Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Teaching: Lessons From my Past

15 Dec 2015 by KRAG

Hugo RinaldiThis week one of my high school teachers passed away. Reminiscing about our relationship got me thinking about the nature of teaching. It’s a very nebulous and squirmy thing, teaching is.

Hard to pin down. Hard to define.

Hugo Rinaldi taught music at San Rafael High School, leading the orchestra. Where most students only have a particular teacher for a single class, for a semester or perhaps a school year, I was Hugo’s student for my whole four-year run at SRHS. He conducted the school orchestra, the youth orchestra, and the chamber orchestra, all of which I was a member. He encouraged me to switch from violin to viola. He gave me the opportunity to conduct orchestras, bands, operas, and musicals.

Being a music teacher, Hugo didn’t have “classes” in the usual sense. There were no syllabi, we had no tests. We had rehearsals. Our homework was to practice our parts. Our finals were the concerts we gave for our proud (but often wincing) parents. He didn’t instruct us on how to play our instruments; that was the realm of our private music teachers. Hugo taught us how to play in an orchestra.

Big whoop, right? Like I’ll use that in my daily life.

Here’s the thing: I do. Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture, Music | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments »

Seattle’s Cold Shoulder: Explaining the “Seattle Freeze”

09 Dec 2015 by KRAG

Pike Place MarketIt’s a rule I have: Never take food from a guy who talks to himself.

Call me crazy, call me cold and unfriendly, I don’t care. If you’re having an animated conversation with people I cannot see, I may have … reservations … about most anything you offer me.

Thus the other day when Kevin (a guy I never met before) got off the bus behind me, talking a blue streak to no one in particular (he was not on the phone) and then, as we both walked toward the car park, asked me if I wanted a free bagel, I demurred.

I mention this because Kevin then went on to tell me how he just doesn’t like people here in Seattle. We’re not as “friendly” as the people on the streets of his hometown, New York City. People here—according to Kevin—are cold, unfriendly, and not to be trusted. Leaving aside for the moment that “friendly” is not the word that immediately leaps to mind when I think of New Yorkers, this is not the first time I’ve heard Seattleites described as being as cold and unwelcoming as our weather. It’s an actual thing, and it’s called the Seattle Freeze.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture, Seattle | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments »

Nothin’ for Sumthin’: Writer Predation

01 Dec 2015 by KRAG

Indie authors, take note:

Back in September, I reported of an unsolicited query I received from a representative of America Star Books (ASB), offering me a spot in their “Hot Indie Authors” brochure. This brochure was to be distributed at the Miami Book Fair, held the weekend of 20 Nov 2015. My response was essentially “Sure, go ahead; show me what you can do.”

Then I waited.

My intention, for reasons that are obvious to some, was never to enter into any agreement with ASB. I just wanted to see what (if any) result would come from being included in their brochure (if indeed that actually occurred). I also wanted to see what sort of communication I’d receive from ASB, and how much.

The results of this experiment both met and exceeded my expectations.

But not in a good way. Continue Reading »

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Found Time: Living Without Social Media

24 Nov 2015 by KRAG

Gossamer WheelUpdate on my Social Media Detox:

I’ve done a “cleanse” like this before, and as always, I’m surprised by how much time suddenly appears in my day. But this time I’ve noticed something else.

I am thinking like a writer again.

Seriously. Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture, Writing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments »

Social Media Cleanse

19 Nov 2015 by KRAG

Radcliffe Camera

Remember what I said about that first type of reaction to the Paris attacks? The xenophobic rants against Muslims specifically and refugees in general? Remember how, in Monday’s post, I said that this kind of reaction had, “for the most part subsided from the social sphere“?

Well, never mind.

Tuesday and Wednesday saw a resurgence, and my social media feeds were filled with these memes of bigotry. I ended up spending all of my social media time either arguing with the posters of those rants or trying to ignore them entirely.

I failed. At both.

Some people are so willing to hate other groups of people, so eager to hate our government and all it does, that it is pointless to argue with them. No amount of factual reportage in support of my position nor any amount of factual refutation of their opposite stance make any difference. I truly was in a “fact-free zone.”

By yesterday, noonish, I felt ill. My guts were churning. My head ached under a sharp vise-like grip. I could feel the blood pounding in my neck, hear it in my ears.

I had a clear case of social media poisoning.

So I shut it down.

I am now “dark” on social media, and now, less than eighteen hours in, I already feel much better.

Instead of spoon-feeding facts to wailing, hate-filled tantrum-throwers, I am learning how to repair fountain pens (Sheaffer vacuum-fill models, specifically), preparing meats for a long cure (bresaola and capicola), working on my bread-making skills (dough: check; baking temps/times: needs work), and getting Pepper back from our new mechanic (he’s a bit of a goofball, but excellent work).

This “social media cleanse” will last through the weekend, at least. At the end of it, I may have to “cleanse” my friends list as well.

I recommend it.

k

1962 TR3B

Posted in Culture, Politics | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments »

Grief Shaming: Social Media’s New Orthodoxy

17 Nov 2015 by KRAG

Dragons AheadSome folks are going to find this post offensive.

I don’t frakking care.

In the days following the attacks on Paris, social media had two major reactions. The first (and fastest) was the predictable xenophobic rants against Islam, Muslims, and refugees. These are the now-standard spoutings of eentsy-minded fear-mongers who don’t like anyone unlike themselves and who use any excuse to close ranks and point their lily-white fingers at “the other.” These racist tirades were met with strong opposition from almost every quarter–in Paris itself, here in America, and online as well–and except for the rabid right-wingnuts, they have for the most part subsided from the social sphere.

The second, slower, and longer-lasting response was a series of “How dare you?” memes directed not at the perpetrators of these unconscionable attacks, but at people expressing their sorrow, sympathy, and solidarity with Paris. “How dare you?” these trolls demanded. “How dare you feel outrage over an attack on Paris when there have been attacks in Beirut and Baghdad, when Burundi officials have killed citizens, when over a hundred people were killed in Kenya?” These social memes are designed for one purpose: to shame us cheeky bastards who dare to express our sadness, grief, anger, or outrage regarding the events in Paris. These holier-than-thou bullies find my outrage offensive simply because I am not outraged enough. My outrage didn’t match their outrage, and I therefore deserved to be put in my place.

My response: Shut the frak up. Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Miyako and the Art of Mindfulness

09 Nov 2015 by KRAG

Salal RainI watch people. I observe, quietly and from a distance. Like a naturalist out in the wild, I do this so that I might better understand the behaviors of others—all y’all are often a mystery to me—and, in seeing what it is that makes them tick, take that knowledge and use it to create more believable characters in my writing.

If you study what moves someone emotionally, you can learn a lot about them, but while this works well with other people, I find that it doesn’t work well when I try to do it on myself. That is, I can’t seem to learn much about myself when I study the things that affect me. Other folks? When something makes them happy, sad, angry, it’s usually pretty clear why. But for me? All my deductions, all my insights are obscured by the fog of my own feelings, and the reason why I feel the things I feel remains a mystery.

Example: Miyako. Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »