Concerned Citizen

Everyone really just wants the same thing, and I believe it is said best in James McBride's The Color of Jesus, "I want the same thing every parent wants -- a good home for my wife and children, good schools, peace and quiet, a good set of wrenches, and a son big enough to hand them to me." We're lucky that for the most part here in the States, if we work hard enough, we can have any of this, or at least some form of it that gives us the same sense of contentment.

But there are so many places in the world that you may be able to have a wife and children, but that doesn't mean you'll have a good home, a good school for your children, or a good set of wrenches. There are so many people in the world who don't have the basic needs for living a comfortable life. In so many parts of the world people struggle with diseases and illnesses that we don't have to worry about here.

This is where Kyla Threlfall comes in. Kyla is a friend of Brontë's, and as we searched for who we wanted to base our Concerned Citizen project on, Kyla popped into her head. We weren't sure if we would be able to get the information we needed from her since she is in India right now. So in the meantime I started getting in contact with a girl I know who we could also work with, just in case Kyla didn't work out.

Luckily we got a very thoughtful response to Brontë's requests for information about what she does, and how she feels about all of it. It was very interesting going through these photos and all this information with Brontë in preparation for this project. The amount of good that Kyla does with Rising Star and Promethean Spark sounds amazing, and what little she told us left me wanting to know more.

With the research that I've done in organizations that help children in third-world countries, sports and other recreational activities help children out a ton. Simply organizing them and getting them in the type of situation where they can interact with each other and learn new things helps these countries out so much more than we would think. But it is important that we provide them these opportunities, and so seeing (even if only briefly), Kyla's work with the children and dancing impressed me a lot.

I also really enjoyed the format that we have for this project in this class. There are so many great youtube videos out there that help broadcast these types of organizations. One video series that comes to mind are provided by the group called Nature Conservancy. They are an organization that helps protect the natural lakes and rivers in the United States. But one way that they spread the word is by getting bands to perform a song while also talking about the organization. They've had Blind Pilot, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Glen Hansard and even Macklemore do videos for them. The videos are effective uses of technology, music, and information.

Now granted I would have loved to take a camera crew to India and learn more about what Kyla does there, talk to the people, and experience the land, but this is the best we could do with what we had. It was still a great experience to sit down with Brontë and edit the video. It took much longer than I thought it would, so I was glad that both of us were there to switch back and forth at the helm so neither of us went too stir crazy. I'm quite proud of the results. So without further ado, here is our video:

Game For Change

Make Your Own Game for Free!

So suckiness of my video game aside, this is an issue that I've thought a lot about. I've even brought it up in a previous blog post for this class. The issue, of course is genetic modification. We are probably now all aware of the dangers of genetically modified food. It is an issue that has been well addressed, and has now come to the point where there are organic alternatives to choose from to avoid the potential side-effects of genetically modified food.

But there is one side of it that isn't spoken of as much. And that is how genetically modified organisms are already affecting the environment. Whether or not there is a link between cancer and these GMOs is something we probably won't know for sure without further studies and time. But we already know that the rampant use of genetic modification is hurting the environment in ways that we can't go back from.

The example that I always think of is a type of seaweed that a website I found calls, "the mutant killer seaweed of doom." The french simply call it the "killer seaweed." There are websites devoted to the superweeds and other invasive species found in the world. Granted, some of these invasive species are simply a product of something being introduced to an environment that isn't its natural habitat. But there are still plenty of examples of something we created destroying other native, natural species.

This is where Caulerpa Taxifolia comes in. This strain of seaweed was a genetically modified form of a natural seaweed simply called Caulerpa. The new invention of genetic modification was known for its large green fern like fronds, a toxin it releases that prevents fish from eating it, and it growing an average of three inches per day. The purpose was to be put in aquariums in Stuttgart, Germany. They had been having problems with fish eating the seaweed they put in the tanks, making them look ugly for when tourists came through. This new invention was exactly what the aquarium needed, and was immediately used in all of the tanks. It seemed perfect. Fish didn't eat it, it was bright green, and beautiful.

According to the official website for this invasive seaweed, "The aquarium strain of C. taxifolia was first found in the Mediterranean Sea off Monaco, adjacent to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, around 1984." Scientists believe that it only took a piece the size of a fingernail getting flushed into the Mediterranean (likely from routine cleaning of tanks), to start causing problems. The website further says, "Since then, C. taxifolia has spread along the Mediterranean coast and dramatically altered and displaced native plant and animal communities. Early eradication was not attempted in the Mediterranean, and the infestation is now considered beyond control. As of 2001, it was estimated that C. taxifolia had infested over 30,000 acres of seafloor in Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Tunisia."

This is a huge problem. Now granted this information is over ten years old, but with more research, I've found that it continues to be a problem, and has now spread all over the world.

In my really dumb video game, the green monsters are the seaweed, because I couldn't figure out how to make the plants in the game the bad guys. Oh well. I also chose one of the more difficult bad guys to fight because trying to get rid of this fast growing seaweed is beyond most scientists. The modern solution being a tiny snail they found will actually eat the plant.

