hands up guns out

Non-native English speakers: help plz!

2013-04-05T23:40:17Z

HEY FRIENDS so I'll make this short BUT

so I'm a grad student in TESOL/AL which is a really long acronym but basically ESL yeah you know. I think you all know this!!

and my thesis is probably going to have to do with learner motivation specifically wrt language learning via social media

ANNNND I would really love your help!

SO. If you are someone for whom English is not your first language and you believe using social media (this could be LiveJournal, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter . . . anything really, actually I'll take any kind of internet-based communication?? lol. Like email or forums or whatever) has been IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY advantageous to your English language learning, I would love to use you (in the good way!!) in a study.

Probably it wouldn't involve too terribly much work from you? I'm still ironing out the details but I'm about ready to embark on a preliminary study, which would probably mostly involve you filling out some questionnaires for me/allowing me to observe/collect data on some of your online interactions.

And seriously, this is if you think online interactions have been a part of your English growth in any way, even if that has less to do with learning grammar, structure, vocabulary, etc. and more to do with increasing your interest/frequency in communicating in English, or just giving you a new community/new types of discourse in which to communicate in English!

If this sounds like something you would be amenable to doing, I'd love to talk to you and give you some further details :) Please email me! At longleggedgit(at)gmail(dot)com.

THANKS FRIENDS I LOVE YOU ALL

Superheroes with disabilities?

2011-05-31T23:19:25Z

So today I started nannying! It was awesome and I'm already sure I'm going to have a super fun summer and really enjoy the kids. There are three, and the oldest has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which means he's pretty severely physically disabled. He was wearing some Superman accessories so I asked if he liked Superman, and it came out that the reason they were really interested in him was because Christopher Reeve was physically disabled by the end of his life. And then I started thinking about superheroes with disabilities and wondering how many are out there? They were really interested when I told them there are a few. I was thinking of Professor Xavier, for example, and Daredevil (I don't know much about him beyond his terrible movie, unfortunately), but I was wondering how many others exist?

I think many of you are more into comics and superhero fandoms than I, so if you know any superheroes with disabilities you can fill me in on, please let me know! I think it'd be especially good for him to learn more about ones like Xavier who are in wheelchairs or have otherwise limited mobility/physical strength.

I'm gonna leave this unlocked in case people have friends they can refer over here or whatnot.

Thanks all!

Friends Cut

2011-04-14T21:40:24Z

Mostly minor, but I'm hoping now that I'm not working for hell I can actually start to keep up with my flist again, so. In attempting to do so, I'm cutting dead journals and some journals I just haven't communicated with in forever. (I realize this lack of communication is 99.99% my fault, so if I cut you and you would like to talk about it, you can PM me or comments are screened.) No hard feelings whatsoever, just doing some housecleaning, like I said. ♥

This is just to say.

2011-03-21T12:59:48Z

I don't want to talk too much about my experience with the Japan earthquake, because there are tens of thousands of people whose experiences make mine look like a romp through the playground, just for starters, and because I have seen more than a handful of foreigners in Japan take this as an opportunity to engage in some pretty attention-seeking behavior. But I do want to talk a little bit about my experiences in the country post-earthquake, because they've been incredibly heartening.

Immediately after getting evacuated from the museum we were in, innumerable Japanese people--employees of the museum and customers alike--continually sought my father and I out to make sure we were okay and we understood what was going on. This selflessness was really touching to me; a lot of these people had small children and families with them, and you would think in a time of crisis they would just be focused on their own family unit's well-being, but they were all thinking of us.

When my father and I were stranded in Mitaka, trying to find a way out or a place to stay, we encountered, in turns: an old woman offering us heated hand-warmers to keep ourselves warm in the cold; several different people offering to personally accompany us to a shelter so we wouldn't get lost; a cab driver who cut our three-hour ride's fare short with half an hour to go. (It still cost us $200, though, ha.)

Every day, on every major street corner and at every shopping mall, elementary, middle, and high school students are standing in their uniforms politely asking for donations for victims. In the hostels I've been staying in, there are signs about turning off the lights to save power for victims in Miyagi and Sendai, and in restaurants I've gone to, they apologize profusely because they've turned off the heat for the same reason.

After I saw my dad off to the Narita airport, I was in a couple aftershocks underground waiting for a train and then on the train itself. I was stupidly freaked out even though they weren't so bad, but all I had to do was look around me and I calmed immediately. All the Japanese people were taking it in without fear, completely brave and calm. I feel like that's how the country has been throughout this entire crisis. The Japan I'm seeing looks nothing like the western news reports on TV. It's maybe the most inspiring historical event I've ever sorta kinda witnessed, as terrible as it all is.

