to control their anger, worry, or sadness.

They take more risks. Exploring new things, including alcohol, drugs, or sex, is mostly common, but behavior that puts them or others in danger should be a warning sign.

They often think about hurting themselves or others. Many teens experience such thoughts occasionally, but they need immediate help if they can’t control them or they want to act on them.

They hear or see things others can’t, or their thinking gets confused or paranoid. Although rare, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, or fear that others are trying to harm them can be signs of a serious medical problem.

Mental Health Resources for Teens

Parents or guardians usually understand and care more than kids think, but in some cases, parents might not be the only resource they need. It’s important for them to talk to family members they trust, but if they don’t feel comfortable doing so, there are options:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with text option.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Help Line Also available 24/7 with text option.

SAMHSA Behavioral Health Services Locator Finds providers in your area; offers a 24/7 hotline.

Set to Go Intended for people moving to college, but includes mental health information helpful to all teens.

School resources. Guidance counselors or school nurses may be able to talk with you confidentially at school, or tell you about other options near you.

Your doctor’s office. Many doctors have someone on call to answer questions. You can call anonymously, ask if they see teens without parental consent, or ask for local provider names.

Talkspace for Teens is also an inexpensive, convenient way to access behavioral health care. Teens can send unlimited text, video, picture, and audio messages to their counselor from an app on their phone or from a web browser — anytime, anywhere. There’s no need to schedule appointments or commute to an office, and they won’t have to miss school or activities.

Additionally, a recent study of Talkspace users showed that 93% of participants reported improvement on their toughest problems in as little as 2 months and 90% said they preferred Talkspace to traditional counseling. In addition to the effectiveness and convenience, Talkspace for Teens is also about 80% more affordable than brick-and-mortar counseling.

Stress is normal throughout adolescence, but it’s important to get your teen help if they’re struggling. Just like homework, a job, or college taking care of one’s mental health now is a great investment in the future.

Source: https://www.talkspace.com/blog/2018/11/teen-mental-health-guide/

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myplusminus · 6 years

Text

A message to my friends.

Today is my birthday and that marks 35 years of life, and 35 years of struggling with bipolar.

I posted a sort of desperate status not too long ago when I was in a bit of a state, and I realised that many of you don’t even know what’s going on with me – a few friends have suggested I write this to help people understand. I’d also like to dispel some of the myths and stigma surrounding bipolar.

HISTORY:

Bipolar can be genetic and it does run in my family. Unfortunately my grandfather had it too. He was a very conservative man who would be very unconservative when he was manic – sleeping with woman he shouldn’t (he was with my Grandmother) and doing drugs which he disagreed with otherwise amongst other things. I also have 2 cousins with bipolar.

TYPE:

There are a few different types of bipolar. I have “bipolar 1” which is considered the most serious form of bipolar, described as:

“Bipolar 1 is “classic” or “textbook” manic-depressive illness, with serious and damaging episodes of both mania and depression. In a severe manic episode a person can lose all touch with reality. Left untreated a manic episode can last anywhere from a few days to several years.”

Although it is sometimes true, unlike the public perception of bipolar, I am not wildly cycling through moods. For me it has been more slow-burning. I can be depressed for 3 months to 2 years and at one point I was on and off manic for a period of about 3 years. There are also many different types of moods such as “dysphoric mania” and “mixed” etc. but for the sake of simplicity I’ll just stick to depression and mania.

I’ll start with MANIA:

The public perception is that this is a great feeling, almost like a drug, like ecstasy. I have experienced this kind of mania and it can be great. Everything and everybody is fascinating, it’s great for socialising (most people love to talk about themselves and I will be full of questions), my brain seems to be working very fast, creativity is on overdrive and I could stay up for days studying.

The downside to this state is your inhibitions, morals and self-control melt away. I am a deeply moral person and rate my self-worth on my ability to be honour these morals.

When I am manic, I will happily barrel on through destroying everything I have made. I will buy all sorts of strange things off the internet spending all my money, tell my boss exactly what I think of them, sleep with people I shouldn’t, say incredibly thoughtless things to people I care about, destroy projects I have been working on for months etc.

I can also be really annoying. I remember repeatedly sending this picture of a dog (this one https://www.vexels.com/editables/preview/137533/dog-meme-generator#/) to one of my colleagues via instant messenger, then I emailed it, then I taped pictures of it to his chair/phone/desk etc. For some reason I thought this was hilarious and I didn’t seem to be able to stop. I really pissed that guy off.

