Charissa Cotrill's Blog, page 68
June 11, 2013
heatherbat:
vegannvagina:
my-infinite-catharsis:
pajamaprodigy...
Unfortunately true.
It’s a bit unfair to compare something life threatening to something not immediately life threatening.
Also, psychiatric care is really just a nice way of saying, “mind-altering drugs”.
Not life threatening? You’ve clearly never experienced or known someone with a severe mental illness. Up to 90% of people who commit suicide have a mental illness.
Eating disorders, mood disorders, anxiety and self harm have many life threatening effects on the body, e.g. malnutrition, gastrointestinal complications, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, risk of wounds becoming infected, nerve damage. People struggling to get the mental health care they need find themselves in ER’s, jail cells and psychiatric hospitals for their immediate safety.
The risk of this can be minimised with proper treatment, which can consist of medication but also includes psychotherapy, occupational and social work, emergency care and other treatments as appropriate for each patient.
Kidney patients can be kept alive on dialysis for years while awaiting a transplant.
Also, your “mind-altering drugs”? These are part of why I can go to school, have an internship, maintain friendships, and be a reasonably responsible family member. Meds are a complement to therapy and make it work better. Honestly, if I were not taking prescribed medication, I would probably be taking some “mind-altering drugs” that had worse side effects than dry mouth.
Mental illness is in part both caused and reflected by physical/chemical disturbances in the brain. In physical illness, medication is often used to aleviate symptoms or address causes. Psychotropic drugs do the same thing. They are a medical response to a medical problem.
People need to stop thinking mental illness isn’t serious
They also need to stop thinking psychiatric drugs are all useless.
what the actual fuck is wrong with psychiatric meds being “mind-altering”???
when i am unmedicated, my mind tells me i cannot leave the house or i will die, that i should lay on the floor for days on end and not eat, that i should hurt myself and/or others.
WHY WOULD ANYONE NOT WANT THAT TO BE ALTERED.
PLEASE ALTER MY MIND. IT IS WRONG ON ITS OWN.
June 7, 2013
tehchou:
kakareen-is-sonya:
random-nexus:
docspocklock:
galli...
“I was thinking about the word handle, and all the unholdable things that get handled.” - The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
“I was thinking about the word handle, and all the unholdable things that get handled.” - The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
{[I fuckign shit you not, that was the book I had nearby too.]}
((“She bucked her hind legs and a batch of juicy apples came tumbling down into a basket.” - Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, G.M. Berrow
That is an awkward metaphor.))
((Everyone said so. The Wolf Gift, Anne Rice
I will just let my reputation speak for itself.))
no but you don’t understand the nearest book on hand for me is The Fanny Farmer Cookbook sitting on my bookshelf and
“PIPE: to squeeze a soft (but not runny) smooth food through a pastry tube in order to make decorative shapes or a border.”
screams
i’m not in my bedroom for some reason
“Keep your eyes on Me!”
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young
“I was thinking about the word handle, and all the unholdable things that get handled.” - The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
“He fell silent and stared at the ceiling” - Eragon Christopher Paolini
“The inside of the elevator was mirrored, and he stared at himself as he went up.” - Neverwhere Neil Gaiman
(They were equal distance)
“‘The court found him insane.’”- Hannibal by Thomas Harris
“Clearly such a blow must have been struck from behind.” - The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ((Ahem. Clearly I am into the kinkier side of Oral. *wanders off giggling*))
When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book, and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
-Don’t Forget! Easy Exercises for a Better Memory, by Danielle C. Lapp
…I have no clue how to interpret that.
城中有湖，这在中国，在世界上，都是不多的。Inside the city is a lake, this is in china, in the world, they are not many.
-发展汉语 Developing Chinese, Intermediate Reading Course
“Man in black.” — This Book Is Full Of Spiders
Uh.
June 5, 2013
geneticist:
Aqua regia, literally meaning “King’s water”, is a...
Aqua regia, literally meaning “King’s water”, is a highly corrosive mixture of acids; it is the only mixture of acids that can dissolve gold.
Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the nobel prizes of his peers in aqua regia during the German invasion of Denmark in WWII to prevent Nazis from looting the prizes. He placed the liquid solution of gold and aqua regia in plain sight where it was overlooked. After the war had ended, de Hevesy returned to precipitate the gold out of the mixture. He then returned the gold back to the Nobel Foundation where it was then cast back into its original shape. (img)
June 3, 2013
inventrix:
romancingthelanguages:
“Shit It’s raining”
and...
“Shit It’s raining”
and it’s bright yellow
I want it
http://www.raindropsto.com/merde-il-pleut-umbrella
YOU’RE WELCOME
Y’all I was making strawberry rhubarb pie filling and for...