I say this primarily because donations for Japan have been really low in comparison with other recent worldwide crises. A lot of aid organizations have even stopped accepting donations directly for victims in Japan. I've read a lot of justifications for this, but I don't really want to go into the politics of it. I just want to say: there are a lot of people in this country who have lost their families and lost their homes and are facing it with awe-inspiring grace. If you can spare even a couple dollars for one of the aid organizations focusing on Japan, it makes a difference.

I know my flist is full of amazing and generous people, so to be honest, I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here. But it had to be said. To those of you who have already donated (or are offering services or bidding over at help_japan), thank you. ♥

Racist terminology in the classroom

2011-01-13T12:07:20Z

So I'm about to teach an article about a sort of institutionalized hierarchy of racism in a North Carolina slaughterhouse, and I was wondering how it would be best to proceed regarding some of the racist terminology in the article. It's got some pretty incendiary language, including the n-word among many others. The student who I'll be teaching is very mature--he's a high schooler, obviously pretty fluent in English, and he's actually the one who first brought up race relations in the U.S. to me, so I thought the article was appropriate. Still, I'm concerned about bringing words like these into class, partially just because I think it might be hard to convey to someone who did not grow up in the U.S., where racist slang has so much history behind it, how serious it is to use them.

When I was in college I took an African American lit course, and the professor told us he wanted us to say the n-word and any other offensive terms when reading out loud, provided we felt comfortable doing so, because it was important to the context of the work and really brought the importance of the text home. Right now I'm leaning toward taking a similar approach with my student--first by going over what the terminology is and what it means, and then by telling him that as long as he feels comfortable saying it, he should read it within the context of the article--but I'm looking for outside opinions. I would especially like to hear what you have to say if you are/were once a teacher, and especially especially if you've had experience teaching texts with racist terminology within them, but honestly I'd love to hear anyone's opinions on the matter.

I'm going to leave this post open just in case someone feels like linking a very experienced teacher friend to it, haha.

ETA: Probably should've made this clearer since I made this open to the public: I'm living in Japan teaching English as a second language, so not in the U.S. However, the student in question has an extremely high English speaking and comprehension ability.

Read this book! Do this thing!

2010-09-01T13:21:58Z

So recently I read a book (a rarity with the amount of free time I have) called Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. And it was AWESOME. It's written by two Pulitzer-winning journalists, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (the latter once appeared on Colbert!), and it's phenomenal. Largely, what it's about is sex trafficking, Female Genital Mutilation, unnecessarily high maternal mortality rates, domestic abuse, and other injustices toward women, mostly in developing countries. Sounds really uplifting, I know, but it actually kind of is. The focus of the book isn't just recounting horrifying individual stories (although it does that, and here's your fair warning, a lot of them are really horrifying); it's about recounting stories of women who overcame the most horrific obstacles imaginable, who survived against great odds and did amazing things, for themselves and their families and communities.

This book is really inspiring. I felt good about myself after reading it. I felt good about all sorts of other people in the world, too. And the best part is, it not only tells you about how other people rose above tremendous odds and made things better, it tells you precisely the best ways you can do something to help.

A lot of the things they recommend involve a little money, but not even remotely all of them. I'm not going to write up a list recounting what in this book I think you should take away, because I'm serious when I say I want you all to go read it, now. Go to the nearest bookstore or order it via your preferred online book seller. You won't be sorry. But I do want to tell you about one program it introduced me to that I'm REALLY excited about.

It's called Kiva.org, and the purpose of the website is to provide loans to people in poverty-stricken communities the world over so they can start/improve their own businesses and get out of debt. There are two things I think are especially awesome about this program: 1) You can contribute with a loan as small as $25. So, so easy, guys. That's like, a little splurge at a restaurant on a Saturday night. And 2) You eventually get paid back your money, and you can then choose to either take it or loan it to another project, which I think is way way awesome. If you donate $200, then it gets paid back and you donate again, then it gets paid back, etc. etc., it's like. It's like you get to KEEP HELPING PEOPLE FOREVER AND EVER with the same exact $200 you first contributed! I JUST FIND THAT SO INCREDIBLY COOL.

So. Now I'm sponsoring a group of women in Uganda who run their own bar. I'm just a partial sponsor--most loans are made by several loaners collaboratively--but it feels so incredibly awesome! I love this idea, I love this website, and I love this book.

Seriously, guys, I can't give it enough praise. Please, please read it, because it will inspire you to do wonderful things. Also, if you're at all like me and prone to a little self-pity, it will give you a swift kick in the pants to remind you just how good you have it.

Art (PoT) - One Love

2010-02-11T21:50:50Z

Title: One Love
Rating: G
Pairing: TezuRyo
Notes: For cmere and help_haiti!

