Podcasts about critical reading

Should we boycott problematic authors—or just read them with guilt? Tara and Michelle dive into the messy politics of author scandals, from cancel culture to complicity. Plus, what happens when AI writes a book? Would you read it? Should it even exist?Tune in for a no-holds-barred chat on the ethics of art, the limits of accountability, and how readers can show up for real authors in a shifting industry. They also spill on their own reading dilemmas and the murky line between loving the work and questioning the creator.Books mentioned:Train to Pakistan by Khushwant SinghDalit Kitchen of Marathwada by Shahu PatoleBooks by Janice Pariat The Twits by Roald DahlJasoda by Kiran NagarkarFault In Our Stars by John GreenNeopolitan Novels by Elena FerranteHarry Potter Series By J.K. Rowling‘Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa uncover how their books reflect the realities of our lives and society today. Find out what drives India's finest authors: from personal experiences to jugaad research methods, insecurities to publishing journeys. Created by Bound, a storytelling company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social media platforms.

When does a running gag stop being funny — and where does it start, for that matter? Cartoonists Brad and Dave must first agree on what a running gag is! Next, they'll talk about aesthetics — in other words, how does one develop their editorial eye? Finally, Dave reviews his accounting from last year's San Diego Comic-Con and discusses how it influences his decisions for this year's show.Today's ShowWhen does a running gag go too far?Developing an editorial eyeUPDATE: San Diego Comic-Con numbersSummaryIn this episode of Comic Lab, hosts Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar explore the nuances of humor in comics, focusing on the use of running gags and tropes. They discuss the importance of timing, audience familiarity, and the subjective nature of humor. The conversation also delves into the challenges of building an audience in webcomics and the significance of developing an editorial eye for creators. Through various examples, they highlight how running gags can engage audiences while cautioning against overuse. In the next topic, Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett discuss the importance of critical reading and learning from excellent and poor comic industry works. They emphasize the need for creators to develop an editorial eye by consuming a wide range of content, understanding audience expectations, and being open to honest feedback. The episode finally touches on the economic realities of attending comic conventions, particularly San Diego Comic-Con, and how creators can navigate the changing landscape of the comic industry.TakeawaysRunning gags can enhance humor but must be used wisely.Timing and audience familiarity are crucial in comedy.The rule of threes is a guideline for running gags.Developing an editorial eye takes time and practice.Reading a variety of comics helps improve your craft.Surprise is a key element in effective humor.Character-driven comedy can create memorable running gags.Webcomics require a different approach to running gags than print comics.Familiarity can trigger emotional responses beyond humor.The balance of surprise and familiarity is essential in comedy. Reading with a critical eye is necessary for creators.Learning from both great and poor works is valuable.Understanding why certain choices are made in storytelling is crucial.Diverse reading helps inform your creative process.Feedback is vital, but discernment is necessary to know what to take.Comic conventions can be economically challenging for creators.The landscape of comic creation has changed significantly over the years.Creators must adapt to modern audience expectations.Honest feedback can be hard to accept but is necessary for growth.Networking at conventions should be weighed against potential losses. You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Now more than ever, students need the skills to critically think about the texts they encounter. Today we have Marilyn Pryle on the podcast. Her newest book, 5 Questions for Any Text: Critical Reading in the Age of Disinformation, provides a simple framework for improving students' critical reading skills by encouraging the development of original thoughts and responses to texts.Today, she explains how a simple question, "How am I reacting?", can empower students to recognize their feelings and think more critically, whether they're reading a novel or scrolling through social media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In episode 64, The Boston Sisters (Michon and Taquiena) talk about A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, the biopic about musician/songwriter Bob Dylan (portrayed by Timothée Chalamet) inspired by the book “Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties” by Elijah Wald, with award-winning and Grammy-nominated poet, literary activist, and author E. Ethelbert Miller .  The conversation focuses on Miller's personal connection to Dylan's music and the broader cultural context of the 1960s, in addition to... The importance of preserving American folk traditions The role of artists like Dylan in documenting history including the impact of Dylan's music on social movements The role of women in shaping Dylan's life, career and music The significance of oral and musical literature SPOILER ALERT - There is some detailed discussion about key moments in the film Episode 64 is part 1 of a 2-part conversation about A COMPLETE UNKNOWN with E. Ethelbert Miller. Episode 65 (part 2) is available 1/28/25. ------- TIMESTAMPS :01 - Introduction to the Podcast and Film Discussion 2:11 - Ethelbert Miller's Background and Contributions 4:45 - Ethelbert Miller's Reflections on "A Complete Unknown" 17:12 - Dylan's Influence and the Role of Women in His Life 27:23 - The Role of Film in Historical Context and Literature 47:12 - The Impact of Dylan's Music and the Importance of Preservation 48:09 - The Legacy of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger 48:26 - The Role of Documentation in Historical Understanding 50:39 - The Importance of Critical Reading and Analysis 55:27 - The Role of Artists as Witnesses to History 58:08 Conclusion and books from this podcast More Podcast Notes: In the conversation, Miller references Dylan's concerts in the U.K. in 1966. Dylan's infamous "Judas" show, where the musician is heckled, took place in Manchester. The story is included in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary "No Direction Home." Enjoy our PLAYLIST for this podcast, "Bob Dylan: Known and Unknown," on Spotify. ------- Keep the Historical Drama momentum going.... SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform LISTEN to past past podcasts and bonus episodes SIGN UP for our mailing list SUPPORT this podcast  SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore Buy us a Coffee! You can support the podcast by buying a coffee ☕ here — buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters Thank you for listening!

On today's episode, Matt talks about how articles and reporting can use numerical "facts" or predictions to elicit a reaction.  Tapping into your SAT skills, reading these articles critically can help you determine whether there is any actionable information therein, or if your plan already has you covered.  In a world where there is more content than in the past, determining the right information to take on board is as important as ever.

Are you looking for ways to get your words out into the world but aren't ready to write a book? Writing for online publications, both paid and unpaid, can be an opportunity to improve your writing skills and share your message with a broader audience.Listen in as Kimberly Coyle shares about why writers can benefit from publishing articles online and how to get started.Kimberly Coyle is a freelance writer with an MFA in creative non-fiction. She writes regularly on Substack and has written for numerous online and print publications. In addition to writing, she is a writing tutor and adjunct professor of College Writing and Critical Reading at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. She loves to help other writers grow in the craft of writing and see their words published. Connect with Kimberly at The Attentive Life, on Instagram: @kimberlyacoyle, or find resources for writers at The Writer's Work Shoppe.The Purposeful Pen is a weekly podcast for Christian writers designed to help you build a writing life with eternal impact. Each week you'll hear practical tips and Biblical truth on topics such as improving your writing, honing your message, and managing your time. I always respond to listener emails and I'd love to hear from you! Amysimon@amylynnsimon.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amylynnsimon.substack.com

Is the Flood more about “Salvation” or “Judgment”? Dr. Dustin Burlet has researched and published on this question. Following the methodology of rhetorical criticism, Dustin explores the rhetoric of the flood story in its ancient Near Eastern context to explore this question. Dustin G. Burlet is an instructor at Millar College of the Bible in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His reviews and articles have appeared in journals including the Canadian-American Theological Review, Conspectus, the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and others.Dustin Burlet's Book "Judgment and Salvation: A Rhetorical-Critical Reading of Noah's Flood in Genesis": https://a.co/d/jfSnDcvDustin Burlet's University Connect Page: https://www.millarcollege.ca/our-team/#winnipeg Chapters 0:26-1:11 Intro1:12-5:53 Dustin Experience with the Flood Story5:54-6:53 Summary of Dustin's Book6:54-11:11 What is Rhetorical Criticism?11:12-18:27 Worldview Formative Literature18:28-24:22 ANE Cultural Milieu of the Flood24:23-31:43 The Flow of the Flood Story31:44-55:31 Salvation or Judgment?55:32-57:52 The Flood in its Literary Context57:53-59:06 The Significance of the Rainbow59:07-1:01:49 The Flood and EschatologyJoin the Hebrew Bible Book Club ⁠https://www.patreon.com/hebrewbibleinsights WHERE TO FIND US Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/hebrewbibleinsights⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLRSNQ7xVw7PjQ5FnqYmSDA⁠ Podcast Platforms: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2268028/share Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/_hebrewbibleinsights/⁠ TikTok: ⁠www.tiktok.com/@hebrewbibleinsights⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/HebrewBibleInsights⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.hebrewbibleinsights.com

In this insightful episode of the "How to Be an Author" podcast, writing coach Karena Akhavein delves deep into the transformative power of reading for aspiring authors. With a focus on critical reading, she provides invaluable tips and strategies to enhance writing skills and craft compelling narratives. We'll discuss the significance of critical reading in honing writing abilities. Looking at how another writer does character development, plot structure, and writing style can enrich one's own writing journey. We'll offer guidance on selecting appropriate reading material, taking into account genres, classics, and contemporary literature. Diverse reading experiences are important, so explore beyond your comfort zone. How do you read critically? We'll talk how to delve beneath the surface of the text. From identifying narrative techniques to analyzing thematic elements, we'l; equip authors with the tools to extract valuable insights from their reading. Addressing a common pitfall, we discuss the dangers of comparing oneself to other authors. Learn to see reading experiences as inspiration rather than intimidation. Acknowledging the delicate balance between reading and writing, we shed light on when to refrain from reading during the writing process. Mindful breaks help to nurture personal writing endeavors. Tune in for a masterclass on leveraging critical reading as a cornerstone of success in the literary world.

Join us to hear Shakhodat Obidova, A PhD student and TESOL Trainer at Bukhara State Pedagogical Institute in Uzbekistan, share with us “Effective Tips on Critical Reading for Secondary Teachers.” Shewill tell us what critical reading is and why it's necessary in today's world, what methods teachers can use to analyze reading texts effectively, and what her experience of training teachers for critical reading classes has been. Join us to hear more! Top Tips -Critical Reading -Reading -ESL Reading -critical analysis --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ttelt/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ttelt/support

Martina Clark was the first openly HIV-positive person hired to work for UNAIDS in 1996. She subsequently worked for the United Nations system for 20 years, advocating globally for the rights of people living with HIV. Her collaborative work also led to a mandatory HIV In the Workplace program internal to the United Nations system, facilitating platforms for freer dialogue and a more supportive environment for all personnel, including LGBTQ, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized populations. Clark holds a BA in International Relations and an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature. Currently, she is an adjunct for LaGuardia Community College (part of CUNY) where she teaches English 101 and Critical Reading to NYC public high school students earning college credits early. Her award winning debut book, My Unexpected Life: An International Memoir of Two Pandemics, HIV and COVID-19, was published in Octorber 2021.Thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this episode. BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service, and it's 100% online. With BetterHelp, you can tap into a network of over 30,000 licensed and experienced therapists who can help you with a wide range of issues.Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/howtosurvivesociety Support the showThank you for listening to another episode of How To Survive Society.Thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this episode.BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service, and it's 100% online.With BetterHelp, you can tap into a network of over 30,000 licensed and experienced therapists who can help you with a wide range of issues.To get started, you just answer a few questions about your needs and preferences intherapy. That way, BetterHelp can match you with the right therapist from their network, Then you can talk to your therapist however you feel comfortable, whether it's via text, chat, phone or video call. You can message your therapist at any time, and schedule live sessions when it's convenient for you. If your therapist isn't the right fit for any reason, you can switch to a new therapist at no additional charge.With BetterHelp, you get the same professionalism and quality you expect from in-office therapy, but with a therapist who is custom-picked for you, more scheduling flexibility, and at a more affordable price.Get 10% off your first month at https://www.betterhelp.com/howtosurvivesociety

INTRODUCTION: Martina Clark was the first openly HIV-positive person hired to work for UNAIDS in 1996. She subsequently worked for the United Nations system for 20 years, advocating globally for the rights of people living with HIV. Her collaborative work also led to a mandatory HIV In the Workplace program internal to the United Nations system, facilitating platforms for freer dialogue and a more supportive environment for all personnel, including LGBTQ, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized populations. Clark holds a BA in International Relations and an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature. Currently, she is an adjunct for LaGuardia Community College (part of CUNY) where she teaches English 101 and Critical Reading to NYC public high school students earning college credits early. Her award-winning debut book, My Unexpected Life: An International Memoir of Two Pandemics, HIV and COVID-19, was published in October 2021. INCLUDED IN THIS EPISODE (But not limited to): ·      A Deep Look Into Living With HIV/AIDS·      How COVID-19 And HIV/AIDS Are Connected·      Specific Implications For Women Living With HIV/AIDS·      Castro Street In The Mid 80's·      Doctoral Disrespect·      The Benefits of HIV/AIDS·      The Importance Of Maintaining A Positive Perspective·      Implementing Changes At The United Nations·      Disease Does Not Discriminate ·      Why It's Easier To Talk To Homeless People & Children CONNECT WITH MARTINA: Website: https://martina-clark.com/homeBook: https://martina-clark.com/buy-my-bookLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martina-clark-2735719/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinaclarkwriter/Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartinaClarkPenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MartinaClarkWriter/YouTube: https://bit.ly/3IsGEjt CONNECT WITH DE'VANNON: Website: https://www.SexDrugsAndJesus.comWebsite: https://www.DownUnderApparel.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sexdrugsandjesusYouTube: https://bit.ly/3daTqCMFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SexDrugsAndJesus/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sexdrugsandjesuspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TabooTopixLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devannonPinterest: https://www.pinterest.es/SexDrugsAndJesus/_saved/Email: DeVannon@SDJPodcast.com  DE'VANNON'S RECOMMENDATIONS: ·      Pray Away Documentary (NETFLIX)o  https://www.netflix.com/title/81040370o  TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_CqGVfxEs ·      OverviewBible (Jeffrey Kranz)o  https://overviewbible.como  https://www.youtube.com/c/OverviewBible ·      Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed (Documentary)o  https://press.discoveryplus.com/lifestyle/discovery-announces-key-participants-featured-in-upcoming-expose-of-the-hillsong-church-controversy-hillsong-a-megachurch-exposed/ ·      Leaving Hillsong Podcast With Tanya Levino  https://leavinghillsong.podbean.com  ·      Upwork: https://www.upwork.com·      FreeUp: https://freeup.net VETERAN'S SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS ·      Disabled American Veterans (DAV): https://www.dav.org·      American Legion: https://www.legion.org ·      What The World Needs Now (Dionne Warwick): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHAs9cdTqg INTERESTED IN PODCASTING OR BEING A GUEST?: ·      PodMatch is awesome! This application streamlines the process of finding guests for your show and also helps you find shows to be a guest on. The PodMatch Community is a part of this and that is where you can ask questions and get help from an entire network of people so that you save both money and time on your podcasting journey.https://podmatch.com/signup/devannon  TRANSCRIPT: Martina Clark[00:00:00]You're listening to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast, where we discuss whatever the fuck we want to! And yes, we can put sex and drugs and Jesus all in the same bed and still be all right at the end of the day. My name is De'Vannon and I'll be interviewing guests from every corner of this world as we dig into topics that are too risqué for the morning show, as we strive to help you understand what's really going on in your life.There is nothing off the table and we've got a lot to talk about. So let's dive right into this episode.De'Vannon: Martina Clark is the author of My Unexpected Life, an International Memoir of two Pandemics, h i v, and Covid, 19. Now this book goes into great detail with regard to Martina Struggle living with H I V, surviving an Abusive Marriage, and her great efforts to establish an H I V awareness culture within the United Nation.Talk about a task, right? join [00:01:00] Martina and I as we travel in time from the Castro District in San Francisco in the 1980s, all the way up to the present days. We discussed life with H I v specific implications for HIV positive women and so much more. Hello, are you beautiful souls out there? And welcome back to the Sex Drugs in Jesus podcast. I'm your host Davanon, and I have of me today the wonderful and lovely Martina Clarke and this diva here. Is a, is a woman after my own soul. She has a history of H I V. She's also overcome Covid 19, and I have had to deal with those both.She wrote a book called My Unexpected Life, an International Memoir of two Pandemics, h i v, and Covid 19. And that is what we are here to discuss today. H I v. And Covid 19. Martina, how are you my dear? Martina: I am. I am well. How are you? [00:02:00]De'Vannon: I am fan. Fucking fantastic. Awesome. You know, after having lived through two diseases, which do come to kill you, what can I possibly have to complain about?You know, I'm here, I'm queer. I've got a bright pink beard going on because it's Mardi Gra down here right now. And, you know, I'm in, I'm in the season. And you know, you know, you know, how are, how are you? I read your book and everything for fuck's sake. How are you? , ? Martina: I, you know, I think I'm kind of the same. I think we are both virus overachiever and considering all that we've been through, I, you know, I'll complain cuz sometimes it's fun, but I really can't complain.I'm here. Getting ready to turn 59 in a few weeks and never thought that would happen. And it's all good. I feel like I'm the luckiest person alive. De'Vannon: Right. And y'all, so in this, in this interview, I hope to give you some [00:03:00] deeper insight into, H I v, you know, how it affects you mentally and emotionally and everything like that.Mm-hmm. , what Martina can offer that I cannot is that she was around and dealing with this back in San Francisco, you know, when all the shit started to hit the fan. Really, you know, I got H I V like in 20, like 10 years ago, 20 11, 20 10, or some shit, a far cry from what was going on back, you know, in the nineties and eighties and things like that.So I'm super excited to talk to her. . You know, I've never had anybody on my show who came quite out of this era. Oh wow. Okay. Great. A side note before we get started, because I noticed like everything, when I was researching you and some of your images, I saw a repeat of what looked to be like dragonfly earrings.Yes. Wondering what this is . Martina: Yeah. And you I have them on right now. Exactly. . So, I thi this particular pair of [00:04:00]dragon dragonfly earrings I got in Cambodia of all places and I saw them in the hotel lobby where I was staying. And I tried to never buy stuff like in the hotel stores cause I wanna find the actual artists and support them directly.But I just fell in love with them and I thought the hell that I'm gonna buy 'em and I wear them every single day. I've had them. Probably 15 years and somebody told me that when you see a dragonfly in nature, it means that the ecosystem is in good shape. So for me, I like to wear the dragonfly is partly cuz I think they're pretty, but partly because it makes me feel like maybe my own little personal ecosystem is in good shape and I need all the help I can getSo that's what they mean to me. De'Vannon: That is so beautiful and it reminds me, I was, a couple of years ago, I was looking out my backyard and there's a stream that runs back there and there was a swarm of [00:05:00] thousands of dragon flies. Oh, wow. The, the only time I've seen is in my life. I used to catch him. You know, as a kid, but I don't catch insects anymore.I just want them to be free. Yeah. But but it was like thousands of them and they happened to, to show up as the sun was setting at a certain angle and it reflected off of all of their wings sign. Oh my god. And Martina: it . Wow. That must have been De'Vannon: amazing. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life.In I can imagine You're here, here for the dragonfly. Now that's the beautiful stuff. Let's get into the, the gritty part of this. So the cover of your. Absolutely titillating. I'm always interested in people's book covers, you know, and what it means. One thing that, so the cover of her book y'all, is like, it looks like a passport.Mm-hmm. her very emotionless passport photo. You know, they don't like you to smile in those photos. They want you to look like a goddamn statue. So you pulled off your statue esque look. Very [00:06:00] well. Thank you. She's got like a Covid virus. She's got like h I v Now you have Venezuela. It's the only country that I see on there.You have 18 September, 1996. Was that the day you found out you had H I V. And was that the country you were in or what is the significance of Venezuela and that date? Martina: That is an excellent question that nobody has ever asked me. So the reason for Venezuela is total random. Okay? It has nothing to do with anythingBasically I had an idea of the cover that I wanted and I sent some pictures of passport, actual pages of my passport to the woman who did the ultimate design and they came up. The, the variations on the stamps and why they selected Venezuela, I cannot tell you. I guess it just happened to [00:07:00] fit, but I actually found out that I had H I V in 1992 in may I think of 1992 for some bizarre reason.I don't know the exact date that I tested positive, which I find extremely weird. , but I haven't committed it to memory. Or maybe I blocked it, I don't know. But yeah, it was in 1992 when I found out. So I was in San Francisco and that is when that journey began for me. De'Vannon: Now she was 28 years old when she found out.Mm-hmm. . I'm gonna read a snippet. From your book, I do love story time and there are two snippets that I'm gonna read throughout this interview here. So if I may, yeah, of course. Thank you. Okay, so this snippet here, y'all, this is Martina now. She says, unnerved by my memories of the men. Who died in those years, neighbors who left for the hospital and never [00:08:00] returned the relentless funerals I found myself reliving the grief of decades past history was repeating itself again, far too many.Did not heed the warning. Now. In this snippet here, she's tidying up this book as Covid 19 is beginning and COVID 19 is causing you to be triggered about what was going on back in 1992. Right? So, and then while I'm reading this, I'm having all these poses, flashbacks, and I'm just, you know, you know, I'm right there with you in New York back in the dance hall scene and in pose it was only three seasons, but my God, it felt like years of, you know, so many funerals, so many people died, you know, watching poses.If you haven't seen pose people, I don't know what you're doing with your life. Martina: Forget on it. De'Vannon: So, yes. And, and Martina is in New York right now. That's where she lives. And so all of this is just [00:09:00] really coming together for me right now in a super emotional way. So, so tell us about how you felt when you got H I V and what was going on, and then how did C O V I D trigger this for you?Sure. Martina: So when I found out that I had H I V. , I felt like my life had just been erased. And I remember I was, I got the news on the phone, which is not how you're supposed to get it. You're supposed to get it from an intellectual person in real life. But I got the news on the phone and I was standing in a kitchen and I just stared at a cabinet and it's like a white kitchen cabinet.And I, I felt like that was my life. It was just a blank slate. And not necessarily in a good way, but that everything I had ever done. , it just didn't matter anymore cuz I had this new thing that I was gonna have to deal with. I had never seen another woman with H I v I probably had, but I didn't register that I had.And [00:10:00] despite living in San Francisco, which in the eighties and nineties was, you know, really hard hit by H I V and AIDS pandemic, I just still felt very, very alone. I knew plenty of people with H I V, but not another woman. But before all of that happened in 1992 I actually lived on Castro Street in the mid eighties.Yeah. And yeah, Castro Street. If you don't know, San Francisco is the hub of the most fabulous gay neighborhood, perhaps on the planet, I don't know. But certainly in San Francisco. And I lived there at the, really, at the height of the AIDS crisis, and there were. sirens all the time and ambulances going by and funerals, and it was just a constant state of sort of survival and grief.And yet in the midst of this extraordinary community who was always like, we're gonna be better than this. We're gonna be bigger than this. We're gonna, we're gonna still be fabulous and [00:11:00]wonderful. And when. going through the beginning of Covid. I live in Brooklyn, in New York City, which was the epicenter for this pandemic.And so it was similar in a sense that there was just a constant stream of ambulances going by and people were dying. And I'm, I'm a teacher now and my students were telling me these horror stories of one student's mom died and the family didn't even know where her body was. For like weeks and I mean, just trauma that is unbearable for anybody.And it was on such a scale that I was really triggered and I, I mean, nobody knew what to anticipate as we went into the covid epidemic, but our pandemic, I should say. But I, I was really triggered and I found myself like back on Castro Street. Seeing [00:12:00] apartments for rent, knowing that probably the person inside who had lived there before died, you know, or yard sales.There were yard sales all the time, which it was just, it was so much to handle, to know that there was so much death going on around you. And then to go through this again was was overwhelming to say the slightest least De'Vannon: bit. Two pandemics in a lifetime. . Yeah. You know, when, when Covid came out, you know, they were saying like, you know, we hadn't seen anything like this since, I think 19 you know, the early 19 hundreds when there was a Spanish flu?I believe it was right, but. But if, but if truth be told for people dealing with H I V we have seen it before . Martina: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. No, we've lived through it and, and I'm in touch with a lot of long-term survivors of H I V and we all were just like, Ugh, this feels too real. Too [00:13:00] close. Too much. Yeah.De'Vannon: And so, I hear you when you say that you found out over the phone, that is so not the way to do it. When I found out they didn't even bother to call, they left the voicemail. Oh my gosh. I re, I retrieve my positive diagnosis from a voicemail and so , so it, it is just, and this was only 10 years ago, so it's sad to see that healthcare and the way they deal with H I V has not evolved, you know?Yeah. Back in those days telling people over the phone, in my case, leaving a voice. You know, it makes me think that some doctors who deal with H I V patients just don't respect us, you know? And just don't consider us be human enough to treat with common dignity and decency. . Yeah, Martina: I agreed. De'Vannon: Totally agree.HIV people, you did it to yourself. It's all your fault. So you, you deserve what happened to you. So we'll just drop the shit on the, we'll just call you and whatever. Martina: Yeah. . Yeah. No, agree. [00:14:00] Agree. I don't understand why we haven't gotten past . De'Vannon: Yeah. Stigma. Now, when you found out, you said you, you stared at the, at the furniture, you know, and you felt like your life, everything was at that point, didn't matter.They said that they gave you five years to live. Mm-hmm. . How did it feel to hear a doctor try to, and clearly we're far past five years now, , you know, thank God for that. Yeah. And you, but how did it feel to have someone tell you, look, you got, what is it, 60 months left f ? Do with it what you will , you know?Martina: Yeah. I never thought of it in terms of months. It, it just felt, again, it, it, it definitely felt dismissive. I mean, in, in retrospect, I look back and I think, okay, this doctor was also navigating this territory and probably didn't know what to [00:15:00] say, and that was his best assessment. Right. But at the time, I, you know, I was 28 years old.I felt like, that's it, you know, my life is over. And and he kept telling me to relax and to, you know, don't stress , just, you know, be as calm as you can. Don't stress about things because stress is bad for you. So relax and try and get lots of rest. . It's like, fuck you. You know, you just told me I've got five years to live.I'm gonna maybe make it to 33 if I'm lucky. Right. And I'm not Jesus, so I don't want that end, you know? Right. I don't wanna go down that path. So I yeah, I just felt like my life was over and. because there was no treatment yet that didn't come till like 1996. I think that is what launched me into becoming an activist, cuz I felt like, you know, if I am gonna die, at least I can try and make something out of this [00:16:00] to help somebody else, or at least make myself feel better about myself, , or, I don't know make me feel like I had a purpose.and so I didn't really focus on myself as much as I think maybe I should have, but it was sort of what I needed to do. I just needed to stay in my mind, stay one step ahead of the virus cuz there was no other option at that point. De'Vannon: I think you did better than me. I was too self-absorbed and too concerned about me.I thought I was just gonna like die in a few months cuz I didn't have, they didn't tell me I had five months. They didn't tell me anything after. Forgot the voicemail. I never talked to anybody and I just went down this whole bad spiral. The only person I knew who had H I V died at like 24 ish, and I just saw him triple up into like this husk of a person covered with boils and sores.Mm-hmm. . And I thought, okay, well, you know, that's where it's headed. And so [00:17:00] but hearing you speak. You know, tells me what I should have done. You know, I should have taken the microscope off of me and had I focused on trying to heal other people than I would've gotten healed myself, you know? Which is how I usually would deal with, cuz I had a strong history of volunteerism, but I was not volunteering during this time because I had gotten kicked out of church.For not being straight. And so I had stopped all of my philanthropy and public service work, so I wasn't in that vein of operating like I usually would have been. Mm-hmm. . So I didn't even think about that. And so, So people, when we get sick, if anybody out there contracts, h i v, here you have it, , don't find a way to help somebody else.That way you don't get o overly self-absorbed with your own nightmarish fantasies about what you think are going to happen. I like to talk about this because sometimes people. Get H I v and people are [00:18:00] like, oh, there's medicine for it now you can just fix it. That that doesn't take away the mental mind fuck of being invaded by something that you can't get rid of and that, you know, desires to take your life.It doesn't matter how far technology has come, the mental health aspect of it is still is real today as it was back in the Castro days. Martina: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. No, I think that that is it's so important to, to highlight because people. , it's really not that big a deal now. You know, it's, it's so what?You take a pill every day and if you're probably fine, you'll probably have a regular lifespan. But that is so minimizing the reality, and it's just kind of bullshit because yes, there's medication and thank God it exists. And we're very lucky compared to so many people who are not here to even talk about this now.but the truth is you still have your body fighting this thing constantly. Research is showing that [00:19:00] for long-term survivors, it ages your body just because you've been fighting it for so long. So like in theory, I'm 12 years older physiologically than my actual age, and so I. 70 . So I'm now magically older than my siblings, which is kind of weird But then as you say, like all of the, the social dynamics and the mental health and the, you know, psychological, it's like you just still don't know. And the thing is, we still don't know, you know, we know that the medications are working so far so good, but we're the. Sort of cohort of people being studied to see if this medication actually works.I don't know, you know, maybe in another 10 years you're gonna be like, oops, it's as good as it gets. And that's, you know, it stopped working. Now, I don't know. And I don't know, like with Covid, you know, this is something I think about a lot was did I get c o because I have h I [00:20:00] V and I was more vulner. or when I got covid, did I not have a worse case because I'm also taking medication for H I V, which is not the same medication, but sort of in a similar family of fighting viruses.I don't know. You know? And it is a constant like just. every day. Not every day. Maybe after 31 years of living with H I V I don't think about it necessarily every single day, but I do think about it regularly, like, is something else going to go wrong tomorrow because I have H I V, you know, do I really have a full life to look forward to?Am I gonna live to 80 or 90? And of course, nobody knows how long they're gonna live, but I really, nobody knows how much h I V is actually still doing damage to. despite having the medications. Mm-hmm. like it's keeping us alive, but is it really you know, are we, are we actually still at a hundred percent?Like everybody likes to [00:21:00] pretend that you take the pill and you're good to go. You know? There's so much more to it, as you say. Yeah. De'Vannon: There's so much more to it and there's so many different medicines because everybody's body. reacts differently to different mm-hmm. things. No Doctor gives you a guarantee that medicine is going to work.They always have that same disclaimer, like, we're gonna try this. Hopefully it works. If this doesn't work, then we'll switch you to a different medicine. You hope and pray that your body doesn't grow a tolerance to whatever medicine that you are. Mm-hmm. . And you hope and pray that you don't get exposed to a different strand of it that could cause the virus within you to mutate, so mm-hmm.it's not just like a home free thing. It still has to, it still is a conscious. Yeah. I wanna give a word of caution too when people, you know, if you should happen to get H I V or hepatitis, I also, you know, have a history of Hepatitis B as well, you know, to be careful that you don't let it turn into anger.Mm-hmm. , when I was a teenager, this guy that I was. Dating, you know, he was like the same person who died of H I V or AIDS [00:22:00] was the same one. He was running around trying to intentionally give it to people. Mm. Because what happened with him is he got it and like me, I thought I was just gonna die. And I blamed myself.He got mad and he went out and tried to kill as many people as he could, you know, so, So just be careful, you know, your emotions that I like, we, we, Martina and I cannot overstate the emotional implications, you know, that can happen to people. Mm-hmm. . Now the last snippet that I have that I wanted to read talks about Different perspective on it.For, for instance, this is the panglossian outlook as you describe it in your book in the panglossian is just a very fabulous word that doesn't speak of mermaids or unicorns or the never ending story like you might think. It just means like a, a super optimistic person. . So , [00:23:00] so, so So the snippet reads, people living with the virus sometimes, say H I V, is a gift because it requires a long, hard look at yourself and your life.You take account of where you stand, it forces you to contemplate your mortality. Perhaps still, I've swapped my gift for a nice pair of shoes and so. after I settled the fuck down and realized I wasn't going to die, now we're talking what, four felonies and three trips to jail later. Because I really went off the deep end.I realized, you know, I gotta get healthy now. I have to, like, I started to like eat better, or at least think about it, you know? Mm-hmm. ways. And so for me it did turn into a gift. After I got my head back on straight . It was so funny to read. You say, you know, I'll take the pair of shoes.