Y’all I was making strawberry rhubarb pie filling and for kicks put it on vanilla ice cream instead of in a crust and OH MY GOD, FUCK CRUST, THIS IS PERFECT
khawlabentalazwaar:
ravefromthegrave:
daily reminder not to reblog missing people posts unless you...
ravefromthegrave:
daily reminder not to reblog missing people posts unless you...
neil-gaiman:
nerdykittenpants:
Today Neil Gaiman re-awoke my...
Today Neil Gaiman re-awoke my artistic heart.
He spoke at Book Expo America about his two new books that are coming out (Fortunately, The Milk & The Ocean at the end of the Lane) and “Why Fiction is Dangerous. Much of the talk was anecdotal about his reasons behind writing the books.
Eloquent as always he described feeling guilty about The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. The plot of the book centers on how a little boy thought his father was boring and traded him away only to find out getting him back wouldn’t be so easy. The book became very popular and people began giving it to fathers as presents. Gaiman felt this was giving fathers the wrong message and wanted to write a book that made dads proud. Writing tidbits of story here and there he eventually came up with Fortunately, The Milk, the story of a father who had a very trying time buying milk (including being kidnapped by aliens and pirates)
Neil also discussed The Ocean at the end of the Lane. It was sparked by a story that Neil’s father told him of when he was a 7 year old boy. A lodger from South Africa came to stay with them at the time and had smuggled all of his friends money out of the country for them since it had been illegal at the time. He made the mistake of taking all of the money to Brighton and losing at a casino there. The man was so distraught he stole Neil’s father’s car, drove it to the end of the lane, and shot himself. This story bothered him. The question of how things change from childhood memories and how much we forget or misremember evolved into a short story. He continued to write and after a while he looked down at his short story and discovered it was a novelette; then novella. Eventually it grew to novel length and he sent it along to his editor with the note: “I appear to have written a novel. I hope you don’t mind.”
The real heart of the discussion was “Why is Fiction Dangerous”. Neil gave us a few humorous stories about being a child and being influenced by nonfiction books to do projects that would eventually get him in trouble. (such as using beet root to dye all of his father’s white shirts red) But that is why non-fiction is dangerous. Fiction is dangerous because “It shows people that the world doesn’t have to be like it is now.” He told a story about going to a science-fiction convention in China. Previously China had been very disapproving of science fiction and fantasy; saying that it was subversive. Neil asked one of the show runners why they had decided to suddenly promote science fiction. The man replied that China is very good at making things. People bring them things like iPods and phones and they MAKE them, but they don’t innovate. They don’t invent. they sent people to America and asked some of the big tech companies questions to find out where their inspiration came from. They found that almost everyone across the board read sci-fi and fantasy growing up. Thus if China was to promote more growth in that area they would have to embrace these types of fiction. Encouraging people to read fiction allows us to dream of worlds to come and grow beyond what we have already.
The discussion closed with a question and answer period and this was where I really felt moved. Neil talked about inspiration, rejection, trials and errors, and everything in between.I often get sidetracked and disheartened about my writing and art. I worry about how to start, how to finish, how it will be received and where to go from there. Neil voiced his own parallel feelings. This from a man who has been writing his whole life and has achieved a large amount of success. Every time I hear Neil talk he inspires me once again. I had been going through a rough patch in my work lately. I have plenty of work to do (some of it paying even) and a whole lot of self doubt which was holding me back. After today’s talk it made me very aware that I hold myself back. I tell myself I am not good enough before I even try to do anything.It is something I have heard many artists and writers say and we need to STOP IT. Just do. Whatever you want to do just do it. If you make a mistake let it be a learning experience and not a boat anchor. Don’t let your doubts weigh you down.
At the end of the talk he gave everyone copies of Fortunately, The Milk & Make Good Art. If you are someone who creates ANYTHING and haven’t read Make Good Art, you are doing yourself a disservice. It is a wonderful book and I think I will have to make a giant poster of it to put over my workspace. This way I always remember to be inspired and leave the negative feelings about my work at the door.
Thank you Neil, for understanding and putting into words what every artist needs to hear.
Saturday morning…
neil-gaiman:
kellysue:
I’ve got three things I’ve got to get...
I’ve got three things I’ve got to get turned in today, two kids to get fed and dressed and a bag to pack and a flight to catch, so I can’t respond to this the way I’d like, but I’m putting it here so I don’t forget.
I also need to let my temper subside a bit. If I were to reply right now I’d resort to name-calling and insults and we all know there’s no ground to be gained there.
Instead, when I’m not shaking anymore, I’ll recount my career trajectory AGAIN. [Magazine writer/research assistant—>comic reviewer—>7 years /10K+ pages adapting manga into English—>anthology shorts—>co-writing gigs—>one-shots—>minis—->ongoings]
Maybe I’ll get Alejandro Arbona to attest—AGAIN!—that I was blind-submitted for my first gig at Marvel. I’ll offer that if you’re looking for Men to Credit for My Career, you should look first to Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Peter Rose, Steve Niles and Jamie Rich — all of whom were responsible for making introductions or getting me chances to submit my work well before Matt Fraction had any pull in the industry. (I’ll also state in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t sleeping with any of those men, because I know, dear Anon, that is your next assumption.) Or Brian Bendis, who had championed my work in a way I will never be able to adequately thank him for. (Ditto Steve Wacker.)