Just a little drawbley thing. :) I scanned it before inking the tennis ball, whoops. Anyway, Beth asked for TezuRyo playing tennis, and I did my best! The idea is that they were playing a match but Tezuka got distracted by how beautiful Ryoma is~ and then they bone.

Sending you the hand-inked copy soon, Beth! ♥

Next up, Holmes/Watson fic for reallycorking!

Quick reminder

2010-01-20T14:05:27Z

Hey guys :)

Don't forget, bidding at help_haiti ends today at noon EST! God, seeing just about everyone on my flist engaging in this in one way or another makes me feel extremely proud and warm and fuzzy inside. ♥ FANDOM ♥

My threads:

One ficlet (1500 words or less) offered here.

One drawble (digital or hand-drawn and inked lineart) offered here.

Three rules

2010-01-19T16:13:09Z

I was reading a little old-school Dykes to Watch Out For the other day, which is one of my favorite comic strips, and one of the comics really got to me. One character suggested they take in a movie, and the other enlightened her to the three rules she applies to movies she wants to see. They have to:

1) Have at least two female characters, who

2) Interact with each other at some point throughout the course of the film, and

3) Have a conversation about something other than a man.

It didn't sound that unreasonable to me at first, and then I got to thinking. Sherlock Holmes? Out. Up? Out. Star Trek? Out. (Okay, Uhura and Gaila start talking about something else, but it devolves into talking about a man. Also, they're in their freaking underwear.) Possibly every single Lord of the Rings film? Out. Most of the Harry Potter films are out. Master and Commander is out. I think Jurassic Park is out. Just about every Disney or Pixar movie ever is out.

In the strip, the character explaining her set of rules said, "The last movie I let myself see was Alien. The two women have a conversation about the monster." I think the last movie I saw that fit these criteria was Julie & Julia. And actually, that one might only sneak by because she has some phone conversations about cooking with her mom.

It's interesting to me because more than half my favorite films (and books!) don't fit the guidelines, and I've never really thought about it in those terms before. Obviously I've recognized that LotR and Harry Potter and Star Trek don't boast a ton of female characters (HP would be the best of the lot), but these are the rule, not the exception. If you take these criteria and apply them to characters of color or characters of non-hetero sexualities/non-traditional gender identities, the outlook becomes even more grim. I'm not even trying to make a point here, really, other than that the realization surprised me a little. Maybe it shouldn't have and I was just being naïve, haha, but there it is. And I'm certainly not saying that in light of this realization I am going to stop loving these things so near and dear to my heart. It just makes me look at them a little differently, and makes me want to look at the films I'm going to see, and the expectations I have for them, in a new light.

What was the last film you saw that met these guidelines?

ETA: marksykins has directed me to a handy-dandy list of movies that fit the Bechdel bill. Thank you, Marks! Thank you, internet!

ETA THE SECOND: lisztful informs me that over on DreamWidth, there is a community devoted to discussing the Bechdel test! In case you aren't getting your fill here. :)

My help_haiti threads

2010-01-15T03:43:52Z

I have signed up to make a couple little contributions to help_haiti!

One ficlet (1500 words or less) offered here.

One drawble (digital or hand-drawn and inked lineart) offered here.

ETA: I am dumb. Two threads now.

The Mysterious Case of the Marginally Gayer Alternate Reality

2010-01-09T21:18:13Z

"Oh, hello! Almost didn't see you there! Consider this your fair warning that what follows behind this cut is absurd, poorly-written, image-heavy, and not worksafe."

Watson awoke with a throbbing headache and a quite befuddling sense of disorientation, which only worsened when he sat up and took a look around.

"Holmes," he said. "What's going on? How did we get to your room? I don't remember getting out of bed."

"Ah, excellent," Holmes said. "I was wondering when you'd wake up, old boy." Puffing on his pipe and looking quite pleased with himself, Holmes continued, "It would appear that, through no small amount of time and effort on my part, we have been transported through space-time into a future--nay, perhaps even an alternate reality--where the two of us have achieved a certain distinction as a pair of heroic figures and a film is being made about our lives. We are right now sitting not in our actual apartments, but in an exact replica constructed for the purpose of retelling the story of our lives. Simply smashing, is it not?"

Watson paused to rub his temples. "How," he grated out at last, "did you accomplish that?"

"The details are incredibly dull and would no doubt only bore you were I to explain," Holmes said, having inexplicably picked up his violin and endeavored to play for approximately six seconds. "Come!" he exclaimed, jumping from his seat with a sudden fervor. "There is much to investigate!"

Watson groaned but hefted himself from his seat nonetheless and followed, unexcited by the prospect of being abandoned in this alternate reality home on Baker Street.