[00:24:00]did you find any benefits? I mean, Martina: you know, I, I, I always say that I would clearly, I would like, I'm sure everybody would like to have had a life without h I v. I would like to have tried that one out, but I would also be a liar if I said I didn't have some benefits because, because of the fact that I had h I v and it was just, you know, sort of the timing and my particular set of skills in life and all of these things converged and I ended up having a career for more than 20 years with the United Nations, which I don't think I would ever have been able to even fantasize about.You know, it just, it all unfolded because I had H I V and through that, Traveled the world. I have met extraordinary people from all walks of life in all kinds of places, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. I have been so [00:25:00] blessed to, to be able to go places and like, be in the company of the people who actually live there, you know, not get on a, a tour and ride around in a bus and wave at the, at the locals.You know, I actually got to be with the people who live in all of these places and. a little bit understand what they were going through and know that like their journey with H I V was different for certain reasons. or despite having living, being living in different totally different countries, we actually have a lot of things in common, you know, that sort of stuff that you realize.There's so many things that connect us as human beings. And when you're dealing with something as traumatic and big as h I v, a lot of those things they become super important and it no longer matters. You know, where you're from, what language you speak, what you look like, any of that. It's just like this common shared life experience and.to have had so many of those experiences is just, I feel like I am the [00:26:00] richest person on the planet in terms of life experience. Not quite as rich in terms of money, but that's okay. . And so things like that. I definitely got a lot of great, you know, not pairs of shoes, but a lot of great other gifts,De'Vannon: hey, perspective is everything. A person can have so much in front of them and focus on a few things that they don't have and forfeit all the good stuff that they do have. Yeah. And then, you know, it's all about perspective. Millionaires kill themselves, you know? Yeah. It's not about money, you know, it's about not getting tricked into over focusing on the, on the, what you don't have, and being happy for what you do have.Agree. Yeah. Now before we dive deeper into the United Nations, the last question that I had about your more like personal life was do you ever think about like, where you got h i v from, you know, how you contracted it, who gave it to you, or [00:27:00] you got it from a needle? Like, do you ever think about that or do you have closure on that?Martina: Excellent question. I. Sort of forced closure on it. The truth is, I don't know a hundred percent where I got H I v. I am certain it was from a sexual encounter, unprotected sex. Only cuz I never did any drugs that involve needles cuz I'm afraid of needles. And we'll leave it at that. Not that I didn't try on plenty of other stuff, , , but that was not myThat was not my, my method of choice, party De'Vannon: on, party on, but . Martina: But none of none of those things would've put me at risk for h I V except for maybe not being in my best mental frame of reference to make good choices. But I don't know for sure. I have a pretty good idea of where and when I was exposed, and that's [00:28:00] as much as I'll ever know.And I, you know, I think one of my friends told me a story once, she's from Uganda, and she said that when a snake gets into your house, the first thing you think about is not, gosh, how did the snake get in the house? . Hmm. Let's ponder that. No, what you think about is how do I get that snake out of my house and get it away as far away as possible, so it's not gonna come back.Right. You're not thinking about like, how does it get in? That's sort of a, a luxury to think about in a way when you have to fight, you know, the virus is very much a real live living thing in your body. That's the thing that's more important to worry about. At least for me that has held true that I sort of, I've pondered it and probably more at the beginning, but as time has passed, like it doesn't matter.I have it. I gotta deal with it and move forward. [00:29:00]De'Vannon: Oh, to move forward. Some days it's easier. Some days it almost seems impossible, but move forward, we must move forward, we shall.No. I have one more question before we move on to the un. Okay. In your book, I was reading, and you're very, very transparent about how you, while you didn't judge like the gay men or anything like that in according to your head knowledge, you really didn't think as being like a, a straight woman, that it was something that you were at risk for, you thought.I believe in your book, you said you thought you were like immune to it or like it could not impact you. So what do you have to say to people to this day who might still be laboring under the delusion that it's, you know, a disease for those people over there? Or , you know? Martina: Yeah. Well I think I mean, we can take a lesson from Covid.A virus does not care who you are, what you look like, or you [00:30:00] know how you get it. They just want you to get it and live in your body and mess things up. So anybody can get H I V. It's has nothing to do with who you are. If you're a good person, a bad person, or you're smelly or you have green eyes or left-handed.It has nothing to do with any of that stuff. It is a virus and anybody can get it, and I think that in this country, . I mean, certainly in 2023 we barely hear about H I V at all anymore. It's my perception. And that's even as somebody who's in the world of H I V right? It's just, it's not like out there in the public discourse like it used to be.And I think that that's like on one hand you don't want to alarm people unnecessarily. Blah, blah, blah. But at the same time, I don't think that we're giving people an accurate reflection of the fact that it could be any, anybody. You know, it's a [00:31:00] virus. Anybody can contract it given the correct circumstances.And globally, more than half of the people living with H I V are women. . And I think most people don't know that either. There is a perception to this day that it is just a gay man's disease, which is complete nonsense. It is a human being's disease, and I think that's a really important thing. And again, if we can learn anything from Covid, it is that viruses do not discriminate and neither should we.De'Vannon: No, we absolutely should not. And. . So, so let's shift gears to the, to the UN here. So you were the first openly H I V positive person you worked for UN AIDS in 1996. Mm-hmm. . How does that feel? Martina: It feels like, and, and it's sort of what prompted me to write the book is that I feel like I [00:32:00] own this little teeny, tiny piece of the history of the AIDS pandemic.And if I didn't tell the story, nobody would or could, cuz it's my story. I look back at it now as an extraordinary sort of privilege to have had that, that position at the time. It felt like a nightmare cause I, you know, I was hired to have my job. NGO liaison. So I was the person who linking all of the nonprofits around the world working on h i v to our program, which is a huge job all by itself.But what I felt my job was, was to be sort of the voice of reason in-house and call everybody to task on the work and say, you're not considering the needs of people living with H I v. You're just thinking of this as a scientist, or you're thinking of this as. Communication specialist, but you're not considering What are our needs in our job at U N A S is to serve people with h i v first and foremost.And so I was sort of like the in-house [00:33:00] act up yelling and screaming all the time. And it was a, it was a crazy job. It was so hard. And I put a lot of that pressure on myself, but it was also kind of weird because as the first person, , I felt like some of my community thought that I had sort of sold out and gone to the, to the UN more as a self-serving, you know, this is a great job and it was.It was a great job. Had a nice salary. I moved to Switzerland. You know, all of these extraordinary things happened, but I was sort of alienated from my community in a way cuz I was the only person there. And it took a while to sort. Earn their trust again, that I was doing something that was actually helpful to them because I think they were also watching me seeing like, okay, is she actually gonna be there and do what she's supposed to do and stand up for all of us?Or is she just gonna sort of settle in and go, cool, [00:34:00] I like this big salary, I'm just gonna float coast, not really do the job that I could be doing. So it was, it was really. , it was a lot to take on. And this is just four years after I'd found out I had H I V and I hadn't really processed it all internally like I probably should have.But again, I just sort of like launched myself into space to take on this huge job. And it was a lot. But again, I look back at it now all these years later and I just feel like I was really lucky and. above all, hope that I did the right stuff and made sure that in those early days of unaids, which very much changed the way the UN responded to the pandemic, that I helped to keep them honest a little bit.Do De'Vannon: you feel like any of the policies you created [00:35:00] impacted not just the organization within the United Nations? Do you think any of those, any of your work filtered down? are most, you know, local communities. Martina: I, I do. And I would say not so much the work at unaids, but the next sort of big job that I had with the UN was a few, few years later with UNICEF and I was the h I V in the workplace coordinator.I don't know what my title was, but that was my job, was to make sure that UNICEF had an h i v in the workplace program for all of the countries where we work. and that means implementing programming so that all of the personnel who work in any given office were getting education around H I V. That ultimately morphed into a UN system-wide program.So the entire UN system in, you know, 160 countries where we work, and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of [00:36:00] people ultimately were exposed to those trainings because it was a mandatory program. and that I know made a difference because the way we were approaching it was, you know, you have to go through this training and maybe you feel like you don't need this training because you're, you don't perceive you have any risk of getting H I V, but we wanna make sure that you know how to educate the other people in your life and your kids and grandkids and so on and so forth.So it trickled down in that way, into communities. . Which was amazing. I also know that it helped in the sense that our program staff, like for example, somebody who worked in the accounting office in one country, she was afraid to have people who were hired to work for us come to her office to collect their checks cuz she was just didn't want people with h I V in her office cuz she just mm-hmm.wasn't, you know, educated. [00:37:00] Right. . And so it was holding up program work and once we started doing the training, she's like, oh, okay, now I realize I have nothing to worry about. I am not at risk. They can come to my office. They're just picking up a check. It is not a big deal. It allowed the work to move forward and for her to be more comfortable and in turn other people in the office to be more comfortable.And you know, it's, it sort of sounds like a little tiny nitpicky example, but it actually ended up making a big difference for the programming in that. and it also, we were finally sort of modeling what we were supposed to do as a un. And so we were able to influence governments and local businesses and say, look, we have an H I V in the workplace program.You should too. Can we help you set one up? . And so I know that, you know, it clearly hasn't fixed everything by any means, but it made a difference, at least a small difference in lasting ways. And that program is like officially [00:38:00] doesn't have a team dedicated to it anymore cuz it's been going for so long.But I know that the work is still happening and country offices are still doing trainings and making sure that we have. Respect also for our own personnel living with H I V, and it's really changed the whole way that the UN approaches staff wellbeing. It made it easier for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer people to be out in the office, which is a huge thing.Maybe they couldn't be in their own lives, but at least in the family of the United Nation system, it's better than it was. It's still not perfect. , but all of that work like made the UN a better employee, in my opinion. De'Vannon: I think I would concur with your opinion because it sounds like your work, like you said, they don't have dedicated teams, but it's been around for so long.It's some [00:39:00] it's, it almost sounds like it's been ingrained into the subconscious culture of. In. So is it its own living organism? I mean, there's nothing more you could ask for. I mean, what an honor and a compliment . Martina: Yeah, yeah. No, no, absolutely. And it, it's, I'm really, really proud of that work. . I feel like I was so lucky to be a part of the team that did the work.And again, I was like one of the people holding everybody accountable and saying, you know, we need to have the right priorities. And it was really hard to do because the UN is such a big bureaucracy, but we did it and it's, as you say, it's, it's ingrained into the culture now and De'Vannon: Oh, beautiful. And I wanna give a shout out to unicef, who you mentioned, and they do great work for kids.Yeah. Globally. That is, that's my favorite nonprofit of all the nonprofits and all the nine realms [00:40:00] because Cause I just, I just fucking love children. And they're just so like, , it's just simple to talk to a kid. Mm-hmm. , you know, when I, when I get tired of grown up bullshit and faking this, and they feel like they have to do this, I go talk to one of two people, either homeless people or a child, because mm-hmm.they don't have a, they're, they have no motivation to be anything other than what they are. And I used homeless before, and so that's where I got this, this, this from, you know, extended. , you know, conversation with homeless people, which I used to talk to 'em before became homeless. But those two, I just go fucking find me a, a fucking seven year old to talk to, just to get some common damn sins from them.Yeah, yeah, Martina: absolutely. De'Vannon: Absolutely. And so [00:41:00] did you ever come across any like opposition that you, when you were trying to. two cuz really what you were trying to push was love and open-mindedness to an organization that's already supposed to stand for that. And we all know it doesn't matter what church somebody goes to run to or what.Nonprofit that has a big ideal that it stands for. Those bitches are there at work because they're trying to get paid primarily. Mm-hmm. completely different. If you've been somebody who has gone through something that your organization services, but your main reason is to get paid, people go to church to save their own souls, they're not going there to help you.They're gonna help themselves. Mm-hmm. . And so, so when, so when they're confronted, with somebody who has H I V or somebody who is the polar opposite of them. Then there's that gut check moment. Okay, so you work for the un, you are all about hu you know, human service, you know, helping people. Or you go to your church or whatever, supposed to be about the same thing.Now will you close the door in their face? You [00:42:00] don't wanna give them a check, you know, so you, so you know the. You know what your company stands for. You know, you recited the creeds and the core values, but when it came down to it, you couldn't deliver . So it's all great when it's an idea, but when you actually have someone in need standing in front of you, Then what the hell do you do?This person you had to help them do what they signed up to do. . Mm-hmm. . That's very, very big of you. . Cause you, you could have gone in there and cussed the bitch out, you know, and been like, what the hell is your problem? But you took the high road and you showed you shared love. I just wanted to point that out, that that's, this is a really, , you know, a stretch for you to have to do this.F E U N, of all places . Martina: So, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I I tried really [00:43:00] hard to always come at it with love and understanding that, you know, everybody, not everybody knows all the stuff that we know about H I V. . And if you're hired as an accountant, that is, you don't have a background in public health. You know, why would you know all of this stuff?Right? So I was sort of trying to be compassionate that everybody's learning this information at some point for the first time, and maybe I'm the person teaching them for the first time. But I can also tell you , had my moments . I, on my, on my very last training that I did for UNICEF before I, I left I was doing this workshop and it was in the middle.which is a tricky region to talk about anything around sex to start with. And it was specifically, we were, we had a people from countries that were in conflict. So these [00:44:00] people already are like, I have so much to think about. H I V in the workplace is really the last thing on my mind. So they were like, maybe okay to be there.They're not really against it, but at the same time they're like, why is, why do I have to do this? and then one woman. I said, we're gonna talk about how we're gonna get condoms in your offices, because that was one of the mandatory principles of our workplace program is that even if you have 'em in a basket in the kitchen, Where it's in a closet next to the, you know, to the sugar packets, and only the staff knows that they're there.They have to be somewhere, because if we don't make them available, then staff who are afraid to go to the store and buy them themselves, or they can't, for whatever reason, you know, we make sure that at least they're available and hopeful. breaking down the stigma associated with condoms, right? So I had one woman in this one training who basically said, we can't do that because it just promotes immoral [00:45:00] behavior of it, it increases the immoral behavior of bad people, basically, is what she said.I was just like, woo.I lost it and it was my last training and I had told them at the beginning that this would be my last training and I was leaving UNICEF to go on and do other things. And at that moment I took off my glasses and I said, I didn't tell you why. , I'm leaving unicef. But part of why is cuz I can't listen to people like you anymore.And everybody else in the room was just like, oh, no, she didn't. No, she didn't. Oh my God. and I, yeah. I was just like, oh Lord, what did I just do? But at the end of the day, , the other people in the room were like, thank you so much, because she is a pain in a neck and she's always fighting us on this condom issue.And you [00:46:00] have the luxury that at the end of the week you get on a plane and you leave. , you don't have to work with her anymore, but you've said to her what? We can't. And so apparently the fact that I kind of blew up on this woman ultimately was helpful. But I also, you know, I was just like, I can't, I can't make up these stories anymore.I can't pretend to be nice to you when you are being ridiculous. It's like, it's not up to you. You, we have to do this period, end of. Figure it out. And she eventually, she sort of said, okay, I morally I can't contribute to this, but I will not fight it, and I will put my energy into other parts of the work and let other people focus on that part because I, I'm not comfortable with it.And I'm like, , okay. There's a team in every office if you're not gonna take on that part, but you will not block it. I can live with that. And I had that, that was probably the worst one. But I've had, had a lot of other [00:47:00] moments where there was another guy in Venezuela who was basically blaming the H I v rates In Columbia, or no, on in ve I can't remember which direction.But in any case, he's, he was, I guess he was from Venezuela working in Colombia, and he was blaming the rates of H I V in Venezuela, on Colombians being bad, dirty people. And I also called him out and I was like, HKI, use me . And I yelled at him in a meeting and he was mortified. And I, I guess the next day he said, you know, that woman from u n a, she's short, but she's mean.And I felt like, good, I did my job . You know, he heard me and he, he heard me. That's what mattered. People De'Vannon: like them. Both of them are stupid bitches, you know? It just is what it is. And they're also. , they carry the spirit of a [00:48:00] bully. Yeah. You know, who are just, they're consumed with their own point of view and as far as they're concerned, if you don't see any given thing like them, then you are wrong.And that, and that's just the end of it for them. And they keep pushing people around and pushing people around till someone does like you. And I think our homegirl miss Elektra from Pose would. Quite impressed with the read, cuz you basically read them for Phil and nobody has ever read anybody quite like a lecture, Vo and so , you know, and they keep, they keep badgering and abusing people until somebody slaps them across the fucking face, metaphorically speaking, you know, like you did, you know, gonna.and evolve are they're gonna just lean more into it. Yeah. That you can't do. Yeah. But Godammit, sometimes shit needs to be said. This is why I had to leave the workplaces. I can't deal with dumb bitches like that and not say something. I'm like, oh, hell no. Maybe it's my P T S D or [00:49:00]whatever. But, you know, veterans, us veterans with ptsd, T S D, we not gonna take no shit off of you.You like bet you said what? Oh, no, no, no. . Like . Yeah. Martina: No, absolutely. Absolutely. And, and you know, at the end of the day, if we don't stand up and say something, you're doing a disservice to other people. You know? I think it is, like, for me, I felt like it, it is my duty. I am in a position where I can talk back to this person.because of my, you know, sort of my role in the system. The other people in this room cannot, cuz they're not in the same position. And if I don't, then I have let them all down. De'Vannon: Right. And so I think you did well. So, so, so y'all, her book is like, like you mentioned earlier, you know, you got to live. , you know, with these people we're talking about cultural infusion, you know, reading through it is kind of like a very detailed travel guide.You know, you mentioned like your Ugandan friend. I, I [00:50:00] appreciated the story you had in there. About your time. It's like you're asleep and you're thinking a hut, and they come in there, they wake you up to go look at the stars and you gotta shake your shoe out to be sure no scorpions or whatever. You gotta put your shoes on, you gotta step on any snakes.You know, it's like, it's like going from, you know, country to country and place to place, but deeper. It's not just look at all the pretty, but this is what's like, what's really going on. I did a missions trip to The Bahamas years ago. . And what struck me was that, you know, all the brochures and everything, crystal, Clearwater beaches and everything, but when we got back there into the schools where these people live and everything, abject, poverty, you know?Mm-hmm. never spoken of, you know, and all the brochures and everything like that. And I felt, I like lied to and just like, like I wasn't giving the whole truth. And like those people hadn't been marginalized cuz they're not talked about. Mm-hmm. . And so what I love about your book is that you give. , you know, the realness, you know, in all of these different places.So it's a, [00:51:00] so who, who, who is your target audience for, for your book and what do you hope people gain from it? Martina: This is a million dollar question. I. . I'm still trying to figure this out because like my initial thought was obviously people who work in the UN will find it interesting cuz they've had a similar experience.I think people with H I V will find it interesting because they have had a similar experience. Mm-hmm. . Beyond that, I feel like it's the target AR audience is probably just people who care about the world. which I would love to think was everybody, but is not actually everybody , but people who care about the world, who are curious how the UN works who have survived some other traumatic thing.It doesn't have to be h I V but dealt with another life-threatening disease or, you know, just some other traumatic event where you feel like in that moment you're not gonna get through it, but in the end you are.[00:52:00]and I guess what I really hope people take away from it, to me the most important thing is that everybody knows that they can do something to make the world better, even if it is just smiling to somebody or holding the door for somebody that you don't have to hold the door for or being kind to, you know, the person who looks like they're having a really shitty day and saying, can I help you?Do you need something, you know? Little tiny acts of kindness all add up. And if we all did more of them, then I think the world would be a better place. But but also that, you know, the little things matter, but that don't be afraid to take on bigger things too, that we can all make a difference in the world.I really, truly believe that. De'Vannon: I concur and I think like one of the opening quotes in your, in your book was from, [00:53:00] I wanna say maybe Gandhi. And it was like if you don't, if you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping, you know, next to a mosquito. Yeah. That's sad. Lama Lama. Sorry. Yeah.Yeah. So. And so, so I thought that that was very interesting. Y'all, her book, you know, the woman's been through a lot. You know, the, there's an abusive marriage, there's a fostering of a believe a teenager, you know, there's a lot more than just H I V and AIDS and traveling. It's a very, very transparent read that I feel like can touch you on many different levels.You know, whoever may be listening. So then the last two questions that we have. Mm-hmm. , turn the floor over to you for your last words. We're gonna talk about. Is there any sort of specific h I V AIDS implications just specific to women that you might like to talk about? Martina: Oh, that's a good question. So I think for women the whole issue around reproductive [00:54:00] health is a huge one that, you know, for, for many women, younger women, they wanna have children and to know.In 2023. That is something that women can do safely if they're in good care and they're very affordable treatments to, to ensure that the baby is not born with h I v. They work and in North America, Western Europe, almost no babies are born with H I V anymore. So that is really a positive thing. And obviously parenthood involves two people generally, but.For the woman carrying the child. That's a really important thing to know. I think that h I v probably impacts women throughout our lives, you know, as we go through menopause and other things as well. But there's not as much research as we'd like on all of that. But I think. Probably the most important thing for women is to think about [00:55:00] the reproductive health issues and just to make sure that they don't let their doctors say, well, this works in men.It's fine for you. Make sure that you learn as much as you can, and don't hesitate to call 'em out on it and say, but are you certain, have there been research studies involving women or has this only been tested on men? Prove to me that this is gonna work for me in a smaller body. If, like in my case, I'm, I'm five four, I'm a smaller person than a six foot man, right?So I need to have the empowerment to know that it's okay to ask my doctor, are you sure this is also going to work for me in the same way and prove it, you know, sort of like, don't just say yes, show me the data, sort of thing. I think that's really important. And I think also that the stigma is different in the sense that people still don't understand that women get H I V.And so there's a lot of like slut [00:56:00] shaming associated with the diagnosis where people assume if you've got h I v, you must be some sort of awful, terrible sexual being and how dare you and it's your fault. And I suspect that happens with everybody that gets H I V, but I know that it happens with women in a, in a very specific kind of way.And and just know if that happens, if you get H I V and you're a woman, that that's not true. You are a human being. It's a virus. and don't, don't believe the stories that people tell you about yourself. Believe your own story.De'Vannon: Like, like, Lord, help me like, like Mama RuPaul says, unless they pay in your bills, pay them bitches. No mind. Yeah. Unless they pay in your bills. Pay them bitches. No mind. Cause people always got a fucking opinion about every goddamn thing besides themselves. . And then, so then the last thing, world AIDS Day stood out to me, my research to [00:57:00] you of you, this, this, this, this has been the case since December 1st, 1988.And so is there anything you'd like to say about World AIDS Day and what that means to you? Ooh Martina: You know, it's kind of like. At this point, it's I think it is a day that we kind of do lip service to the pandemic. And while I think it's great that people do events on World AID'S Day to focus our attention, make sure that it is being talked about in our communities I think people need to remember that there are the other.What, 364 days of the year that we're all still living with H I v. And you know, I thought about this yesterday with, with Valentine's Day. I was explaining to somebody who's from another country about Valentine's Day here, and I said, you know, it's, it's sort of a cute. cheesy holiday and we like heart-shaped candy if we like candy.But it's also complete nonsense because [00:58:00] if you love somebody, you don't have to wait till February 14th to tell them that. Right. . It should be a daily thing. And I think the same for World AIDS Day that I I have a real. Love hate relationship with the day. Like part of me wants to support activities and events.Part of me hates the day and wants to just, you know, skip it and talk again on December 2nd cuz I don't wanna think about it cuz it's not a, it's not a joyful day. It is it's a day of a somber remembrance to me. You know, it's remembering all the people who aren't here to celebrate it or not to observe it.I should say, not celebrate, but that's my feeling on world eight's day. Yeah, De'Vannon: I can imagine that it would be triggering, excuse me, like triggering as hell. So, So everyone make up your own damn mind about World Aids Day? I'm kind of over like pretty much every holiday at this point. Yeah. Cause [00:59:00] they're either fake or overly commercialized or whatever the hell the case may be.So I'm just like, just fuck it all. And so in terms of holidays, but still show love to people on every day. Exactly. Whether it's Christmas or you know, and, and give a damn about Jesus. Even if it's not Easter . Yeah. Who the fuck exactly. Fucking bunnies. I don't want to get started on that. . It is almost Easter.And so, so thank you so much for coming on the show. Any last words that you have? Wait a minute, y'all. Her website is martina clark.com. I'm gonna put all this in the show. The book again, is My Unexpected Life at an international memoir of two Pandemics, h i v, and Covid. 19. She's on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, you name it, she's there.All of this will go in the show notes as always. So, Thank you for being such an incredible [01:00:00]guest. If there's any last words you'd like to say to the world, say it and then you'll close us out with that. Martina: Oh my goodness. No pressure. I would just say thank you and, and again, thank you for all that you're doing, for putting good stuff out into the world.I really appreciate you and for the listeners, you know, you can be one of those people who puts good stuff out into the world. So do it. Thank you so much.De'Vannon: Thank you all so much for taking time to listen to the Sex Drugs and Jesus podcast. It really means everything to me. Look, if you love the show, you can find more information and resources at SexDrugsAndJesus.com or wherever you listen to your podcast. Feel free to reach out to me directly at DeVannon@SexDrugsAndJesus.com and on Twitter and Facebook as well.My name is De'Vannon, and it's been wonderful being your [01:01:00] host today. And just remember that everything is gonna be all right. 

