Rob Osterman's Blog, page 3
April 27, 2013
Weekly Omens 4/27/13
It's amazing how fast a week can shoot past you when you're worried about getting everything done by Friday. You keep thinking "I'll have time tomorrow to get it done" and then all of a sudden you're at the end of the week going "How did I not get time to get that done?"
On Mind the Thorns:
Speaking of getting it done: A new chapter is posted.
Sadly, the poll seems to be broken and votes appear to be vanishing out of it. As of Wednesday there were two votes, now there are none. It's making me wonder what's up there, and if I should be using an external polling plug-in, or requiring votes to be in the comments section.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
To set up the next chapter we get a flash forward and see what Gunny has to say about what it was like to get the first real instructions after the beginning of the end of days. It was a lot of fun to write and as always my actresses deliver a top performance.
If you're a regular follower (and why wouldn't you be?) please note that we are going on a one week hiatus so my fact checkers have some time to review the chapter for military procedural errors.
On Fictional Omens
I took some time to muse on my role as an author in communicating politics and the like. I found myself writing my own views on gun control into my characters and I took a few minutes this week to reflect on whether or not that's really fair.
At home:
We wrapped up the Walking Dead and moved on to Mad Men. It's starting off very dour but maybe that's how the show just is and I let myself forget. I also put in an order for white hair dye so I can cosplay Hershel at an upcoming Comic-Con. That should be fun.
And.... your weekly video:
We went bowling. I took videos. Wackiness ensues.
On Mind the Thorns:
Speaking of getting it done: A new chapter is posted.
Sadly, the poll seems to be broken and votes appear to be vanishing out of it. As of Wednesday there were two votes, now there are none. It's making me wonder what's up there, and if I should be using an external polling plug-in, or requiring votes to be in the comments section.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
To set up the next chapter we get a flash forward and see what Gunny has to say about what it was like to get the first real instructions after the beginning of the end of days. It was a lot of fun to write and as always my actresses deliver a top performance.
If you're a regular follower (and why wouldn't you be?) please note that we are going on a one week hiatus so my fact checkers have some time to review the chapter for military procedural errors.
On Fictional Omens
I took some time to muse on my role as an author in communicating politics and the like. I found myself writing my own views on gun control into my characters and I took a few minutes this week to reflect on whether or not that's really fair.
At home:
We wrapped up the Walking Dead and moved on to Mad Men. It's starting off very dour but maybe that's how the show just is and I let myself forget. I also put in an order for white hair dye so I can cosplay Hershel at an upcoming Comic-Con. That should be fun.
And.... your weekly video:
We went bowling. I took videos. Wackiness ensues.
April 23, 2013
Guns, Politics, and Writing
Image Courtesy Raw DataAs much as I have political opinions, I've always been leery of sharing them here because: A) I don't want to risk alienating possible fans (customers), B) I've got other venues to share them, and C) I really want to focus on my writing, methods, inside scoops and the like.Once in a while these paths converge and they do so in an odd way allowing me the excuse to talk a little politics as well as talking about the writing process.
I'd been meaning to post this for a few weeks now, pretty much since I posted Chapter 11 over on Bastion, the one that focuses on the teen-aged daughter of a rugged suburban survivalist. I did not entirely mean to get preachy in there but I realized that the more I re-read the chapter the more I had essentially worked in my own political views into the character's mind set.
Then this week, I learned of a related tragedy.
A three year old lost his life as he and his sister, aged 7, played with a pink handgun that they presumably thought was a toy. It tragically was not.
The United States has an incredibly unique relationship with guns. They are part of our national heritage, but not in ways that most people recognize. Data from the time of the revolution shows that image of the common man with his musket hanging over the door was more of an anomaly than the norm. Yet that image persists and influences our discussion today about guns.
While I could wax all manner of preachy about who should have what guns for what purposes, I'm going to shy away from that conversation. I've got my thoughts, though I suppose linking the story about the pink gun tragedy may tip my hand slightly, and instead I want to focus on my writing and what I realized I had done after the fact.