"Where are we going?" Watson wondered.

"To find our alternate-reality counterparts!" Holmes said with tangible elation. "I do hope I'm quite as dashing in this universe as our own."

Taking the stairs down and opening the front door brought them to an area that looked like a more modern living quarters, which Watson supposed was exactly how all films were set up in the future.

"How convenient that we should find ourselves in the actors' quarters without expending any effort at all," Holmes chortled. "By jove, look here!"

Holmes pointed to a framed photograph on the wall.

They both approached the photograph and leaned in to inspect it closely.

"Refreshing to see you're not much changed in this future reality," Watson said. "It would appear you still have a bit of trouble with the law."

"And it would appear you, my dear boy, are still a bit of a tart." Holmes sidestepped to the next framed photograph on the wall, and Watson was distracted from his wondering why any two individuals would choose to live in a flat decorated with only pictures of themselves by what he saw.

"Good heavens!" he ejaculated, coloring from his ears to his toes.

"How thrilling," Holmes said. "Look, there's more!"

"Good lord," said Watson.

"Good lord," said Holmes. Clearing his throat suddenly, he turned away from the photographs. "I think that's enough for now, don't you?"

"Quite." Watson was still trying to get his blush under control when he spotted a photo on the opposite wall. "Oh, dear," he said.

"I daresay your alternate reality counterpart is also an incredible tart," Watson said, moving to inspect the photograph more closely.

"Quick! Someone's coming!" Holmes cried, grabbing Watson by the collar and dragging him behind a doorway. Watson was about to accuse him of lying and return to examining the photograph when the unmistakable sound of two voices and a door being slammed reached his ears.

"Well that was a long day," sighed Holmes's exact double, entering the room with his hand just a touch too possessive on Watson's own counterpart's shoulder. "It feels good to return to our shared on-set living quarters that we've spruced up nicely with pictures of ourselves, doesn't it, Jude?"

"You can say that again, Robert." Jude also sighed and draped himself luxuriously across a sofa, and Robert hurried to join him.

"I could do with a little stress-reliever," Robert said with a queer smile, "couldn't you?"

Jude smirked. "You read my mind, old boy."

"I love it when you slip into character," Robert chuckled, just before launching himself at Jude and starting to rip his clothes off.

"Good heavens, Holmes, what are they doing?" Watson gasped, struggling to keep his voice down.

"I--" Holmes stammered, but for perhaps the first time since Watson had known him, he seemed at a complete loss.

"You look so good in suspenders," Robert moaned after removing Jude's waistcoat, and Watson's eyes widened.

"I think he means braces," Holmes whispered helpfully.

"I think you mean braces," Jude said helpfully. They both had a good chuckle at that.

"Now," Jude said when they were through, leaning back in a sultry pose on the couch. "What do you say we take this to the bed?"

"Brilliant suggestion, Watson," Robert said, and they chuckled again before doing just that.

Holmes and Watson ducked as Robert and Jude passed, but the lookalikes seemed quite too distracted in their activities to notice their poorly concealed onlookers.

"Holmes," Watson whispered urgently, "I really don't think we should keep watching this."

"No, I think the pursuit of knowledge mandates that we do," Holmes said, a funny tone to his voice. He inched around the doorway to crouch behind a chair for a better view of the bed, and Watson, left no other alternative, followed.

"Good heavens," he said, met with the sight of Robert recreating the photograph on the wall with almost flawless accuracy.

"I'm waiting," Robert said in a sing-song voice.

"Not very patiently," Jude sing-songed back, and Watson gasped once again when Jude moved into his line of vision, completely nude.

"Time to go," Holmes chirped, grabbing by the Watson by the arm and dragging him back out the door of the apartment with no consideration for whether Robert and Jude noticed them. Which, judging by the sounds that followed Holmes and Watson's retreat, they did not.

"We need to get out of here," Watson said, feeling rather peculiar.

"Couldn't agree more," Holmes said, taking the stairs up to his rooms two by two. "Come, all we need to do is--"

"Oh hey," said a strange young woman who stepped out of a linen closet, dressed in every color imaginable and holding a rather petulant cat. "Could you do me a favor and tell Traci I'm sorry for not writing her John Cho/Rain fic on time for her birthday? I was kind of busy writing porn about you guys but I promise I'll get around to it soon."

"I have no idea what to make of that," Holmes said, shoving the young woman out of the way. "Come along, Watson, it's time to get back."

With that, they darted back into Holmes's room, where he showed Watson in what was indeed incredibly boring detail exactly what he'd done to accomplish traveling through space-time, which was in fact so boring and complicated it would be a waste of time and effort to recount it again.