Today I have the beautiful Martina Clark, she is an Author, Activist, Educator, Grateful Aunt, and occasional Singer. Martina Clark was the first openly HIV-positive person hired to work for UNAIDS in 1996,  At the age of 28, the doctors told her she had 5 years to live.  Back then we didnt know anything about this epidemic and so many lost their lives either due to shame, lack of knowledge and/or care.  We have come a long way today in healthcare for HIV.  With nothing to lose, Martina dove headfrist into activism. Her book, My Unexpected Life: An International Memoir of Two Pandemics, HIV and Covid-19 follows her personal journey both emotional and physical along with her professional career after her diagnosis. Martina got Covid-19 in early 2020 and it really did a number on her system.  She is fighting and thriving throughout that too!  She reflects on her long  haul bout with the second pandemic (Covid) while also reflecting on her experiences, her full passport all with an in-curable disease. She is stubborn and determined and an inspiration!  While anyone who alone had the initial diagnosis would of just stayed in that diagnosis and wallowed, she got up and lived and lived she has! She subsequently worked for the United Nations system for 20 years, advocating globally for the rights of people living with HIV. Her collaborative work also led to a mandatory HIV In the Workplace program internal to the United Nations system, facilitating platforms for freer dialogue and a more supportive environment for all personnel, including LGBTQ, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized populations. Clark holds a BA in International Relations and an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature. Currently, she is an adjunct for LaGuardia Community College (part of CUNY) where she teaches English 101 and Critical Reading to NYC public high school students earning college credits early. You can read about her journey here: https://martina-clark.com/home Love you!

This edWeb podcast is sponsored by News Literacy Project and National News Literacy Week. The webinar recording can be accessed here. How can you engage and motivate students to think critically when navigating today's complex information landscape? How can you help students develop the skills to evaluate the trustworthiness, credibility, and reliability of evidence? How can cross-disciplinary connections help your students in “fighting fake news”?Listen to this edWeb podcast featuring the News Literacy Project (NLP) for a conversation around these questions with Dr. Jeff Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State and literacy teaching expert. Dr. Wilhelm's forthcoming book is Fighting Fake News: Teaching Students to Identify and Interrogate Information Pollution.Dr. Wilhelm is joined by NLP experts Brittney Smith, Senior Manager of Education Partnerships (East), and Pamela Brunskill, Senior Manager of Education Design. Shaelynn Farnsworth, NLP's Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy, moderates.The edWeb podcast includes a discussion of the need for and benefits of critical reading skills, as well as a look at NLP's Framework for Teaching News Literacy, developed using the Understanding by Design template by Wiggins and McTighe (2005). Viewers learn about a variety of resources and techniques that they can implement immediately in the classroom. This edWeb podcast is part of National News Literacy Week (January 23-27), an annual event presented by the News Literacy Project and The E.W. Scripps Company.This recorded edWeb podcast is of interest to K-12 teachers, school leaders, library/media/technology leaders, and education professionals.News Literacy Project A nonpartisan national education nonprofit.Learn more about viewing live edWeb presentations and on-demand recordings, earning CE certificates, and using accessibility features.

Let's talk about the Princess Bride ... No, there is too much. Let us sum up. Other Minds and Hands: An Open and Friendly Discussion of Tolkien Adaptation, Episode 29, recorded on December 7, 2022 Hosts: Dr. Corey Olsen the Tolkien Professor https://signumuniversity.org/director... Dr. Maggie Parke https://signumuniversity.org/director... Episode guest: Dr. Faith Acker https://signumuniversity.org/people/f... Shakespeare and the Middle Ages https://signumuniversity.org/course/l... The Life and Times of the English Epic https://signumuniversity.org/course/l... Foundations in Critical Reading and Research, in which both the book and the movie versions are featured (The Anytime Audit, course pack, option will be available soon) https://signumuniversity.org/course/l... For those considering purchasing the courses above Anytime Audit December Sale, through December 31, 2022 https://signumuniversity.org/news/any... More of the Signum/Mythgard things where The Princess Bride is featured. Mythgard Academy: The Princess Bride https://mythgard.org/academy/princess... C.S. Lewis and Mythologies of Love and Sex https://signumuniversity.org/course/l... Other Minds and Hands will now, until further notice, take place on THURSDAYS at 4:30 PM ET. Check the schedule here. https://www.twitch.tv/signumu/schedule Join us on this SignumU Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/SignumUnive... and SignumU Twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/signumu For more information https://mythgard.org/miscellany/ You can watch or listen to the recordings here. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa... https://tolkienprof.fireside.fm/subsc... Now that RoP Season 1 has ended, here are some fun suggestions for you, whether you are new to Tolkien's world or a long-time reader/fan. For those who want to review and reflect on the show. Rings and Realms: https://www.youtube.com/c/RingsandRealms Corey and Maggie did a weekly analysis of Prime Video's epic adaptation of Tolkien's mythos. Presented by Signum University and Studio Lab. audio-only version recordings (podcast) https://ringsandrealms.fireside.fm/ Official Prime Video Aftershow on Twitter Spaces: Corey and Maggie hosted Official Prime Video Aftershow on Twitter Spaces on Fridays at 12:00 PM ET. You might still find the recordings on Corey's Twitter account. https://twitter.com/tolkienprof Follow our Twitter accounts for updates: Corey Olsen, Tolkien Professor https://twitter.com/tolkienprof Signum University https://twitter.com/SignumU Mythgard Institute https://twitter.com/mythgardian Want to dive deeper into Tolkien's world? Corey is offering several free and open weekly and biweekly programs on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and other topics at Mythgard Institute. https://mythgard.org/ You can check the live schedule here. https://www.twitch.tv/signumu/schedule More about the individual programs Exploring the Lord of the Rings: a sentence-by-sentence journey through the text of Tolkien's epic fairy story (and Stephen Colbert's favorite https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2... ) https://mythgard.org/lotro/exlotr/ Mythgard Academy: in-depth seminars on fantasy, science fiction, and other speculative works https://mythgard.org/academy/ The Silmarillion Film Project/SilmFilm: a completely hypothetical discussion about what J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion would look like as a TV series https://mythgard.org/silmfilm/ Those recordings can be found on this Signum University Youtube channel as well as on our podcasts. https://mythgard.org/listen/ Other Minds and Hands and SilmFilm recordings are on the Tolkien Professor podcast. For those who feel reading the Silmarillion for the first time is a bit daunting. https://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures... Corey walks you through The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, and even the volumes of History of Middle-earth series on his Mythgard Academy series. https://mythgard.org/academy/ And here are more links if you dare. https://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures... https://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures... https://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures... Want more fan/fun gatherings? Check our news and events page for moots (in-person and virtual) and online events. https://signumuniversity.org/news-and... We also provide affordable higher education and fun, engaging learning (Tolkien Studies, Imaginative Literature, Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Literature, and Germanic Philology) at Signum University. https://signumuniversity.org/ About Signum University https://signumuniversity.org/about/ Signum University Graduate Program https://signumuniversity.org/admissio... SPACE Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education https://signumuniversity.org/space/

Welcome to the Wellbeing and career world podcast, I am delighted to be chatting with the first openly HIV-positive person hired to work for UNAIDS in 1996. She subsequently worked for the United Nations system for 20 years, advocating globally for the rights of people living with HIV. Her collaborative work also led to a mandatory HIV In the Workplace program internal to the United Nations system, facilitating platforms for freer dialogue and a more supportive environment for all personnel, including LGBTQ, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized populations. Clark holds a BA in International Relations and an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature. Currently, she is an adjunct for LaGuardia Community College (part of CUNY) where she teaches English 101 and Critical Reading to NYC public high school students earning college credits early. Her award-winning debut book, My Unexpected Life: An International Memoir of Two Pandemics, HIV and COVID-19, was published in October 2021 and the audio version is available from January 2023.   Martina answers some of the questions asked below during the podcast or answers questions as part of the conversation. I gave a brief introduction about your background, Can you let listeners know more about your background? What is HIV? What are the some of the symptoms you experienced if any prior to your diagnosis? What is the test to diagnose HIV?How did you feel when hearing the result? What about friends and family, did you have support?What about your employment status at the time, was there fear and or Ignorance? How are you now? Is it possible to live a normal live with HIV and are treatments available to manage any associated symptoms?What did your work involve within the United Nations system? What is the squishy underbelly of the United Nations? What is the attitude in today's world towards individuals who are living with HIV? Can Society do more to educate ourselves on HIV and the affect it has globally? What can listeners expect from your Book: My Unexpected Life: An International Memoir of Two Pandemics, HIV and COVID-19? Contact Martina: Website: https://martina-clark.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MartinaClarkWriter/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MartinaClarkWriter/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martina-clark-2735719/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartinaClarkPen Purchase book: https://martina-clark.com/buy-my-book   Disclaimer: This podcast and website represents the opinions of Wellbeing and Career World and our guests to the show and website.  The content here should not be taken as medical advice, financial advice, career advice, Life coaching, sports coaching, and is for informational purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions or Aviation/Aerospace Employer, Employer, lawyer Regulator, organization for questions related to you. Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and website are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors. Privacy is of utmost importance to us. This website or podcast should not be used in any legal capacity.  No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of any statements or opinions made on the podcast or website. In no way does listening, reading, emailing or interacting on social media with our content establish a, coaching session, employment interview, wellbeing advice, employment advice, doctor-patient relationship. financial advice. Wellbeing and Career World is based in Dublin, Ireland. If you find any errors in any of the content of this podcast or blogs or would like to get in contact , please send a message to wellbeingandcareerworld@gmail.com This podcast is owned by "Wellbeing and Career World Podcast” If at any time you want to play or stop the podcast, it is at your own discretion. The podcast may contain conversation or opinions you may find unsuitable or against your opinions or beliefs, if you feel you may be uncomfortable, stressed, anxious, worried, concerned, upset, insulted by any of the podcast, we recommend you do not listen to the podcast.

This recording from August 25, 2022. Find out about the new courses offered at Signum University this coming Fall Term (August 29 – November 20) and meet the professors who will be teaching them! Representatives from the courses will be on hand to explain how the classes work, what people can expect if they sign up, and answer questions from the live audience. Your host, Dr. Gabriel Schenk, will introduce you to our amazing Fall Term professors: Dr. Amy H. Sturgis, Dr. Faith Acker, Dr. Nelson Goering, Dr. Larry Swain, and Dr. Liam Daley The Spring 2022 Courses: Dark Academia – Dark Academia explores this thriving genre which combines the Gothic, schooldays stories, mystery, and speculative fiction. Foundations in Critical Reading and Research – This core course introduces students to current practices and conventions of graduate scholarship in Language and Literature, core literary theories, and foundational Humanities skills. Beowulf Through Tolkien – This course examines Tolkien and Beowulf together to provide insight into both the classic Old English epic and Tolkien's modern fantasy works. Shakespeare and the Middle Ages – The course examines Shakespeare's Comedies in the context of their medieval literary sources, his Histories in light of Tudor views of the recent medieval past, and his Tragedies in the context of medieval beliefs and cosmologies. Introduction to Germanic Philology I – This class offers a survey of the older Germanic languages (especially Gothic, Old Norse, and Old English), and the literatures written in those languages. To view our course offerings for Fall 2022, please visit: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p... To learn more about Signum Univesity, visit: https://signumuniversity.org/about/ For more upcoming events and Signum news: https://signumuniversity.org/news-and... Don't forget to check out more videos on this channel for past events and our free, fun, and educational weekly activities.

A haze of mystery surrounds the figure of Paul and his confusing, contradictory letters - especially the Matryoshka Doll that is his First Letter to the Corinthians, which seems to have eight smaller letters hiding inside of it. But host Chris Palmero reveals that First Corinthians is not only the key to understanding how and when Paul's letters were actually written. It's also "the shining weapon" that just might help us cut through the haze of mystery and reveal the truth about the Historical Paul.BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY continues its New Testament journey with a series of episodes on the Historical Paul and his most important letter. First Corinthians will be revealed as a late and composite patchwork - the product of serial editing over a period of decades, and clashing doctrines and opinions of the Pauline clerics who wrote in the name of a semi-mythical figure.Anyone who listens to this episode can learn about why the historical Paul should be considered the greatest genius in the history of the universe, about the many strange problems in the initial chapters of First Corinthians, about the strange "glitch in the matrix" feeling that we sometimes get when reading Christian texts, about the source of Paul's mysterious "ailment" to which (some of) his letters allude, and about why these second century clerics chose to write in Paul's name.Opening reading: The great psychologist Julian Jaynes believed that ancient people had no consciousness. Might this help us understand why Paul's letters sometimes resemble angry, argumentative online comment sections, rather than actual epistles?Note: the host reads "ultra-literal" New Testament translations at one point. These come from www.biblicalaudio.com. Patreon: www.patreon.com/borninthesecondcenturyWebsite: facebook.com/BornInTheSecondCenturyE-mail: secondcenturypodcast@gmail.comMusic: Pompeii Gray on Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud00:48 - Reading: JULIAN JAYNES, The Mind of Iliad.04:33 - The PROBLEM of First Corinthians.26:08 - OPENING Remarks.31:45 - Reading: CLEMENTINE HOMILIES.34:54 - The IMPROBABLE Paul.50:24 - Paul's Letters PSEUDEPIGRAPHAL.1:03:22 - First Corinthians The SHINING WEAPON.1:09:04 - OVERVIEW of First Corinthians, As Read.1:29:58 - Reading: The GNOSTIC Segment of First Corinthians.1:40:25 - Intro to the CRITICAL READING of First Corinthians.1:41:54 - The GREETING.1:48:34 - The FACTION Segment.2:05:14 - The TEMPLE Segment.2:11:06 - The GNOSTIC Segment Revisited.2:19:09 - CLOSING Remarks.Support the show

Reading scientific papers requires a critical mindset, but often ‘critical' has a negative connotation. How can we apply critical reading to scriptures and conference addresses? This is especially relevant in the context of recent conference addresses and discourse in the Mormon community on Heavenly Mother (see especially Dialogue's spring issue, “Heavenly Mother in Critical Context”). Link to our Face in Hat discord server! https://discord.gg/MnSMvKHvwh Infographic: How to read a scientific paper, by Natalia Rodriguez https://www.elsevier.com/connect/infographic-how-to-read-a-scientific-paper Answering Gospel Questions https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/answering-gospel-questions?lang=eng How to Tell a True War Story, by Tim O'Brian https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/OBrienWarStory.pdf The things they carried, by Tim O'Brian https://www.amazon.com/Things-They-Carried-Tim-OBrien/dp/0618706410 Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny, By Elder Dale G. Renlund (see footnote 10) https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/36renlund Dialogue, Spring 2022. “Heavenly Mother in Critical Context.” https://www.dialoguejournal.com/issues/spring-2022/ In Defense of Heavenly Mother: Her Critical Importance for Mormon Culture and Theology, by Margaret Toscano https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/in-defense-of-heavenly-mother-her-critical-importance-for-mormon-culture-and-theology/ Abbott & Costello 7 x 13 = 28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzxVyO6cpos Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction, by Blaire Ostler https://www.amazon.com/Queer-Mormon-Theology-Blaire-Ostler/dp/1948218410 Mother's Milk, by Rachel Hunt Steenblik  https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Milk-Rachel-Hunt-Steenblik/dp/0998605220 Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World Hardcover, by Carol Lynn Pearson  https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Mother-God-Poems-World/dp/1423656687 Dove Song: Heavenly Mother in Mormon Poetry.  Edited by Tyler Chadwick, Dayna Patterson, and Martin Pulido http://www.peculiarpages.com/books/dove-song/

SAT Down Please ตอนนี้จะพาทุกคนไปรู้จักบทความสังคมศาสตร์ในข้อสอบ SAT Critical Reading เทคนิคการอ่าน และแนวทางในการพัฒนาสำหรับผู้ที่สนใจค่ะ

