naming

Naming

          It's nearly NaNoWriMo again, as the notification e-mails keep reminding me, and so I've been formulating my plan for this November. I've decided to return to and revamp my old "Indian Rock" series, this time as "Painted Rock", and instead of being 1/4 Mexican, I've decided that my main character, who I named "Abigail Riitiré" back in the Olden Days of Elementary School, will be part (or all?) Native American instead, in keeping with the "Painted Rock" concept of things. Thus, I have been seeking a good Native American name for her. It's surprisingly hard to find good Native American names on the internet. I mean, there are some, but there's not a super-great variety. And, anyways, in the course of my research, I came here: http://www.native-languages.org/baby. Interestingly, one of the names I had been considering for good old Abi, Aiyana, was disclaimed as being inauthentic in the very first paragraph. So, I went on to see what else the site had to say, and found the name-request form at the bottom of the very same page linked above. I went ahead and filled it out for my character in hopes of getting some authentic name options for her. In exchange, it's requested that I share their site, so I went ahead and made this quick little blog post to do so. So, the main site is here: http://www.native-languages.org/ and I also used this page: http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm to get an idea of what tribes "Abi" might be from. It seems to be quite a nifty little site with a lot of good information. I mean, I just found it from google, so I can't completely vouch for its authenticity, but it seemed informative. Also, while I'm sharing cool things from my research, I thought this article: http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/06/24/323665644/the-map-of-native-american-tribes-youve-never-seen-before, featuring this map: http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2014/06/Tribal_Nations_Map_NA.pdf was very cool. And, since I'm in a sharing mood, I'm also currently listening to a hauntingly beautiful song by the Foo Fighters called "Home" I'd never heard of before through the magic of wandering around youtube until you find an artist's more obscure songs. I'm listening to it on the full album playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlnOy0ccfVc but you can also listen to just this song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCEbz9f2UA. Oops, and now I've moved on to re-listening to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEYgTz2WvzY, which is also very good. Huzzah for obscure Foo Fighters songs! Okay, that should be enough sharing for now :)

          In other news, I have written several blog posts over the summer without publishing any of them (except for the most recent two, which were for scholarships). To be precise, there are no less than six unpublished blog drafts in my box right now. Some I will probably never publish, but I would really like to finish at least the one I wrote about how I WON CAMP NANOWRIMO this July!! So, that will be coming to you in due time. Sorry, I know, I'm probably the slowest blogger ever. I did in fact create that fanfiction profile I've been meaning to make, as well, though I have yet to publish the Rumbelle fanfic I meant to and it's already become outdated by the show (which is increasingly epic this season! Huzzah improvement in Ouat! Although some of their plotting still needs work. Anyways, that's a rant for another blog post). Oh, well, I'd still like to publish it. As soon as I get around to publishing it, I'll probably let you know, my blog readership, but until then I'm not going to link my blog to it. I guess I'll mainly be working out my Painted Rock story world for a while. And also doing homework. I should get to that now. So, yeah, this post is mostly just a quick update and a shoutout to www.native-languages.org. Check them out if you're researching Native American languages and things, or if you're just curious. It's always fun to learn about random things, I find.

          Thus, the new, mysterious, and fantastical world of Painted Rock begins to unfurl within the folds of the mysterious Violet Mist...

My Heart Lives in the Country

My Heart Lives in the Country

       I have never in my life lived in a city. That said, I've always loved life in the countryside and all its perks. Rural areas can be very diverse in different places, as I saw firsthand when my mom and I moved from Virginia to Iowa, but they all share a sort of wonderful common spirit that identifies them as rural. The countryside has a closeness to nature about it, a sort of wild freedom that cannot be found in a city. Its people are rightly portrayed as friendly and familial with one another, and there is a cozy peacefulness in the air of such a place. Though it is admittedly inconvenient to have to drive for an hour to reach the nearest shopping mall, as we do now, I have always been happy to live in the country. 

       I was born and raised just outside of the relatively small college town of Blacksburg, Virginia, and my home sat on thirteen and a half gorgeous, forested acres. My home was tucked away in the heart of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and I loved the magnificent view of the mountain we enjoyed from our side porch, or almost anywhere in the back yard.

My very own mountain, seen from our yard, over our horse pasture.

The horse pasture beneath our mountain occupied most of our 13.5 acres and was heavily forested. In its center was a steep valley Dad always told me was once a lake. It was a lovely place to go on hikes or have picnics when the horses were keeping it down. (The pasture is overgrown in this picture because this is after the horses were gone. In fact, the thick patch of greenery you see in the right center is what grew up in the fresh dirt over Bob's grave.) It was great having my very own place to hike without even having to go into town. I even had designated a large, flat rock out in the valley as "picnic rock" because, as the name suggests, it was a favorite place of mine to go for a picnic.

An older, more crisp picture of our view.

These pictures show more views of our mountain from our side porch.

During and after a rainfall, the mountains are often covered in soft, swirling mists, which give them a sort of wild, magical quality, as though they are in a fantasy novel. This picture also shows the edge of our screened in porch, which was a great place to sleep out on a Summer night, up off the ground as if in a forest canopy, where the chirping birds and fresh breeze would awaken you. 

I loved this picture so much I zoomed in on the mists on the mountaintop. As a lover of fantasy novels, such a sight always thrilled me, because I truly felt part of such a landscape that might hold such adventures as those I loved to read.