"My word," Watson said once he and Holmes had appeared back in their time, a little unstable on their feet. "Holmes, what do you make of--"

But Watson never got to finish his question, as Holmes had been inspired by the events they had seen in the future-alternate-reality and took it upon himself to recreate them as faithfully as possible.

"I could get used to traveling to the future-alternate-reality," Watson said afterward, lighting up a cigarette after his pipe mysteriously vanished.

"Yes," Holmes agreed. "In fact, I'd be intrigued to better get to know that fellow they call Jude."

"Don't even consider it," Watson said, delivering a sound punch to Holmes's nose.

"Only joking, my dear," Holmes said, looking quite put-out. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"I should hope not," Watson said, unable to keep himself from laughing and giving Holmes a look. Which only set Holmes tearing his clothes off once again and starting the festivities all over.

And Holmes, Watson, Robert Downey Jr., and Jude Law all lived happily ever after in an eternal cacophony of love that transcended space, time, and logic. But Traci's actual birthday fic was still late.

THE END.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRACI, LOL PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR ALL OF THIS

Art (Star Trek) - Illustration for The Most Precious Thing

2009-10-29T14:52:24Z

Title: The Most Precious Thing (being unoriginal and borrowing the title of the fic!)
Rating: PG
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairing/Characters: Sulu/Chekov
Summary: A little rooftop cuddlin.
Notes: This is an illustration for startrekbigbang of soloproject's awesome fic, The Most Precious Thing. Go check it out! ♥

Art!!

2009-09-14T15:31:58Z

WHAT you guys I actually did something productive. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? Mainly because I'm procrastinating getting ready for my interview, shhhhhhh, don't worry about it.

So does anyone on my flist read the Percy Jackson books? The Lightning Thief et al? Because I just started and I got kind of hooked and then I got kind of inspired to draw a little fanart. :"> Mainly because I LOVE GROVER SO SO SO MUCH. ♥ So um. Here it is! Set in the first book, as they're quite young-looking (and I'm only in the second, so please no spoilers! I would like to talk about them with anyone who's read them, though :D).

Preview:

Idk, I always feel like I botch things horribly when I color them (or attempt to give them backgrounds, for that matter), and there are definitely some things I think I could have done better with this, but overall I'm fairly proud! I drew it in pencil, inked it in pen, and colored it all in Photoshop on a tablet. The drawing itself probably took me two-ish hours, the coloring more like three or four. The lineart is here, which I always think looks better, anyway. (PS, if anyone ever feels like coloring some of my lineart, please do so because I think it would look infinitely better than anything I could come up with. :x)

And before you ask, yes, I might be slashing these two a little bit, BUT ONLY KINDA AND IN A REALLY CUTE HAND-HOLDY WAY. >__>

So, tell me someone else on my flist is reading these? :DDD I know fiendling picked the book up at Azkatraz and I think I heard wook77 saying you read them too?? Someone else should draw fanart, plzkthx. (Also, I want someone to complain about the casting for the movie with. WTF THEY'RE ALL SO OLD D: D: D:)

Okay, back to work and then driving to the cities to see off my little cmere tonight. :( :( :( ♥ PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW.

:D :D :D Interview!

2009-02-21T20:54:23Z

Okay, interview done. I can already tell this will end up being ridiculously long, so. Apologies in advance!

Overall I feel REALLY good about it. :) Like, really, really good. I went in feeling pretty confident and optimistic, and after I chatted with the other interviewees in the room waiting with me (one of whom, it turned out, also goes to my university! Small world!) I was totally calm and ready. Then we got called in, and I was led over to my panel and shook hands with my three interviewers. I had a Japanese woman who was very nice and smiley and enthusiastic the whole time, a guy who was a former JET and was equally smiley and friendly toward me, and a TOTAL bad cop hella intimidating Japanese man. I think I handled his interrogation quite well, however, so I'm not too worried about his attitude.

The second I took my seat, the Japanese guy, without even looking up, launched into rapid fire Japanese. I wasn't expecting this at all so it took me by surprise, but I just smiled and returned his "Ohayo gozaimasu" and did my best to answer all his questions. This actually ended up making me feel better about my Japanese abilities than I have felt in a while – it was kind of like my brain went into defense mode. I followed him just fine and managed to come up with answers to everything he asked, even if they were sometimes in broken Japanese. He asked fairly basic stuff – how did you get here today, how long did you study Japanese in college, etc. etc. The only question I messed up on was "Who was your Japanese professor?" – I thought he asked "How were your Japanese professors," so I answered that they were talented, but he repeated himself and I realized what he was asking and answered correctly. I think he was checking the name I said against my reference letters (one of which was written by a Japanese professor of mine), because he looked at one of the papers in front of him and nodded like I said the right thing when I gave her name. Even though a lot of my Japanese was broken, I think they were pleased with how I did on this portion, because later the bad cop made some offhanded remark about how I'm "obviously quite talented at Japanese" (I almost laughed out loud since it's really not true).