Today we delve into the Nebula Award Nominated and bestselling book Jade City by Fonda Lee. What can this highly acclaimed AND popular novel teach us about worldbuildling, plotting, and characters? Join us and we share what we love, what we didn't prefer, and our thoughts on this novel. Tune in for new episodes EVERY single Monday.   SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST! Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review.   Join us at www.patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy. For as little as a dollar a month, you'll get awesome rewards and keep the Am Writing Fantasy podcast going.  Read the full transcript below. (Please note that it's automatically generated and while the AI is super cool, it isn't perfect. There may be misspellings or incorrect words on occasion). Narrator (1s): You're listening to The Am. Writing Fantasy Podcast in today's publishing landscape, you can reach fans all over the world. Query letters are a thing of the past. You don't even need a literary agent. There is nothing standing in the way of making a living from writing. Join two best selling authors who have self published more than 20 books between them now on to the show with your hosts, Autumn Birt and Jesper Schmidt. Jesper (29s): Hello, I'm Jesper and Autumn (31s): I'm Autumn. Jesper (33s): This is episode 153 of the Am Writing Fantasy podcast. And it is time for our Critical Reading of Jade City by Fonda Lee. And we'll be sharing our thoughts and views with the aim to see what we write as can learn from Autumn (51s): Yes, I'm looking forward to it because it was such an interesting story, but you know, listening right now, if you were planning on reading this book and you haven't yet spoilers, there will be spoilers. So keep that in mind. If you're listening, this is a critical review, not a blurb or a teaser. We're going to rip it apart and say what we love, what we wish had been different and see what else we can learn from this book. Jesper (1m 15s): Yes. And we also got a few remarks from patron supporters. So we will also mention some of that Autumn (1m 23s): As well. Yes. I'm looking forward to it. I happen to have read some of those comments and I'm kind of in agreement with them. So that'll be really fun. Jesper (1m 32s): I am for the most part as well. Autumn (1m 36s): All right. End of episode. No, Jesper (1m 38s): That was it. Go on. Read, read, threatened. That's it Autumn (1m 43s): Awesome. Well, how are things over at Denmark? It's been a little while since we talked, which was partially my fault. I will warn viewers now. I am still, I had a cold. It really knocked it. Wasn't COVID knock on wood, but it's definitely knocked me for a loop. So if my voice is a little hoarse or if I will, I swear I will cough. I'll either mute myself or he'll go away from the microphone. But yeah, there's, there's a chance I'm still coughing a little bit. So it's been awhile. This episode was supposed to be the previous one and we just couldn't get together because cold I've got to call. Jesper (2m 18s): Yeah, this was supposed to be 100 and episode 1 55, 2, and then it now turned out to be 1, 5, 3, and, well, it was a bit of a mess because we had to rearrange stuff and redo stuff and rename podcast episodes and whatnot, but we succeeded and we're here now. Autumn (2m 36s): That's what counts. So how are things been? It's been absolutely ages since we talked. Jesper (2m 42s): Yeah. Well now I don't remember if it was last week or the week before, to be honest. But we were in here during winter time, as I've said on previous podcasts, I started doing sea kayaking. So here during winter time, well, you can go out, see kayaking, but you need a dry suit, which costs a lot of money. So, and we don't have that, but then what we can do is we can go to the swimming hole. So we take the kayaks into the swimming stadium and we train in the swimming pool to do like, you know, Eskimo rolls is what we call them. Dana's I don't know what the English word is, but you know, without getting out of the kayak, you basically you're upside down in the water and then you learn how to get back up out of the water without exiting the kayak at all. Jesper (3m 31s): And I actually managed to do the first roll this last time when we went to practice for the first time I succeeded in rolling around. So that was pretty cool. Autumn (3m 42s): That is really cool. I've never managed to do a full one note. I usually, I was a whitewater kayaking so much smaller, like half the size of a ocean kayak, a sea kayak. And I still never quite learned the hip snap part to get myself fully back on my own. So that's really cool that you could advantage one. Jesper (4m 2s): Yeah, well, it was like a w the time before my wife succeeded doing it and she was just like, and she did it like 10, 15 times, like, like w what, what brown run around. And I was, and I was just so much struggling. It was like, fuck, I can't do it. And then, but then last time we were here in the swimming hole, we had a couple of instructors with us. So I think the instructor probably spent like an hour with me trying to explain how, you know, because it is really, I mean, when I succeeded, I was actually surprised to see how little muscle power you need to use it. It's actually, it's all about technique. You, you almost need to do nothing to flip around if you just use the right technique. Jesper (4m 45s): So, and, and if you like, like angle your body just slightly wrong, or you, you use your arm slightly in the wrong way, you're not going to flip around. So it's really about techniques, but it it's, I succeeded, but now of course, I'm concerned the next time we're going to go train, then I can't do it again. Autumn (5m 4s): Well, it's all muscle memory. So eventually you'll get it down with that as awesome. However, it's hilarious. Your wife was like, whoo, I'm just rolling. Like Jesper (5m 12s): Rolling around like, well, it's quite easy. Yes. That's easy for you to say Yeah. At the other than that, then a well on, in terms of working wise, we've sent book one of our new series off to the editor. So we're waiting to get it back from the first edit, and then it'll go to the second editor and so on, but, but we're getting there now. So, so that's pretty cool. And otherwise we've started to look ahead for 2020 and kind of discuss some of our future plans and so on. But I quite like this time of year when we're sort of reviewing, what are we going to do next inside? That that's always fun to me. Autumn (5m 54s): It is. I think it's it's so it's good to do that. You should do in your life. Should do it in your writing, your book, marketing, whatever you got going on. I think so many people don't take the opportunity to reflect and then reorganized and then hit the new year with maybe some new goals and some new operations and stuff. So I agree which again, you know, go figure we've we tend to agree on just about everything. So it's no surprise. We both enjoy looking over stuff. And I think it gets your passion going, if you feel like you're just doing the same old thing and you just need to keep plugging away at it, you'd lose the passion. And, and it's half the fun is getting that back and getting excited about things and what you're going to do for the next year. Jesper (6m 35s): Yeah, indeed. So how about you? What have you been busy with the last couple of weeks Autumn (6m 40s): Sick, but not much. I've well, I mean, I've managed to get the editing done and so that's been off and I'm going to be working, starting to delve into getting our website for dot com, going some minor, things like that. So I'm looking forward to really getting into that more, but I was surprised last time I was truly sick was actually right when I came back from London and in January, 2019, I got kind of the same thing, chills, really sick. And that really knocked me down for three days. But this one, it was funny. I started feeling better and then I'd be sick for two days and then I'd start feeling better. Autumn (7m 20s): And, oh, it's been a nightmare. I really thought I was surprised when I got the COVID test results back as negative. I'm like, really? If this isn't COVID, oh, there's some other nasty bugs out there. No one should ever have to go through this, but I have never had chills, like shaking so hard while I had a fever in my entire life. Thank goodness. My husband has medical wilderness medical training. Cause he's like, I wasn't worried. We're fine. I know what to do. But I was like, he's saying, right, this is not right, Jesper (7m 52s): But there is a buck like that going around because I mean, over the last two weeks, I was sick for a couple of days as well. And I wasn't, I didn't have the shakes like you're describing there, but I did have a fever. And I was absolutely absolutely sure that this is COVID because it felt like, you know, the, all the flu kind of symptoms, all the stuff that you hear about and, and your throat, you can feel it all the time. It was exactly like the symptoms described for, for COVID. But I also went and got a test and it was negative, but there is something going around like that at the moment. Autumn (8m 23s): Yes. I mean, none of our listeners catch it. It's not contagious through podcasts. Thank goodness. I Jesper (8m 28s): Don't think it's contagious through podcasting. Autumn (8m 32s): I hope not. But yeah. I mean, as I've described it, I feel like I've actually been sleeping with a hot water bottle. I feel like my internal thermostat, we, we speak in car language all the time. I'm not sure, but my thermostat is busted. It is not working. So please, if you find yourself getting cold, stay warm, make sure you, I was sleeping with a hat on and a hot water bottle and a coat. And it's just ridiculous. But yeah. Keep yourself warm and healthy and have a good December. Cause you don't want to get sick at the beginning of winter. It's I'm going to have a horse, a sore throat all winter now Narrator (9m 7s): A week on the internet with The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast. Jesper (9m 13s): So I found a very interesting article on the internet that I just thought I would share here. Excellent. Because it's probably over the past month or something like that, I've been posting sort of different topics to our patron supporters about different aspects of PIP, big publishers merging together and sort of the effect that it might or might not have on us authors that all these big publishers are merging, you know, like low advances, lower royalty payments and so on. I mean us indie publishers, it's not so concerning, but for everybody doing the traditional publishing, then I've been just making different patron posts about that. Jesper (9m 55s): But then I found this article as well about a penguin random house and Simon and Schuster was, they are looking to merge in a $2.2 billion deal. Wow. But then the us justice department stepped in and blocked the merger. Did you see that? Autumn (10m 11s): No, I did not. It's funny. I read the news a lot, but I did not see that one. Jesper (10m 16s): No, no. So the U S justice department assessed that the merchant would create a two dominant market role and it would hurt authors and readers. What do you think about that? Autumn (10m 27s): Well, it's funny. I I've, I agree. We need competition. And so there are things to keep the, you know, something from developing into something that's not gonna squash competition, but then I like a Facebook and Amazon and Jesper (10m 43s): Facebook Autumn (10m 45s): And they haven't considered that dominating things. I mean, especially with Amazon bought good reads and they own publishing and, and there's like the dominant market, but at least they're trying to protect the brick and mortar ones. You know, it's good that they're maintaining some competition out there. Jesper (11m 3s): Yeah. I mean, from a publishing point of view, penguin is the largest publisher and they are launches rival is shaman, Simon and Schuster. So those two merging would generate like a massive dominance in democracy. And in my view it would be like unprecedented on re what are you saying, unprecedented? That was what I was trying to say, control of the publishing industry. Right? So I fully agree with the us justice department here. I think it's a good thing that they are blocking this, but of course the lawyer of penguin then claims that it would actually be good for the authors if the two giants merged and that the publishing imprints will continue to compete against each other is what he said. Jesper (11m 46s): I don't buy that for a second. Autumn (11m 48s): I don't buy that. I think it would give them a better edge to compete against Amazon, but Amazon is so far ahead and eBooks and they're just really, and they're pretty solid and paperbacks, but they're just delving into hard cover. So I think it would put them against each other pretty solidly that way, but I don't think it would help authors to have basically your choices, Amazon or whatever penguin and Shuster would be called. But I mean, to me, it's almost like Amazon decided to buy, oh gosh, I might just completely blanked, but where you buy your, where we're also have our paperbacks published Ingram, like Amazon bought Ingram, spark authors would be doomed, just doomed, but I don't think anyone wants to go under, but yeah, that is like the only other real competition for Amazon is Ingram spark. Autumn (12m 38s): And a lot of people don't even realize it. Jesper (12m 43s): Yeah. And Spotify just bought a find a way voices. Autumn (12m 46s): Wow. There's some shakeup going on. Jesper (12m 50s): Yeah, yeah, yeah. They want to be the dominant audio producer, just like YouTube being for video to Spotify, want to dominate the entire audio Margaret. Oh, Autumn (12m 59s): That'll be interesting. Jesper (13m 1s): But then you also saw, you know, of course that was like early in the year, but also Spotify buying Joe Rogan's podcast for a hundred million dollars and stuff like that. Right. So they're, they're really, you know, playing hot in, in trying to just dominate the audio market, which I probably think, I think, I think they're onto something, but of course from a content creator point of view, you can be nervous that it's going to be the same outcome as it was for musicians. I like getting paid pennies when it's paid on And when or music is played on Spotify and it could be concerned about the same thing here from, from a audio book kind of perspective. Now today bought find a way of voices that you also can end up in a situation where we authors are just going to get paid a few pennies per audio book play. Jesper (13m 49s): So that is a bit concerning. Autumn (13m 52s): I agree. It's yeah. Jesper (13m 60s): All right. So Jade city is a world fantasy award winner. It is, or it was named as one of the times, top 100 fantasy books of all time. And it was a Nebula award nominee for best novel. So, and I actually went, and now it's a couple of days ago, but I did go and check the sales ranking on Amazon. And I think you will see if you do that, that it's selling quite well. So there is a reason why we picked this book in the first place. Yeah. Autumn (14m 28s): And I have to say in some ways it really impressed me. I was so excited. I think by the time I hit chapter two or three, I mean, I was into it. There was no way I wasn't going to finish the book. So I can say that, but I don't know when we'll get there, but my impression at the end I'll let you know if I still felt that way. And I went on because it is a trilogy and there was a book two and a three. So I will say we'll get to maybe how I felt at the end of the little bit. But I will say when I first started reading it, it was unlike the last critical review we did, which was of the fifth season. That one, we were talking about tense changes. I mean, that was very much literary fantasy. Autumn (15m 9s): This one was true fantasy. Not, it wasn't even high fantasy. The setting and the time is more like Japan just after world war one maybe, or just after the U S you know, came in and started taking over just after Japan. Now I can't even remember the date that is, but when Japan opens up to the rest of the world and goes from the Shogun period into a modern era. So it's right at that cusp, there's guns, there's different far-flung politics, but this central very strong government that is used to a very traditional way of doing things and the clans are there. And it's, if you like Kung Fu movies, it has so much of that. Autumn (15m 50s): It was really exciting. I kind of, yeah, I've kind of, it's just like the Grisha of universe. I'm kind of really liking that these a lot of fantasy that is not just medieval, it's really pulling up to different time periods now. And it's kind of like, well, this is, this is different. This is exciting. I'm really enjoying it. Jesper (16m 10s): Yeah. Okay. I think I will, I will not give my overall sort of a conclusion on it. I think we'll talk through it. And then if it's not clear by everything else I say, then I can give my, my final words on, on this book by the end. But I think just as Autumn said, in the beginning of the episode, we are heading into spoiler territory now. So a B one, if you haven't read this book and want to read it, you probably want to stop now and then come back once you read it, and then you can listen in and see if you agree with what we're saying here, but yeah, from now on, you'll have been warned. Autumn (16m 46s): That is very, I think that's been clear to warnings, you know, what you're getting into if you continue on from here. Jesper (16m 53s): Yeah. But so I've made some different notes that sort of some, let's say places where I feel like I can, I can sort of drop in and talk about something, but there was no specific order to this. It's just like different notes on different thoughts. And then also some comments from Stephen, both from good reads our Goodrich group, but also from, from patron. So I have some comments of his and I, I picked some of the comments where I also have a, have you on what he says. So it's sort of like, they are good talking points. But I think first of all, I could start by saying this book is really well written. Jesper (17m 37s): I really feel like, you know, it, it evokes feelings and, you know, the way she described things though, the characters and they do make me as the reader. No, I'm able to picture the scene in my mind when things are happening. So, So that is really well done. So yeah, first, first let's say item on the list is just that it is really, well-written Autumn (18m 3s): Definitely, I think it is worth reading. It is a fun book to read. It is engaging the, again, the world is a different little bit of different time period. If you do like Kung Fu movies, it has that the magic system. I'm sure we'll get into that as well with the Jade and the green bones, the only people that kept kidneys who are the ones who can actually use Jade, everyone else is if they touch it, they're either, unreactive, there's a few people who are in the world who are unreactive to Jade, but the rest of them can basically become addicted. It's like opium. Maybe it's a good substitute for that, but it also gives you really amazing powers. So it's, it's sort of the magic system. And it's really fun. Autumn (18m 43s): I liked that it's tied to a traditional item, that it works in very set ways when she talks about like, you can do this with it, you can do that with it, but it's really hard to do both. Some people are more powerful. They can take, they can wear tons of J jewelry. And there's other people that, you know, you put on five and that's your Bakst out, that's it? I like that there's variation. And it depends on who you are and your heritage. And that there's only this one select group of people, the Keck honeys, who are truly there, the Jade warriors, the green bones who can wear this. And it's also knowing a little bit of Japanese history and Chinese history, how important Jade was, you know, they, they buried their emperor's wearing Jade uniforms. Autumn (19m 25s): And so I'm like, oh, this is it's tying in history. And it's, it's, it's Jade. I love stones and I love green, so, oh, I just liked this matching system. It really resonated with me. Jesper (19m 37s): Yeah. Okay, cool. Because at one of the points that I had written on my list here is really a question mark to my cell is that it's this magic system. Really? That unique question, mark. It was what I wrote on my, on my list because it's basically just superpowers. I mean, yeah, you're using the Jade to, to get your powers, but it's nothing more than that. I mean, the more I thought about it, the less unique I actually feel like the magic system is. I mean, it's fun and all that. It's not, not that, but if you're looking at it from a uniqueness point of view or trying to create something new, then I really don't feel it is that, I don't know if that's fair to say, but Autumn (20m 14s): I think in some ways, I mean, it's based on a lot of traditional, you could substitute any stone instead of Jade on any universe. I mean, I know I've read other ones where it's just a, sort of like the L stones of Shannara. You have stones and you can do something with it. So I think it has a very strong heritage in the same aspect, but I liked that she tied it in to a culture and a history. But again, I also know, and we'll probably get into that or we can get into it now, but the Jade is tied to a history that, again, I keep saying Japan, this is not supposed to be Japan. It's supposed to be Keck, knees and kick on. And that is, I think to me was the biggest weakness is that it was so obvious what country it was and the time period and the era that I was just like, can we just call it Japan? Autumn (21m 6s): It felt like it's an island. So I felt maybe this is supposed to be Okinawa. There's the one area we're against, which to me is the Korea, is which Japan has a huge history of fighting with the Korea. And then there's this sort of English slash for some reason I kept thinking of Spain, but it might be because it was started with like Espana, you know, it had that kind of name to me. So it was like an English slash European foreign power as well. It's just like, it was so obvious that I was like, make it either more different and truly unique, or just call it what it is, because it's not even a filmy gray layer. It's pretty apparent what you're trying to base this on. Jesper (21m 49s): Yeah. I think, I think that's correct. Not necessarily that I think that's a problem as such. I mean, I know we've talked about many times doing our monthly Q and a session with, with our students and, and patron supporters. And so on that if it's a horse, call it a horse. Right. I mean, we set many times, but I, I'm not sure it's a problem as such a, that, that you are sort of mimicking, mimicking close off of some, some real life place, because on the other hand, if you call it Japan and then they were running around with Jade powers, that might, that might also feel wrong. But I, I don't know, but I don't necessarily think that's a problem. That's probably like a, you know, taste kind of thing or opinion thing. Autumn (22m 34s): Some people, yeah, I think some people will not mind it as much, but I, and I was comparing it to like the Grish of books, the Grisha verse, which has also has some key aspects that are very much based on cultures of this planet, but she does a really good job of anchoring the history into her novel it's they develop out of the novel and they have completely unique aspects based on the world. I guess I was, I like my fantasy, just a little bit more fantasy. And this was so close to the real world with just a little van veil of difference that I was like, well, I wanted to see, I think, a little more different. I wanted a little more traditional, a little more history based on the world she was creating for the book rather than something that, oh, I could let me go check Wikipedia and make sure that that is what, how it happened. Jesper (23m 27s): Yeah. Yeah. I, I think on that note, I could just sort of inject the comment we got from Stephen on Goodreads, because it sort of goes very much along with what you're talking about. I think because Steven said a quote here, we have a very Earth-like world where technology is straight out of the late seventies, early eighties. Yeah. So that's just me saying he he's in a different time zone or time period, and you are thinking about it, but okay. Then back to the quote, they have cars, they have guns, they have landline phones, they have vocabulary is completely from modern times. Lee basically took the idea of a Jade based magic system and shoved it into a culture of Oriental gangs from the seventies. Jesper (24m 8s): And right. So, so he's thinking that this is like late seventies, early eighties, where you're talking about after world war one. So there's a bit of, let's say change there, but, but again, I'm not so sure that I fully agree with the fact that their vocabulary is completely from modern times. Like you said, well, maybe it is, but I don't necessarily think that's a problem. I mean, this for me, this is a fantasy setting, so who knows how they talk? I mean, but it goes very much along with what you were talking about. Like, it feels like depends or why not just say it's Japan and so on and so on. Whereas I just think, I just view it as it's a fantasy setting so she can do whatever she wants and maybe it is indeed heavily inspired by some real life cultures and real life locations. Jesper (24m 52s): I don't disagree with that. I also think that it's it's, it is that just like Steven is saying, and like you were saying as well, but I guess I'm just not seeing it as a problem. Autumn (25m 4s): I, and I think that just comes down to personal taste to me. I'd like to see it. I would like to, if I didn't understand a word, like how the people greet each other, there is language used and I'm pretty sure all the language use was Japanese. And I basically could have put it into Google translator and checked it. I think there's a part of me who said, I would rather have that as a fantasy language, make it up to fit your world and don't just make it so that I check it. I did not, but I, I had assumed that I probably could have with that a lot, except for the place names that some of the greetings, some of the words, some of the language, the traditions were very much based on real things that you could Google or check on Wikipedia and double-check. Autumn (25m 52s): And I was just like that's Yeah, to me, I'm like, I would rather have that just shifted a little more into fantasy. Otherwise it w it felt a little not cheating. It just felt like a little bit more work could have been done to make it really have like, wow. That is fantastic. That is so cool. Instead of going like, yeah, I read that the other day in an article on Wikipedia. Cool. Jesper (26m 19s): Yeah, no, fair enough. Fair enough. But I have another call comment as well from, from Steven, which this time I very much agree with him. So I, you ready for this one? Is it also about culture and stuff? So he says a quote. I think if a culture had such a magic system for many centuries, it would have drastically all areas of history and industry in such a way that the world would be a very different place. How would Jade have affected the countless wars over the centuries? How would it have affected the world governments? How would it have affected technology? She doesn't really answer those questions and quote, and here, I really agree with Steven, because if you just imagine, like you take these Jade warriors and you put them in some sort of special forces in the military, I mean, there's nothing they couldn't do, right? Jesper (27m 16s): I mean, yeah, you have guns and stuff. You can shoot them. But, but I mean, if they are like, especially the forces and they sneak in behind enemy lines, I mean, just, they can wreck complete havoc and there's not much you can do to stop them. So, and I don't think that she really concerns herself with, with the fact that wooden governments also try to find ways to basically leverage these kinds of people and conquer other countries and stuff like that is it's never mentioned really from a building perspective. I just felt like that was stuff that could have been explored further here. Autumn (27m 56s): Yeah. I, there, I completely agree. The one thing I did like is that she does have the kind of European foreign power is trying to develop a drug to allow them. Yeah. So yeah. To allow their military to also be able to use Jade and I mean, it has bad side effects. It basically makes you addicted. It can completely overreact. So there, I like that. That was a really cool aspect. But looking at the history, basically all the history you have of Kay Khan and the Keck Annies and the Jade warriors is that they were kind of guerrilla fighters. There was a foreign country that was controlling them and they came down the Hills, they fought for freedom and a revolution, and they want it very, very recently, but it's just like Jesper (28m 39s): Taking over the Autumn (28m 40s): World. I know it gives, like you were saying, I mean, you have these guys train, they can deflect bullets. They have the power to do that. There's like six major powers and one of them is deflection. So yeah, you have some ninja like trained warriors. You could go assassinate just about anyone. Jesper (28m 58s): I have a super fast speed and they have super strong, you know, super strength as well. So I mean, there's almost nothing they can do. Autumn (29m 7s): No. And it's neat because she does have setups where it's like, it's really hard to do two of those at once. It's almost like you can only do one at a time unless you're really, really good. And you have to be well trained. I mean, there's a school you go through. I don't know how many years of schooling, just to be able to learn, to harness this energy. I loved all of that. But again, once you became a full blooded Jade warrior, a green bone here, pretty much it all, it's like, it all was just clan in fighting to control this tiny nation where it's like, they, their history, these people should have rulers. They should have been gone. Like there's mentions of being descended from gods, but it's not developed the point to explain that why they were so insignificant in their own culture prior to this period. Autumn (29m 55s): And I agree with Stephen wholeheartedly, it just felt like it was missing. And if this was a real, real, real fantasy culture, their history would have probably needed a lot more explanation of why they weren't ruling other countries and incredibly wealthy country and a huge superpower because they got skills. Jesper (30m 16s): Yeah. Yeah, indeed. And then that's the part where I don't quite understand why they're just sticking to the small little island here. I mean, why? I mean, okay, fair enough. I mean, gang fighting and stuff like, you know, it is basically the gangs fighting each other and so on, but, but come on. I mean, the government would have stepped in and say, say, Hey guys, you know, you're going to be filthy risk rich, all of you, if you worked for us and, and we go out and we conquer some nation, other nations, I mean, they would have done that. Autumn (30m 46s): I agree. And I Jesper (30m 49s): Could have just now. Yeah, I was just about to finish my, my thought because they, she could just have mentioned it as a short paragraph somewhere, just saying for whatever reason they didn't want to, or, or just give some sort of explanation to why, and then that, that would have been closed. Right. But because it's never mentioned, then it just makes me wonder. Okay. Autumn (31m 10s): Yeah. And I think, again, this is where she was relying way too heavily on the history of Japan because they did close their borders for two centuries, 200 years. They basically were not open up to the rest of the world until the U S came in with a steam ship and basically opened up a country to, from the Shogun era where they're using samurais to basically fast forward, within a matter of years to a full industrial nation. And if you know the history, you're kind of like, oh, she's just basically assuming this is what happened here. And just mentioning instead of the shoguns, as it's the warriors in the mountains and the revolutions and the gorillas and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Autumn (31m 50s): But that doesn't work that's, this is supposed to be a fan of it. Doesn't it's not explained with the magic system she has. And that's where, again, I have the problem that if you're going to develop this culture and this history, and it's a different world, don't just rely on what happened in this world, because it doesn't fit. It's going to leave you these disjointed things that I'm like, I don't understand why this would happen this way. Jesper (32m 14s): No, I agree. I, and one of the things we talk a lot about in our world building causes, basically making sure that you analyze what are the wider consequences of the magic system and of the things that you develop in your world, because it will have impact on other things in society on other nations may be in this case and so on. So it's not that you have to play that all out, meaning that just not like the needs to then conquer the world or stuff, but, but at least you need to think about what does it mean? And then if we, I don't want as an author to have the conquered the world, then at least I should have an explanation for why they didn't do so. Jesper (32m 54s): And, and in the same vein here, Steven also said, if Jade is such a powerful substance, has anyone tried to harness it as a power source, the lead through line in there somewhere about scientists studying Jay to find other users, but to no avail, because it only enhances people of bloodline. I would have been able to accept that, but then it would have brought me back to my initial question of why would those J powered S J powered supers have been content with just their tiny corner of the world? And then we're back where we started. Right? But again, I mean, this is again the wider, the wider consequences of having J powers. Jesper (33m 37s): And if you can really get that many powers out of a Jade stone, then I understand what Steven means in terms of, it's not only about military strength here, right? I mean, you, you probably would wonder as a government as well. I wonder if we can use this as a power source for other things, right. And again, like Steven also says, it's not that the fund, the leader needs to make that into something she could, like Steven says she could just have made a small paragraph some way explaining why they tried and they failed and decided not to go any further or whatever, and then fine. Right. But I'm, I'm really missing from a worldbuildling perspective. I think it is a really cool setting. Jesper (34m 17s): So don't get me wrong. I think it's, it's quite cool, but that what would have just made it even better would have been some, some consideration about this wider consequence of the Jade powers. And I really feel that it's completely missing. Autumn (34m 36s): I then I completely agree with you and Steven, that is just, there's something missing. I mean, there could have been any explanation why Jade warriors were limited, why they, they were sick. There was a disease, something just, I wanted some explanation of why they seem so minimal. They were just figure, you know, they had Klan leadership, but it was just this little island. Why not more, but I also want to get into the character is because I think Jesper (35m 4s): Just thinking about, Autumn (35m 7s): You know, we haven't talked in like two weeks and it's, we're still in the same Playboy that's, that's good. But that was, I think my other love and hate of the story were when it came down to the characters, they were well-developed. They were interesting. They had very strong personalities and there were two I wanted to really bow. Well, I guess there was three I wanted to bond with the one was the clan leader who was land. I really, he was my favorite up until okay, very big spoiler alert. He dies. And up until that point, I was really excited. Like he did not want to be the leader of a clan during a war. Autumn (35m 49s): And that's where this world was heading. There was going to be a clan war. And he was basically the only one trying to keep everything together. He didn't want, he wanted to be, he was an awesome, peaceful clan leader, but I'm like, I want to see how he changes, how he transforms and boom kills them off. So I was like, Ugh. And I also, there was Shay, which was his sister and I wanted to like her, she had gone out and explore the world and come back. And there was a few chapters in there where it was like, do I go back to my clan? Do I knock it back to me? And I got to the point, I'm like, just make a decision. I was getting a little sick of her indecision and I never bonded with her because she was just too wishy-washy. And the only other one I kind of liked was Emery Andin. Autumn (36m 31s): Who was the one who was the young Jade bone who had quite the backstory. His mother was like too sensitive, went bad. His father's European. Well, okay. Quote, unquote, European. We're just going to call him that. And he, so he's highly sensitive to Jade. He can do amazing things with it, but he was also too emotional there's times. I wish he was a girl, but then I would have been really annoyed. He was so emotional. At least as a guy, he was like, oh, okay. A really emotional guy. That's kind of different, but I didn't bond with him either. And at the end of the book, that is actually what kept me from buying book two is like, this is interesting. I have some questions about the world and the Jade and the magic, but I really don't really care. Autumn (37m 13s): They killed off land and I don't really care what happens to any of the characters enough to make me go buy book two right now, maybe if I have some spare time later and that's prized me, I was really all set to love this book, but I didn't find the character that really made me want to turn the next page. Jesper (37m 33s): No. And funny enough as usual, we agree here. I mean the only one that slightly had my interest until he was killed, but because it's like, I feel like from the very first page, the worldbuildling really comes into its own. Right, right. Immediately you're sucked into this pretty cool setting. And I was very hooked in it. The first couple of chapters, like this is really great pot. Then the character building and making me as a Rita care for those characters never really happened. It's also, I feel also it's a bit difficult to care for characters who are part of a crime syndicate and they just heard each other people and stuff like that. Jesper (38m 16s): And it's that alone that in his own, it's a bit difficult. It's like, it's like the, the short story we wrote as a prequel for our new series, basically the main coats are there is, is one of the villain in the, So that also they it's, it was a to make, make a character to read us would actually care about because he is actually not that good of a guy. And I feel like that that's the same problem here. Yeah. That it's just like, there is no real character development. I feel like there's real. No, no real care to ox. It's just like a straightforward standard gangster succession story. Jesper (38m 59s): Really? That's it? Autumn (39m 0s): Yeah. I think you really put your finger on it. What, there's no character arc. I was, I thought li like I said, the land had some potential and I was interested to see where he grew too. And he dies. And that was the only one who really, I saw a potential arc to even Emory. I thought at the end, he totally acts out at the perfectly perfect storm moment to not act out in a culture where you don't act out, insult his family, insult everyone, like a huge slap in the face to his family. And I was just like, I wanted some reservations. Like I understood as a writer, why you would do that because to me, you know, you're Writing Fantasy. Autumn (39m 42s): It's always like oceans are supercharged. Things happen, you know, big drama, but I just wanted some restraint from his character to show some sign of growth of thinking beyond his own needs. And yeah, he was being used. But again, in the family setting, it was kind of, he needed to have been used at that point. And it was also an opportunity for him to grow and he just didn't. And I didn't really, I just was so disappointed in him at the end of specifically where I'm like, okay, maybe there's potential. And I was like, I really don't care what happens to him after this. And like I said, I had that one thought I'm like, gosh, it would have been interesting if he had been a strong woman, because there's only a couple of strong women's because it's a very patriarchal, very patriarchal society, even though it's written by a woman. Autumn (40m 35s): And I thought, well, I, I didn't connect with anyone. And that's really a shame because it's a kind of, it's the story itself had so much potential. Jesper (40m 46s): Yeah. I mean, of course this is a Critical Reading episode, so we are being very critical. I mean, I would say it, isn't an entertaining read. It's a good book. So, so, so, so it's just us being very critical here because it's a Critical Reading episode, but so I'll continue in the second way and being a bit critical because what I also felt like I would really have liked some sort of surprised or, or twist about something, just something, but everything was so straightforward that I really felt like, not that I could predict everything that would happen as such, but I, and I don't know if Lee, maybe Lance Beth, you could say was a bit of a surprise. I was, I actually, I was not expecting him to die. Jesper (41m 29s): And so that was a bit of a surprise, but know, but I, I dunno, it just felt too straightforward if you know what I mean. Autumn (41m 37s): Yeah, no, I do. I see, I was kind of, I knew land was either going to die or he's going to have an awesome character arc. And I was so hungry for that character arc and it didn't happen. And I was a little surprised at how they used Emery to defeat the other clan or, well, it wasn't really a defeat defeat, but how they used him and his power, but it completely made sense. And if you were paying maybe attention to embryo a little bit more, you would have totally seen where that was coming from. So everything very much built off of everything you expected to in the story. And there was no huge surprise twist. There was no women coming in to save the day, which, you know, I always hope for, but it didn't happen. Autumn (42m 17s): I was true. Everything was just a little too stuck in its box and stayed there pretty tightly. And so there, I kind of agree. I, I wanted something a bit more exciting, something a bit more surprising and it never developed. I was actually really holding up when LAN the night he dies, he gets a letter from his ex-wife that he had let go. He was way too nice of a character in many ways for the world he was in. And I always wanted to know what was in that letter. It was like the hanging threat. I was expecting her to say, well, actually I left and I was pregnant with you. And I just he's, he's your son and or your daughter, which would have been really awesome. Autumn (42m 58s): And I it's time she come back and begin her training with you. I would've been heart-stopping Lee so excited, but they never actually mentioned the letter. He puts it in a drawer and no one finds it. I'm like, is this in book two? I don't. And again, that's, that's about the only curiosity I have is what was in this really thick letter edits. At least I'm curious about it, but you know, if there had been some tea, some tea, but it would have been better to end book one with someone having found it and opening it going, oh my gosh. Then I would have been booked to right there then. Autumn (43m 38s): Oh my gosh. Jesper (43m 40s): Oh, lots heat from Rita's if you did that. Oh my God. They said, Autumn (43m 44s): I know, but I would have bought it in this, in a heartbeat just to find out what was said. So I didn't have that draw. And again, I agree with you, this book it's worth reading. It's entertaining. It's beautiful. If you love kung-fu it is such a fun book to read. I think book two and three might be worth reading. I mean, the reviews are astounding. The book sales are astounding. It's probably worth reading. Yeah. But I wasn't drawn to it enough, but I think there is, there's something to learn there as a writer that there's something missing with a character or something. A lot of people, even Steven had mentioned, he didn't connect with the characters. Jesper (44m 25s): Yeah. Yeah. And of course a Windell, everybody could then say, yeah, that's nice. You guys are saying that, but this is, is this a top 100 fans as you broke it of all time. And so neighborly award nominee for best novel and so on. Yeah. And fair enough. Yes. But we can only speak of our own opinions here. And, and if I'm very honest about it, the only thing in my opinion, I can say, I don't understand why it is that highly praised. It's a good book. Yes. It's a good story. Yes, it is very, well-written great. Worldbuildling maybe with some, some missing pieces, like we talked about here, but I don't feel it's that good that it should be that highly pre I don't know. I mean, maybe I'm just, I'm just weird and I'm not like everybody else. Jesper (45m 9s): And fair enough if that's the case, but I dunno, I enjoyed it. Good read, good entertainment. But if I hadn't known that it was a award-winning novel like this, I would never have guessed it. Let me put it that way. Autumn (45m 23s): Agreed. I think I I've read some indie fiction that I think topped it, rivals it and tops it. So it's interesting that it got picked for us is such an award-winning and so touted. I think there's a lot of great books out there. It's no better than a lot of them. I mean, well, okay. It's better than some of the really rough ones, but it's on par. It's a good book. It's entertaining. There's other ones that are probably more exceptional. But other than that, again, it is my opinion. It was worth reading, but wow. I can only complain to complain to have the problems she has with how well it's doing good luck best for her. I'm so excited. Autumn (46m 4s): I wish every author who wrote that well or on par could do as well. Jesper (46m 10s): Yeah, for sure. For sure. I think one last thing I had on my list to mention here, because this is really something I've learned, not from this novel alone, but sort of from all these kinds of bestseller novels that we read over the, I mean, we read, we went one before as well for the, for this podcast. But outside of the podcast here, we, we have also had like what, four or five, something like that, very best-selling books that we've read over the last month, but just because we were trying to see what are the common denominators in these books and what I have learned, and this book is exactly the same. And I've been surprised about this because it's not, I guess my standard preference, but I just have to admit as well that after reading all of these massively successful bestsellers, what they all have in common is that they are fairly slow paced all of them, this one as well. Jesper (47m 8s): You know, it, it takes time before things get going. It's not that nothing is happening, but, but it's not a fast page. One way that you like flipping pages to see what happens next. It it's fairly slow paced. It takes a time with where you spent just spend time with the characters and all of these very, very successful novels. They all do this. So I know, I know some people sometimes say, will, it feels a bit boring because not enough is happening, but at the same time, I just have to, you know, concede and say, well, apparently that's what most people want. That's the only conclusion I can draw because I've seen it over and over and over again now. Autumn (47m 48s): Yeah, no, I agree with something and it's definitely not to my taste. Like I said, there was probably two or three chapters. I'm like, you could have cut one of these out. Oh my gosh. It's so slow in the beginning. Especially without the character development more. I think, I think that could have been stronger, but yeah, a lot of these incredibly best-selling books are slow paced and there seems to be a lot of time just spent dilly-dallying and learning parts of the world. And oh, remember when I read, there's a lot of cooking and food descriptions and I'm a foodie and I was getting a little tired of the cooking and the food description. That's a lot of cooking and food descriptions. Yeah. Jesper (48m 26s): No, I mean, don't get me wrong. The point, the point with slow paced is not to be boring. That's not what I'm saying. Right. I mean, if you just have chapters cooking and nothing is happening, that is boring. That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm more things are happening and things were also happening in JTD, but it just takes it time with it. It, nothing is rusted, you know? Yeah. It's just a slow paced. Autumn (48m 50s): Yeah. Slower than you might think. If you're writing slow and you think it's slow, you might be okay. Read a couple of these books and see how you, you measure up. Yeah. Jesper (49m 0s): Alright. Anything else on your list autumn? Or is that it? Autumn (49m 4s): That's it? I think we covered all my big topics. So I will just say it is a good book. It's worth reading. There's also a lot of great authors out there, so yeah. Go check out a book. All right. Jesper (49m 17s): That's good. So next Monday I have a great interview lined up for you and I hope very much. You're going to enjoy that one. So see you then, Narrator (49m 30s): If you like, what you just heard, there's a few things you can do to SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST. Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review. You can also join autumn and Jasper on patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy for as little as a dollar a month. You'll get awesome rewards and keep The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast, going, stay safe out there and see you next Monday.