(Also not sleeping with Brian or Steve, just so we’re clear.)
Maybe I’ll ponder why it isn’t Fraction who’s considered to have benefited from nepotism. After all, more than 10 years ago now, Matt Fraction was my plus one to Joe Quesada’s 40th birthday party and it was me who sent copies of Last of the Independents to Joe and Axel. I mean, clearly, it was those gestures that got Fraction his career — certainly not the merit of his work, right? I mean, come on — those Hawkeye Eisner noms are part mine, right?
(I can’t imagine how sick Fraction must be of hearing me tell that story. But I bet it’s not half as sick of it as I am.)
(The first person I met in the industry was Wil Rosado. Through him, the first editors I met were Andy Ball, who’s since moved on, and Joey Cavalieri. Just in case anybody wants to make a chart. This would be… maybe 4 years before I met Fraction, Gillen, Ellis, McKelvie et al on the WEF.)
Okay, deep breath.
Bendis is going to tell me that I shouldn’t acknowledge this, that I’m feeling trolls, but here’s the pickle: people deny that this happens. We’re told that the insults to our dignity working women face are in our imagination, that it’s a thing of sexy Mad Men past. It’s WOMEN who make this a thing, right? (Hysterical, don’t you know.) We’re to the point where I meet young women who won’t identify as feminists because the struggle is over and it’s only a thing if you make it one.
Bullshit.
It’s not a natural assumption to leap to the conclusion that I got my job because of my marriage. It’s the product of deeply-ingrained sexist thinking. I can name for you a half a dozen men who did, in fact, get their first big two gigs because of who they knew and their dignity and their qualifications have never been called into question. I’m lucky if I go a week.
I was recently directed to a post on a snake pit of a message board (what was I thinking, even going to look?) by a man I’d known as long as I’d known my husband, a man I’d met at the same time—a man who had felt free to ask professional favors of me on multiple occasions—who was lamenting how “easily” I’d gotten to where I was because of Fraction. When friends of mine pointed him to my CV, he half-apologized because he had no idea. Apparently he thought Marvel—a publicly-owned company—was in the habit of handing out gigs to freelancer’s wives just for kicks. Then he threw up the bit about it being a natural assumption.
I would say simply ‘fuck that guy’ and chalk it up to his not being half as smart as he thinks he is, but here’s the thing:
That guy has daughters.
For them, and for my daughter and for your daughter, I am going to occasionally shine a light on these things… even though it both enrages and embarrasses me.
I don’t know if it’s the right call, but I know that ‘ignore it and it’ll go away’ isn’t working.
I need to figure out a way to contain my outrage enough to talk about it in a way that doesn’t attack, but invites dudes like Anon to rethink their ‘natural assumptions’ without setting myself up as an uppity bitch that they’re invested in proving wrong.
I… I clearly don’t know how to do that right now. But I’m going to figure it out.
Later.
Right now, the kids need breakfast and my son has questions about the xenomorph that can’t wait another second.
I’m out.
This is the way to get work: be bright and be smart and be reliable and be nice and be competent.
(remember this?
That’s her.)
If I remember correctly, Kelly Sue turned up at a signing in about 1996 and asked if I needed an assistant, and gave me her email address. I didn’t, I already had one, but she’d seemed really nice and smart, and I wrote back to her telling her I didn’t need an assistant and wishing her well. And we stayed in touch. She wrote interesting emails, of the kind that you reply to, and sometimes she needed help or advice and I was always happy to give it. I think we got together once, socially, in late ‘98, and I was always sorry that it was just that once.
If I did any good to her career, other than being encouraging over the years, and being really thrilled whenever anything she did was successful (including getting married and having kids while writing good comics), I don’t know what it was. I liked being her cheerleader and I’ve enjoyed being her friend. For as long as I’ve been watching, she did it all herself.
There are married couples in comics, often brought together by a mutual interest in comics in the first place.
And there is a crippling sort of social sexism that sees women as peculiar appendages of their men.
It’s sad to see Kelly Sue having to defend herself. It’s reassuring to see her do it so well.
And I’m reblogging for all the people, especially the male people, who never gave any of this stuff a moment’s thought, so that next time something like this creeps across their radar they’re a little bit wiser, a little bit more prepared.
lustyloveylady:
what a beautiful powerful human being
I will...
what a beautiful powerful human being
I will always reblog this when it comes up on my dash
Ugh, and it’s even worse when you get this kind of line from a crisis councilor. Trust me on this one… don’t call Mutual of Omaha’s counciling line for advice if you can avoid it, or if you do, for fuckssake don’t tell them you’ve been assaulted or you’ll get lectured.