The Japanese guy pretty much dominated my entire interview, which kind of sucks because he was really harsh, but I think it was also good because I proved I could nod and smile and respond to him with enthusiasm, even though he barely ever made eye contact and literally never smiled. (He DID nod a lot, though, at the very least.) I'll try to list all the questions he asked, but I'm sure I'll forget a few.

Right after the Japanese portion, he said, "Okay, so why JET?" My answer was something along the lines of that it's a program that combines all my interests very well (English and Japanese language and culture, education, teaching); I know people in the program right now who love it and recommend it highly; and I like the goals of the organization (internationalization in particular) and that it seems so professional. I mentioned also that I'd heard horror stories about some of the other English-teaching programs in Japan and the Japanese guy nodded and said "Yes" and the former JET and the Japanese woman both also expressed their agreement.

I'm probably getting the order mixed up here, but the next few questions asked included:

"Your first choice for placement was in the Kantou region, which is very near Tokyo and very populated. What would you do if you got put in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere?" I answered honestly that I wouldn't be fazed at all, because I basically would be happy to live anywhere in Japan. I also mentioned that filling out location preference was one of the hardest things about my application because I wanted to pick just about everywhere, and they seemed to like that.

"What would you do if you were homesick in a small town?" I answered that I'd try to get to know as many people as I could, including and especially the Japanese natives; I'd get to know the natural environment around me; I'd try to join/start some cultural clubs within my school; and that I'd write, because writing is a passion of mine and I like the idea of having some solitude and inspiration in a small place. Basically, I'd keep busy. I also told them about how I was in a boarding school for my last two years of high school, and talked about how at first I was homesick but I adapted pretty quickly after two weeks or so. They were pretty interested/pleased with that answer, too.

The Japanese woman actually spoke up then, to ask "What kind of club would you start at your school?" I told her probably a cooking club. She then asked what kind of foods I'd cook for my students. I said hot dish, to represent Minnesota culture (although I admitted it might not be totally to their liking, hahaha); chili, because it's a blend of Mexican/American cuisine, which is fun and interesting; and maybe some kind of fun dessert like Rice Krispie bars.

At one point the Japanese woman also asked me, "What would you do if you felt extremely overworked and as if your teacher was putting way too much pressure on you?" or something like that. This is the only question I feel like I kind of botched. I fumbled a lot and said I'm used to working hard, so it probably wouldn't be an issue, but if it got REALLY overwhelming I might privately and politely speak to him about lessening my work load. It was a really awkwardly-phrased answer and I could tell it wasn't too impressive, but that was the worst part of my interview, so I'm not too devastated.

Most of the other questions I got asked were pretty standard and had standard answers. The Japanese guy asked how I would deal with having everyone's eyes on me at all times in Japan, since I'm very tall and foreign and would stand out. I said that being in theater, I was used to having eyes on me and wasn't too worried about it. The former JET asked me a couple things about my tutoring experience, including what was the hardest part about it. I said it was hard when you thought you'd come up with a great lesson plan and it turned out it didn't work for the kid, but as long as you're flexible and pay attention to what your student needs you can come up with something that works and that is rewarding. They also asked how I would spice up a Japanese classroom (I talked about creative activities like role-playing, singing, playing games, drawing, etc. and also about bringing American children's books with me to use as a teaching tool) and if I wanted elementary students (I said yes, but I'd be happy with any age group). He also asked about my vegetarianism, and what I'd do if I were served meat at a party. I said I'd try to tell people ahead of time about my food preferences and maybe offer to bring a vegetarian option as well for everyone to enjoy, but that I also expected to adapt my eating habits to a certain extent since it's not realistic to think you can eat the same way in a completely foreign country.

And then the Japanese guy asked me the worst, and by FAR the most unexpected, question of my interview: "What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you?" I literally just stared at him for a second, completely flabbergasted, and finally said "UMM" and thought for a little while longer. The first thing that came to mind was Anj's death, so I went with it, and I think I ended up turning it into a pretty good answer – I talked about how I had to go visit her family, none of whom I'd ever met, in Texas, and how it was scary and intimidating but also really good and cathartic. I even mentioned that she'd been accepted to the JET program but never got to go. This was the only time the bad cop showed any emotion at all – he made a lot of sympathetic noises and frowned and looked genuinely sorry for me.