       One of the things about life in the country which is very apparent to me as I review my photos of my home and select the best for this essay is the profound attachment to the land in the country that grows in your heart and your soul. In fact I am shaking slightly right now, having just looked through photos which I have not looked at in months since I heard our home has at last been sold, and there is a heavy knot in my stomach. When you live in a place like that for the first fourteen years of your life, it becomes a part of you more deeply than can be expressed in any words. I cannot imagine that, living in a city, one could ever find such an attachment to the land, because people in the city are simply more removed from their land, and they have much less of it.

       I don't doubt that someday I may move to a city for a job, as it seems nearly everyone must live in a city at one point or another. And I'm not saying that cities are horrible places I never want to go; it's very exciting to visit the city and see and do all the amazing things you can do there that you can't do anywhere else. We've visited Chicago twice and I loved it both times; you can't go see a Tom Petty concert in your horse pasture. I was always delighted when we'd visit D.C. as well, and the museums were exciting and varied--I found the spy museum thrilling in particular. Cities are energetic, vivacious, and fun. But I will never lay awake at night wondering if the new family in my former city apartment has cut down my favorite tree, like I sometimes do now with my favorite willow tree back in Blacksburg. It was the first tree I ever climbed and it held a piece of my heart in its gracefully waving arms.

This photo shows my most recent visit to my willow. This is after my mom and I had moved to Iowa and my dad to Delaware but before he sold it, and so our yard was unmown and in a state of disrepair, with a pile of brush choking up against my willow. Like the land, this tree holds a piece of my heart. I would often sit in it and read or write; I have written more than one poem about the willow itself. It is a defining part of my home, something one could never have in a city. 

       Truly, my heart lives in the country. When you live on an expanse of beautiful land, it gets inside your soul and holds it tight in a way a city simply can't. The beauty of nature surrounds you in the country. I will always miss my home when I am away, and such serene places in the countryside will always be my home. 

The Wondrous World of the Internet

The Wondrous World of the Internet

          The internet is truly a wondrous place. It is a microcosm, a miniscule universe of its own, with as many places in its intangible depths as there are corners of this earth to explore. It is as unique and varied as the millions of people who have contributed to it, and what one person gets out of it may be as different from what another gets from it as the light of the blazing summer sun is different from a the mysterious bioluminescent glow of a glowworm in the depths of a cave. The internet can increase one’s awareness of almost anything, from weighty issues like cancer or suicide prevention, to lighter-hearted matters like amusing memes and adorable cat videos. I think the thing which the internet has increased my awareness of most--in the way that has had the most significant impact on my life, that is--would have to be fandoms and all the wonders contained therein.

          I realize that when I say the word “fandom”, the reader may instantly put it on the cat video side of the spectrum and wave it off as foolish nonsense. However, fandoms are much deeper than that. Fandoms are networks of people brought together by passion. They allow for profound and significant analysis of themes and issues raised by the stories we encounter in our everyday lives. Fandoms are like English classes we never leave, where we can revel in the minutiae of plots and characters, discussing their every flaw and every strength. Being a part of a group of people so committed to delving into the stories you love with you is a powerful thing; it keeps you learning and growing in an ongoing way. You learn about yourself by trying to imagine yourself in this world you’ve fallen in love with. You ask yourself how you would face this danger the characters are facing, who you would become friends with, what house or faction or chapter you would belong in, what you would do differently. You become a part of these worlds that live in your heart and the hearts of others.
          As a writer myself, I certainly learn invaluable knowledge by surveying the world of fandoms. Sharing in the opinions of others teaches me much about how people look at and respond to different literary elements and techniques. Writing and reading fanfiction is a valuable way to practice writing skills in a lighthearted, easy way. It is also a beneficial way to deal with the strong emotions evoked by powerful works of literature, film and television. In fanfiction, one may explore the roads not taken by the main work, what happens “offscreen”, what happens after or before the main story, what would happen if characters from two or more separate works encountered one another, or many more things. Fanfiction and fandoms are undeniably places of imagination; indeed, what makes fandoms the wonderful things they are is the collaborative imagination of many people being put towards the same story to create a world of their own.
          People create truly beautiful things for fandoms. Fanfiction as discussed above is joined by fanart as talented artists put their minds and skills towards portraying things from stories that often haven’t been interpreted before, or that have but are shown in brilliantly unique ways. There are true masterpieces among fanart, in the realms of painting and drawing as well as of digital editing. When people are deeply emotionally moved by something, the art they produce shows it, and can be felt by anyone looking upon it. Beyond visual art, people assemble wonderful fanmixes and sometimes even compose original songs for fandoms. Listening to fanmixes is another way of sharing in emotions and analysis of stories by applying music to them, hearing aspects of the story overlapping in their lyrics and their sounds. Beyond that, it is a great way to be introduced to wonderful new songs by artists you might not otherwise encounter. On the whole, fandoms are places of creation and invention, where people bring new things into existence that otherwise would never come to be.
          Truly the internet is a place of unfathomable vastness. But to me, a hugely significant corner of its breadth is that of fandoms. The internet increased my awareness of fandoms and led me into a wonderful place of connections. In it, people share theories and analyses, give worlds created by writers new life and grow them, develop their writing skills and enthusiasm as readers, create new and beautiful things, share emotions, and connect in a fundamental passion for literary, cinematic, or televised works and the wondrous worlds thereof. Fandoms are simply magical places and I am grateful to the internet for making me aware of them.