I'll admit I struggled making the video game, I tried multiple video game makers, and once I settled on this website, tried all of its methods, trying to find some way of capturing this issue in a way that is meaningful (and really just makes sense). Maybe with a little programming experience I might have prevailed.

But in the end, I wanted to get across the fact that this is just one instance of an invasive species destroying in its path. What about the superweeds across the mid-west that are causing farmers to have to use methods that cause erosion and spread harmful fertilizers and chemicals into our water systems and affect the growth of our crops? What about Kudzu, a vine native to Asia that is slowly choking the southern states?

These are issues that are already considered "beyond control." What else will we decide is beyond control before we give up and allow our own actions to destroy species, hurt economies, cause health problems, and destroy the environment?

Updated Map showing areas where Caulerpa Taxifolia have been found:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Caulerpa+taxifolia

Original Article I found talking about the Seaweed:

http://www.damninteresting.com/mutant-killer-seaweed-of-doom/

Several other websites I used for this article:

http://www.caulerpataxifolia.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa_taxifolia

http://www-csgc.ucsd.edu/NEWSROOM/NEWSRELEASES/Caulerpa3.html

Webspinna Battle!

Here are the links for my sounds to be used in the Webspinna battle:

Concerning Hobbits

Dumbledore Quote

Harry Potter Metal

Captain Barbossa Quote

Theoden Battle Cry

Misty Mountain Cold Metal

Gandalf - You Shall Not Pass

Harry Potter - Expecto Patronum

Helm's Deep Victory Quote

Harry Potter Theme

In Jonathan Lethem's essay entitled, The Ecstasy of Influence, he says, "Most artists are brought to their vocation when their own nascent gifts are awakened by the work of a master. That is to say, most artists are converted to art by art itself." I found this quote spoke to me, in that I didn't decide to become a writer until I had read the Lord of the Rings and understood just how amazing the prose was in that book. In my efforts to become a great writer, I've tried to emulate Tolkien (in my own small way), to be able to become better than I am.

David Farland in his book, Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing, said, "The truth is that you can't write any tale without drawing upon that vast pool of shared experiences, but the wisest writers, those who become most popular, learn to draw upon art and literature in order to create works that speak to audiences more strongly, more deeply, and appeal to a wider network of readers." For the longest time I felt that I was cheating if my stories were too similar to random events or themes found in other books. So this quote helped me to see that I'm not only most likely doing it subconsciously already, but that I should do it to help appeal to a wider audience. That I should draw on the power of resonance.

I was very glad that Neeko wanted to do Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy for our Webspinna battle. While I do love both genres, I would say that I have a little bit of an affinity towards fantasy, so I was eager to see what we could come up with. The important thing for both of us was the narrative. We didn't just want to have random sounds playing, we wanted our sounds to tell a story. A story that matched the character of the two genres.

In the end I feel that we accomplished that through rehearsal and discussion. Performance was another issue though. That entire night was awesome. I got to know many of those in our class much better than I had previously, and really appreciated the wide range of impressive talents we have in this program. But man . . . those computers. I really wish I would have practiced with a mouse or even a Mac before the performance. 

We really struggled during our performance, or at least I did. Trying to navigate the computers with such insensitive mouse movements, my muting/fading abilities were shot with how different the mouse was compared to the track pad on my laptop. One clip in particular didn't even play sound because after further investigation, whoever put the clip on youtube only had sound on the left channel of the stereo mix, and my computer must have been hooked up to only play the right channel. Making a very important clip that was integral to telling the story we were trying to tell, just didn't happen. Causing a party foul with a dropped beat, and I'm pretty sure I yelled at my computer. Hopefully it wasn't an expletive, because I don't remember.

Once that happened, I panicked and got extremely nervous, no longer paying attention to what Neeko was doing and only able to think about not screwing it up more. Which meant that in a moment of silence in the middle of one of Neeko's sounds, I jumped the gun and played one of my clips too early, thinking that brief silence meant it was my turn. Later with my hands shaking, concentrating so hard on trying to use the mouse correctly, I hit the mute button for one clip twice accidentally, ruining another cool transition between the two of us. 

Neeko was a great sport though, because not only did he help me on the fly by whispering what I should play next so that our performance wasn't a complete disaster, but after the fact, instead of being negative about it like my first instinct was, he said something really positive, which helped me to not be so frustrated.

My frustration was even more short-lived because of how great everyone was. The general atmosphere and the genuine positivity of everyone there was contagious, and I couldn't help but feel awesome about the entire thing. Sure I wish that our performance had gone the way it was supposed to (because it was awesome), but thankfully that was far from the most memorable thing about that night.

World Building

 

In Julian Bleeker's piece called Design Fiction, he says, "Science fiction can be understood as a kind of writing that, in its stories, creates prototypes of other worlds, other experiences, [and] other contexts for life based on the creative insights of the author." For several years now, I've been world building a post-apocalyptic graphic novel based off of an alternate universe in which Tesla had been the celebrated inventor instead of Edison. So you can imagine my excitement when I got chosen for this group.

The best part about this though, was I hadn't given much thought to the world building of history before the apocalyptic event that spurs on my narrative.

