26/11/19 – Missed crit and comics and back to racism in the cosplay community

Today I woke up feeling unwell, likely due to not eating well and last night’s insomnia. After sleeping more, I felt better, but by then I missed half of the communications crit anyway. So instead I decided to read the comic books I purchased earlier. I’m also planning on doing (an) interview(s) with comic book shop employees at Orbital and Gosh! if possible.

The Big Empty Life of Alphonse Tabouret

This graphic novel is what it self-descirbes as an ‘existential fairy tale’ and that description fits it so well. The nature of the storytelling is non-linear and whimsical, with a childlike naïveté that is felt throughout. It does deal with themes of depression and finding a meaning in life. I picked this book up as the drawing style felt very whimsical and simple, but conveyed a lot anyway. I also chose this book, as it deals with finding a meaning in life, which is something I struggle with a bit currently. It is also my first comic book, as in it looks and feels like a ‘proper’ hardcover book and it is beautiful. The experience of reading it in such a format, is that it makes it feel more like you’re reading an illustrated book rather than a comic book, only further accentuated by the low amount of panels used in the book and the lack of a border around the panels that are there. It makes me consider how the style of a comic can convey things beyond the use of text and image. (Panels or not? Border or not? How many images per page? etc. etc.) Scott McCloud in his book ‘Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art‘ argues that what makes a comic book a comic book is the space between panels, the gutter, as that is the place where we insert our imagination to seek closure. We perceive parts, but make up our minds over the whole.

My favourite character was Hole, a character with a literal hole in their body who is desperately trying to fill that hole up. The whole changes shapes and sizes depending on what they want and they want everything that is presented to them. However, nothing can satisfy them and before long everything gets discarded at some point anyway. They find happiness when their shapeless hole gets filled with (an)Guish, who is afraid of everything. Together they get into fights, but always make up in the end and are happy.

Cosplayers

by Dash Shaw. a bit weird ngl. reminded me a bit too much of how used to be when i was like 16/17 😂

Infidel

I read this sometime ago actually, but revisited it again. I love the use of traditional mediums to portray the otherworldly elements in the story juxtaposed by the crispness of the digital art for the rest of the comic. It is also a gripping horror story, as well as a metaphor of how hate can linger in the world and how trauma is experienced by marginalised people.

American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang. On being Chinese-American and how alienating that might feel. 3 stories seemingly unrelated that combine together at the end beautifully. Be proud of who you are, don’t try to change yourself. Finally found a practitioner for my essay.

Spinning

A beautiful coming-of-age graphic memoir by Tillie Walden. This comic made Tillie the youngest Eisner Award winner ever at age 22 and it is clear why. Her beautiful drawings of greyscale indigo and yellow are evocative and expressive of big feelings of joy and freedom, loneliness and emptiness, the fears and judgement from the world, late nights, early mornings. The pacing is wonderfully emotive. You can truly feel the addictive rush of euphoria from winning and the tiring repetitiveness of life. A story of her coming out, overcoming her fears, finding her voice, standing up for herself, and finding out about herself. Informative about the mystic world of ice skating behind the graceful glittery facade, relatable in the way it is hard to let go of something that brings you both joy and sadness.

Your Black Friend

A small press comic by Ben Passmore. ‘An open letter from your black friend to you about race, racism, friendship, and alienation.’ Just 11 pages long, but an amazing and important read nonetheless.

Searching up more works by Ben Passmore, I can confidently say I like his work a lot. He is a very contemporary comic artist, making short comics on important political issues. Thank you very much to Orbital Comics employee who recommended his works to me. ♡ I found his comic ‘Colony of a Colony‘ and I really like the way his research is so evident in the comic. It is short, but still touched upon the colonisation of Puerto Rico and how local communities are working to decolonise the island of Vieques. How an organisation of community-oriented ecological farms can give back to its community etc. It is the kind of comic that I would like to aspire to one day create.