So if I can pull an excerpt from Chapter 11 on Bastion: The Last Hope:
“I said ‘take a gun’, dammit. I’m not going to try to keep you here but if you’re going out, you’re going out like you mean business. So march yourself over to the armory, and take a goddamn gun.”
“Dad,” she started to protest. It was not that she did not know how to use a firearm. He had been taking her to the range since she was old enough to handle a pistol. Nor was she particularly reluctant to use one. Guns were like any other tool, appropriate for the specific task of killing something, generally something that wished her harm. But if there really had been clouds of death sweeping through the greater Chicago area, who was left to threaten her and would they really be lurking along some sleepy suburban street in Sugar Grove?Additional emphasis mine.
Well the whole passage is mine but you get my point.
I've always argued that when the gun control issues have come up, specifically that guns only serve one purpose: Killing Things. They're not intended to intimidate (though they can through reputation), and they're not strictly for comfort (though it can be comforting to know you have them). At the end of the day they are for killing things.
And that was the exact attitude that I wrote into Angel, and by proxy her father, and I rather intend to continue in my writing.
It is not my intent to sway people politically. My opinions on how many bullets a magazine should have, or if we should cap the number of rounds per minute a hand gun can manage aren't really relevant to any story I'm telling. But what is relevant is the purpose my characters have for guns.
They have guns to kill things.
Contrast that to the cartoon I watched growing up, labeled as "educational" thanks to the little PSA at the end: GI Joe. Thousands of rounds of ammunition were fired off, and the worst that happened was that something blew up near someone and they were thrown to the ground to be captured later. That might make for good cartoon TV but it kind of flies in the face of reality. Sure a solider may expend a lot more rounds than he hits with, but he's usually not ~trying~ to miss.
He's trying to shoot someone.
I know that Bastion (and Mind the Thorns) are going to be violent stories at times. Bastion is about resisting efforts by aliens to drive mankind into extinction. We kind of have to shoot back. But as the writer I also bear sole responsibility for the style of violence I write into that world. It is my task to craft a tale that is engaging but also honest. And that is my ultimate goal.
April 21, 2013
Weekly Omens 4/21/13
At work I've started Flipping my classroom. That means that I send the students home with a list of videos to watch, and then when they walk in the next day we start right in on the "You Try" variety of problems. It gets rid of the 30 minutes of silent note taking and moves that part of the class home. That means that I need to plan my work days ahead of time and it's incredibly labor intensive on my end. I've barely had time to breathe, let alone write and I'm seriously considering some hiatus time until I figure out my personal schedule.
On Mind the Thorns:
When this post is up I'm off to write the next update which will go live tonight.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
A new plot thread is started as we meet members of Action Team Easy, specifically Spice, the demolitions expert, Colt, the hothead, Probie, the rookie, and Sid, the new XO.
On Fictional Omens
I took some time to reflect on the fact that it's a little easier to write for Bastion than it is Mind the Thorns and I was promptly schooled by my fans for not updating Thorns more often.
At home:
Strep Throat for Kaylee and a case of being 5 for Xander. Yep. Tons o' fun.
And.... your weekly video:
There is nothing this man can't do. And what he does do, he does with all his soul:
Weekly Omens 3/21/13
At work I've started Flipping my classroom. That means that I send the students home with a list of videos to watch, and then when they walk in the next day we start right in on the "You Try" variety of problems. It gets rid of the 30 minutes of silent note taking and moves that part of the class home. That means that I need to plan my work days ahead of time and it's incredibly labor intensive on my end. I've barely had time to breathe, let alone write and I'm seriously considering some hiatus time until I figure out my personal schedule.
On Mind the Thorns:
When this post is up I'm off to write the next update which will go live tonight.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
A new plot thread is started as we meet members of Action Team Easy, specifically Spice, the demolitions expert, Colt, the hothead, Probie, the rookie, and Sid, the new XO.
On Fictional Omens
I took some time to reflect on the fact that it's a little easier to write for Bastion than it is Mind the Thorns and I was promptly schooled by my fans for not updating Thorns more often.