The best way to learn the craft of writing is to study the best of the best! Join us for our first critical reading episode where we take a look at the Hugo Award winning novel the Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. We take a look at what this story does right... and what had us scratching our heads. Warning: there are spoilers if you haven't read the book! Do you agree on our assessment of the book's strength and weaknesses? Leave messages in the comments or join the discussion thread in the Am Writing Fantasy Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmWritingFantasy/! And don't forget to signup for the Fantasy Map Masterclass to be held October 28. Register at https://ultimatefantasywritersguide.com/fantasy-map-masterclass/. Tune in for new episodes EVERY single Monday. SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST! Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review.   Join us at www.patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy. For as little as a dollar a month, you'll get awesome rewards and keep the Am Writing Fantasy podcast going.  Read the full transcript below. (Please note that it's automatically generated and while the AI is super cool, it isn't perfect. There may be misspellings or incorrect words on occasion). Narrator (1s): You're listening to The Am writing Fantasy Podcast in today's publishing landscape, you can reach fans all over the world. Query letters are a thing of the past. You don't even need an literary agent. There is nothing standing in the way of making a living from writing. Join two best selling authors who have self published more than 20 books between them now on to the show with your hosts, Autumn Birt and Jesper Schmidt. Jesper (30s): Hello. I'm Jesper. Autumn (31s): And I'm Autumn Jesper (33s): This is episode 147 of the Am Writing Fantasy podcast. And we've finally arrived at our new initiative. So once a month, we are reading a high profile fantasy book, and then we record an podcast episode about it. So this is our Critical Reading of the Fifth Season by NK Jemisin. Yes, I am looking forward to getting into the nitty gritty because I admit some of the aspects of this one or what kind of gave me the idea for the Critical Reading group when we were first talking about it. I also don't know if our listeners will be surprised at our, I think we both have a very similar takeaway from this book, but the Le there's some aspects of this one that are like, oh, that is so different. Jesper (1m 22s): It's amazing. I see why I want to Hugo for this is such a cool book and there's other aspects that well we'll get there all the way. Yes. You're already teasing it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we got make people want to listen to like the heart of this line, which they should be excited. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's going to be an interesting conversation. And of course the, the idea is also here to see if we can try to draw out some things to learn in terms of either D these are good ideas or this kind of stuff you should probably avoid, you know, that kind of thing is what we're trying to draw out of the Critical Reading. Jesper (2m 3s): Exactly. And we'll, we'll get to it, but it's all matter of opinion, obviously. So yes, you can disagree with us. That's okay. It's just our opinions, but yeah, we'll, we'll get to, it sounds good. Well, if we're going to get to it, how are things going for you over in Denmark? Yeah. Well, I don't think I have wage that much to share this week. I'm just attempting to finish up the first draft of book two in our new series. So a couple of chapters to go and maybe I will be done by Friday. I hope don't tell me that. That that's my, well, you should be happy about that or very happy, but I was hoping to finish the edits on book one, which always seemed to be getting pushed back ever so slightly. Jesper (2m 50s): I'm so close. Maybe, maybe the end of next week, but you're going to beat me on the book too. I will catch up eventually. Autumn (3m 1s): Yeah. Yeah. So I, I don't think I have that much other to share this week. It's just been, you know, what do you call it? Like a head in the sand? No, not head in the sand. That's not good, but in the trailer, how do you say Jesper (3m 15s): Clouds? How did the clouds? Autumn (3m 19s): That was not what I was looking for, but nevertheless, I know, I know you were at some FANTASY con or something or Jesper (3m 25s): Yes, I went to a Vermont fantasy and sci-fi con up in Burlington and that was a lot of fun. I was there, there, it was definitely, I think, more, more than 50% Saifai but at the same time, it was so much fun. You would have, I thought of you several times because they had a R2D2 that was like truly moving. You could have mistaken it for the from the movies and the guy who could control it was so good. Like he didn't have to look down at the remote and the remote was so small. You didn't even really notice who was responsible. And this little thing would come up to your booth would be talking to you. And you're like, this is awesome. Jesper (4m 7s): And there was like Ghostbusters, there was a gorgeous Ghostbusters car and some plasma things. But one of the coolest things is definitely the star wars. And there was a lead the 501st Legion for the stormtroopers. So representatives there. And so there's these guys walking around and for full storm trooper armor. And the coolest thing is that they had to go upstairs to the conference room and I happened to be up there and I look out and I see one in the hallway and I'm pointing out to my husband. He ran out there and got a picture just as the elevator doors were closing. It looks so star wars. I'm like, that is the best picture ever. Jesper (4m 47s): So that one framed, it's just always, we're going to take a picture of a storm trooper. It should be in an elevator. It's just so cool. Autumn (4m 57s): I've always loved those uniforms. To be honest, I think I always also in the movies, you know, when it seems like they just look so cool. And, and sometimes I feel like it's a shame that they had just like Canon father in the movies, just don't troopers because they look so cool. Jesper (5m 11s): They look so cool. It's a very cool armor. And I was actually, I mean, I've been part of the SCA, the society for creative anachronism. I used to do that back in my twenties. And so I really enjoy that, but I didn't know there was a 501st Legion of storm troopers. I'm like, dude, you can go and dress up and be a storm trooper. That is cool. Autumn (5m 38s): Yeah. Well, I would rather be the Sith Lord, to be honest, Jesper (5m 42s): Probably I would want to go in as a Jedi master, but I do come from a FANTASY background. I think any Fantasy author should automatically get to be a Jedi or Sith master just it's in our resume. Autumn (5m 56s): See you, you pick the good guys and I automatically pick the bad guys. I don't know what the tails, Jesper (6m 3s): Well, we have to bounce each other's out. It's the force there's balance. Autumn (6m 8s): Oh, okay. Okay. Fair enough. Narrator (6m 12s): A week on the internet with The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast. Autumn (6m 18s): One last reminder here on the 28th of October, we are having our very first ever virtual Masterclass. Jesper (6m 28s): I can't wait. It's a Maps. I love fantasy maps. Autumn (6m 33s): Fantasy Maps. Yes. And if you can't make it in person, there will be a recording made available for you as well. So I don't know, I'm looking so much forward to just geeking out for an hour about fantasy maps. This is going to be so awesome. Jesper (6m 48s): It'll be almost better to on, so yeah, it'll be fantastic. Autumn (6m 54s): Yeah. We'll have a lot of fun and I will share some thoughts on map-making that you might not have considered before. So whether you want to learn something or if you just want to, well, kick out with us, we hope that you will join the Masterclass. It is a very inexpensive and it is conducted online. So you don't need to leave your house or anything like that to attend. Jesper (7m 18s): And the fact it's actually a really good deal. It's not only is it expensive, but it's a two for one, you get a second invitation to a second Masterclass as you have to be scheduled. So it's a two for one deal. It's a really good deal. Yeah. Autumn (7m 34s): Yeah. So there's a link in the show notes and you can find the registration page from there and yeah, we really hope to see you otherwise it'll just be you and me Autumm and I think talking, we can talk to ourselves about map-making, but it might be slightly boring. Jesper (7m 52s): Never boring. Autumn (7m 54s): That's true. That's true. Narrator (7m 59s): And onto today's topic. Autumn (8m 3s): Okay. So while we're doing, while we're doing Critical Reading here today, we, I think we better start out by saying that the purpose here is to learn from the books that we read, not to bast them or claim that anything is wrong with these books. Well, with this book in this case, and we should also say that the fifth season is a very popular book. It was awarded by the Hugo award for best novel in 2016. And this means that there's a lot of people loving this novel. So everything we say is personal opinions, and we fully understand that some people will disagree with that. Autumn (8m 42s): And that's okay. Jesper (8m 44s): Yes, exactly. And actually, I didn't realize this, but it's also has won the Sputnik award. It was nominated for Nebula award and it's a world FANTASY award best novel. This, this is a highly acclaimed story. So I think it'll be really interesting to look at it, but it's definitely that's. We want to learn why this is so popular and it's okay to, you know, find things that you don't like about it, but that's why it's a learning experience to find maybe the core features that you love and then, you know, learn from those and maybe learn what you want to stay away from. If you, especially, if people are leaving reviews or comments that you agree with and you can say, well, then I, there are readers who don't want that as well. Jesper (9m 29s): That's great. Autumn (9m 30s): And we gave plenty of warning as well, leading up to this episode that we were going to do this Critical Reading. So we are not going to be careful about spoiling anything here. So if you haven't read the book and you want to, I suggested you turn off the podcast now and then come back to listen to the rest. Once you have done the reading part. So yeah, I might say, oh, I think I will definitely say some sports. Jesper (9m 57s): Yes, I will. Definitely too. And I had written down the exact same thing on my notes for today that spoilers will fall low this. So if you are still reading and haven't finished or plan on reading it, we're going to ruin the book for you. So stop now and go read the, finish the book and then come back and listen and see if you agree. Autumn (10m 17s): Yeah, I think that's a good idea. So I try to divide sort of my notes into some headlines. So I have a headline called plodding, one called magic and one cold world-building and then I have a bunch of stuff underneath each headed air. So I don't know if we just want to start out with a plotting on and then go from there or do you have a different preferences? Jesper (10m 41s): That sounds fine though. I wanted to start with maybe a quick explanation of what the fifth season is. I don't want to do a whole blurb and Sabine Opsis, you know, we're hoping you read the book, so, you know, what's about, but just to set the stage, the fifth season is, you know, we have our summer spring, winter fall. Well, the fifth season kind of lends its name to a world ending event, like a cataclysm, a major earthquake, something that is going to destroy civilization. So it doesn't come every year, but when it comes, it's known as the fifth season. So it's actually a very ominous title once you realize that Autumn (11m 15s): It is definitely so, yes. Okay. So we'll assume people have read it or otherwise go and check the book description on Amazon and UK. You can see what it's about. So should I just get started on the plotting stuff and then we can see where it takes us. Jesper (11m 35s): Maybe we should start almost with the way we would write books and we should start with the world building. Autumn (11m 41s): Okay, fair enough. We can do that. Okay. So I can start out with my first point here. It's, it's a bit of a long one, but let me try to get through it. So first of all, this is from a wealth building perspective. It's incredibly complex with all, like, there was all this seismic activity that is impacting on society and we have slaves, we have outcasts. And to some extent, this book is also about people dealing with being controlled and abused and having a total totalitarian regime. Autumn (12m 21s): And while I, well, I do enjoy the exploration of these sort of horrible things that people are willing to do to each other, as soon as they don't see the other person as a human being anymore, but I'm still wanting it to be more personal. You know, I have to sort of mention, I don't know if it's directly world-building building, but it's in here in my notes. But in this context, I have to mention that the second person present tense that the NKG Emerson uses it's, it's probably the reason why the book won the Hugo war, to be honest, because it's different and it is very well done. Autumn (13m 4s): I mean, don't get me wrong. She pulled it off very, very skillfully. However, none of that changes how it really puts me off. I just cannot get into the story and the characters. I don't know how you feel about that. Autumn. Jesper (13m 20s): I agree. I had a very hard time relating to the characters, especially the main character, which we can get to later. But again, we're not giving anything away, but I wasn't sure if we were not supposed to realize that the older woman, the middle age, you know, the, the motherish woman and the child were the same person. But I mean, as soon as we switched between the two, I knew instantly that the little girl was the same as the older woman who had just lost her son who was the same as the mother. I don't know if it's because we write in a fantasy and it's like, well, duh, or, you know, the idea of the goddess, who's the, the may, the mother of the crone. I mean, it's, it was just so obvious. Jesper (14m 1s): And so I knew the whole time that this is going to be the same person and I still never related to her. But to go on your comment of the second person, I agree. That's what makes this story literary Fantasy is that it switches between a third poison person, point of view, to a second person present tense. And it's amazing that it's done. And it, I didn't notice it as fast as some people who have left comments on what they thought of the story as they read along for today's podcast. So I, it literally, I think I was about a quarter of the way through the book. And I was like, oh, this is a total, this isn't, this is using you. And this is using present tense. Jesper (14m 41s): And this is not what was in this previous chapter. But I will say as a literary story, I think it was done very purposefully because the chapters where the second person is used are the ones where the character has just lost her son. And she goes into shock and doesn't recover for days. And she doesn't really recover for the entire course of the novel because that point of view is always in second person. She is disassociated from herself and her emotions and it works so well. The use of you makes it feel like you're separate from this character, especially compared to the chapters where it's third person. Jesper (15m 25s): And so I think in that way, it works great, but I never bonded with her because this is the adult version. This is the present version of who she is. And all the other ones are memories, which their past tense makes sense, brilliant Writing, but for character, you know, wanting to hear more about this character, I told you I can share it later, but I have a quote who basically her, I grabbed the review and her title to the review are my feelings for this book are complicated leading towards negative. And I'm like, oh, that's I could have written this one. And she too mentions that she couldn't bond with the main character. Autumn (16m 8s): No. And I agree with what you said, because I, I also think that the chose to point of view on purpose to exactly do what you sat there like to, to give you the sense that the character is this issue, this issue associated, I can't even say that now on to tie it, but, but that's definitely the purpose of it. And it works for sure, but at the same time, you know, if you're looking at it from a emotion, emotion perspective, like you want to get in the body of the character, you want to see and feel with them as they go through the story and getting Merced inside the setting and in their lives and all that good stuff. Autumn (16m 49s): Like that's what I enjoy when reading to just disappear into this sort of fantasy world and go with the characters. And that's what you get with the deep point of view. We talked about that in a previous episode as well, but that is what kept, keeps me fully engaged. And it just doesn't happen here because as a reader, I'm also distanced from it because of the second person. And I feel like that's a real shame. And I think Stephen from patron, he also said something that I really felt like was true because he said like, quote, the point of views were a stumbling block for me at first. Autumn (17m 30s): But I read on thanks to you guys with a critical eye so that I could see what made this book tick. And then it hit me the pros, the writing style. It was so lyrical and almost poetic in places. And I think that that hits it home for me because I fully agree. That's also how I see it. It is not, it is more lyrical and poetic than it is storytelling in many places. And for those who love that, then that's great. But I, I, I just can't get into the character and the story you, I just feel almost like I don't care. Yeah. Jesper (18m 6s): And that it is a shame. It is a shame for a book that is, I think, has such potential because the world is really interesting and it sort of relates to what you just said about the lyrical writing. To me, the, I saw it more like poetry, but minimalize, the world is a very harsh world. The book has some really harsh themes things that I don't usually like to think about when I'm reading Fantasy, it's, it's dark, dark Fantasy to me. And the magic is also hard. It's hard. It is basically earth magic. And so you have this hard world it's described very harshly. The language to me is very bare at times, fractured very punctuated. Jesper (18m 49s): It reminds me very much of geology and earth and different types of rock and layers. So it's like this whole thing is designed to be this hard surface as Rocky surface that can, at times it pokes you in it's painful. And that is just as a writer, as someone studying Writing, I'm like, oh my gosh, I want to read this in, you know, a college class. And I would have to break it down and discuss it. But as a reader, I'm like, I didn't bond. I didn't feel it. I didn't buy book two because I didn't have that, you know, warm gooeyness of, oh my God, I love this book. It was more like, I can appreciate this on a literary sense in a scene. Jesper (19m 30s): And I see, well, it was done kudos to you and yeah, good. Don't need to write like that. Thanks. Autumn (19m 39s): No, I agree. And I think I read somewhere that NKG, Amazon didn't intend for the setting to represent our world. And it's like future destruction. I could be wrong about that, but I think I read that somewhere, but one of the characters do call it earth. So there is that, but I sort of quite like the reflections on real life here, you know, whatever, whether the author intended it to be so not, I don't know, but, but I think it is pretty cool to think about, you know, from a climate perspective in a real world and so on. And yeah, I mean, it, it gives sort of the real world angle on thing. Autumn (20m 20s): And I guess that's the kind of thing that also gets awards, right? Because there's more to it than just a story. Jesper (20m 26s): Yes. Especially the end. You know, the last thing that alabaster the one character mentioned is have you ever heard of a moon and this planet that they're on, it's a supercontinent now. So it's like Pangea, but it's called the stillness. And so it's this fast continent and it doesn't have a moon. And suddenly, you know, the last phrase like mentions a moon. So is this future earth that has been torn apart with earthquakes and all this fracturing going on. It's very interesting. And I, over on world building too, I do the previous cultures that are there. They call them the dead sieves. So you see all these ruins of previous cultures and some of them sounded so technologically advanced and there's parts of the book where there's a lot of description and then there's like a dead sieve in the distance. Jesper (21m 15s): And I'm like, I want to know more about the ruined cities. I would have been like hard hat on. I am going to go check it out, but they're basically the culture is, oh, we don't go there. They failed. Screw them. Like, no, I love history. I want to know why they failed. Can't you learn from previous lessons and become something better and not just wipe the canvas clean and start over and fail again. So there was that element too, where maybe it is describing our current world where we're not learning from past mistakes and past things and we're repeating ourselves and this just kind of does it with civilizations. Autumn (21m 53s): Yeah. That makes sense. To me, at least, I don't know if that is the intention, but, but it, it makes sense that it's a commentary on the real world. I feel like, but I don't know. It asks a bit more depth to it, which I actually quite like. Jesper (22m 10s): Yes. And I was definitely teased by the floating obelisks pyramids. I forget how they're described. They have a couple of different ones, but these floating blocks of stone. And I couldn't believe that the, again, that there was very little curiosity about what they were, except for alabaster, trying to figure it out. And a young girl on the cell, in the girls viewpoint. And I get days, I can't remember her name, but her, when she's a child and she's at fulcrum learning to become, I can't even pronounce it. Origin, NIST origin is what they call their magic system. Autumn (22m 50s): I shouldn't going to Jesper (22m 50s): Try. And I had to look up how to say it because it is a world real world. And so I looked up and so there's this girl, and she's curious, but it's like two people in the entire book are curious about these giant floating things in the sky that are made out of stone. And again, I find it, I find the lack of curiosity, which is something that is true for the whole book and especially the main character. She's never curious. And that's sort of against who I am as a person. I thrive off of going to know what things, you know, why things are this way. And so I really think that did not help me relate to the book because there's not a single character who was like, well, why does this happen? Jesper (23m 33s): What happened here? They don't care. Autumn (23m 38s): Yeah. And, and the other aspect of what you're saying, I feel like is, is I don't feel like there's enough at stake for the protagonist. I mean, yes, she is searching for her daughter, but the rest of what happens, like you're talking about the obelisk and all this kind of thing, all of that is sort of dealt with because, well, it's my job. So I'm dealing with it, but it's not, I mean, I just can't help by questioning here. If we, if we're trying to learn from it, what would have happened if the author had found a way to link all of this stuff around the obelisk and all that other stuff closer to the life of the character so that it make a personal difference for the character, whether she dealt with it or not, instead of just I'm taking care of my job, I just feel like that would be a lot more interesting. Autumn (24m 26s): Yeah. Jesper (24m 26s): Yes. I feel like the entire plot, what you have, you said you have a whole section on the plot. I feel like the whole plot revolved around the search, the present search for her daughter, and then the, how she got to where she is now, which is the two past point of views where there was some really cool stuff. Like, you know, the one time, the first time she bonds with an obelisk and a volcano erupts. And I'm still not sure if that was her, the obelisk or alabaster somehow making this volcano up here. And I thought, oh, this is going to start connecting with her. And immediately the next part, she doesn't even really ever think about them again. Jesper (25m 7s): And then when she moves on with the present tense where she has been a wife and a mother in this new new town, and it begins with her losing her son, she's never even wondered about, again, anything that obelisk the things that I thought like, oh, you've connected with an obelisk and it's an alien intelligence and it was talking to you. Okay. Not mentioned for the next 50 chapters. I was like, oh, I want to know more about that. Autumn (25m 34s): Yeah. Yeah. I, I do have some issues then. And I thought as well, if I just say infidel student, know what I'm thinking about, autumn, Jesper (25m 46s): I think they hit you worse, especially cause you're listening. And I think maybe I just kind of skimmed them and didn't realize it was skimming them. But you said that there were more and I realized, Autumn (25m 59s): Well, at least it feels like that to me. I mean maybe, maybe it's just me, but I was listening to the audio book version Al and I, and can I just say, if you haven't, you know, listeners, if you want to check this book out, then Narrator for the audio book is freaking amazing. She does such a good job at narrating this book. So that's definitely worth it. I can highly recommend the, that this narrator she's so good at it, but, but that's, I digress what I want men was just that I noticed in several places, how well, maybe you don't notice it so much when reading and I'm speculating here, but, but because of the very lyrical language, she's so good at writing that maybe you don't really notice that much, but there are quite a lot of info dumps in my view where you just get like a whole section about something that happened like in the older days or blah, blah, blah, something it's like. Autumn (26m 57s): Hmm. Yeah. Okay. But, but if, if it was, if I read it in a book and maybe if, if it was maybe well less written, I could put it like that, then I would just feel like, well, put all of this conversation between characters or something so that I can, I get the, as part of the action of what's happening or characters talking about it and shared that way, because it feels like sometimes there's just a whole sections about old history stuff. And it's like, okay, I guess I don't, I don't know. Yeah. Jesper (27m 32s): One of the reviews mentioned that if they had to read another description of meeting someone on the road and what they were wearing and what their hair color was that she would go and how you knew which part of the continent they were from based on these things, that it just seemed too repetitive. And you know, I, again, I didn't really quite notice that, except I know sometimes I, I would, again, probably just skim ahead a little bit, be like, okay, that's nice. You know, I, I don't need to know all the details. So again, I don't mean to be pointing out the flaws, but I think we're just, we're pointing out the difference between what's literary Fantasy and what is normal, like dark fantasy, what we expect in the two genres. And this is literally sold as literary slash epic slash science fiction. Jesper (28m 15s): So it's, it's a weird mishmash where I think it fits better actually with literary Fantasy than it does with dark fantasy. Autumn (28m 26s): Yeah, I do too, because I mean, as I hinted at just a moment, a Gomez, the writing is exceptionally well done. I mean, she writes really, really beautiful. I have nothing to say against that. It's it's amazing. Jesper (28m 39s): And the world is like you said, it's, Autumn (28m 44s): But yeah, that's what I mean, if that's what you're there for, then it's great. Right. But if you're there for more, like what I guess I could call commercial fiction, you meaning you're there to enjoy a story and so on, then this is not it. Jesper (29m 0s): And I think part of that part is also the not bonding and the plot feeling sort of flat that, you know, all these potential side plot plots could have happened, but they don't because one, the reader, the character is not curious, but it's also the character. What kind of character arc would you call this? I'm thinking it's either a fail or a flat arc. And because she never learned, she never grows. She's not curious at all. She doesn't change. Plot is kind of static. Autumn (29m 34s): Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to come back to that a bit when I talk about the ending, but I'll save that for a moment, but I did have another comment from, from Steven on Patrion as a last comment, I have at least on my list when it comes to world building, because I think he might have a good point here, but I'm curious what you think Autumm. So he's asked quote, the one aspect of the world building that I didn't care for is that she made up many curse words like rust and rusting. And yet she still used several modern curse words. This is probably nitty nit-picky, but if you make up your own own course words, that fit the culture of your story. Autumn (30m 16s): Why use modern carbon curse words too? So I think he has a point. Does New York, Adam, Jesper (30m 22s): I think he does. I don't know if I would have no, I don't. Can't say I super noticed it. I, I noticed like when she was using rusting and stuff. Yeah. I really, I just, I liked the ones that she made up. Cause again, it fits the world. It fits the culture of, you know, very like metal is not considered safe because it, rusts rust is a bad thing. It's leads to dead sieves, but I don't think I noticed too many modern words and what they were. And so, yeah, I think as a, you know, I would think I would appreciate them more if she, if she had stuck left them in the world that she was, especially if this was not supposed to be a future earth where people are still saying F this. Jesper (31m 4s): So Autumn (31m 6s): Yeah, I get the point that Steven is making to be honest, but at the same time, I must admit sometimes you can just put in the effort. I mean, I know there is a lot of debates. I've seen it in many times being debated whether or not there should be an F-word in a fantasy novel personally, I don't have any problem with it, but yeah, I don't know. I still get the argument. Jesper (31m 30s): I I've used it because it fit, it was actually set in modern day earth. But yeah, I've been, as long as it's not aimed targeted at kids, I don't have a problem with using some of our language because you they're already speaking English. So why wouldn't they have some of the same swear words? I mean, at that point, why are you not making up all the names? Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you making a Calvary word? Just let's keep it simple. Autumn (31m 58s): Yeah, yeah, indeed. Yeah. So that was sort of my notes on the world building parts. And if I just go into, let's say, well, we talked about a lot of the plotting stuff already, but what I did want to mention as well, something very positive because I really like how we are following three women. It's the same person, of course, but essentially there's three women here in different ages, but I really liked that because I just don't think that there is enough fiction out there with female protagonists, to be honest. Autumn (32m 40s): And I really liked that. Yes, Jesper (32m 42s): I actually, it would be, it was funny being female. I didn't even think about it, but you're right. It was nice to have that and have that point of view. And also she was a very capable and determined woman. In many ways she could take care of business. She knew what she was doing. She had when she was younger, she was pushed around a little bit. But she overcame that, I guess, about the only growing she does do. Autumn (33m 6s): Yeah, I agree. The thing is though, as you said before, it's just too easy to guess that it's the same person. I, I also guessed it almost immediately. So, but, but at least, I mean, if we disregard the fact that maybe some people didn't get it, I don't know. But if we disregard that for a second, the fact that there is a plot twist or surprise in the story, which if you didn't guess it is, it is a surprise at the end. I think that is a very good idea to take away from that as a learning experience, you know, to try to have something that will surprise and excited readers once they get to that final pots of destroying, they're like, whoa, you know, that kind of thing is great. Autumn (33m 50s): Yes. Jesper (33m 51s): Agreed. I mean, I will be, I would be surprised if people didn't, I guess I, it's hard to know how you're reading it. If you truly, she does make the settings, she doesn't tie them together at all, really until that kind of twist at the end where you realize it's all the same character, but she also didn't really go out of her way to make it seem too different. Like why they might, you know, hints that it was the same time. So I think it was a pretty easy guessed that they're the same ones. So it wasn't a huge twist, but it could have been, it is always good to have a twist like that. Autumn (34m 25s): But honestly, I think if you did not have the second person, if all of them have been third person limited, I don't think I would have guessed it. Oh, it's because the second person stands out so much that I knew that it has to be linked to the other people in there. And maybe it's something to do with we're different on different in different times or something. I don't know. It was just so different that I knew that it had to link together somehow. And then I could just add the two and two together and then I guessed it right away almost right. But if you had three third person limited point of view, then I might not have guessed it to be honest. Jesper (35m 8s): That's interesting. I still, I think I, cause I had noticed a second person at least consciously at that point. I just, again, I think it's kind of Celtic kind of the made mother and crone, as soon as it switched to a little girl, I'm like, oh, this is her as a child. I just, because she was mad, you know, she had the same power. It just seemed right to me. There was enough of the character in there as a, even a little girl that I'm like, yeah, this is the same one. So, but I think everyone would pick it up in their own path. But because the book like you were saying is it makes you think you start trying to think and solve it pretty quickly. Autumn (35m 44s): I have to ask, how could you not notice? I mean, did the second person is like, it jumps right at you. I mean, it's like, oh, what is going on here? I mean, instantly, I mean, how can you not notice that? Jesper (35m 56s): I don't know. I don't, I was reading it at night and if I was just tired or it was a very good. And like I said, I first noticed that the magic being an earth magic, which I had to laugh because of how many times you've picked on me for my debut novels, elemental magic. I'm like, here's a Hugo award winner. It's only earth element of so, but the harshness of the word and the language and just how everything just felt like geology. And I am a huge geology. Gleek I mean, if you like earth and granted and schist and you know, these big geological terms, oh my gosh, read this book and geek out and no one will know you're totally geeking out over just the geology. Jesper (36m 39s): So I think I was so caught up going, oh, this is so cool. Her language is harsh. The world is harsh. I love how it all ties together. I can't imagine the number of revisions to make it sound this way. And everything ties together that I just never even noticed that it was second person. Autumn (36m 57s): Jesus Christ. You must have been tired. It's like, as soon as I got to, to that in the audio book, it was like, I had to pause it, like what, what is going on here? It was just so incredibly different than weird all of a sudden. And I, and that, that, and that from that point on, I just couldn't get into it. So it did. But I agree with, with regards to the magic system, just to match it, I, I, I would hate to do all that research. She must have been, she must have done in order to pull this off and all this seismic stuff and figuring out how it all moves and all my God. So it must have been a lot of research behind that magic system, but it is very well done and I have to applaud her for it. Jesper (37m 43s): Absolutely. Unless she happened to be, or have the family of geologists. And so she was kind of eking out on it as well. So I could see that, but yeah, you would definitely have to have an interest in deep earth sciences to come up with this magic system and make it, so she talks about flop fault lines and you know, some things can only happen here and only happened there. And probably you're not into geology and not into really cool magic. There's probably going to be times you're like, oh my gosh, please stop describing rocks to me. But I loved it. Autumn (38m 18s): No, I, I too. I did too. I think it, because also I feel like it's a different magic system to what I, at least maybe there's already some magic system based on seismic activity and so on, but I I've just not seen it before. Maybe it exists, but I'm not aware, but at least it was a different enough that I thought it was, it was very cool. Jesper (38m 38s): Yeah, definitely very cool. And I would say, cause I do want to point out and it's, I think one of the things that though where I fell out of the book and what lost me is that is with the main character, the present tense, the second person a son is I think what lost me is again, her arc her arc. I assume it's a flat arc to slightly fail, but she never learns from her mistakes, which again, that would be a grow arc. But I just, there was one point what should have been the climax where I'm sure you remember it, she's on the pirate ship. Do you know, she's had this safe Haven, she's in a really good place, but she's bored. Jesper (39m 22s): And so she goes on a pirate ship and she is literally the one she uses her magic and pokes the spear up to the boat. And she realizes when she does it, that I shouldn't have made it visible because now they know there's this robe earth magic orogeny. And so we're going to basically have to kill everyone. She's the one who realizes it. And literally the next chapter, she goes and stops an entire volcano. No, one's going to notice a volcano suddenly just going away. I wanted to bang my head. And then she goes to alabaster the, probably the most intelligent character in the whole book. The one who's really a forward-thinking he's curious. Jesper (40m 2s): And he, she tells him, you know, he knows that she did this and he gets mildly like upset when she says, oh, I saw somewhere on the shore. And he's like, oh, we should, you know, we'll have to be careful. She quelled an entire volcano. He should have been jumping up and shaking her saying, you just gave away where we are. That was 20 miles from here. And so this leads to the death of her first son. The book starts with the death of her second son. I'm like that. That is when I think I decided I wasn't reading book two was when I read through that climax and I'm like, this is supposed to be the clincher for the book. And I don't care. I'm mad at the character. Autumn (40m 46s): Yeah. I cannot disagree with that. I have some points about that ending as well, but I just want to finish off one thing that Stephen said about the magic as well. First. So Stephen from patron said, quote, the magic system was very unique. Erogeny definitely adheres to Sanderson's loss of magic, where in origin he has limits orogeny has a cost. And the reader is given a clear understanding of how Erogeny is in this world so that he or she has a willing suspension of disbelief. In other words, it's believable, magic fits well into the story and it isn't used always to solve the problem or conflict in the story. Autumn (41m 32s): In fact, for all intents and magic is both the problem and the solution in the fifth season. I think that's sums it up very nicely. Jesper (41m 41s): I think that does as well. And even to add to that, that the magic system has the, the 10 rings the tiers. So you even have, you know, what level people are at and what they can kind of do at those levels. It's well done. I liked that. Yeah. You started off as a novice and what you have to do to advanced and how your, your attachment to the magic grows. Autumn (42m 4s): Yeah. Okay. So let me get to the ending here. You touched upon some of it already. So I want to say a few other things in, in addition to what you already mentioned, because I feel like the ending just leaves way too many things completely open-ended, you know, I don't necessarily have anything against cliffhangers. I know a lot of people do, but it doesn't bother me personally that much, but please, you know, when you write a story, at least give the reader a certain degree of closure, you know, just something to at least give a sense of what is going on here. Autumn (42m 46s): If you can take the stone eaters as an example, you know, by the end of this book, I have no idea what the Stoney ETA's want or how it all sort of links together. I have no idea. We also don't know what happened to Eastern's husband and child. I understand that this is the first book in the series, but it just left me slightly frustrated. And if I'm honest, like, you know, very honest, I have to say that I, I did not read like this book at all. Jesper (43m 23s): I agree with the ending, especially it felt, it felt more like the first third of a novel than the first book in a series. It didn't have that book ending. And I thought it was, we never, in the entire story, we hear that the son has a daughter. I don't even, I'm sure we hear her name, but we never see her now even in a memory. And so it's hard to feel that mother's like she gets distracted. She goes up all over the map. You're reading about two other points of view of her that I never felt a huge bond. She's kind of just like the walking dead and, and just, this is her mission. It's her last living child. Jesper (44m 3s): She will find her daughter, but there's no bubbling passion with that at all. And so I just kinda thought it was really weird that we had this huge pivotal character. That is the reason the woman is, you know, walking forever and what happens to her. And we don't ever see her even in a memory. And that's just seems very strange to me. Autumn (44m 29s): Yeah. So maybe it would be fair to say that on the plus side you have amazing world-building lyrical writing and you also have well sort of commentary maybe, or at least there is even if it wasn't intended by the author herself, but there is something you could use as least as commentary to our real world and the, you know, real situation with climate changes and so on. So, so that's sort of on the plus side and I guess those things and well, not on the plus side, but the second per the use of second person in order to emphasize how the couch of fields dos are sort of the things I, I think is what gives you the awards because it is different and it is commentary on more than just being a story. Autumn (45m 27s): And so that's why you is, she has one do your watch. I feel like, yes, but on the negative side to me, you have a very, the plotting doesn't, it doesn't add up, you know, it doesn't connect. Well, there was several times, like you've mentioned things that happen where it's like, it doesn't really like make logical sense. Why the character doesn't question this or look into this. Or there are several places like that. I'm also very much missing the personal stakes that we talked about as well. And if you're reading it for a good immersive fantasy story, then yeah, that's goes on the minus side as well, because it does just does not succeed on this at all. Autumn (46m 12s): Yes, Jesper (46m 12s): I agree is the, the tropes, the things that we would expect from commercial fiction or that make it immersive and maybe build up the passions just aren't there, but for the literary aspects for how well it is put together and how well it all fits together in a literary sense, the writing the magic, the world-building, the use of second person versus third person it's amazingly well put together and it deserves the award. But if you're working on it from more of a commercial and epic or dark fantasy, it is just not as adhesive. It doesn't have what people are looking for, which is often characters. And your just characters are what make you turn the page. Jesper (46m 55s): And that wasn't what drove this story. And so I think that's a really important takeaway is it's the character. I won't even say it's a building, but I did read some of the reviewers said that the characteristics were just shallow. They didn't have that depth. It always stayed kind of on the surface. And the few times you thought you saw more, sometimes it just the contradicted each other. It wasn't very solid. Yeah, Autumn (47m 19s): Yeah, yeah, no, I, I can agree with those reviewers because that's exactly the, that's exactly the point here. Right? I think everything here depends on how look at it, right? Because I, as a reader, what I appreciate when reading is the good story, the good characters, that's the sort of stuff that I enjoy. But of course, I also have to respect that many other people, they enjoy the other aspects that I had on the plus side just a second ago, Ryan, I'm not going to mention them once again here, but, but those things that I mentioned before on the plus side, some other people, they love that stuff. Autumn (47m 57s): So yeah, I think a lot of it, well, it is like that for any book ever written. Some people love it. Some people hate it. That's the way it is, but I can only speak for myself. And I just, this is not the type of book I enjoy reading at all. And I will definitely, it's a bit of a shame because honestly, when, once I started reading it, I had, because of all the awards, I actually had quite high expectations that this was going to be awesome. And then I felt pretty disappointed to be honest. Jesper (48m 28s): Yeah. And I would also say that I was surprised that this one did not come with any trigger warnings in the blurb, maybe because it's an award winner. But I mean, I have, my books are so much more mild, but I mean, this is literally sexual molestation, Istation, exploitation, the death of children. There are some really horrible dark themes in this one that I was shocked as true. And there was no trigger warning. And I was like, wow, I am shocked. I have a slightly rough sex scene. And I had someone, a reader put a trigger warning on my book and I was like, don't touch this one. This one's going to really hurt. Autumn (49m 7s): Right. Yeah. Okay. We'll I have some final remarks, but I don't do what do we have more now on your note list? Autumn? Jesper (49m 16s): I think that covers pretty much everything. I think I said there was, if you go into there, there's a review by NBS Lee. It comes up as the, the highest ranked critical review. Cause 295 people have found it helpful. And I think it sums up really well. The, the aspects that are so interesting about this book, I mean, she gave it a, she or he gave it a two out of five stars. Just, it's such an interesting complex, highly written book, but it's also not what you expect if you're reading commercialized fantasy or science fiction. Autumn (49m 53s): No, totally agree. Okay. So what I wanted to do to finish off here is I want to take the chance to thank Steven for his input on Patrion. It is just so much more fun when we have people reading along with us here. And of course, if you, dear listener also want to provide input for future Critical Reading episodes and us sort of taking your comments into the actual podcast episode like we did for Steven here, then just make sure to join on Patrion. And there is a link in the show notes for that next Monday. I will have an interview with the extremely popular and successful YouTuber, Jenna Morrissey. Autumn (50m 35s): And we'll talk about using YouTube as an author. Narrator (50m 39s): If you like, what you just heard, there's a few things you can do to SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST. Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review. You can also join Autumn and Jesper on patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy for as little as a dollar a month. You'll get awesome rewards and keep The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast, going, stay safe out there and see you next Monday.