Through finding out more about Ben Passmore, I found The Nib, a website that publishes political and non-fiction comics daily. It was established in 2013 and the comics published deal a lot with the race and political issues in the US and worldwide, feminism, etc. I wonder if perhaps I can pitch a comic there at some point. Also, if anyone else is interested, here’s a link for more information on how to pitch a comic to them. – insert link-

I conclude that I am now more curious about small press publications. The formats of such comics are very experimental and out there.

On a different note, as my research proposal from the last project was mostly inspired by a case of blackface in cosplay, as I’m struggling to find a topic to write about, the topic of racism in the cosplay community comes up once more. This time it was via a viral tweet from cosplayer @Vaelniel_ who posted pictures of her first cosplay ever. The character she wanted to portray was Nezuko from the anime Demon Slayer and her cosplay looked really good. In her tweet she stated that she was nervous about cosplaying due to fear of the rejection she would surely get for being a black woman cosplaying and sadly enough, while many praised her and her cosplay, many other people were being incredibly toxic, to the point where she made her account private. Comments stating that she made an OC (original character) even though she was cosplaying an established character, simply because of her skin colour, that black people can’t or shouldn’t cosplay light skinned characters, and that she should have cosplayed dark skinned characters instead (whatever their ethnicity might be as everyone who isn’t white or pale is the same anyway apparently). A white woman cosplaying the same character would likely not face the same criticisms, despite the character being Japanese. Recurring instances like these on the internet and in real life are the reason why it is important to highlight the issue of race in cosplay and perhaps even in the broader sense of race in fandom.

Pondering on fandom, I came to the conclusion why fandom is so important to me: it is an identity I choose for myself that can connect me to others. Rather than a label one is born with (race or ethnicity for instance) or assigned to by society (gender or sexuality), it is a label that we have practically complete control over. It is something to take pride in and connect people who might otherwise not be connected. Fandom to me is the broad sense of connectivity to others through shared interests in works created by other people or other people themselves, excluding religion (though in a technical sense, a religion could be considered a fandom as well). It always involves a third party (you, other fans, and ‘The Idol’ (someone/a group of others/a work by someone else)). In that sense I don’t really distinguish sports fans from fans of pop cultural media or music.

Not entirely sure where this is going….

Research

https://99designs.co.uk/blog/design-history-movements/history-of-comic-book-styles/

An interesting article on the change in the art and design of Western comic books over the years. And now the world…

https://www.vulture.com/article/100-most-influential-pages-comic-book-history.html

Posted on November 26, 2019February 27, 2020 by sawsomesas 0

22/11/19 – ‘Epic Fail’: A bout of sad and the beauty of the every day

I’ll be straight up honest here: the past 3 and a half weeks I’ve just been feeling sad and unmotivated and I’ve been crying nearly constantly. Partly it is due to stress of submissions and the consequent feeling of failure after not being able to deliver what I wanted to in the previous half of the course. Partly it is due to something so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and life, but something that affected me more than I could ever imagine, all just because of a K-pop idol I like and admire from a K-pop group that I realise is a bigger coping mechanism to me than I ever imagined they would be. Partly it is likely due to some form of SAD, seasonal affective disorder, deciding to screw up my life a bit more, as nearly every winter I experience a bout of melancholy at some point. Lately it has been because of my lack of a dream or personal goal for the future and the anxiety that comes with the feeling of being a failure and a disappointment.

I started writing this post yesterday, after a particularly hard bout of melancholy hit me. Coincidentally enough, today’s lecture was about failure. When we were asked to talk about a failure of ours I jokingly said that I myself was a failure and promptly started tearing up. I envy people with a dream a lot. I wish I had a personal passion bright enough to fuel my work towards said goal. Be it a practice I want to pursue or a topic I want to be the red thread weaving its way throughout my life, I just want to be able to hold onto something in this swirling chaos of uncertainty. Anything is better than nothing. Failing at achieving a goal is better than having no goal at all. I’m failing before I can even start failing. Is that not the ultimate failure?