In my research, I went back to the beginning and found an old article I had read years ago, the same article that helped me to come up with the idea I had for the graphic novel. A lot has happened since then, but this paragraph was the springboard for the lengthy world building process:

If Tesla's plans had come to fruition, the pilot plant would have been merely the first of many. Such "magnifying transmitter" towers would have peppered the globe, saturating the planet with free electricity and wireless communication as early as the 1920s. Instead, the futuristic facility's potential went untapped for over a decade, until the tower was finally demolished for salvage in 1917.

In the end, our group settled into making a newspaper that would exist in our world. We all felt this was appropriate as we could all demonstrate our strengths and our ideas equally in such a medium.

I wrote a newspaper article about Electro-Terrorism, thinking it would be fun to write about a new tower being threatened at a World's Fair. This reminded my of the Sun Tower in Knoxville Tennessee where I had served my mission, a giant tower that represented technology and energy, that had also been unveiled at the 1982 World's Fair. Everything came together when I decided that it would be more fun to make the link between our world and theirs (even using the name of the Mayor of Tennessee during that time). I'm just glad Amanda and Sam agreed to set our newspaper in 1982 after that idea. Thanks go to Amanda for finding a picture of the Sun Tower, a detail I overlooked.

I'll admit that a little bit of my world building for my graphic novel has slipped in, even providing a hint of what caused the apocalyptic event (those darn towers have to go pretty deep into the earth). But all in all this was a pretty great project, especially with Sam and Amanda's great ideas that made me look past my initial biased ones, and think deeper about the Teslonian world.

Click Here to find the article I refer to above.

Textual Poaching

Confession: I originally planned on using clips from the old Ninja Turtles cartoon and editing something fun together. But I think it is well known that I love Ninja Turtles, and is now high time for me to express other interests I have. Especially since as much as I love the Ninja Turtles, I wouldn't say that they really shaped my identity.

The words of J.R.R. Tolkien however, has shaped my identity in ways I'm probably not even aware of.

Now I understand the the Lord of the Rings movies are not older than I am. But the scenes I chose to use in this video are scenes that most of the dialogue is almost word for word from the text I've chosen to poach from. I loved Tolkien the moment I read the Hobbit in the 6th grade, and quickly devoured the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movies came out just after I finished reading it for the first time and I was enthralled by the Middle-Earth that was portrayed on screen.

I had dabbled in writing my entire life, and really enjoyed telling stories. But the criticism of many teachers often discouraged me from pursuing a path in writing. It wasn't until I flipped through the appendices of the Lord of the Rings book, and came to The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen.

But the point of this entire video is to combine two of my favorite loves from growing up (reading the Lord of the Rings, and listening to my Dad's music), into something that was the same if not similar. I chose Stairway to Heaven because this is my Dad's favorite song ever. Growing up in my house, music was very important to us, and my Dad's love of music made us eager to develop tastes of our own.

In Jenkin's How Text's Become Real, he says "The reader takes neither the position of the author, nor an author's position. He invents in the texts something different than what they intended." My love of Lord of the Rings did this for me when it came to Stairway to Heaven. Now it can be argued that this song is about Lord of the Rings since Led Zeppelin references Gollum and Mordor in their song Ramble On, but my imagining of what Robert Plant might have been referring to when writing this song most likely far exceeds any intentions he had. But nevertheless, growing up while obsessively studying Tolkien's prose, I couldn't help but see his world when listening to Led Zeppelin.

The reason why I chose these two texts, is because my entire artistic focus, came about from the combination of my love of music, and my love of prose. I don't just listen to classic rock anymore, in fact I found a little niche of music that absolutely inspires me creatively, every time I listen to music, ideas for novels and other projects I'm working on flow through me.

I am a writer. I'm not a successful author yet, but it is very much a part of my identity that I am a writer. To say that Tolkien shaped the kind of person I am would be a bit of an understatement. I probably know more about the history of Middle-Earth than I do about the history of my religion.

Music is so important to me in my artwork. And my artwork is everything about who I am, and so we see a portrayal of two things that have very much shaped my life, in a way that I created. My writing is much like this. There will always be themes and characters in my books that will resonate with those familiar with Tolkien, some of them are intentional, while others are subconscious.

But, without further ado, here is the video I created:

Fun fact, the theme that I most wanted to portray in this video, stems from the fact that the Elvish version of Heaven is in the West. It is often said that if an Elf looks upon the Western sea or hears the Gulls call, they will not be able to resist the call of the Undying Lands. So it was very important to me when portraying Aragorn and Arwen's story, that as Elrond is telling her what her fate is, the moment of Aragorn's death matches up with this particular lyric:

 There's a feeling I get when I look to the West, and my spirit is crying for leaving.

Some dude from Washington State uploaded a PDF version of the tale. Definitely illegal, but for those without a handy copy of The Lord of the Rings, I highly recommend you click the link and give it a read. It's only a few pages, and has some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read. It will also help in the understanding of the context and themes of the video.

Here's the link:

http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/documents/articles/Aragorn%20and%20Arwen.pdf