Using a Covid 19 - Delta Variant medical article, Dr. Curtis explores the value of reading critically. Never before in the history of man have we had so much information. This has created opportunity, growth and exponential learning capability. But with volumes of knowledge, how do we decipher truth from trash? This episode dives deep into the skill of critical reading techniques, as well as the value of critical thinking as a life skill.

In this episode, Amir Michalovich, PhD Candidate at University of British Columbia, interviews Dr. Christina Sliver on Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis. They cover a wide range of issues and topics within CAQDAS, share numbers resources and recommendations, and talk at length about how graduate students might benefit from CAQDAS. The follow is the transcript of their conversation. Amir 0:25 Hello, everyone, welcome to qualitative conversations, a podcast series hosted by the qualitative research special interest group of the American Educational Research Association. I'm Amir Michalovich, a member of the graduate students committee of the qualitative research special interest group, and a doctoral candidate in the department of language and literacy education at the University of British Columbia. As a guest podcast host. I'll be speaking today with Dr. Christina Silver on computer assisted qualitative data analysis, otherwise known as CAQDAS with a specific view of how graduate students might employ it, the kinds of challenges that they might face and some of the ways to address those challenges. Dr. Christina Silver manages the cognitive networking project based in the Department of Sociology in the University of Surrey in the UK, for which she leads the training and capacity building activities. She's the co founder and director of QDAS Qualitative Data Analysis Services, which provides customized consultancy services for individuals and groups engaged in qualitative analysis. She has many years of experience teaching CAQDAS, and has written extensively on the learning and adoption of CAQDAS. Christina is co author with an Lewin's of the book using software and qualitative analysis. And with Nick Wolf Of the five level QDA method. She has also published key articles and book chapters exploring the relationship between qualitative or mixed methodologies and technology, specifically, the use of dedicated contest packages. Alright, well, thank you, Christina, for joining us for this podcast episode. I am absolutely thrilled to speak with you today. I'd like to start with a basic question about CAQDAS. What is CAQDAS? And why should graduate students consider using CAQDAS software? Christina 2:16 Okay, so Hi, thanks a lot for inviting me, it's great to have this chat. So CAQDAS is an acronym that stands for computer assisted qualitative data analysis. So it's used to refer to software and other applications digital tools that have been specifically designed to facilitate qualitative and mixed methods analysis. It's an acronym that was developed in around 1991, by Nigel fielding and reily, after they convened the first conference, looking at software to facilitate qualitative analysis. So now it's used as an umbrella term to relate to all of these digital tools of which there are now dozens available. The thing about CAQDAS packages in terms of their use by students, graduate students, also undergraduate students and other researchers is that they are one of the kind of tactics that we have available at our disposal to operationalize our analyses. There are some debates about their use. And that's something that we'll probably touch on later on in our discussion. For me, you know, it's really important at the outset to realize that, although there are many ways that CAQDAS packages can facilitate analysis, they can help us organize our data, they can help us access different aspects of our analysis process, it's still possible to do bad analysis using CAQDAS packages, just like it's possible to do good analysis without using them. So that's a really important starting point in thinking about whether and how to use these kinds of tools. But for me, you know, really, the main thing is the access that it gets to the process. So using a dedicated CAQDAS package gives us access to the materials that we're working with. And that will be the data that we're working with the qualitative data, but also, other supplementary materials that form the context of a given study also gives us access to the ideas we have about what's interesting and meaningful in our data, allowing us to get back to those earlier thoughts. And also really importantly, in terms of process, it gives us access to the history, the journey of our analysis process. And for students, that's really important because when we're doing a dissertation, it's often as much about how we went about doing it and the lessons that we learn from that as it is the findings that come out of our research. So it can help in various ways, but it's also a useful skill set to have. I think when you're learning about qualitative methods, generally, learning about the technologies that are designed to facilitate the process is really useful for anyone who wants to have a research career after their studies. Were there That's within academia or outside of academia, because many qualitative and mixed methods, researchers are using these tools for their work. Now, Amir 5:08 that's fascinating. And I think that the notion of access is really important here in the sense of having that possibility to easily retrieve pieces of your data. And also, how do you conceptualize that data in different stages during the project. So we know that there's this growing need for graduate students to be familiarized with CAQDAS packages, but there is some confusion sometimes about how CAQDAS software is used, whether it's a method of analysis or something that kind of supports analysis. So why do you think people sometimes confuse CAQDAS software use with a method of analysis? Christina 5:45 Yeah, a good point. And something I think that continues to be discussed, even after all of these many years since these tools have been available. For me, I think there's two interrelated reasons for the kind of confusion between the software and the method of analysis. First of all, a misunderstanding or an assumption that the software does the analysis for us. And secondly, unsubstantiated and outdated criticisms about the negative effects of using CAQDAS packages, in terms of the kind of craft work that qualitative analysis involves. So these kind of misunderstandings and criticism started in the earliest moments of the availability of CAQDAS packages. But despite a fairly large body of literature now that dispels the notion that CAQDAS is a method of analysis, these kinds of misunderstandings and criticisms are still being perpetuated informally by some teachers of qualitative methods who are not kept as users themselves. But also formally in the literature, we see these misunderstandings and criticisms promoted, and that's often also by non users of these tools. So, as a caveat before I, before I carry on and talk about that a little bit more, you know, I'm not saying that everybody should use them, or that it's wrong not to use them, it's just understanding the role of them is really important. I guess the assumption that CAQDAS does the analysis is the thing to think about first. So for me, there's kind of two differing reactions to the realization that the software doesn't do the analysis. First are those who are saddened that it doesn't do the analysis, you know, some people are looking for a shortcut to accomplishing their work, and they want the software to do the analysis. So they're disappointed when they realize that that's not the case. So technology is developing really fast at the moment. And there are now some CAQDAS packages that incorporate AI technologies, such as machine learning, and therefore provide a lot more assistance than than was the case a few years ago. But at the end of the day, it's always the user, the researcher, who decides what to do, who decides when to do it. And who decides what it all means. So interpretation, differentiating interpretation from analysis, I think something that it's really important. But on the other end, sometimes there are people who are kind of outraged at the idea that kept us would do the analysis. So that's the other the other end of that continuum. So those are the researchers who really price the human interpretive processes, which underlie many approaches to qualitative data analysis. And it tends to be the this group of researchers who criticize CAQDAS because they think that that the software is taking over in some way. And therefore, that's where the criticisms come from. So it's interesting to me that that idea that the software does the software do, the analysis is understood very differently, depending on our understandings and engagements with the tools. So I guess the other thing I just wanted to say is that some colleagues of mine, Christy Jackson, Trina Paulus, and Nick Wolf, they wrote a really excellent article on the perpetuation of unsubstantiated criticisms of CAQDAS that was published in 2018. And they look at four different criticisms and kind of debunk those, but also look at how the literature kind of perpetuates those ideas. And I think it's really interesting to, you know, reflect on those criticisms. And you know, if you become a user of a CAQDAS package, to understand the context of those debates, so that you can place yourself within that context, and sort of justify your use of the software. Amir 9:36 Amazing. I think there's so much importance in understanding that context, and also and thinking very carefully about how we approach the role of CAQDAS in our work. What I found so interesting about your work with colleagues as well, is that you've really tried to unpack different ways in which we can think about that the role of CAQDAS in our work, how we can approach it and how we can operationalize it. And I've noticed that in your work in terms of First in terms of how we think about the kinds of skills that we need to attain when we work with when we want to work with CAQDAS, or the kinds of practices that we need to engage with. You mentioned three factors, among other factors that are particularly important in the learning and adoption of CAQDAS software. You mentioned in your work, methodological awareness, analytic adeptness, and technological proficiency. Could you unpack each of these a little bit and why they are important for graduate students conducting CAQDAS? Christina 10:33 Yeah, absolutely. So those three factors come from some research that we did, looking at how new users learn about software, what the challenges are, and also how they adopt technologies in their practices. So methodological awareness, first of all, is to do with the familiarity with the variety in qualitative data analysis philosophies, and methodological approaches. And they underpin the choices that researchers make in undertaking analysis. So having a methodological awareness is the kind of overarching kind of starting point, I guess, in thinking about CAQDAS and adopting it, and it's important method, this method logical awareness, because qualitative research is so broad and so diverse. So the choices that we make about how to go about an analysis really need to be made carefully, and then need to be justifiable within the context of the broader qualitative research field. So I've often observed confusion around the terms methodology and methods, and with students often being very overwhelmed or confused about qualitative methodologies, and unclear about how methods relates to methodologies. So I spent quite a lot of time trying to talk about this with with my students. And the simplest way I found to explain it, I guess, is to say that methodology is a description or a roadmap of how a project will be undertaken, how the research questions will be addressed, I guess. So methodology describes how the entire project will be conducted. And it kind of provides the criteria for designing or selecting the methods. And methodologies are informed by two quite scary words for students ontology and epistemology. And they're used to think about our philosophies or our paradigms or our assumptions that we all bring to our research. So ontology, you know, in simple terms, is our view of the nature of reality. Whereas epistemology is to do with our perceived relationship with the knowledge that we're uncovering or discovering. So being aware of methodologies is really important, because it provides that description of how you're going to go about your study at a high level. And that informs the selection of your methods. So what are methods then methods are the data collection methods, so whether we're undertaking interviews or focus groups, or generating data from online interactions, or surveys, or asking participants to generate visual materials, etc. And then we also have analytic methods, which are how we're actually going to go about doing the analysis. And there are many different analytic methods, thematic analysis, interpretive phenomenological analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, those are all examples of analytic methods. And so what one of the challenges is, is understanding how those methods, the data collection methods, or the analytic methods relate to the broader methodologies. And that kind of basic framing and understanding is really important, because it leads to how we use the software. So that's the first factor methodological awareness. The second one is what we call analytic adeptness. So this has to do with the experience in undertaking qualitative data analysis. So specifically, the skills in designing an analytic task in the context of that underlying methodological context. So it's to do with what we actually do when we analyze qualitative data, what we do, how we do it, the sequence in which we do it. And this all depends on the analytic methods that we're using. So those tasks would be different if I was doing a thematic analysis from a content analysis or a discourse analysis, for example. So some analytic methods are more prescriptive than others in terms of the sequencing and the actual tasks that are undertaken. So I kind of think about that in two ways. I guess, first of all, the kind of what I call the strategies level, which has to do with planning what we need to do and that's different from the The tactics level, which is how we actually go about it. So analytic tasks, deciding what to do is kind of at the strategies, the planning level, and how we accomplish it at the tactics level is where the software potentially comes into play. Because a CAQDAS package and the tools within it can be the tactics that we use to undertake those strategy level tasks. But of course, cactus packages are just one of the tactics that we have at our disposal. So you know, many people, before CAQDAS packages were around, we worked manually, right with pen paper, my first qualitative project, I cut up my transcripts with scissors and put bits of transcripts in different piles and had a big matrix on my wall. Other people are using general purpose software, Microsoft Word or Excel or other tools. So these are all the tactics that we have to undertake our analysis. And that's where analytical adeptness kind of leads into that third factor that you mentioned, which is the technical proficiency. So analytic adeptness really straddles from the methodological awareness to the kind of planning what we actually going to do. And then the next struggle to the technological proficiency is when we're using tools, digital tools, or any tools, how much competency we have in operating the software, and also the comfort that we have, with the idea of experimenting with the software, without fear of making mistakes. I think that's one of the key challenges that I see in new users of CAQDAS packages. In that often students are learning about qualitative methodologies, and software tools at the same time. And that can be really, really challenging. So many cactus packages, one of the best things about using a dedicated CAQDAS package is that it's incredibly flexible. And they offer dozens and dozens of features. But the challenge for the learner is that not all of those features are going to be useful for an individual analysis. So the learner has to navigate that all of the technological possibilities at the same time as thinking about which features are going to be useful for their analytic needs. And that's a really big challenge. So, you know, often, I see, in many of the workshops that I run, I see students being really worried that they're going to mess things up. So being scared that, oh, if I do this, then something might go wrong. And that's, that's often happening in the early stages of learning, learning a cactus package. So technological proficiency is about learning the architecture and the functionality of the software, and how to operate it. But doing so in a way that develops confidence to experiment and be creative about how we use the tools, because there's no one way of using any of these tools, just like there's no one way of undertaking a particular research project. So those three factors, I think, are really important in learning about and successfully adopting CAQDAS, methodological awareness and analytic adeptness are really closely related. And they're to do with the strategies that we put in place, whereas technological proficiency is at the level of operationalizing, those strategies using tools to accomplish our tasks. So despite the sense in which those factors are interrelated, and how they straddle one another a little bit, I do think that thinking about them separately, really helps students to understand the sense in which cactus packages are not methods, but tools. And hopefully, to see that learning about what to do is different from learning about how to do it. those are those are really important, but they are different. So differentiating between them, I think, is a useful framework. Amir 18:52 And that is really important points. And I think they connect directly to your some of the work that I think you're kind of well known for, which is the work on the five level QDA method, where you really talk about the importance of thinking, what is the kind of strategic approach that I want to take to my data analysis? And how might I translate that using the particular features of the software that I'm thinking of working with, and perhaps combined different software features in creative ways or useful ways that are particular to the context in which I'm working? So you've really connected to that already. But I wonder if you want to say a few words about what is the five level QDA method and what what it might be useful? For? Unknown Speaker 19:34 Sure. Yeah. So I think that leads on from from what I was talking about before, in terms of those three factors and our work with the five level QDA method built on our earlier work as well. The first thing I guess, to say about the five level QDA method is that it's a method of learning and teaching practice, not a method of analysis. Okay, so it's not an equivalent or replacement for thematic and analysis or grounded theory, or discourse analysis, or anything else is the pedagogy. Really, and we think about it as a mindset, a way of thinking about the role of CAQDAS packages in our work when we're undertaking any type of qualitative or mixed methods analysis and using any kind of digital tool. So our focus in the development was around three of the most well known practice packages, but it's, it's relevant to any digital tool, whether it's a dedicated CAQDAS package or not. And we developed it because we had observed over our many years of using and teaching these programs, and also talking with other colleagues that there were a number of key challenges with being able to kind of harness the software tool for the particular analysis need, if you like. So we did some more research into that. And basically, we unpacked what happens in the minds of those researchers who have become really proficient expert users of these CAQDAS packages, we've unpacked their unconscious processes, what they do without thinking, as they have become more proficient in the in the use of the software for their analysis, unpacking that, so that new users can develop the expertise that they need, without the many years of trial and error that myself and my co author on five level QDA Nick Wolf, you know, we both went through many years of trial and error with these programs before we developed the level of understanding and proficiency that we now have. So one of our key aims was to try to enable that learning to be shorter and more efficient, by really understanding those unconscious processes and unpacking them and making them clear. So it's really a framework for for thinking about the role of CAQDAS, and enabling new users to be able to harness in a powerful, but also a quick way, what they need to do in terms of students. They're doing dissertations, they have a short amount of time, they're learning multiple things. At the same time, as we've sort of touched on earlier in our discussion, Amir, and, you know, we wanted to enable them to adopt successfully their chosen CAQDAS package within the time constraints that they have. And I guess the key principle, which relates in part to what I was talking about earlier, is that our analytics strategies are different from our software tactics. Okay, so strategies are what we plan to do. And tactics are how we actually go about doing it. Okay. And related, again, I guess, to the idea that or the misconception that the CAQDAS packages are methods is that strategies are developed, outside of the context of the tools that we use, and really need to drive the way that we use the software, I have to choose the appropriate tactics for the task, the strategies, tasks that I have, in my mind right now. And that's the way that we like to think about how to operationalize our analysis using software. So in the context of qualitative research, our strategies are the objectives and the methodology and the analytic tasks that we develop in order to accomplish our objectives. And they are, you know, they are not driven by the software that we decide to use. They're accomplished through the use of our software. distinguishing between strategies and tactics is something that's not often or clearly done in the in the methodological literature. And often those two terms are conflated or used as if they're synonyms. So the basic underlying principle of the five level QDA method is recognizing that strategies and tactics aren't the same, and that strategies must drive our use of software. AD 24:12 The qualitative research special interest group was established in 1987 to create a space within the American Educational Research Association. For the discussion of ethical, philosophical and methodological issues in qualitative research. We invite you to consider joining the qualitative research SIG today. for members of a era. The annual fee for joining qualitative research special interest group for regular non graduate student members is $10. And the annual fee for graduate students is $5. As members of the QR SIG, you will gain access to a network of fellow qualitative scholars, as well as our many activities ranging from mentoring opportunities to our podcast series. To update the news related to recent qualitative publications and jobs. Please visit the American Educational Research Association website at www dot era dotnet During the qualitative research sake today, Amir 25:03 Right, WIWells I've engaged with that work quite at length. And I found it very useful in my training or work with graduate student peers. But one of the things that I've experienced is somewhat difficult at times, is to really try to find a concrete way to unpack how different methodological approaches might look like how they might differ from one another, as this first step, before we kind of translate them into software tactics or other kinds of tactics that may not even necessarily involve software. Sometimes grad students may not necessarily have the sufficient training in how these different approaches might even look. So that's an issue in itself. So I wonder if you could share with us one example, perhaps in which one methodological approach might significantly differ from another in the analytic strategy that it entails? Christina 25:57 Yeah, so I guess when I talk about this, I mean, this, I think you're right, that this is something that's difficult to make tangible, in a car in a kind of concrete way. And I guess that comes, you know, for the user of a CAQDAS package that comes with experience, and with that experimentation, and that creativity that I mentioned earlier, but I guess it's also partly to do with breaking down the analytic strategies. So what we do, so if we think about analytic strategy of grounded theory, and then contrast that with classic quantitative content analysis, then, you know, I talk a lot about directionality of analysis. So, in broad terms, grounded theory approach is about generating theory from a body of data that we have in front of us. Okay, so generally speaking, we're working in a kind of bottom up way, in an inductive way, that's often described as I think in a grounded theory approach, often we do some more top down some more deductive work as well. But the general directionality of our work is starting with the data and generating an interpretation or theory from that body of data. Whereas their content analysis, content analysis is as tricky. A tricky term, actually, because it's understood quite differently in different disciplines and different national context I found as well. But content analysis classic quantitative content analysis, is about looking at instances of key words, phrases, and other structures or patterns in texts, which can be written texts, or can be visual texts, and counting those instances and potentially doing statistical work with those instances. So a content analysis can work either bottom up or top down, depending on whether we have a hypothesis that we're trying to test, some content analysis starts with a hypothesis. And our techniques are about testing that hypothesis. But we can also do a quantitative content analysis in a more inductive way, a more exploratory way, especially these days, when we have so much qualitative data at our disposal from the internet that we can harvest in all kinds of different ways. A classic example might be Twitter, data, right. And if I, if I gather 10s, of 1000s, potentially millions of tweets, then I don't know what's in that data. So I may do a content analysis in a much more exploratory way. So for me, it's, you know, it's not so much about saying, oh, in a discourse analysis, you do this, then this, then this, then this, whereas in a grounded theory, you do this, then this, then this, then this, it's more about the individual tasks that we undertake. And in the five level QDA method, that directionality is something that's kind of quite important to reflect upon. But specifically, we break it down to what we call an analytic task, which is the smallest unit of what we do the smallest unit of analytic activity, and they are specific to each individual project. But I believe that there are commonalities in analytic tasks across the different methodologies. So what we do is to try to, to think and teach how to harness CAQDAS packages at that level, the methodology and all of that background that we talked about earlier is really important, because that's what leads to specific analytic tasks, that at the moment that we accomplish a task in the software, it's just that task in and of itself, that's the important thing. So what is an analytic task? There's many examples. We've got many examples in our publications, but, you know, one task might be to read my interview transcripts to identify potential concepts for coding That's an example of an analytic task, a small unit of what we need to do. Now in any CAQDAS package, there are multiple tools that I could use to accomplish that task. Another task might be to compare theoretical and emerging concepts and explain their similarities and differences. And that may be a task that's relevant to all kinds of different methodologies. So I guess for me, the contrast, are the examples of methodological approaches that differ from one another in terms of the analytic strategy. Yes, I think that's an important thing to reflect upon. But I think it becomes concrete in terms of examples and learning, when we take it down a level and think about, okay, what is it that I actually need to do, and break that down to the smallest level, and then it's much more manageable to build up the activities more generally, Amir 30:57 you've discussed so far, how important it is and your work, especially how important it is that notion of directionality in the sense of sort of planning ahead, what you're thinking of doing, and we've talked about how sometimes there are some gaps in terms of knowledge about what it is that we're supposed to do with certain approaches. But I wonder now, if in your experience, are there any interesting ways in which the work with the software is somehow influenced or somehow informed, analytic strategies? Or how we understand certain approaches, certain methodological approaches? Because I feel like it's such a fascinating area of inquiry? Christina 31:36 I think it's a great question. And it's something that I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about, whilst we were developing the five level QDA method. And also since when I've been talking about it, and using it in my own work, and some of the conversations we had with our colleagues and other researchers using CAQDAS packages, really speak to this idea. And I kind of guess I've realized that there's a really important difference between what we say, which is that strategy should drive tactics. And that that's not the same as saying that tactics don't inform our strategies. So, you know, I've had some really interesting conversations with some colleagues who have said, Yeah, but there are things that are possible in CAQDAS packages that just aren't practically possible if you're not using a dedicated tool. And I definitely agree. So that is a way in which the availability of software tools, their affordances can change the way that we think about going about our analysis. But for me, that's an informing process, not a driving process. So let me give you an example that will hopefully bring what I mean to life a little bit more, I had a student come to one of my advanced software workshops A few years ago, who'd been using a CAQDAS package to do a literature review, because they've read and heard that it's really great, you can do that review, using these tools. And she'd come along to this advanced workshop because she was in a bit of a pickle. And she was like, she said, You know, I've done all of this work, and I can't see how it's helping me. So we looked at her project, and she had 1000s of codes in her software project. And upon looking at her project, and talking to her and asking her what she'd done, it became apparent to me that she hadn't read any of the literature. She had used tools like word frequency tools, to tell her what words were in the literature. And then she'd coded every sentence or every paragraph in which highly frequent words came up, imagining that that somehow was going to tell her what the literature was saying, imagining that she there that her use of the software would mean that she didn't need to read the literature that it would tell her what was going on in her materials, right, which speaks back to what we talked about right at the beginning about CAQDAS not being a method. Yeah. But in terms of this idea of driving and informing she was looking to the software to tell her what to do, and also to tell her what was there. And that's, you know, we're long way off software being able to do that. So, you know, I think there are certain ways in which the availability of tools can inform our thinking about what's possible and may change some of our processes, but the availability of tools should be used to inform our strategies not to drive our strategies. And I think that's, you know, that's a kind of semantic difference between those two terms. But I think that's a really important one. Amir 34:50 What's very interesting to me and kind of how our conversation evolved here is that there seems to be seem to be two different areas in which we might see live or work on qualitative data analysis kind of moving forward into, it seems one direction is trying to really maybe based on the work of others, like Joe Maxwell, for example, who has written about the theory of qualitative data analysis, perhaps we could sort of advance this field and thinking about what might be some of the similarities across different methodological approaches, and what might be some of the important differences, that might be a useful way to kind of advance both our thinking and graduate students training in how you know, those approaches might be unpacked and translated to different kinds of tactics, including the use of software. But the other interesting point that you raised that was that interesting distinction between the sense in which software might drive our our analytic work, as opposed to informing our analytic work. And I think that's a really important area to consider. And thinking about qualitative data analysis with software Christina 35:58 is to deal also with a set with serendipity isn't it, it's like, software, the use of software tools can tell us things unexpected that we weren't anticipating or looking for or, and that's, that's, that's a great thing, you know, and one of the things about familiarizing with our data and getting a real in depth understanding of what's going on, which is a key to many different approaches, software can really help with that. And you know, that balance, I think you actually say something that, that we should be reflecting on war. Amir 36:31 And that sense of serendipity really connects to what you also write about quite a lot in your work about the iterative and emergent qualities of qualitative data analysis, right? So yeah, these things are coming to twined, in interesting, fascinating and yet to be explored ways. This leads me to the last two questions, I'll start with one question about the kinds of challenges that you might have seen, whether it be challenges that students experienced, or other kinds of researchers with translating analytic strategies and tasks into software tactics. So if we were to sort of go down that road as grad students, what kinds of challenges do you think we should expect? Christina 37:11 Okay, so there are two key things, I guess, to say. And the first one, I think, has to do with what we were just talking about when you mentioned the sort of iterative and emergent nature of qualitative and mixed methods analysis, and that idea of thinking ahead and planning. So sometimes a reaction to the five level QDA method, and the emphasis that we put on planning is this idea that Yeah, but you know, quantitative research evolves, we don't know exactly what's going to happen, and you're trying to put a structure on it that isn't really there. And my and I think that's, you know, a fair point. But the way that we would talk about that is that, to varying degrees, all of our processes are iterative, in an emergent, some methodologies are more intuitive and emergent than others. But that doesn't mean that we don't plan what we do, it just means that our plans change, as we see new things and come across new things. So the planning aspect is something that I see students find real challenges with, because they haven't always thought that connect with that methodological awareness and analytic adeptness that we were talking about earlier. So they don't really know what to do, what should I do first? And it's kind of like, Okay, well, if you start to plan, what you might do, and then think about what that would allow you to do next, and then come up with another scenario, well, I could do it this way. And then what would I be able to do, and that helps you to see how important planning is. And I've really, you know, seen in with many of my own students, you know, the value of planning in terms of fair reflection back on it, later on. And so we have these analytic planning worksheets that we developed as part of our methods, which we developed as a means to facilitate the learning of software, but has actually unanticipated consequences of us developing those is that people are using them to document their process. And that speaks to transparency, and rigor, and all of those things that qualitative researchers historically haven't been very good at, you know, explaining in concrete terms, how I got from my pile of data to my interpretation is something that historically we're not very good at. But planning and doing that in a structured way, and allowing those plans to evolve and documenting that it becomes very useful. So I guess the other thing I just wanted to mention briefly is, is units so as I'm sure you're aware, we talk a lot about units in the five level QDA method. And this is something that quantitative researchers typically are pretty clear about units because they normally use units to determine their variables that they use for their statistical work right? But in my experience, qualitative researchers don't really think very clearly about units and are often not taught about units but units are fundamental to qualitative analysis. And we distinguish between units of analysis. So they're the kind of main entities that form the basis of our research. So that might be groups or individuals or organizations, for example, units of data. So the form that the data is actually in, so that might be a transcript, it might be a sentence, it might be a discussion, it might be an interaction, and then units of meaning, which are kind of related to units of data, but are to do with which bit of data do we need to capture in order to be able to access the ideas that we've had. So units is a difficult concept, I think, for students to come across. But in my experience, that the, you know, I've seen those kind of lightbulb moments amongst students most often when they get what units are, and why why they're important, generally, in their research design, but also in terms of how they translate their tasks into those software tactics. Amir 40:58 Think I felt that light bulb moment when I've reflected on what is that selection that I'm making in software that I'm going to continue working with in terms of coding and connecting to memos, etc. So yeah, these are really important points. I also wanted to connect this to something else that you mentioned before, how sometimes graduate students may learn software tools and methodology at the same time as a challenge. But at the same time, you also, you've also written about in other places, I believe that there is sometimes a disconnect between the learning of software and the learning of methodology. I wonder if you could speak to that? Because those are, you know, on the one hand, the there's a problem with learning them at the same time. But what about that disconnect? Is that related somehow? Christina 41:44 Yeah, this is, this is a topic that's, I'm thinking a lot about at the moment. In terms of, you know, there's different opinions about whether you should teach and learn methods, strategies, methods first, and then the software, or whether you can teach and learns the two together. And, you know, in my opinion, there are kind of three ways of thinking about about that. One is the kind of the sort of sidelining or ignoring of technology and just teaching the methods. Yeah. Which I think is does the next generation of researchers and students a great disservice. So you mentioned earlier that students expect to use digital tools these days, of course, they do, because their whole lives, for many of them are embodied by the use of digital tools. So they can't understand why you wouldn't think about using digital tools for qualitative analysis often. So those teachers who are not teaching them or even making them aware that there are digital tools, which I think happens far too often still, I think that's, I think that we're, you know, we're not being responsible as teachers, if we take that approach. And then then the, you know, then there are two ways of thinking about this in terms of teaching methods and technologies, and then how and when to do that. So there's the kind of methods first, so teach a range of qualitative methods or a specific method outside of technology, and then teach the technology and sometimes that's bolted on and isn't integrated. So it's like, here's the methods piece, okay, now go off and learn about the software. And there's not enough connect between the two, which is the disconnect, I think that you're you're referring to, another way of doing it is teach a little bit of methods, and then teach how that can be operationalized in software, and then teach another bit of methods and how that can be operationalized in the software. So that's what I would call methods into methods and technology interwoven. But then it's also possible and there are people who are teaching methods via software. And in the collaborative context, that's really useful. So tools that allow multiple students and researchers to work on the same transcript, for example, at the same time, so coding is a good example, okay? You have a piece of data, and then you ask students to code giving more or less direction for how or what they should be coding, and then you compare the coding and then you have discussions about Oh, why did you code it like that? I coded it like this. And then you're teaching what coding is, what the methods of coding is via the software. So there are different ways of interleaving or managing that potential disconnect. And I'm not sure that that methods first methods into work woven or methods via software, I'm not really sure that one or other is better. They're just different, but they're all possible. And they're all better than just not doing it at all. I think. Amir 44:39 I think we can definitely agree on that one. All right. Well, we're moving toward the end of our podcast episode. And the last question I have for you is just if there are any resources that you would recommend to grad students who are looking to explore analysis or analytic strategies of different methodological approaches, one kind of deal Deep into some of the concrete ways in which they could think about their data analysis. Christina 45:07 So there are lots of textbooks out there. My favorite textbooks, I guess, are the ones which which taught me back in the day. So Miles and Huberman then in the 1994 textbook remains, you know, really close on my shelf. And I draw on that still now. I also really like Harry Walcott's work. More recently, Patricia Bazeley. Her work her textbook on qualitative data analysis. I think it's excellent. So in terms of textbooks, those would be the three main authors that I would say, look at those first, there are loads of others really good authors around qualitative data analysis techniques as well. But you know, if you're asking for Okay, what's the starting point, then then I'd say Miles and Huberman, Walcott and Baseley. But there's also quite a lot of online resources now. So there's a website called Methods Space, which is pretty active and has lots of resources, which are curated around different topics. And this year, at the moment, they're going through the kind of whole research cycle, and each month focusing on a different topic. So I think at the moment, the topic is ethics. And previously, they did a whole topic on research questions, etc. So methods spaces are really great websites to tap into. And that's related to the Sage Publications, methods map. So there's lots of resources there, and really good links to online and offline publications, etc, around particular key methods. There's also a resource called Online QDA. So online qualitative data analysis, which was a project which finished quite a few years ago now, but was designed for graduate students to help them navigate qualitative data analysis. And what's really nice about that site, I think, is the methodologies area where there is a clear and short definition of different methodologies. And then there are links to further resources. So the key publications to read about each of those methodologies or methods. So that's really useful, I think, for students because, you know, if I need to learn about a particular methodology, grounded theory, say there's so much written about grounded theory, how do I know which of the things I should read and the Online QDA website has kind of done that job for students and said, Okay, this is what that methodology or this is what that method is, and these are the key things to read. So I think that's really, really useful. And the final thing I'd like to say is that learning about analysis and learning about cactus is really usefully done while still doing a literature review. So literature is a form of qualitative data writes text and embedded images, okay, reviewing is a form of analysis. Okay. And we can really usefully learn how to do qualitative analysis, whilst doing a literature review in our in our chosen CAQDAS package. So that's something that I think, is useful for all students who are doing dissertations who need to do a literature review. And there's a book by Wallace and Wray, Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates, which is a really, really excellent book, which talks about literature reviewing, not in the context of cactus packages, but in the context of understanding how to read critically how to discern whether what you're reading is of good quality or how it relates to your work, etc. and then how to write critically, which is something that I think students also struggle with in their dissertations. Amir 49:00 All right, well, Christina, that was a fascinating conversation. And you've just given us so many useful resources on top of a really insightful and rich discussion. So again, I want to thank you for taking the time to participate in this podcast. And I hope you continue to do that important work that you've been doing in moving this field forward. So thank you for your time, and hope to chat again sometime soon. Christina 49:28 Yeah, many thanks. I enjoyed it.