I contemplated yesterday about this and have reached a metaphorical fork or wall in my thinking about life. Does life get meaning from the pursuit of a dream or does it get meaning at the end when looking back at reached achievements (however big or small said dreams or achievements are)? Is not having a goal in life bad in and of itself or is it merely bad because it is not supported by this capitalist rat race mentality we are supposed to have? Who or what am I supposedly failing by not having a dream? Is it myself? But how can I fail myself by not knowing what I want to do? Am I failing my parents? To a certain extent yes, but they have also expressed that most of all they want me to be able to live a life I want to live and be happy. (Getting a masters would be desirable however. :’)) Am I failing life itself? What is the purpose of a life if not to live it, but how does one live it fully? Who is the judge of my, or anyone’s, life?

I was considering how stories reflect our thinking about what a life is supposed to be. Is the media we consume (un)consciously telling us how to live a life? Are we meant to be the heroic main characters in our lives, resolving conflicts and building tension, living a three act structure, in the end winning or losing depending on what kind of epic story it is? Or is that same media a means of escape from a life that does not contain any of those? Our fascination with celebrities and millionaires, unordinary people living unordinary lives, my own love of K-pop idols. All that to distract us from a life that we might not consider to be worth as much as those other people’s lives. But just as I love these idols that are seemingly ‘perfect’, I most of all love seeing them doing ordinary things: eating food, playing games, making jokes, things found in the every day lives of people their age, showcasing that they are still just ordinary people. If I can appreciate the day to day of these other people, why not in my own life? I was reminded a movie I like a lot: Paterson by Jim Jarmusch. I initially just watched it because it stars Adam Driver and I quite liked Only Lovers Left Alive, another movie by Jarmusch, but watching the movie I found a serene beauty in it.

The movie shows a week in a bus driver’s life, a bus driver who also likes to write poetry. Initially I thought the movie would do something with the poetry, maybe make the publication of his poems the main issue in the movie and while it is mentioned in the film, my expectations were flipped on their head, as the movie didn’t follow that path and is indeed merely that: a week in his life. No three act structure, no conflict (or at most, his thinking about getting twins for kids), and most of all the main character, Paterson himself. He had no further ambitions aside from just living his life. He didn’t want his poetry to be more than just poems he writes for himself. He didn’t have big goals in life and is living a, in my opinion, fulfilled life with a beautiful wife and a stubborn little dog. It was such a refreshing movie in its simplicity and its depiction of the beauty of little every day things, something that also struck me in Only Lovers Left Alive (the scene of these centuries old vampires still being amazed by a simple mushroom). The mundane transforming into the sublime. A depiction of a life most people could relate to.

That also made me think of slice of life anime: a genre of anime that don’t really have a structure with an overarching arc, much conflict, etc. Instead, the genre focuses on the day to day events of a mundane life. It is however a genre that is quite popular. Could media like that be a means of escape from a life that is full of expectations to meet? Watching something about a life we can relate to? The popularity of vloggers, too, might be an indicator of the need for relatability in our media consumption. Can we sense a shift in media we consume and want to consume and more interestingly, is it an indicator in shifting perceptions of what living entails? A shift from watching something we cannot achieve, but want to, to watching something that can be achieved and feeling satisfied with it.

A currently airing anime that I started watching is Hoshiai no Sora/Stars Align. It is not what I would really call a slice of life anime, even though it is categorised as one on MAL. Rather it is a sports anime, more specifically a tennis anime. However, unlike most sports anime, which tend to focus on becoming the best and winning competitions, showcases a very mundane depiction of a high school sports club. Yes, they are working on winning a competition, but not for glory. Instead, it is merely so the club doesn’t end up having to disband. Most importantly, and most surprisingly, though, it depicts lives that aren’t picture perfect or how they are expected to be in a lighthearted sports anime, as all characters face difficulties in their lives, be it their family situation, anxiety, or bullying. A very mature, realistic, and important depiction of life. The soft ball tennis club thus shows the importance of having people around you that support you fully and are open and understanding and how together you can work to overcome such harrowing events. Needless to say, I highly recommend everyone to watch it!