At home:
Strep Throat for Kaylee and a case of being 5 for Xander. Yep. Tons o' fun.
And.... your weekly video:
There is nothing this man can't do. And what he does do, he does with all his soul:
April 17, 2013
Bastion vs Thorns: Why Bastion is Winning
Well it finally happened, and I feel like I've somewhat arrived:I got a complaint that I haven't updated Mind the Thorns.
That tells me a lot of things. First it says that someone is actually reading it. That rocks. Second it says that someone reads it and cares enough to want to know what happens next. That also rocks. Lastly it means that not only do they want to know what happens, they also are willing to go out there and ~ask~ for more of it.
I really need to work on it.
However, since the launch of Bastion, it has only missed one update for Spring Break and is currently on pace to keep going without interruption. The real issue is: Why?
When Mind the Thorns launched, it was my only web fiction, and I was not working on anything but my writing. I had the kind of time to sit down every Friday and pound at the keys for five to six hours, nonstop to create the next chapter. This meant I was able to keep a schedule of posting a chapter on Sunday, having an open poll for four days, and then spend the fifth day on the first draft of the next chapter. I had two days to revise and then post.
When the school year started and my Summer of Free Write was over, I realized quickly that I just could not keep up that pace. I wanted to, but it was not going to happen, not without sacrificing other things in my life.
Already I was behind the eight ball.
As I shifted in an every other week mind set I realized something else: I could probably do a chapter every week if I had a chance to work ahead when things were slow and then catch up later. In short I could do it, as long as I had a buffer, which I am lucky to have with Bastion.
And that's the first big difference with Bastion that sets it apart from Mind the Thorns. When I have creative inspiration I can write two or three chapters of content and have them ready and waiting to post. I know where the story is going and I can plan accordingly. And if a chapter is not gelling in word as it does in my mind it's not hard to simply push it aside for more stories that do gel as I write them.
Mind the Thorns, on the other hand, has been an affair of uncertainty. I have my rough outline but I can't start writing the next chapter until the polls close and I know just what the readers want me to do. And what in turn does, is sap my momentum. I also takes away the little things that keep the writing going.
As Bastion rolls along I may write two chapters out, but I also plan out eight. I have my outline of each chapter and what themes I want to hit on, which POV's I want to cycle through, and I can constantly be tweeking that schedule. It means when I get fifteen, twenty free minutes I have the chance to do something related to the project. For Mind the Thorns I don't have that micro investment.
And while I love my beta readers for Mind the Thorns, the project team for Bastion is simply bigger. If I don't have an update ready to push up, I am forced to push back the contributions of others. I feel a much stronger need to keep posting and keep providing content both for the general audience but also for my team of actors and actresses that have volunteered their time and energy to help make Bastion the unique Web Fiction experience it is.
I would like to blame it on the genre, that Alien Apocalypse is more interesting. That's not the case. I love the story of Regan and her quest for answers about her own undeath. I think it's a very compelling vampire story. I think Bastion is equally interesting and complex in its own way. So please, dear reader, do not think it is because I love one of my children more than the other.
Then there is a final, personal factor. At work I've embarked on a new style of teaching and it is proving to be a massive drain on my creative energies. Rather than having an hour every few days to myself, I'm working until I absolutely have to leave, and then coming home and working more. By the time I've sat down at the computer the last two weeks, I'm too tired to do much more than shoot aliens in someone else's story, rather than generate prose about the shooting of aliens in my own.
I do hope that things change soon and that my time becomes my own again. I miss Regan and I know she misses me. But so do Gunny, Al, Angel, and a few so far unnamed characters.
I really want to thank everyone for their support and offer my assurances that these stories will continue.
April 12, 2013
Weekly Omens 4/12/13
This week has been a curious one, with some odd bits of closure on certain fronts. I'll do a dedicated post on it in the near future, but in the short term I'm more or less letting FantastiCon go where it will without a lot more dedicated promotion. I have a lot of other awesome (and I think better) projects running and the fatigue of putting FantasiCon out there just isn't worth the returns. Speaking of those other projects....