In academic contexts you cannot assume that everything you read is a simple representation of the facts. Every area of study has many different perspectives, and you will need to understand not only what a writer is saying, but how and why they are saying it, in order to judge how credible the information and arguments are. This involves reading critically. This podcast explains in detail what critical reading is, compares critical reading to active reading, and explains how to read critically by considering the author and source, the evidence the writer uses, and the assumptions and bias the writer may have.

Carole Boston Weatherford and I discuss poetry, history, and race in her newest picture books BOX: HENRY BROWN MAILS HIMSELF TO FREEDOM and UNSPEAKABLE: THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE. We talk about discussing difficult history for children, how to tailor-make books for Critical Reading elementary school students, what it means to be called to poetry by The Creator, calling out Jinx the Pokémon, a spirit story, race memory, writing with agency, and so much more. Carole Boston Weatherford grew up in an all-black neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. An only child until the age of 10, she has fond memories of riding bikes, drawing and writing, and singing and tap dancing to her dad's collection of jazz records. In the first grade, Carole recited her first poem. Throughout elementary and middle school, her artistic and literary talents were recognized and encouraged by her teachers. Carole continued writing through high school and into college, but it was only when one of her poems was published in a city magazine that she seriously considered becoming an author. For 20 years, Carole Boston Weatherford worked for the National Bar Association in Washington, DC and North Carolina. After becoming a mother, she enrolled in a master's level creative writing program at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Although she entered the program writing poetry for adults, she graduated wanting to write historical fiction and poetry for children. Weatherford's first children's book, Juneteenth Jamboree, was published in 1995. Since then she has authored more than two dozen children's books. Weatherford says that persistence is one of the keys to her success. "I had manuscripts that had been rejected 20 times before finding a home with a publisher," she recalls. "But I keep going and I believe in what I write about." Weatherford creates the kind of books that weren't available to her as a child: ones that feature African-American protagonists. In the late 1990s Weatherford began teaching college courses in composition, creative writing, and children's and adolescent literature. Today Carole Boston Weatherford is an associate professor at Fayetteville State University. She and her husband live in High Point, North Carolina.

Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman, host of Black Romance Podcast, uses a multi-modal cultural studies perspective to engage students in critical engagement with Black romance texts to "liberate learners from the mimicry of the powerful."Show Notes:Shelf Love:Sign up for the email newsletter list | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Email: Andrea@shelflovepodcast.comCheck out Shelf Love’s updated website including the transcript for this episodeShelf Love episodes with transcriptsGuest: Dr. Julie Moody-FreemanCenter for Black Diaspora at DePaul | TwitterListen to Black Romance PodcastWebsite | Apple Podcasts | SpotifyArticle we talk about:Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture By Douglas Kellnerhttps://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/SAGEcs.htmMentioned:Hsu-Ming Teo's interview that I mentioned in the episodehttps://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/33/4 (125)/153/31135/Archives-and-Histories-of-Racial-CapitalismAnProgression of me discovering I might have ADHD:Awareness: 046. A Conspiracy of Whispers by Ada Harper with Bree (from Kit Rocha)Recognition: 053. Tasha L. Harrison Writes Romance For Black PeopleDawning Realization: 054. A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole with Tasha L. Harrison

Episode describing my experience doing my hardest course ever done at the University of the west indies --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cssb/support

Practice makes perfect, and this week Mary and Melissa reflect upon ways in which you can engage in deliberate practice to improve your writing.  From writing fan fiction to timed writing sessions to mimicking the greats, we have a myriad of suggestions for you to try.    How do you practice? Share your writing burpees with us on social media. * @thewritingeasypodcast  * @geekymary * @writewithmelis   Want more content on Practice?  Check out Episode 43: Critical Reading.   Resource: Clockify.me - A free time-tracking app for those who want to know how your writing time breaks down.

Josh Connors is a triple threat performer, writer, director, & published playwright. He graduated from The Randolph College for the Performing Arts in the summer of 2012. His first full-length play, Small Town Queer, is now available on Amazon in paperback and e-reader format. Small Town Queer was chosen as a required reading at the Grenfell Campus (Memorial University) 2020 in two selections of English 1001: Critical Reading and Writing (Poetry & Drama) to be taught by Professor Stephanie McKenzie.Originally broadcast on November 9, 2020 on CHMR 93.5 FM in St. John's, and on other great stations across the country. Listen online at http://www.chmr.ca/.This program, and others like it, are helped by support from viewers and fans on Patreon. Consider helping support Engen Books on Patreon for as little as $1.00 a month for excellent rewards, including books! http://www.patreon.com/engenbooksCheckout Engen titles at http://engenbooks.com/Write Project Newsletter signup for FREE book: http://eepurl.com/c8W9OTEngen Horror Society Signup for FREE book: http://eepurl.com/c8YemrFantasy Files signup for FREE book: http://eepurl.com/c8X4zLThis recording Copyright © 2020 Matthew LeDrew

MSM 484: Digital Learning - It’s about time. Jokes: Middle School Science Minute by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com) Middle School Science Minute: Formative Assessment Probes Reports from the Front Lines Advisory: Media Multitasking Disrupts Memory, Even in Young Adults https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/media-multitasking-disrupts-memory-even-in-young-adults/#annotations:z540oh-fEeu83weTHLtaLA The Twitterverse Don’t forget #mschat on Thursdays at 8:00 pm EST. Strategies: The Neuroscience of Viewing Your Past Like a Fly on the Wall https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202008/the-neuroscience-viewing-your-past-fly-the-wall#annotations:Z5vkUh-bEeuykJurHa6Pug Resources: Among Us Template https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r0IYtaTi8bOoKkP9rdKM6pYV9yP7W1PxF2jmHxt83dc/edit?usp=sharing Critical Reading: 50 Sentence Stems To Help Students Talk About What They Read https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/critical-reading-sentence-stems-discussion-journal/#annotations:W-jAoh-NEeu26lfdOCDsyA Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide https://tech.ed.gov/publications/digital-learning-guide/parent-family/#annotations:idlr5h-EEeuqmT-VJALxPw Web Spotlight: Other Data: 20 Signs You’re Actually Making A Difference As A Teacher https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/other-data-20-signs-youre-actually-making-a-difference-as-a-teacher/#annotations:0chRuh35EeuilTfRuh9COg Random Thoughts . . .

Dellarobia Turnbow hikes up the mountain behind her house to meet her lover and comes upon a huge group of roosting Monarch butterflies which takes her breath away and she exclaims, "Jesus, God!"You can find David G. Markham's pamphlet, Critical Reading of Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, a Unitarian Universalist's perspective by clicking here.

This is episode one introducing the series.

In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Kelly A. Tappenden, PhD, RD, interviews Roland L. Koretz, MD about his article, "Introduction to Critical Reading," published in the January 2014 issue of JPEN. https://doi.org/10.1177/0148607113497761

In this podcast, Associate Editor Elizabeth A. Krzywda, ANP, MSN, CNSN, interviews Timothy O. Lipman, MD. about his article “Critical Reading & Critical Thinking - Study Design and Methodology: A Personal Approach on How to Read the Clinical Literature,” published in the April 2013 issue of NCP. https://doi.org/10.1177/0884533612474041

It's one of the most common pieces of advice given to an aspiring author or screenwriter. Read. Read anything. Read everything. Read often. Yet few people actually talk about what that means. Today, Mary and Melissa discuss their process for doing a critical read of material (books or scripts) to help increase the quality of their writing and how you might be able to do the same.   Find is on the interwebs... TWITTER @geekymary @melissaannlong @writingeasypod1 INSTAGRAM @WritingEasyPodcast @writewithmelis  

Professor Karen ManarinDr. Karen Manarin is Professor of English and General Education at Mount Royal University. A recipient of MRU’s Distinguished Faculty Award, Dr. Manarin’s teaching and research interests include how people read, and undergraduate research. Her coauthored book Critical Reading in Higher Education: Academic Goals and Social Engagement explores how students read in four, very different, required, first-year courses, from scientific literacy through composition. Dr. Manarin talks about research posters in a Teaching and Learning Inquiry article published in 2016 entitled, “Interpreting Undergraduate Research Posters in the Literature Classroom.”http://tlijournal.com/tli/index.php/TLI/article/view/128

KSB Bikin Podcast Episode 2! Apa itu Critical Reading? Apa yang perlu dilakukan ketika membaca buku? Aulia Ardista berbagi ilmunya untuk kawan KSB di Podcast edisi kedua.

In this episode Prof. Jane Grisé, author of the book, Critical Reading for Success in Law School and Beyond and Director of Academic Enhancement and Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing the the University of Kentucky explains the importance of critical reading and shares her tips for mastering the skill. This easy understandable episode will help any student improve his or her or their grades

Episode 151: Reading Like a Writer - How Critical Reading Informs the Writing Process   The dragons kick off the new year with an episode for writers. There's much (and somewhat prescriptive) opinion on how much you should read in order to be a functional writer. But what if you just don't read very fast or have a disadvantage that makes it difficult? Does that count you out of the running? Jules and Madeleine take a look at what 'reading like a writer' really means before branching out into how reading different genres and challenging yourself with media you wouldn't normally consume, all adds value to your creativity. Spoiler - you don't have to finish 100s of books a year. You don't have to enjoy the classics. You already have everything you need, here's how to recognise it. (Sidebar, when Jules says how many books she's read, she means in 2018 - not even she is that fast!)     Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic

This is our 3-episode series of our podcast project. We analyze an older and newer poem. I hope you enjoy! Ms. Richardson, Critical Reading 10th Grade Aisha Al-Rizzo, Maryam Hayyawi, and Jahayra Guerra

Welcome to The Cluttered Desk Podcast! In this episode, Colin and Andrew discuss "Can Your Best Friends Be Books?" by Eve Fairbanks. Here is a list of what we discuss in this episode: The coda: Toasted Lager by Blue Point Brewing Company Andrew recommended The Magnus Archives, a storytelling podcast. Colin recommended The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz and The Weeds Podcast by Vox. Please find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find Andrew on Facebook and Twitter @AndrewPatrickH1 and you can find Colin on Twitter @ColinAshleyCox. You can find the podcast on Twitter @TheCDPodcast, on Facebook and Instagram at thecluttereddeskpodcast. Don't hesitate to email us at our email address, thecluttereddeskpodcast@gmail.com. Finally, we would like to thank Daniel Couper and Meghan Groves for creating, curating, and operating our Facebook page and Instagram account. We would like to thank Test Dream for supplying The Cluttered Desk Podcast's theme music. You can find Test Dream at their website, testdream.bandcamp.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @testdream. This episode and our entire catalogue is available through iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play.

Why are you still single? This question is often asked of single women, especially those who are deemed by loved ones or friends to be too old to be single. In her newest book, A Table for One: A Critical Reading of Singlehood, Gender and Time (Manchester University Press, 2017), Kinneret Lahad analyzes this undertheorized aspect of the gendered experience. Singlehood is inextricably linked to a post-structural analysis of time: not only are single women judged on their single status based on how old they are, but Lahad argues that being single often ages women at a faster rate in the eyes of others. This book offers a brilliant analysis of singlehood and how different aspects of popular culture depict this intersection of identity. From movies and television shows, popular stories, and online commentary, the ways that these aspects of our culture shapes the identity of a single woman is far-reaching and pervasive. This book is a great read for anyone interested in yet-to-be-fully-explored aspects of gender studies or anyone that has been bothered by the question “why are you still single?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are you still single? This question is often asked of single women, especially those who are deemed by loved ones or friends to be too old to be single. In her newest book, A Table for One: A Critical Reading of Singlehood, Gender and Time (Manchester University Press, 2017), Kinneret Lahad analyzes this undertheorized aspect of the gendered experience. Singlehood is inextricably linked to a post-structural analysis of time: not only are single women judged on their single status based on how old they are, but Lahad argues that being single often ages women at a faster rate in the eyes of others. This book offers a brilliant analysis of singlehood and how different aspects of popular culture depict this intersection of identity. From movies and television shows, popular stories, and online commentary, the ways that these aspects of our culture shapes the identity of a single woman is far-reaching and pervasive. This book is a great read for anyone interested in yet-to-be-fully-explored aspects of gender studies or anyone that has been bothered by the question “why are you still single?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are you still single? This question is often asked of single women, especially those who are deemed by loved ones or friends to be too old to be single. In her newest book, A Table for One: A Critical Reading of Singlehood, Gender and Time (Manchester University Press, 2017), Kinneret Lahad analyzes this undertheorized aspect of the gendered experience. Singlehood is inextricably linked to a post-structural analysis of time: not only are single women judged on their single status based on how old they are, but Lahad argues that being single often ages women at a faster rate in the eyes of others. This book offers a brilliant analysis of singlehood and how different aspects of popular culture depict this intersection of identity. From movies and television shows, popular stories, and online commentary, the ways that these aspects of our culture shapes the identity of a single woman is far-reaching and pervasive. This book is a great read for anyone interested in yet-to-be-fully-explored aspects of gender studies or anyone that has been bothered by the question “why are you still single?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are you still single? This question is often asked of single women, especially those who are deemed by loved ones or friends to be too old to be single. In her newest book, A Table for One: A Critical Reading of Singlehood, Gender and Time (Manchester University Press, 2017), Kinneret Lahad analyzes this undertheorized aspect of the gendered experience. Singlehood is inextricably linked to a post-structural analysis of time: not only are single women judged on their single status based on how old they are, but Lahad argues that being single often ages women at a faster rate in the eyes of others. This book offers a brilliant analysis of singlehood and how different aspects of popular culture depict this intersection of identity. From movies and television shows, popular stories, and online commentary, the ways that these aspects of our culture shapes the identity of a single woman is far-reaching and pervasive. This book is a great read for anyone interested in yet-to-be-fully-explored aspects of gender studies or anyone that has been bothered by the question “why are you still single?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are you still single? This question is often asked of single women, especially those who are deemed by loved ones or friends to be too old to be single. In her newest book, A Table for One: A Critical Reading of Singlehood, Gender and Time (Manchester University Press, 2017), Kinneret Lahad analyzes this undertheorized aspect of the gendered experience. Singlehood is inextricably linked to a post-structural analysis of time: not only are single women judged on their single status based on how old they are, but Lahad argues that being single often ages women at a faster rate in the eyes of others. This book offers a brilliant analysis of singlehood and how different aspects of popular culture depict this intersection of identity. From movies and television shows, popular stories, and online commentary, the ways that these aspects of our culture shapes the identity of a single woman is far-reaching and pervasive. This book is a great read for anyone interested in yet-to-be-fully-explored aspects of gender studies or anyone that has been bothered by the question “why are you still single?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interview Notes, Resources, & LinksVisit Doug and Nancy's website FisherAndFrey.comFollow Doug on Twitter @DFISHERSDSULearn more about the Close & Critical Reading Literacy Resource Center from CorwinAbout Douglas FisherDouglas Fisher is Professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and the author of numerous books on literacy and leadership. Together with his co-author Nancy Frey, he serves as a teacher and instructional leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College.

In this podcast, Associate Editor Elizabeth A. Krzywda, ANP, MSN, CNSN, interviews Timothy O. Lipman, MD. about his article “Critical Reading & Critical Thinking—Study Design and Methodology: A Personal Approach on How to Read the Clinical Literature ,” published in the April 2013 issue of NCP. Click here to read the full article.

In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Kelly A. Tappenden, PhD, RD, interviews Roland L. Koretz, MD about his article Introduction to Critical Reading published in the January 2014 issue of JPEN. Click here to read the full article.

Nik and Brittany describe five strategies for critical reading, an important aspect of writing that often gets overlooked.Resources:Critical Reading See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last week we talked about reading critically, reading as writers. This week we decided to apply that critical reading skill to Watchmen, the Hugo award-winning graphic novel by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. We start (once we get past the donuts in our mouths) by breaking it down into character, setting, and plot, and then we further dissect each of those elements based on what we thought of them. This episode is chock full of spoilers. If you're planning on reading Watchmen for the first time (or seeing the movie), you probably ought to do that before  you let us ruin it for you. Writing Prompt: Write an alternate history for 2009 taking stylistic cues from Watchmen.

Last week we talked about reading critically, reading as writers. This week we decided to apply that critical reading skill to Watchmen, the Hugo award-winning graphic novel by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. We start (once we get past the donuts in our mouths) by breaking it down into character, … Continue reading Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 28: Applying Critical Reading: “Watchmen” →