In the end, there is no real point to this blog post other than just air my own feelings and consider what I want to do in life. As an ending message I just want to wish good luck to everyone pursuing their dreams, but to those who don’t have any like me, to take it easy and that life will surely figure itself out. While you might not see much progress in the day to day, after a long period of time, you’ll look back and see that you’ve grown. You are not a failure.

(Now if only I can listen to my own advise… 😅)

Posted on November 23, 2019 by sawsomesas 1

11/11/19 – Stage 2 Project 4 Brief

Today was the start of Stage 2 and Project 4: Investigation. The structure of Stage 2 seems very interesting and is I guess the real test to see if a Masters is something for you. It is much more self driven and directed, which is both exciting and dreadful to me.

The brief for Humanities is:

“Identify an area of investigation form your previous projects that you would like to explore through self-directed practice. Develop a folio of investigative writing (1500 words) exploring preparatory ideas that will lead to a finished piece in Project 5. The folio should contain a number of short texts that test out and develop a variety of approaches and include visual references/support work. For example, identify an area of art and design practice that fascinates you, or a particular topic of interest in art/design/cultural/political fields. Your task is to produce and extensive body of speculative writing that explores your concerns in a range of ways; this may include critiques, experimental prose, site writing, poetry, interviews, reviews, narratives, scripts, essays, or other modes of writing. Consider how your investigations could be supported by methods such as drawing, photography, derivés, games of chance, video…”
Project 4 brief, November 2019

The brief lines up with my wish to explore more different ways of writing, so that is awesome. Especially comic book writing with the last point of how the writing can be supported with images. Kyunghwa suggested during my Stage 1 feedback session with her that I research different types of comics (European, American, manga, etc.) and see how the writing in each differs from each other and how the writing is used in conjunction to drawings.

As for the topic of interest, the research proposal I wrote for the last project can be a helpful starting point to consider, but I’m not entirely sure if I want to commit to that topic. My indecision is killing me already. I’ll have to consider what topic I want to focus on.

Another part of Stage 2 is the essay on a contemporary practitioner in your field. I’ll have to find practitioners of interest, and find them soon and make a decision. If possible I’d like to finish the essay draft before Christmas…

Another point of consideration is my feedback for Stage 1. The main point is that I don’t really showcase any of my thinking and making progress, which is what I already knew would be the main crux of feedback. It is something I struggle with, as my own way of thinking and working things out happens a lot internally and then through spooky magic, something gets produced. I shall really make it a point to blog as much as possible from now on, despite how much I might struggle with it. I should also show my notebook more, no matter how self conscious I might feel about it. Also I should document my research better and use as many resources as I possibly can, as the RCA is full of them; from physical resourced like the library, to my peers and the tutors.

Lastly I just wanted to briefly something that struck me during Isabel’s presentation of her work. The work she presented were snippets of conceptual drawings from Architype (I believe), originally drawn in front of their client on a 12 meter long scroll. It was ’12 meters of ideas’ and it made me think about measuring things differently.

It made me think of the song ‘Seasons of Love‘ from the musical Rent talking about how to measure a life in time, coffee cups, love, etc.
Last week I considered the passing of time reflected in the growth of my own body: how 2,5 years is only 40 cm of hair growth, how 10 years is the time it takes for almost all cells in your whole body to replace themselves.
I’m not exactly sure what to do with it, but as it stuck out to me, it might be something worth considering maybe.

Overall, a lot on our plate to think about and do, but an exciting prospect nonetheless.

Posted on November 12, 2019 by sawsomesas 0

Reflection on Stage 1 (written on the 30th of October)

After practically passing out after submissions deadline and spending a whole day sleeping and lazing around in bed due to the sheer amount of exhaustion, I can finally start reorganising my thoughts in preparation of Stage 2 of the course.

Where to start though… Maybe at how the course is so different from what I expected it would be for me? Yes, that seems like an adequate start. It is indeed so different from what I expected I would gain from it, as I learned and grew so much more than I ever expected I would at the course. I am challenging my own notions of what writing entails and how to go about writing. There is still a lot of sitting in front of my laptop looking at my screen in hopes of inspiration to suddenly strike, but there is a lot more writing happening in my life now than ever before and I think I can get to like it. A lot.