On Mind the Thorns:
Yes yes... over due. Yes yes... we want to see that dress.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
Bastion returns from Spring Break with this video clip showing the mission briefing for Action Team Easy. We haven't met the team yet, but we do know that they are shipping out to some point we've seen before.
On Fictional Omens
Things have been nutty crazy at work so I went to the archives again to pull out a post on what the world might be like once we get rid of the Terms "gay" and "lesbian" and we simply treat all relationships as just "relationships".
At home:
Redwings game. Overtime. Shoot out! ANNNNNNNDDDDD...... we lost.
Then, because we didn't get into the stadium garage and I didn't know where else to park, we walked about a mile along the Detroit River, in the rain, back to the car. Cold. It was a rough way to end the night. Sure I felt invigorated by the time we reached the car, but after the hour drive home, we were all ready to crash, and crash hard.
And.... your weekly video:
This is just a haunting rendition, and personally I like the lady's voices.
On Mind the Thorns:
Yes yes... over due. Yes yes... we want to see that dress.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
Bastion returns from Spring Break with this video clip showing the mission briefing for Action Team Easy. We haven't met the team yet, but we do know that they are shipping out to some point we've seen before.
On Fictional Omens
Things have been nutty crazy at work so I went to the archives again to pull out a post on what the world might be like once we get rid of the Terms "gay" and "lesbian" and we simply treat all relationships as just "relationships".
At home:
Redwings game. Overtime. Shoot out! ANNNNNNNDDDDD...... we lost.
Then, because we didn't get into the stadium garage and I didn't know where else to park, we walked about a mile along the Detroit River, in the rain, back to the car. Cold. It was a rough way to end the night. Sure I felt invigorated by the time we reached the car, but after the hour drive home, we were all ready to crash, and crash hard.
And.... your weekly video:
This is just a haunting rendition, and personally I like the lady's voices.
April 9, 2013
Repost: These are Terms that Do Not Exist
This is a repost from last year. After watching the dust up over Gay Marriage in the Supreme Court and having read more than a few blogs discussing it, I thought it was worth sharing again:
Lately I've been playing a lot of Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's scratching a lot of itches for me. It's a solid WoW-Clone MMO with all the features you'd expect and a solid, reliable, and recognizable interface. The story is top notch and if you play a Sith you get to have a rocking British Accent. Unless you're undercover in which case you're supposed to sound like you're from the American Midwest. Personally, I'd like to find that planet where you sound like you're from Boston*.
At any rate, I was looking up stuff on line related to a recent twist with my newbie operative when I came across a fascinating quote:
Bioware, of course, has since apologized. Many times over. After all this was back in 2009 and by
Internet standards on the same page practically pre-historic. It probably still apologizes when it comes up. The truth is that in our reality those terms do exist and the people who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, do exist. Such a dismissal was callous and a public relations Charlie Foxtrot.
But it got me thinking about the greater concept there. Strip away the situation of a frustrated forum moderator shutting down conversation and look at the basic concept:
We don't look at married friends (who happen to be opposite genders) and say "Wow, they've got a great straight marriage". No. We simply say "They've got a great marriage." In an ideal world the term "gay" never comes into play since the use of the word denotes "other". You have a "boyfriend" and you have a "gay boyfriend". You have a "lover" and you have a "lesbian lover".
As I'm oft to note, dear reader, I am in the process of building a world, one nation-state at a time. I have the freedom to make my Royal Commonwealth of Worlds how ever I like, to be whatever level of Utopia I wish it to be. I can make it homophobic, homo-accepting or simply gender-not-interested.
I did this to a degree in FantastiCon. Two of my three main characters hint at same sex relationships but never are the words "gay" or "lesbian" used. I presented, I think, an idealize view of sexuality even though the book is set in "the real world". In fact upon first read-through, my mother in law looked at me and asked "Is that she supposed to be gay?" I shrugged it off and said "I guess. I simply wrote her as having a romantic option and didn't worry about gender typing."