There were a few more questions I think, but those were the big ones. At the end, the woman asked if I thought there was anything else they should have asked me that they didn't. I fumbled on this a bit too, but basically I told them why I thought they should hire me, lol. It was just kind of a short thing about how I'm an extremely hard worker and really commit myself to my jobs, classes, activities, etc.

Finally, they asked if I had any questions for them – I asked the former JET a couple pretty standard questions ("Was it hard starting teaching when your students were already in the middle of their school year?" and "Where were you placed?"), and finally we all stood up and shook hands again. (Well, the woman and the former JET stood up. Bad cop just offered his hand while still seated and nodded at me.) With the exception of the bad cop, they were super friendly and nice to me, and the Japanese woman even said something about how I'm "obviously very energetic and enthusiastic," which seemed like a good sign.

I walked out of there feeling really damn good about it, overall. It lasted about 25 minutes total. A couple of the other interviewees got out at about the same time, and we chatted a bit. They expressed great surprise and sympathy when I told them my panel launched into Japanese right away (neither of them had a single Japanese question, and they had about the same amount of experience as me!), but we all agreed that we performed well overall. Then we parted ways, and I went back to my hotel to call just about everyone I know and change out of my sweaty outfit.

So yeah. I'm feeling good, and greatly relieved, and I basically just can't wait for April to get here so I can find out if I'm in or not! No matter what happens, having this interview done is a huge weight off my shoulders. \o/

And now, I am off to have a good, stiff drink. Or seven.

"I am strictly a female female"

2008-03-05T17:08:20Z

This post has been building up for a while, mainly in response to a lot of people I've been dealing with out here in the real world. But I think LJ is a great outlet for organizing my thoughts on issues, and also a great place for me to just get my voice heard about things I feel are important. This issue in particular is very important to me personally, and I rather hope you feel similarly by the time you finish reading, if you didn't already. I apologize for the length ahead of time, but, well, it's not an easy issue to keep concise.

Feminism is:
1: The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
2: Organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.

Feminism is not:
1: A movement to promote women's interests at the expense of men.
2: Man-hating.

These are a couple important things to get out there right off the bat, because the latter two definitions are, unfortunately, what most people think of when they hear the word "feminist." It's still considered by most to be a dirty word, just like when it was first put into common use in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century as a result of the blossoming women's suffrage movement. I'm not here to give you guys a history lecture, because I'm quite confident you all know enough about suffrage and early women's rights movements that it's not necessary. Most people, I think, look back on the suffragists with respect and pride, and see it as a necessary step taken toward equality. And yet a lot of these same people who see early feminists as admirable see contemporary feminists as contemptible.

I think the reason for this is, very simply, that most people today, men and women alike, can't see past those latter two definitions to really think about the first two. At its most basic, feminism is about equality. It's about women having the exact same rights in this country that men enjoy. (Obviously, feminism stretches far beyond the United States alone - I refer to this country specifically because it's the context of feminism I understand best, but these issues apply to women everywhere in the world, not just the U.S.) In this way, it's no different than racial equality, or equality for different sexual orientations. Feminists do not want special rights. We want equal rights.

Common arguments I encounter against feminism:

• But women in the United States are already equal with men!
- This is just plain glaringly incorrect, and I admit I'm a little horrified by the number of people who seem to believe it.

In what ways are women not equal to men, then? There are too many to illustrate here alone, so let's open with a very straight-forward one. Women today are still paid exponentially less than men for the same jobs. (This is a 2007 study.) If you don't have time to read the whole article, I'll highlight some of the good parts for you: when women and men first graduate from college and enter the workforce, with the exact same amount of experience and into the exact same fields, women start out earning 80% of what men earn. After ten years of work experience, instead of the gap narrowing, it gets wider - going from 80 to 69%. This is before taking into account "such factors as the number of hours worked, occupations or parenthood," and encompasses all range of fields, from those that are typically male-dominated, like engineering and mathematics, to those that are typically female-dominated, like education. This is also in spite of the fact that women today tend to out-perform men in college. If that's not inequality, I don't know what is.

Okay. So in what other ways are women not treated equally? Honestly, this field is so vast and all-encompassing that it would be impossible to even mention them all here. We could touch upon the statistics surrounding female sexual violence in America alone (the U.S. rape rate is 4 times higher than Germany's, 13 times higher than England's, and 20 times higher than Japan's*); unreasonable double-standards in appearance and behavior (also a very prominent and serious issue for men); gender roles in the classroom or workplace (regarding the number of women who feel comfortable and are encouraged to speak their minds compared to men in the same environment, and the number of teachers who call on female students versus male); and the expectations and experiences of women in a domestic setting (half of all women in the United States will experience physical abuse from a spouse or partner in her lifetime*), just to name a few. In short, there are a lot of areas in which women still have a long way to go on the equal rights campaign, and they probably won't get any better until people recognize, acknowledge, and pledge to do something about them.