(Not the blog however; it still stresses me out to even imagine posting almost every day. But that might be because I am too perfectionistic about presenting my writing and too self-conscious about presenting unfinished thoughts. I still want to post all the blog posts I haven’t uploaded yet, even if it is just to a: get rid of them and their weight on my mind, and b: not let any work go to complete waste. I will see if I get to actually do that at some point…)

Are there things I would have done differently now that I have hindsight at my back? Most definitely. Everything. But that is the beauty of hindsight. While at the moment the situation seemed like the end of the world and like I was at a total loss, hindsight shows me how I was on the right path all along (though maybe not quickly enough).

Things to take away to Stage 2:

I will not let it come to so much stress before the deadline ever again. I felt so defeated and like such a failure and there were moments where I wanted to give up, where I felt like I was nearing the closest I felt to a panic attack, where I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Not ever again.
To build off of the previous note: always work on something. Whenever I get stuck on something (likely the final outcome or when I’m working towards the final outcome), I should shift my energy and focus towards something else, be it blog posts, the portfolio, the blog, anything. I wasted a lot of time in the final project due to being stuck and not doing anything else but bang my head against a wall trying to come up with something for my final outcome due to sheer will.
Really, really, truly, truly post on my blog. And not save it to drafts only for them to rot away in purgatory.
On that note, make my blog a place I like. Personalise it. Make it work for me.
Spend 1 day or moment a week to reorganise my files, research, scan my notebook, etc. A tidy workspace, a tidy mind.
Book tutorials!!! (Especially ADAS tutorials) I probably could have done more and come up with things quicker if I booked a tutorial with someone. But my fear of showing up with nothing and being judged for it made me not want to book a tutorial. (‘Their time is better spent on someone who they can actually help. etc.’) In general, an issue I need to deal with, as I have a history of being unwilling to ask questions to teachers/tutors.
Experiment more. Get more outside of my comfort zone. Do more. Try out more things.

Now with that off my mind, I can welcome Stage 2 with open arms. ^ω^

Posted on November 12, 2019 by sawsomesas 0

Video Critique on ‘Lit’ by Oneus

The work I wanted to discuss is the music video for the song ‘Lit’ by Korean boy group Oneus. I wanted to challenge myself and move beyond a physical object and had thus chosen to critique a video instead.

This is the title song from Oneus’ third mini album, ‘Fly With Us’, from their ‘Us’ series that started in January with the group’s debut. The song and music video function as both a celebration of various aspects of traditional culture, especially those related to celebrations themselves, as well as a fun and ‘lit’ song for their fans called ToMoon.

As I am not Korean myself, it was incredibly interesting to learn just how big a variety of cultural traditions are depicted in the mv and found in the lyrics.There is no way I can explain it any better than David from DKDKTV on Youtube and I highly recommend anyone to check out the video.

It is amazing to see such a blend of modern and traditional culture, depicted throughout the lyrics, clothes, and the video itself. It is also wonderful to see a song that so fully celebrates Korean culture, especially as K-pop is now becoming evermore popular worldwide, but also evermore criticised for becoming Westernised. Predecessors of K-pop songs like this can be found most notably in BTS’ Idol.

It is also interesting to see if this harkening back to traditional cultures might become a bigger trend worldwide and what kind of impact it might have on young people and their perception of traditional customs. It is also interesting to see what K-pop songs like these might have on the perception international fans have of Korea. Especially for a group as new as Oneus, it was a bold move, but one I can really appreciate.

Posted on October 28, 2019 by sawsomesas 0

20/08/19 – Research trip to the Museum of London and the Barbican Centre

We just started a new project: ‘Navigators’. For this project we have to explore an aspect of the city in pairs. My partner is my fellow Humanities follower Nayana (https://neithernullnorvoid.home.blog) and I am excited to work together with someone doing the same thing I am supposed to do.

For the research trip we went to the Museum of London and the Barbican. I have never been to the Museum of London before, so that was exciting and interesting. The museum showcased the history of London and how the city has changed over time, from the Neolithic to the state of the city now (and even speculation of the future).