So upon reflection, I believe that in my Commonwealth, I can unapologetically say that the terms Gay and Lesbian won't exist either. Perhaps they will for the New Terran Confederacy, or the Empire of the Red Nova. Surely among some of the Union of Independent Worlds there will be some that are radically homophobic and some that are strictly homosexual. Why not?
But no, I think that while I am trying to avoid the total Utopia that some series go for, I will have this: One where we judge not on the gender of a partner but on the quality of the relationship.
* As most Star Wars fans will know, John Ratzenberger plays the role of Major Bren Derlin who has the singular line telling all of the assembled crew on Hoth to get to their ships. It's hard not to hear that line as having a touch of Bostonian drawl, more so when you know the actor who provides it.
Lately I've been playing a lot of Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's scratching a lot of itches for me. It's a solid WoW-Clone MMO with all the features you'd expect and a solid, reliable, and recognizable interface. The story is top notch and if you play a Sith you get to have a rocking British Accent. Unless you're undercover in which case you're supposed to sound like you're from the American Midwest. Personally, I'd like to find that planet where you sound like you're from Boston*.
At any rate, I was looking up stuff on line related to a recent twist with my newbie operative when I came across a fascinating quote:
After a user expressed concern that Bioware had "disallowed" the use of the terms "gay" and "lesbian" on the boards in a thread titled "GLBT discrimination in forums?" a Bioware forum moderator dropped in and posted this:
As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.
Thread closed.
Bioware, of course, has since apologized. Many times over. After all this was back in 2009 and by
Internet standards on the same page practically pre-historic. It probably still apologizes when it comes up. The truth is that in our reality those terms do exist and the people who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, do exist. Such a dismissal was callous and a public relations Charlie Foxtrot.
But it got me thinking about the greater concept there. Strip away the situation of a frustrated forum moderator shutting down conversation and look at the basic concept:
The terms "Gay" and "Lesbian" do not exist.What's important to note is that it doesn't say that same sex relationships do not exist, that gay people do not exist. Only that the terms do not. That implies a world where loving someone of the same gender is not seen as something that requires a label to describe it other than "love".
We don't look at married friends (who happen to be opposite genders) and say "Wow, they've got a great straight marriage". No. We simply say "They've got a great marriage." In an ideal world the term "gay" never comes into play since the use of the word denotes "other". You have a "boyfriend" and you have a "gay boyfriend". You have a "lover" and you have a "lesbian lover".
As I'm oft to note, dear reader, I am in the process of building a world, one nation-state at a time. I have the freedom to make my Royal Commonwealth of Worlds how ever I like, to be whatever level of Utopia I wish it to be. I can make it homophobic, homo-accepting or simply gender-not-interested.
I did this to a degree in FantastiCon. Two of my three main characters hint at same sex relationships but never are the words "gay" or "lesbian" used. I presented, I think, an idealize view of sexuality even though the book is set in "the real world". In fact upon first read-through, my mother in law looked at me and asked "Is that she supposed to be gay?" I shrugged it off and said "I guess. I simply wrote her as having a romantic option and didn't worry about gender typing."
So upon reflection, I believe that in my Commonwealth, I can unapologetically say that the terms Gay and Lesbian won't exist either. Perhaps they will for the New Terran Confederacy, or the Empire of the Red Nova. Surely among some of the Union of Independent Worlds there will be some that are radically homophobic and some that are strictly homosexual. Why not?
But no, I think that while I am trying to avoid the total Utopia that some series go for, I will have this: One where we judge not on the gender of a partner but on the quality of the relationship.
* As most Star Wars fans will know, John Ratzenberger plays the role of Major Bren Derlin who has the singular line telling all of the assembled crew on Hoth to get to their ships. It's hard not to hear that line as having a touch of Bostonian drawl, more so when you know the actor who provides it.
