The people who just don't get it.

Can I quote myself for a second? I don't mean to sound pretentious, but it'll inform this post.

I know what I want to do with my life. I think people think I'm joking when I say, "I'm gonna work dead-end jobs and write novels my whole life," but I'm being perfectly serious. I could not care less what my day job is; I just want to write.

So after graduating, people expect me to do something with my degree. I am. I'm trying to finish a story and get it published. That's the primary directive here. But they don't ask anything about that. They specifically ask, "What kind of jobs are you applying for?"

Honest answer: The kind that are hiring and that don't take up extra hours so I can write.

And I swear, almost every time, they look at me like, Ohhh. You still haven't grown out of that. Uh, nope. Not about to "grow out of" the one thing I'm sure I'm supposed to do.

A day job is just there to be convenient and get me out of this house. And that's all there is to say on the matter.

An Appeal for Sanity to Michigan's Governor

(I know I have this tendency to get borderline political at times. But dang it, I am angry and I have a blog. With that being said...)

Dear Governor Snyder,

Let me tell you about my younger sister Laura. She's a better person than you'll ever be, so please attend carefully. Laura loves to sing and dance. She was in ballet last year, and she used to participate in Challenger League every year. She loves watching movies with the close caption on so she can copy down the words, and I swear she can act out entire movies by herself. She is funny and yes, she's spoiled, but she's spoiled sweet. She's endlessly supportive of everything everyone does - pretty much the world's #1 fan.

Yeah, Laura was diagnosed with moderate autism when she was two. Thankfully, she got a lot of support and help from WMU's ABA studies, the Croyden Avenue school, and lots of other schools with AI classrooms. It certainly helped that both my parents work with developmentally disabled adults. She graduated from Schoolcraft High School back in 2009 with her friend Travis. It was probably one of the happiest days of her life.

And let me tell you something about her teachers. They worked so hard with her. They taught her how to handle some everyday tasks, they got her involved in choir and gym, and they even pitched in and bought her a trophy when she graduated. And my sister, though a delight, can be a drama queen.

Let's cut to you. You are cutting all the wrong things. Get a clue, guy - when you start taking money from education, people get angry. People start wondering what they were on last November. And when you start taking money from education, here's some news. That affects their actual education. Now we're seeing special education cuts in schools all over the state. Over in Allegan, they are talking about just putting special ed students in regular ed classes. Even though these kids have completely different needs. That makes total sense.

It's bad enough that you're cutting from what the government apparently considers the expendable industry (it's more than obvious they think that), but now you are taking help from people who really need it. Hey, Mr. Snyder? At which point are you going to start twirling your moustache?

The rate of autism is not decreasing. 1 in 125 kids were diagnosed with it in 2009. This year, it's 1 in 110. Schools need proper funding to give them the education they need. Stop wearing your stupid hat and think of a better plan.

Sincerely,
Carissa Hanson

Tragic heroes and Mary Sues. This is going somewhere great.

Here's your literary term of the day: Aristotle's tragic hero. If you don't know what it is, well, read up. :)

1. The tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness. This should be readily evident in the play. The character must occupy a "high" status position but must ALSO embody nobility and virtue as part of his/her innate character.

2. Though the tragic hero is pre-eminently great, he/she is not perfect. Otherwise, the rest of us--mere mortals--would be unable to identify with the tragic hero. We should see in him or her someone who is essentially like us, although perhaps elevated to a higher position in society.

3. The hero's downfall, therefore, is partially her/his own fault, the result of free choice, not of accident or villainy or some overriding, malignant fate. In fact, the tragedy is usually triggered by some error of judgment or some character flaw that contributes to the hero's lack of perfection noted above. This error of judgment or character flaw is known as hamartia and is usually translated as "tragic flaw" (although some scholars argue that this is a mistranslation). Often the character's hamartia involves hubris (which is defined as a sort of arrogant pride or over-confidence).