I didn’t really know where to start engaging with items at the museum for the project. There were many interesting artefacts and bits of history (the Great Fire of London I found highly interesting in particular), but I think I got a bit too overwhelmed with the project weighing heavily in the back of my mind. In the end I barely did any research that could contribute to the project. Going to the museum however made me realise just how much history London has and how much I don’t know. It also made me realise once more how much I love this city. I do feel like the museum could have gone more in depth into several important topics, like race and nationality. Of course, I do understand that discussions of topics like those might just very well not be possible in a museum meant to be accessible and for everyone, especially with a subject as large and complex as London.

After the museum we went to the remains of the city wall behind the museum. It was absolutely amazing and breathtaking to see so much history in one place from various ages tucked away in a quiet corner of London. London has many abrupt quiet corners where the city suddenly opens up and gives you space to breathe. I really loved that and the weather was a major plus point. Nayana and I then went to get lunch and after a long moment of indecision on both of our parts, we settled for some food from Leon. I did find a butcher and sandwich shop which I really want to check out later.

The Barbican was another beast altogether. I have only been there once before for the ‘AI More than Human’ exhibit (for the Manifesto project actually). The place is a confusing mess of brutalist architecture and contrasts. The boundary between public and private space was thin. While the Barbican Centre was open and visited by many people, there were areas that were completely devoid of life, which made me wonder if I was welcome or even allowed to be in there. I did love the water and plants outside especially the seated areas under water. (It vaguely reminded me of The Netherlands, that with it being below sea level :’))

We were advised to research the environment through writing many small things and do challenges like: write for 5 minutes, write only in short sentences, write only about the smells or sounds, etc. So we challenged ourselves to just write for 5 minutes straight in several locations around the building. Afterwards we compared our works. It is so interesting to see how the two of us work and think so differently, which just makes me more excited for what we could produce for this project. I really like Nayana’s way of thinking and writing. It feels more structured, clear and cohesive and smarter than my own. I think our different approaches could result in an interesting final outcome for this project.

I found writing these small pieces and writing in this manner so freeing, especially after the more structured academic writing we had to do for the Manifesto project. I don’t write like this usually; I mostly sit in front of my laptop and pray for beautiful words to appear on screen. Edit, re-edit, copy and paste, smashing my keyboard in frustration. Write the perfect sentence or be doomed. So, in that sense it was amazing to be able to just write without overthinking any of it. Below are the writings from my notebook, as well as a typed version (so it could actually be legible). I will also comment on them: what I felt worked, what I could explore, and learn from etc.

Barbican writings

Write what you observe, they say. Semi, quarter circles on the floor. Chopped up pieces trying to be whole. Ripples, like water droplets. Craters. Black holes. The walls are rough. The floor on the wall. Lines to cross the sea of wood. Pieces fragmenting into even more pieces. Or maybe becoming big. Becoming more whole, rather than smaller. Multi-coloured ceiling lights. Squares that lead me down a path. To the theatre. The floor, more inviting than the other axes. More comfortable. Sound of clash. Sounds that clash. Fragments of an exhibit I saw. A fan. The dragging of stuff. The jingle of chains.
The Barbican -1 floor.

This was the first bit I wrote at the Barbican. When we started, my eye immediately got drawn to the floor. The floor consists of small rectangle tiles of wood with beautiful rings creating a rippled effect. It was also interesting to see the contrast between the rough walls and ceiling and the beautiful floor. I also tried to write about other sensory input, but I feel like in the process I haven’t been able to properly convey the feeling I got in the space, as it was quite empty there. It is however really interesting how we both got drawn to different things, as Nayana got drawn to the use of orange and gold and the lighting, something I didn’t even really notice.

Frobisher Lift East, Frobisher Crescent, EC2
The sunlight casts light onto brownish reddish tiles. The air is cool. A hum of machinery. Open areas in a place seemingly cold and industrial create a contrast, like warm sunlight juxtaposed by cool air in the shade. High contrast situation. Customer communications. Words in fonts all different. Library floor VIP room for important, very important readers. Empty, yet alive. A giant curve making a corner. What is behind it? People behind glass. Away from me. I am alone. The walkway is quiet. The space in between is nothing and I am walking there.