April 5, 2013
Weekly Omens 4/5/13
I really should get used to rejection by now. Only I haven't. And it still stinks. A lot. But I'm managing, I guess, to shoulder on. As such this week has been a horribly boring week with it being spring break and things being quiet and non-action-y and I've been totally taking a break from everything. So....
On Mind the Thorns:
Spring Break!
On Bastion: The Last Hope
More Spring Break!
On Fictional Omens
I did actually comment on the whole Adria Richards "thing" aka Dongle-gate. Can I say that attaching the word "Gate" to things to make them controversies is one of the lamest yet most convenient things I've seen in a while?
The hard part about blogging about Dongle Gate is that so many people have already done it. Like a lot. It was kind of a trick to bring something new to the table.
At home:
Hmm.... yes. Did I mention Spring break?
And.... your weekly video:
I forgot how much I miss going to Dragon Con and how much I wish I could actually make my own costumes for CosPlay....
April 3, 2013
Doing Something - The Twitter Option
I've found that the moment you realize that you "just have to do something" that rational thought seems to take a back seat equally as fast. When you see someone in the path of a car, you don't think "can I get to them in time?" That would be a rational thought. And it would involve doing a risk assessment, taking time, and possibly even finding yourself unable to act because of the delay.
No, we cast caution to the wind and we do something.
A few weeks ago a woman at a convention found herself in the exact same position. She had to Do Something and she had to Do It Now. And what she did had the kind of ripple effect of consequence that a fair comparison would be that of a nuclear bomb going off. First one atom splits, then those fragments strike two more, and then four, and then eight until you've burned off all of your fissible material and leveled a city.
In fact I've taken to calling what happened the "Nuclear Option" for that very reason.
I'm also reminded how some time ago a similar teapot tempest got blowing because a reviewer did not like the way an author's husband acted. The resulting changes of ratings lead to a firestorm of epic proportions on Amazon, some damaged reputations, but thankfully no one got fired.
This more recent event was not so kind to the actors within it.
For those who haven't heard the story of Adria Richards, let me summarize very very briefly:
Richards was a programmers evangilist, a networker for coders, and thus was at the annual PyCon convention, a gathering of programmers who use the Python language. Now programing by nature is a male dominated field still, and PyCon was a good display of this gender bias with 80% of the attendees being men. As such they have gone to great lengths to make women feel welcome, posting a zero tolerance policy for harassement.
At one of the larger sessions, Richards found herself seated near some men who were making what she felt to be inappropriate jokes. The specifics of the jokes themselves are fairly immaterial at this point. She felt harassed by the humor and its tone and she had to do something.
But it was not just her honor at stake. On the screen at the front of the room was a presentation about camps for programming and in the slide show a picture of a bright eyed girl excited to have written a program that did something she was very proud of. It was for that girl that Richards had to act, had to Do Something. It was for all those little girls who needed to be welcomed into the programming community. As sure as she should rush out to save the girl from a speeding car, she had to act for that girl here.
So she tweeted:
Not cool. Jokes about forking repo's in a sexual way and "big" dongles. Right behind me #pycon
Then she went on to tweet a request for someone to save her, where she was seated, and made sure that she sent a tweet to the PyCon organizers.
She Did Something.
I've read a lot of commentary over the last few weeks that says we're not allowed to talk about how she reacted. The implication is that if we say "should she have acted differently?" we're effectively victim shaming, the same as asking a rape victim if they were dressed too procatively, or if they had had too much to drink. I say that they are not even close and that such analogies do little but shut down reasonable discussion about what happened. They're efforts to control the conversation by shaming those you disagree with into saying nothing at all.
If you feel what she did was appropriate, more power to you. I, however, strongly disagree.
Should she have confronted the men directly herself? I don't know. My gut would be yes, but I am not a woman of color in a sea of white men. But there were other avenues to contact the convention organizers without going to Twitter. Email, Text, or a phone call all would Done Something. They would have brought authorities to talk to the men who were making the harassing jokes that made her feel uncomfortable.
And they would not have screamed it to 14,000 people.
I understand the need to Do Something. It's a shame that this particular choice brought such devestation, destruction far and beyond anything reasonable.