The more textbook “crazy” things I did that people like to lap up about us crazies is things like believing I was going to be abducted by aliens (I was 14, and fuck you Whitley Streiber) and having a full blown panic attack when a helicopter flew over our house, believing I could control traffic and that one time I went to China to start a business.

Now the DEPRESSION:

Eventually the mania wears off and I am left picking up the pieces of my damaged relationships, job, my belongings and I’m still receiving weird shit in the mail.

The gravity of what I have done fully hits me. I go to work trying to be as invisible as possible, I could be absolutely blanked by previous friends, my boss is pissed at me. I have to apologise to my family for the gazillionth time, I have no money for bills/food and I just want to curl up into a ball under a blanket somewhere and never come out.

I can get into really dark places. The worst things my brain can imagine will present themselves in my head and I am helpless to stop them. It maliciously discovers the things that are the most upsetting to me. Dark, horrifying images, any bad thing I ever done and feel guilty about, reminding me on a very deep level what an awful, despicable person I am. The events are played over and over and over. I don’t feel like people properly appreciate the horror of this, I’ve described it there in a few sentences but I experience it for hours at a time, on and off for days to months. As I said, this can go on for years. I just go through the motions and do nothing but work, eat and sleep. I stay away from socialising or any situation that could possibly go wrong - in case I screw something up there and have another thing to replay in my head. And I’m still getting weird shit in the mail.

I am lucky enough to have an amazing tight family unit that loves me and either understand or just try to understand what I am going through. They offer their support every time. I will have picked up all the pieces and be starting to get better when it will happen again.

The thing that cuts me the deepest in these episodes is how I am upsetting those close to me. I just can’t handle that. I feel so selfish. Round in circles. Pick up pieces, guilt and shame, start again, get better and round again. It would be OK if this had happened once, or maybe a few times, but this has been going on the 35 years now. Seeing what I am doing to my family absolutely kills me.

RAGE:

Disclaimer – I have never physically hurt or wanted to hurt anyone other than myself. Apart from Jamie McPhee when we were 11 – he called me “jellybean” (a brilliant play on Billie-Jean) so I casually punched him square in the forehead as we filed out of class. Anyway I’m not the psychotic murdery sort of bipolar and I’m not entirely sure if bipolar even causes that or if it’s something to do with the person. What I do know is that I experience “dysphoric mania” which is like a really charged up, agitated feeling where I am irritated by nearly everything. I basically act like an entitled child and slam doors and shout at everyone for daring to exist in my vicinity. My family know I will blow up, insult everyone, take myself off for a few hours and usually come back and apologise. Luckily I don’t experience this too much – these days I’m more aware of when I’m feeling like this and know to isolate myself with a book.

OTHER SYMPTOMS:

And that’s just the main things. Bipolar has a few other little tricks up its sleeve that you might not know about. Here’s some other things I’ve experienced:

- CONCENTRATION: I find it very hard to concentrate. I remember coming down with a low time once. I had been going to uni every day feeling fine and generally excited, as I had on this course. Then one day I just couldn’t concentrate. The tutors words were coming out and I was desperately trying to take them in. Words on the board even seemed to be in an unrecognisable language. If people asked me questions I’d have to ask them to repeat their question and even then I couldn’t really get it (at my worst). This is very embarrassing.

- MEMORY: My memory is terrible. I have forgotten entire year long relationships before. “Strangers” have added me on Facebook and when I’ve asked who they are they’re offended because we had been workplace friends for a year etc. My psychiatrist says this is because during an episode, particularly mania, the brain is too busy doing other things to record memory. I know who my friends are and a rough skim over of what we’ve done together but generally if you did deeper you’ll realise I don’t remember a lot of the things we did together. I also forget my training and education, which is just great for my career. I deal with that by taking excessive notes and setting plenty of reminders.

- SHAKING: I was once admitted to hospital after not being able to sleep for days and uncontrollably shaking my legs and sweating for the last day or so. Naturally the hospital decided I was just a druggo trying to get a hit so they kept me in a corner of a hospital for a day, sent a psychiatrist in to ask me some invasive questions then sent me home still shaking and unable to sleep. The scariest thing for me was realising that the professionals actually really don’t care. I have had similar experiences since and not one of them has been good or even OK.

- AUDIO/VISUAL HALLUCINATIONS: I mostly experience sound (not voices talking to me). It seems to be little bits of sound that I’ve heard before mixed in with what I’m actually hearing at the time. I’m used to it so I mostly just ignore it, the only problem is sometimes I ignore what I’m actually hearing too. I also experience visual hallucinations. Not huge and obvious ones but just generally seeing things in a darker light. I once saw a child walking down the road with a hooded figure who looked creepy - grabbing them roughly and forcing them down the road, I was close to jumping out of the car to save this kid when the hooded figure turned out to be his Mum. I’ve seen people step in front of the car as we’re driving and absolutely screamed only too look back and see they were still safely on the side of the road. It seems to be just anything to terrify me when I’m in a dark mood.