• But there are ways in which men are put up to unreasonable double-standards, too!
- I couldn't agree more. The fact that most men are discouraged from expressing any emotion other than anger, for example, or the physical ideals men are expected to live up to, which are in many ways as unreasonable as those of women. Keep in mind that, again, feminism is not about fixing only those problems which apply to women and leaving all others in the dust. Feminists do not look at sexism directed toward males and think of it as some sort of penance or deserved punishment for being male. Most feminists understand that it is just as serious as sexism directed toward females, and take it just as seriously.

• But I've known a feminist who wanted special rights and didn't like men!
- That's too bad, especially because it gives all the rest of us a bad name. However, I hope you understand how unreasonable it is to take one individual and make her representative of an entire group. This is the same as looking at the actions of one Christian and concluding that all Christians must be exactly like him, or looking at the actions of one Latin American and concluding the same. Just like I don't consider the current president representative of me because we are both Americans, I don't consider a few extremist feminists to be representative of the cause.

• But I like shaving/wearing makeup/dressing in "girly" clothes!
- Good for you! Feminism is most certainly not about telling you how to look or dress. If anything, feminism is about giving you the choice to look or dress however you want. I personally haven't shaved my legs for a good six years. Sometimes I shave my armpits, and sometimes I don't. I never shave off my pubic hair. And I find it extremely offensive when someone proposes that, because I'm a woman, I should be expected to do one or all of these things. At the same time, I would find it equally offensive if someone told me that because I'm a woman and a feminist, it's my duty not to shave. That's not the purpose of feminism at all. The purpose is to allow a woman to do what she feels comfortable with and not feel discriminated against as a result. I rather resent the fact that in warmer weather, I feel obligated to shave my armpits so as not to offend anyone in my workplace. I also resent the idea that a woman who dresses a certain way can be (and often is) blamed if she is sexually assaulted, or should expect to be sexually harassed on the street. These are things no one should have to expect or compensate for. That is the feminist viewpoint.

• But I'm heterosexual and (want to) have a family!
- Not a problem. Feminism isn't an exclusive queers-only club, and it's definitely not anti-family. Feminists are mothers and homemakers just as much as they are lesbians and Women's Studies majors. Feminists want equal rights for women, period. That includes women who want to become astronauts, and it includes women who want to have a lot of babies and run a household. It's arguably even more important to be a feminist if you're a parent, because it's important to teach your children what feminism really means.

• But I'm a man! How can I be a feminist?
- Saying that men can't be feminists is just as ignorant as saying white people can't support black rights. I know I've been reiterating this point over and over, but feminism is very simply about equality for women. If you're a man who fully supports women's rights (and I really hope that everyone reading this does), then you're a feminist! Congratulations!

• But I think there are more important issues than women's rights to focus on!
- Quite frankly, I find the concept of stacking human rights issues in order of importance to be illogical, offensive, and potentially very harmful. It's all the same ball park, kids, and while feminism may feel very close to home for me personally because I'm a woman, I would never say I'm more concerned with women getting equal rights than queers, immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, or the poor. The sooner we stop breaking down humans rights issues into levels of importance, the better, because a more organized and unified support group is exactly what all these issues need.

There are so many more facets and concerns within feminism that it almost pains me to wrap up the subject here, but there's only so much I can reasonably go into in one blog entry. The reason I think talking about feminism like this is important is because I'm tired of having to hear people I know and respect - especially women I know and respect - dismiss feminism as unnecessary, unimportant, or even discriminatory. I want people to understand what I mean when I say I am a feminist, and I want people to understand why they actually probably are as well, if they stop to consider what feminism is really about. Women have a long way to go before they are considered equal citizens in the country I live in, and they have a long way to go everywhere else in the world, too. The right to vote wasn't the only issue, and equal pay for women and men in the same jobs certainly won't be the last. It's an ongoing struggle, it's an important struggle, and it's one I'm proud to consider myself a part of.

I hope that this entry was illuminating to some people, and at least interesting to everyone else. I'm unfortunately not going to be around a whole lot more today, but feel free to comment and discuss if you're so inclined! I will definitely get back to everyone as soon as I can.

ETA: cmere linked me to another great source illustrating the ways in which women are still not equal in this country that I thought I'd share as well - The Male Privilege Checklist.

*Sexual assault statistics are from sources: The Response to Rape: Detours on the Road to Equal Justice; Sexual Assault on Campus; and I Never Called it Rape: The Ms Report on Recognizing Fighting, Surviving Date and Acquaintance Rape.