It's even harder to talk about because the Internet went so totally bat-crap-crazy that if you appear to criticize Richards at all, you're deemed as being in support of the hell she went through following this. One of the men she reported to the Internet for the jokes was fired, and as a result trolls and bullies turned out to beat on Richards and her employeer until she too was fired. And it didn't stop there. She was threatened, her personal information posted online, and all manner of horrible was visited upon her.
Let me be clear: Not Cool.
No matter what you think of how she acted, the response has been just as bad. So let's set this straight. While I disagree with what she did, and how she did it, I do not, under any circumstances, condone the manner in which she has been treated since.
Here's the thing, though, when you feel a need to Do Something, rational thought disappears. And to be honest as well, sometimes you need to go all the way to the nuclear option of a public shaming. But where were all the points in between? Was there any consideration of them in the formulation of a "Plan"? Again, email, phone call, text, and DM on twitter were all options she had available to her to deal with this and Do Something.
I support that she Did Something. It's hard to stand up for yourself when you feel singled out and picked on. I don't know in the same way she does, but I've had a small taste of it myself growing up. So, yes, it's good to Do Something.
But I disagree that a public shaming on the Internet was a good Something to Do. It's too easy to be wrong with who you target (perhaps someone not in the conversation had ended up in the picture), and it's too easy to turn into a Internet Fire-storm as people rally to take sides so they too can Do Something.
Yet... it happens... again and again...
No, we cast caution to the wind and we do something.
A few weeks ago a woman at a convention found herself in the exact same position. She had to Do Something and she had to Do It Now. And what she did had the kind of ripple effect of consequence that a fair comparison would be that of a nuclear bomb going off. First one atom splits, then those fragments strike two more, and then four, and then eight until you've burned off all of your fissible material and leveled a city.
In fact I've taken to calling what happened the "Nuclear Option" for that very reason.
I'm also reminded how some time ago a similar teapot tempest got blowing because a reviewer did not like the way an author's husband acted. The resulting changes of ratings lead to a firestorm of epic proportions on Amazon, some damaged reputations, but thankfully no one got fired.
This more recent event was not so kind to the actors within it.
For those who haven't heard the story of Adria Richards, let me summarize very very briefly:
Richards was a programmers evangilist, a networker for coders, and thus was at the annual PyCon convention, a gathering of programmers who use the Python language. Now programing by nature is a male dominated field still, and PyCon was a good display of this gender bias with 80% of the attendees being men. As such they have gone to great lengths to make women feel welcome, posting a zero tolerance policy for harassement.
At one of the larger sessions, Richards found herself seated near some men who were making what she felt to be inappropriate jokes. The specifics of the jokes themselves are fairly immaterial at this point. She felt harassed by the humor and its tone and she had to do something.
But it was not just her honor at stake. On the screen at the front of the room was a presentation about camps for programming and in the slide show a picture of a bright eyed girl excited to have written a program that did something she was very proud of. It was for that girl that Richards had to act, had to Do Something. It was for all those little girls who needed to be welcomed into the programming community. As sure as she should rush out to save the girl from a speeding car, she had to act for that girl here.
So she tweeted:
Not cool. Jokes about forking repo's in a sexual way and "big" dongles. Right behind me #pycon
Then she went on to tweet a request for someone to save her, where she was seated, and made sure that she sent a tweet to the PyCon organizers.
She Did Something.
I've read a lot of commentary over the last few weeks that says we're not allowed to talk about how she reacted. The implication is that if we say "should she have acted differently?" we're effectively victim shaming, the same as asking a rape victim if they were dressed too procatively, or if they had had too much to drink. I say that they are not even close and that such analogies do little but shut down reasonable discussion about what happened. They're efforts to control the conversation by shaming those you disagree with into saying nothing at all.
If you feel what she did was appropriate, more power to you. I, however, strongly disagree.
Should she have confronted the men directly herself? I don't know. My gut would be yes, but I am not a woman of color in a sea of white men. But there were other avenues to contact the convention organizers without going to Twitter. Email, Text, or a phone call all would Done Something. They would have brought authorities to talk to the men who were making the harassing jokes that made her feel uncomfortable.