MEDICATION

Ah yes. Like anybody would think, I thought once I had my diagnosis I would now get the drugs I needed and all of this silly messiness would be over. Not true at all. The truth is that there is no cure for bipolar and all psychiatrists can do is try you out on medication after medication until they find one that works (pro-tip, the psychiatrists don’t know how to help you either). Obviously it depends on your biology so this could carry on for some time if not forever. Lithium has helped curb my mania at least but nothing has stopped the depression. With every medication change (yes, we are still guinea pigging away at 35) I am sent on a rollercoaster of emotions. I also had one that made me chain-smoke for 6 months or so and, more recently, one that helped me give up altogether with no struggle (that’s the best one yet). Another was your typical zombie drug – it did cure all my symptoms, because I couldn’t get out of bed for 3 months, yay! And I was gobbling food like they were brains so I was a fat zombie. However unlike many people with bipolar, I have always taken my medication.

OTHER THINGS I’VE TRIED:

Meditation, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, psychologists, counsellors, social workers, giving up drinking and more recently smoking (yay!), breathing exercises, eating healthy, exercising, self-help books etc.

WHATS HELPED?

Animals, family, social workers. You guys. Bipolar forums and other people with bipolar/depression/anxiety.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

- Write to me and say hi every now and then

- Sometimes I just need a cosy spot and a blanket and 3 days of doing very little to calm my head

- Don’t be upset when I read your message and don’t write back to you. I try to get there eventually, and I appreciate all the kind messages, I just struggle to respond sometimes

- Accept that I’ll drop out of contact for periods

- If you know my family, support them too

- Don’t get upset when I cancel meeting up. My senses get overloaded in town and I really have to be in a good space to choose to spend time there. I often agree when I’m feeling good then get really anxious when it gets closer to the time (they don’t call me Billie McCancelCancel for nothing!). I’d much rather you came over and we took the dogs for a walk with a flask of coffee.

Really you have all been so wonderful. Nobody said they “know how I feel” and you all just offered your time to chat if I needed it. That’s all I need. Thank you so much.

I’d love to sign off saying things are better and I’ll keep my chin up etc. But they’re not really that great. With each episode my brain gets worse. It sounds like I could get Alzheimers and I’m seriously not surprised with the way my brain acts lately. Its not all bad, I still laugh a lot and can be absolutely fine for periods. However I have attempted suicide 3 times – the most recent being a few weeks ago. It’s an ongoing thing. If you managed to make it this far then thanks for reading, I hope you understand better now.

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dorinechang225-blog · 6 years

Text

Meaning Of Blunder In English.