4. The hero's misfortunate is not wholly deserved. The punishment exceeds the crime.

5. The fall is not pure loss. There is some increase in awareness, some gain in self-knowledge, some discovery on the part of the tragic hero..

6. Though it arouses solemn emotion, tragedy does not leave its audience in a state of depression. Aristotle argues that one function of tragedy is to arouse the "unhealthy" emotions of pity and fear and through a catharsis (which comes from watching the tragic hero's terrible fate) cleanse us of those emotions.

This is why the fifth Harry Potter book is my favorite, even though everybody seems to complain that Harry's being a whiny little jerk who thinks he knows better. And I'm like, YES! Harry's being a whiny little jerk who thinks he knows better!

First of all, he was a heavily traumatized fifteen-year-old in the book. Of course he'll act like that. Second of all, it comes back to bite him in the derriere in a major way. He is so sure that he knows what he's doing when it comes to Voldemort and that prophecy, that he basically causes Sirius to get killed. No, it's not completely his fault. But it's partially his fault. If he had, y'know, tried a little harder with Occlumency or called Sirius directly on those mirrors, the battle at the Ministry probably never would have happened.

But then the Ministry workers wouldn't have seen ol' Voldy escaping, and who knows what would have happened in the sixth and seventh books. So yeah. Kind of brilliant how that turned out, actually.

Now... Mary Sues. Some people seem to think that Mary Sues don't have any flaws at all. I don't think that's necessarily true. I don't want to use a certain hated book and movie series (which, believe me, I have a whole laundry list of reasons for despising), so I'm going to resort to what Google says is the worst fanfic of all time.

My Immortal. (Warning: TV Tropes link.) (Now you can really tell I'm a nerd.)

I am so sorry. If you haven't come across this... thing before, I don't encourage you to take it on. It's dangerous to your sanity and you probably will start losing faith in humanity and literacy.

But basically, the main character (Ebony... Enoby? It's anyone's guess) is just this horrible, horrible person. She tortures and murders people, she's self-absorbed, she dresses and acts like she's been around the block a few times, and... ugh, just plain evil. Her (main) boyfriend kills himself twice (*sigh* yeah...) and she doesn't even react. Basically, even though she has nothing BUT flaws, she never makes a mistake that she's held accountable for. And everybody who knows her either wants to be her friend or falls in love with her or is Voldemort. Wait, no. Voldemort falls in love with her, too, I think. I dunno, I can't remember.

You can see what I'm talking about, though, right? Yeah.

So... in other news... I guess the video on 13 Reasons Why isn't working correctly? :/ I'll post it again tomorrow in two parts.

It’s Banned Books Week.

It's a good reminder, I think. Even though America is a good country to live in – frankly, I'm just thankful that I'm safe, healthy, and in school – there are still serious flaws. I won't get too political here, but that first amendment is there for a reason.

With that being said… how is it possible that this week exists? How is it possible that this week someone who claims to be in Christ called Speak "softcore pornography" because it has two rape scenes? We should be worried. We should be angry. This country was founded so that people could say what they wanted without being prosecuted for it. And THIS IS STILL GOING ON? Does not compute.

What really makes me mad is that books with good, wonderful messages get roasted by the "moral guardians", and then all the other media gets away with this horrible, horrible stuff that's has no blanking point. I'm talking about the senseless violence and sensuality we see on TV and in movies, and hear about in music. At least in books there's a point. There's a deeper meaning. If there wasn't, the scene wouldn't exist.

I can hear you now. "Uh, Qzie? They don't exactly get away with the stuff. The moral guardians do get upset with them." Then where's Banned Music Week? Where's Banned TV Week? Banned Movie Week?

Yeah. Exactly. OK, I need to calm down before I make someone angry at me.

Some writers have made it their goal to be on this list someday. If they make it, I can only hope it's for showing the public the truth.

Senior year. Wow.

I've been thinking a lot lately about everything, feels like. Like how I ended up being a Creative Writing major at WMU, still living at home during senior year when I thought I would've been outta here by now, still going to the same church as I did when I was 12, and not a single desire to leave the city (except during the winter, but you know all about that). And not just that. A bunch more.