I am not super happy with this writing, but I do see what I think I wanted to achieve towards the end of the piece. If I had more time, I would have made the piece about the space I was walking in acting as a weird no-mans land in-between places. A space where you exist, but also gives you the feeling that you cease to exist, as that is what I felt like walking there. (Or maybe I am just bad at handling eerily quiet spaces.)

The Barbican conservatory on the one hand does just that: conserve. Plants of various sizes reside in there. Yet, it gives me a feeling so dystopian. 'Without humans, we still live. We will live where you reside. We don't need you.' The plants seem to say that and it is true. This vision reminds me of a dystopian world I imagined, where London was covered in vines and trees. Beautiful, yet bleak for those who are Homo sapiens sapiens. The quiet of the corridor only accentuates this eeriness, yet when the silence got disturbed part of me wished for human annihilation, just to enjoy the peace of it all. But looking outside this conserved bubble, I see other buildings of glass conserving us. And I know we are here to stay. (Un)Fortunately.

Not much to say about this piece as it ended up being basically what I intended to write in the first place. I would have liked to elaborate a bit more and it also ended a bit abruptly, so I would have liked to add a bit more writing, but besides that I don’t really have any comments on this piece. It’s not super original, but perhaps alright.

How unfortunate that our field trip happened to be on the day my period started. The day has been alright overall, but a couple hours ago horrible cramps started and I've been suffering since. I took an ibuprofen, a rapid one even, and the pain still presides. Even sitting out in the sun I cannot feel as much joy as I would generally. The sun is just too bright. The breeze is just too cold. The sunlight is just too hot. I tire and I thirst and I just want something sweet and lie down in self-pity, even though I don't want to be like this at all. The Barbican is just too grey too orange too green too brick too concrete too quiet too busy too eccentric too brutalist too old too new. It is just a bit too much. Or maybe it is me that is too much. In fragments I can find joy and beauty everywhere. At least until the next cramps hit me.

For this piece I just wanted to complain about period cramps and hold a pity party for myself.

Final thoughts:

I wish we did the writing challenges we did at the Barbican at the Museum of London as well, as I am interested to see what I would have written about the pieces at the museum. I think I shall adopt this research method for any future outings and other things, as I really enjoyed doing this and to engage more with creative writing.

I learnt a lot from this exercise. It is a way to approach writing more intuitively and I will definitely experiment more with small challenges like these. It also makes me realise just how certain vocabulary gets stuck in my head and how I use and re-use words and phrases. Perhaps I need to start reading more again. :p

Posted on August 22, 2019 by sawsomesas 0

The Journey Begins

This is not the default WordPress sample post. I swear.

So, where do we start. First of all, hi. Welcome. Also apologies. I feel like my blog posts will be… of questionable quality, at least in the beginning.

This is the first time I will be keeping a blog (I don’t think my old Tumblr would count; I mostly just reblogged other people’s much better posts on there), so I feel like it will require quite a lot of back and forth with myself to find a layout I like, a style of writing and content I like, an upload schedule of sorts that I like, etc. In the mean time, please bear with me.

My thoughts on the course so far:

it’ll be intense and will require a lot of hard work;
my peers are really amazing artists and interesting people;
the tutors seem nice and interesting and knowledgeable as well;

I cannot help but feel a bit intimidated, but most of all I am excited to challenge myself and broaden my horizons, expand on my knowledge, and grow as a person.

So in the spirit of personal growth, let’s have a starting point as reference. The starting point will be my Pecha Kucha from last Friday. (It might also have been suggested the Pecha Kucha be posted on the blog…) My Pecha Kucha did not contain a lot of personal work, mostly as I do not have a lot of work that I am proud of or can reflect the person that I am or want to become or even my interests. Because of that, I am curious to see how different I will be at the end of the course and how a Pecha Kucha that I were to make then would compare to the one I made now.