Errors in publishing, computation, as well as difficulty balancing can cause issues. I do not experience really good when I screw up yet I do attempt to always keep points in viewpoint and advise on my own that human beings are actually not best and also oversights concern finding out and developing and blah blah Oprah blah. That is actually no usage mentioning a blunder or trouble as well as possessing no suggestion how you can address this. If you have actually erased an important report mistakenly, work out exactly how you can easily rejuvenate it. off the backup unit as well as for how long that will certainly take. After that you are a simple intended for identification thieves and also fraudsters, if you thoughtlessly throw out relevant information relating to your profile. This implies heading to the person who was actually impacted by my mistake and having that. This also suggests, where proper, having the blunder openly also. Due to the regulation of tourist attraction, our experts are going to make the same blunder again and again once again, till the effects harmed a lot that our experts perform profit from it! Do not repeat the very same error twice; see to it to certainly not just gain from your errors yet execute processes as well as possess conversations with your staff to guarantee they don't occur once again. For mechanical summations, an event might have the capacity to allot the contract on these grounds gave that the other celebration performs not aim to capitalize on the mistake, or 'snatch up' the offer (involving a discount that performed certainly not intend to earn, uncovered through a mistake in arithmetic and so on). This will certainly be actually seen by an objective criterion, or if an acceptable individual will be able to understand that the mistake would certainly not make good sense to some of the parties. An error by a single gathering to a deal in order to the underlying truths of the contract, certainly not usually a manner for preventing the arrangement. Due to the legislation from attraction, we will definitely create the exact same blunder again and again again, till the effects hurt so much that our team do pick up from it! However now, you don't want to overdo accepting you have actually made blunders ... this is actually along the very same lines as begging and also begging, and certainly will not trigger him to transform his thoughts regarding the separation. If you have any thoughts regarding where and how to use yellow pages residential search uk (www.velacube.it), you can make contact with us at our own internet site. What others considered his mistakes and failures, he took into consideration to be measures to success. To determine ourselves for our mistakes is actually to earn yet an additional blunder, based on the very first, and after that reinforce it. That is this self-condemning method which must be actually deposited in order that our company can easily get the most benefit from our every goof. MISTAKE 8: Using Dark Hat S.E.O Techniques- Improving your online search engine optimization via tricks and also unethical methods would certainly certainly not help you for long. Independent mistake (where one event is mistaken and also the various other recognizes or even must have known of the error). There are disastrous oversights that destroy a theory; however there are actually likewise contingent ones, which work in testing the stability of an idea. Your next step is to find just what you need to have to perform in order to spot traits up and fix your error when you've created your apologies to the others involved. It is actually the very reason that blunders harm, to ensure we perform learn from them and don't create them repeatedly. Mistakes could injure, yet if our experts don't 1eaai coming from the blunder our experts have actually made, the pain our experts have actually struggled with it has been for absolutely nothing. The only individuals that don't make blunders are actually those which sit around alone contemplating their navels. Look for the points to be happy for once you've chosen a blunder to amazingly transform in to benefits. You may re-send the project to these receivers using MessageFocus's filter tool, with the correct web link apologising for any sort of aggravation as well as the mistake created. That was actually a 2003 Ford that had actually accurately acquired a fair handful of miles (probably certainly not the greatest selection I had actually made) however I had my cars and truck! Some coaches bring in the error of observing what they assume will definitely function well, without understanding the exercise actions, methods and also devices they might be making use of. Value your mistakes for what they are: valuable lifestyle sessions that may just be actually found out the hard way. Blunders massage therapists typically make are actually to either fall into a regular where they give the exact same massage over and over again, or to ignore the customer's requests for tension/ focus as well as instead just concentrate on what the therapist feels is essential. The absolute best factor to do is acknowledge it as well as test to create up for it; not apologizing for a blunder is actually another error when you produce an error. Each time you think of an error you have actually created, it is actually as if you are actually making that error all over again. Because you inform them that the check engine lighting is actually on, auto mechanics are actually certainly not mind viewers nor do they automatically know exactly what's wrong along with your automobile merely. An additional usual vehicle repair shop error automobile managers make is actually dismissing the advice from the technician. P.S. Error # 6: If you have no wall messages on your webpage this implies there is actually no socializing on this planet (profile). Music Licensing For Movie makes certain that these apparently unidentified but gifted entertainers obtain noticed and also they can come close to manufacturers who might be capable to offer an effective path to their profession. Getting the potential to stop property on your mistakes will definitely create you a lot more efficient, will increase your positive self-image, and also will make you happier. An independent error is actually where a single group to a deal is confused regarding the terms or even subject-matter consisted of in an agreement. In their enthusiasm to establish an organisation many individuals often tend to create the error from adopting the inappropriate subscription supervisor for instance. Take place. Picture if you never created that oversight, if that horrendous thing had never occurred, if you weren't experiencing overwhelmed by this thing impending in your past times. These blunders might extremely well hinder your potential making a brand new and enhanced you." to prevent your own self off creating these common outfit for satisfaction errors, you'll intend to continue reading on. Just like sounds that lead a driver to strongly believe that fixings reside in need, there will definitely be actually questionable audios created along with the set up of the incorrect model year parts. Even though the parts seem to suit, there will certainly be identifiable evidence that an error was helped make upon steering the car. You are actually in for a globe from injured as you try to acquire your monetary lifestyle back in purchase if you don't catch identification theft complications early. However, it is actually certainly not the errors that we make that specify our team; it is actually just how our team decide to grab the parts of our lives after these mistakes and also proceed. You might require take into consideration the type of oversight that has actually occurred and also the moment taken to locate the solution to these inquiries and also the nature of your work. One simple method to avoid the common membership web site blunders is to possess an appearance as well as go at the different other registration web sites. Essential Rhode Isle Family Law tip: Lots of folks utilize the term complete safekeeping" This is actually certainly not a legal phrase. Badly created material, which is actually not well optimised, is likewise an error that can negatively influence your SEO-effectiveness. Include new, free web content to your website such as most up-to-date short articles, internet resources, and also quotes along with a solitary piece of code! Open up interaction is a must as well as this is actually commonly awful going out with blunder you could create. After that various other oversights adhere to because this truly isn't really the right condition for us. Therefore take a look at the scenario and also figure out regardless if the instance was actually one that ought to possess been actually stayed away from. Among one of the most common subscription internet site oversights that most people often tend to produce is to certainly not determine their target market properly. Talk to former or even present colleagues or folks outside the company for their viewpoint on the mistake and also what they believe you may do to recover. Name around to a couple of insurance companies for quotes before you opt for an insurance carrier.

