This and That

Hey guys!

First of all, I’m back from my whirlwind week of travel. Orlando was good. I would rather have been home for more than two days between Orlando and Minneapolis, but you know, Minneapolis was also good. Going to Disney just makes me want to go again, this time with friends and family.

Minneapolis: Good friends, watched the Watchmen (I seldom have seen such a violent film, but it improves upon reflection, in spite of its level of violence), Bryon did well in the costume contest, and our Broad Universe reading was well attended and received, although Bryon thinks my reading may have been disturbing for the audience. That is probably the reaction you hope for about someone dying from meningitis in fiction.

Now, we are back in the work saddle for a full week. And yes, I have some work to do. Besides the day job, I have HH:PW edits, and that will pretty much be my evening and my spring break. We have a research trip to the Vesterheim in Decorah this weekend.

Of course, I want to link you to this week’s Blood is Thicker than Water.

And, in the tradition of other writers giving me kaboodles to think about, here’s an article from Guy Gabriel Kay, which makes him out to be a pretty wise fellow in terms of the pitfalls of internet communication, which I strongly believe is the real reason the entire racial debate strung out into infinity. You go, Guy!

And remember kids, I really am not a person. I’m a persona.

Catherine

Seduction of the Internet

Surfacing again for a moment just to say this…

ie: Recent racial hubbub on line.

There are really some things that you shouldn’t discuss on-line if you want to hold a civil discussion. The internet is a wonderful tool for many things, and it is a handy way to both reach a wide audience and communicate with those you want to from far away.

But if you want to be rightly understood and minimize your chances for being misconstrued, it’s probably not a good place to put your philosophies. If you want to communicate, sometimes there’s just no good substitute for a face-to-face conversation.

Unless, you have a skin of asbestos, and you really and truly aren’t impacted by what others might say about you or your issue, not taking the issue into account.

I see it this way: some of these issues are too important to me to have them bandied about with internet drama and over reaction. If you matter enough to me that I want you to understand what I think in more than a cursory fashion, I’m going to meet you, or at the very least call you.

If you throw an issue out there, and you get blasted, debated, and dissected, what did you expect, given the communication medium you chose? Next time, choose more wisely, and if your emotions matter to you, keep your opinions closer to your vest. You see, no one conceives of you as a person here, but rather a persona, try as they might.

Cynical? Nah. Cautious and personal.

Catherine

In the Vortex of the Academy

Waving from deep in the heart of academia. I’m on in about 45 minutes to present my paper on Japanese English teaching. Then it’s off through the airports on my journey home after a schmoozy lunch with our Japanese partner school.

Interim: Edited (surface level) about half of HH:PW. Will try to work on other half a bit today. Then will start dealing with more rewriting changes, of which there are a few. It’s going well.

Weekend: Marscon (see my appearances page for a link). Reading Mark Twain’s Daughter Saturday at High Noon with the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading (Also Catherine Lundhoff, Lyda Morehouse, and Kimberly Long-Ewing.)

Oooookay, gotta get to that first panel. Feeling a little strung out this morning. Conferences, even this kind, will do that to you.