So I've been writing a lot of hilariously amateurish nonfiction lately. Don't expect me to put it online, because 1) It's pretty bad, and 2) The one I finished is about something I don't like out in the open. It's good practice anyway because I'm taking a Creative Nonfiction class this semester. The way I see it is, if you can't be honest with yourself, how can you expect to be honest with fictional characters? Plus I have so many stories about the wonderful people I'm blessed to have in my life. :)

I mean that, by the way.

But anyways. This whole "thinking period" was brought on by Joe asking us to think about why we got involved in the youth group. And you know me. Start thinking about one thing, end up thinking about a million others. I thought about why I stayed at Cherry Creek and how the people there mean and have always meant a lot more to me than the people I knew in high school (save my best friends, of course). I know why I went to KVCC and WMU, not only because of cost, but to stay close to my friends and family. That was the right decision to make.

I'm really, really glad my best friends from high school are my best friends now. That was a major concern at the end of high school. I still remember Kirstin, Steph, and I at Senior Send-Off, just in tears, and Kassy pretty much refusing to cry. Then again, I also remember dissolving into a puddle because I wouldn't have a locker to put stickers in anymore. It was an emotional day. I don't think we'll worry so much once we've all graduated, just because we've stuck together this long. We're best friends and nothing's gonna change that.

Then I think about college and career. How we developed all those inside jokes and the videos and staying up into the wee hours and... how close we really are. People are signing up for growth groups again, and there was never a doubt in my mind that the same people would sign up for Friday nights.

I know what I want to do with my life. I think people think I'm joking when I say, "I'm gonna work dead-end jobs and write novels my whole life," but I'm being perfectly serious. I could not care less what my day job is; I just want to write. Specifically, I want to write speculative fiction. Fantasy, sci-fi, and everything in between. Maybe sometime I'll rewrite Fine Line (right now, I look at it and all I see are flaws). And I'd love to get every single elementary classroom in Southwest Michigan involved in the Young Writer's Program. It was such a great program to get into my aunt's classroom last year (and the kids had a great time, sounds like!) that I don't think it'd be unreasonable to get it into every single one.

Hold on. Pause for a sec. I think it's good that schools are focusing more on math and science and "fact-based" courses, but we need to give these kids the opportunities to do what they do best. Think outside the box. Let them write, let them draw, let their imaginations go wild! Chances are they will love it. We all know how creative kids are. So let them.

Sorry. Had to go on that mini-rant.

And I know why I write. When I was in 12th grade, I had a good reason. "To make people feel." That's still part of it. But first and foremost, I want to make a difference in someone's life. Not too particular how. And you know, after all those years of being quiet, it turns out that I've got a lot to say. Why do you think I wrote Fine Line in the first place? (In case you missed it, I've always defined its purpose as being about forgiveness.)

I also found my old "poemtry" notebook from my senior year of high school while cleaning. Isn't that always nice, to find something really old that you half-forgot existed? But anyways, this poem (dated 8/6/06) really stood out to me.

Alive!


"O Death, where is thy victory?
Death, where is thy sting?"
Thou hast no power in the world
Lest over anything

Fear, fear- she drives so many men
Into lives of recluse
And they will repeatedly deny
It's themselves that they abuse

Ignorance, the fall of many
Ironically said to be bliss
But too many people take for granted
A world such as this

So let us rejoice! Rejoice, you people!
He has triumphed over death and fear!
Your ignorance can be replaced by wisdom
From a God Who is always here!

Sing, ye glorious angels
And all the earth revive
We no longer have to fear powerless Death
Praise God, I am alive!

--

It's not a great poem, I know. I was only 17. :) But if I could just capture the heart of that poem and make it bubble under the surface of everything I write... then yeah. I think that'd be a good start.

This is a ridiculously long post. If you read it all, you deserve a treat. Immediately.

Chat later.