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rsaanimationbrief · 7 years

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Evaluation for Collaborative Practice- RSA Moving Image Brief:

The RSA Moving Image brief proved to be one of the most challenging I have completed while at university, although it was a steep learning curve I feel as though I have learnt many new skills by choosing it for my Collaborative Practice Module. The brief is fundamentally to create an animation with a fellow student that visually supports a spoken word piece. For this brief, I was partnered with Chloe and we chose to animate the “Ending Ageism” audio.

At the beginning of the project I set about researching animations and the subject at hand. I soon decided that our animations audience included most people. The issue is “ageism” so the animation has to show how the elderly are subjectively discriminated against based on their age. We decided early after illustrating in various ways that we wanted our animation to look welcoming and fun. Our aim is to get as many people to listen and watch the video and therefore by having it more positive than negative this may incline people to actually make a change.

After completing research for my piece, I set about testing different methods of animation such as whiteboard, rotoscope and stop animation. As well as testing methods, I used After Effects, Photoshop’s and several apps to edit these short clips. By doing this I feel that later on in the project I had a better understanding of how to make things move and how to edit them. I do believe however that I could have tested more animation techniques based on the audio piece and my storyboard. If I had pre-tested elements of the final animation before jumping into the studio I would have ended up with a much more refined piece. As a result, I have learnt that animation is all about planning beforehand to make it a success.

I believe that one of the best ideas for the project was to create a pop-up book in order to frame and showcase our animation. The use of a pop-up book creates a story telling device within our animation and this also proves effective in making it both informative (seeing as books are usually factual) and light hearted (a pop-up book is supposed to be fun) without it becoming boring for the viewer. While I researched a lot of different animators a few in particular played a part in creating the final product; these being: Helen Friel and Het Kloosterboek. Our use of paper craft was highly influenced by them and the way we got objects to move by themselves also.

For this brief a big part of it was to collaboratively work with another student and this is something that I believe was very successful. One of the hurdles that we had to overcome was that unlike other students we do not live on campus, I live about 7 miles from university and Chloe commutes from Kidderminster. This meant that any time we had together we needed to use fully and discuss our ideas extensively. Throughout the project we both messaged each other ideas and used “we transfer” to send across pieces of work so we could work as a team. We did try to create pieces of work together by doing half each by this caused many problems in patching them together, therefore we decided that we would definitely have to do the shooting of the photos together.

Chloe and I equally shared out the work load when creating the props, getting the studio ready, shooting the animation and editing. If we did not work so well together I do not believe that the animation would have been created to the standard it has been. On my own I probably would not have tackled a hands on three-dimensional animation, but would have played it safe and opted for a digital approach. However, I feel that after creating such a different piece to what I am used to I have learnt a lot more skills. Before this project I had never created a stop animation, now I can set them up as a sequence in After Effects and Photoshop. As well as this by creating a stop animation we decided that we had to make use of the photo studio at university as there was no-where else we could shoot the photos together. We booked the photo studio before Christmas so that we ensured a slot, and also hired a tripod. When we turned up for the first day we struggled to set up the equipment and it would have been better to have done this earlier in the project so that we had a better feel for the space. However, by the second day we knew what we were doing, had all the props and scenes pre-made and photographed the whole animation in about seven hours. Another skill that I have learnt is to take pictures with my camera manually, however after evaluating the photos I did not get the lighting consistent and therefore we had to edit them in Adobe Lightroom. If I had taken them with the correct lighting, we would not have wasted time in lightening them.

We also collaboratively created the “Hero Image” and “Big Idea” PDF’s which we left enough time to create as we finished the animation five days before the deadline. I feel as though I could have come up with different variations of these pieces and this would have made them a lot visually stronger.

In the editing process, I used previously attained skills such as adding sound effects and digitally animating parts. For this part the deadline was near and we decided to not create the animation in After Effects but instead we used a stop motion app and Adobe Premiere. If we had stuck to using After Effects we would have learnt new skills.

Overall I believe that our final animation, which answers the brief, is huge success. although there is room for improvement we had not ever created anything like this before and I am proud of what we created. However, in future briefs I think that I need to create more illustrative work in my sketchbook to support my ideas. I found that because I was heavily focusing on learning how to animate I did not spend as much time on refining my sketchbook as I probably should have.

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