And they would not have screamed it to 14,000 people.
I understand the need to Do Something. It's a shame that this particular choice brought such devestation, destruction far and beyond anything reasonable.
It's even harder to talk about because the Internet went so totally bat-crap-crazy that if you appear to criticize Richards at all, you're deemed as being in support of the hell she went through following this. One of the men she reported to the Internet for the jokes was fired, and as a result trolls and bullies turned out to beat on Richards and her employeer until she too was fired. And it didn't stop there. She was threatened, her personal information posted online, and all manner of horrible was visited upon her.
Let me be clear: Not Cool.
No matter what you think of how she acted, the response has been just as bad. So let's set this straight. While I disagree with what she did, and how she did it, I do not, under any circumstances, condone the manner in which she has been treated since.
Here's the thing, though, when you feel a need to Do Something, rational thought disappears. And to be honest as well, sometimes you need to go all the way to the nuclear option of a public shaming. But where were all the points in between? Was there any consideration of them in the formulation of a "Plan"? Again, email, phone call, text, and DM on twitter were all options she had available to her to deal with this and Do Something.
I support that she Did Something. It's hard to stand up for yourself when you feel singled out and picked on. I don't know in the same way she does, but I've had a small taste of it myself growing up. So, yes, it's good to Do Something.
But I disagree that a public shaming on the Internet was a good Something to Do. It's too easy to be wrong with who you target (perhaps someone not in the conversation had ended up in the picture), and it's too easy to turn into a Internet Fire-storm as people rally to take sides so they too can Do Something.
Yet... it happens... again and again...
March 30, 2013
Weekly Omens 3/30/13
One of the best parts of writing, I swear, is researching. I've always been a student at heart so having a chance to keep learning new and interesting things just makes my day. This week that included making contact with an old high school buddy to consult on Bastion. I also swear that learning two different Marines talk about the exact same situation and both report totally different statements as to what "a real Marine would do" also is fascinating.
On Mind the Thorns:
Sorry to say guys, no update. One should be going live this weekend to bring things up to speed.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
A new character makes her way on to the stage: Angelica Winters, a 17 year-old gamer girl with a survivalist dad who has survived the clouds of death in their basement bunker. It was a fun chapter to write and is also a nice place to join the story.
On Fictional Omens
I've been playing a lot of The Secret World so this week I took a few minutes to comment on it and some of the neat things you can get away with when you write a modern day MMO.
At home:
It seems that the Aria Richards debacle is now working its way out of the tech blogs and into the mainstream blogosphere. It's fascinating to see how people are responding and the level of disconnect between what could have happened,what did happen and what was deemed appropriate. I will probably write up something on this for Tuesday's post.
Oh.. and SPRING BREAK!!!!!!! Now I just need to use these days to catch up on MtT and get some buffer built up for Bastion.
And.... your weekly video:
I was having some fun with iMovie and put this trailer together.
On Mind the Thorns:
Sorry to say guys, no update. One should be going live this weekend to bring things up to speed.
On Bastion: The Last Hope
A new character makes her way on to the stage: Angelica Winters, a 17 year-old gamer girl with a survivalist dad who has survived the clouds of death in their basement bunker. It was a fun chapter to write and is also a nice place to join the story.
On Fictional Omens
I've been playing a lot of The Secret World so this week I took a few minutes to comment on it and some of the neat things you can get away with when you write a modern day MMO.
At home:
It seems that the Aria Richards debacle is now working its way out of the tech blogs and into the mainstream blogosphere. It's fascinating to see how people are responding and the level of disconnect between what could have happened,what did happen and what was deemed appropriate. I will probably write up something on this for Tuesday's post.
Oh.. and SPRING BREAK!!!!!!! Now I just need to use these days to catch up on MtT and get some buffer built up for Bastion.
And.... your weekly video:
I was having some fun with iMovie and put this trailer together.
