Isla Vista Solidarity, UCSB Gaucho Pride, and Honoring What is Lost

In the wake of the tragedy in Isla Vista, the UCSB community has encouraged a week of remembrance and solidarity. Today was to show our Gaucho pride. I am an alumnus from the class of 2007 but moved back to the Santa Barbara area in 2012, just outside of IV off El Colegio. It was weird being back so close to my alma mater and I had mixed feelings about being close to IV now that I was a bit older and less of a party-goer. Such worries were for nothing as we often found ourselves driving or biking(!) into IV for a drink, dinner, and even to yes, party. Isla Visa itself has changed alot just from 2007, but what remained was the feeling that this little bubble made up of thousands of UCSB students among many other residents, was one of endless carefree youth. From freshman to seniors, to alumni and life-long IV residents, it was a place made up of sorority and fraternity houses, shabbily decorated apartments littered with beer cans and mismatched furniture, late-night eateries to satisfy hangovers, and young minds and hearts learning to live on their own for the first time. I made many good choices and probably even more bad ones in Isla Vista, but I don’t regret any of it.

I have felt many things the past few days, ranging from sadness, grief, horror, and disappointment, but what has stayed on my mind the most this past week was my anger at what six young lives were robbed of. These lives were cut short and can no longer continue to make the memories, mark the moments, worry over the mistakes, take the chances, and then look back at it all with fondness and maybe a twinge of regret. They don’t get late nights studying. They don’t get to enjoy a beer after a final. They don’t get to be young and silly. They don’t get to meet first or true loves. They don’t get to finish school arm in arm with their fellow students after years of incredibly hard work. They don’t get to be alumni and share in the pride of a common experience. This is just a fraction of what they get robbed of. The vanished potential and the unfulfilled lives have gotten lost in the mix of what the media wants to showcase.

It’s why there’s been so much pride on my various social feeds for the community and for their fellow Gauchos, past and present. This week of solidarity has been about honoring the memories of those lost and creating hope for a well-loved community. That network has really bonded across social media channels, geography, and time to join in their grief, hope, and camaraderie. I cannot help but feel such sadness because like so many other alumni and current students, there is such incredible fondness for the time we spent growing up in IV, UCSB, and Santa Barbara. There is pride in who we were, what we’ve become, and the communities that helped us get there. My sadness is tied to the joy I felt as someone who was once like the six who were killed and sorrow that these young men and women won’t have the chance to make all the good decisions or mistakes that you should be making in your late teens and early twenties. They’re now people to remember, not people who get to make memories. “It’s unfair” doesn’t even begin to encompass what has happened.

Earlier today a very good friend from UCSB and I were chatting and I couldn’t help but feel that the unsaid undercurrent of our conversation was the need to talk to a fellow alumni. And combined with my feelings of sadness and anger, was that small feeling of gratefulness. Not just for the place and time, but most especially for the people who helped shape the person I am and still continuing to try and be. College does not define any single individual, but I would be underplaying its role in my life if I said it was just four years at school. Many fellow Gauchos are still good friends and if it wasn’t for some freshman roommates who happened to know each other, John and I wouldn’t be together today.  So I just want to say thank you to all my fellow classmates and all the Gauchos in the world out there trying to make their mark. It’s just a small ‘thank you’ for being part of my life and teaching me so many different things that still follow me today. We can honor the six by living our lives with dignity, kindness, and a desire to be good.

A special prayer goes out to these six who are making so many of us out there in the world today feel a bit of Gaucho pride:

George Chen
Katherine  Breann Coooper
Cheng Yuan Hong
Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez
Weihan Wang
Veronika Weiss

#gauchostrong

Friday Favorite Links

* It’s getting hot again and since Santa Barbara always feels like a summer kind of town, I’ve been wanting to find a proper beach blanket. I’ve been using an old plaid picnic blanket but it’s not really suitable for the sand. I’ve been obsessed about buying the perfect Mexican blanket like this one using non traditional colors or even this one from Peru.

* Discovered Canopy this week. Cool way to shop Amazon products and avoid its visually boring website. It’s like Amazon/Pinterest/Etsy rolled into one. I’m all for it. (Canopy)

* This Slate article is going around–Rob Lowe sending his son off to college. As someone who gets homesick on the regular, this line slayed me: “There is a little of that sense memory at play too, a feeling that I’m about to be left out of important events, separated from life as I know it, the world as I love it.” (Slate)

* We leave for Brazil in about a month. I haven’t gotten too excited about it yet, except window internet shopping for it. These travel notebooks by Midori are gorgeous and my brother just picked up this Everlane backpack I’ve been wanting for my birthday. More importantly, can one shop for six-pack abs? 

* I was both scared and amused watching this video. I think he just wanted a snack.  (YouTube)

National Novel Writing Month – First Day, First Time, Oh November!

So, I finally decided to do it.

 

The first day of November officially kicks off National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I had heard about this in grad school and always thought it was too crazy to even attempt. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret at not trying it out and possibly experiencing the thrill of accomplishing 50,000 words in just one month.

50,000.

I just needed to type that out one more time and see it stand there alone. It doesn’t seem possible.

When I was writing my thesis in grad school I struggled at times to just get small chapters out. I was hesitant to try this project, but a personal goal of mine this year was to take my writing more seriously. I knew after grad school that it was going to become easy to get lazy about writing. Part of the reason I started this blog was to do some sort of writing. NaNoWriMo is the perfect opportunity for me to get back in the groove of things.

I only realized it was starting two days ago and made the decision not to attempt any outline or plan. I had no idea what I was going to start with and fiction is something I like to read but have realized I’m not particularly skilled at writing. It was daunting, but thankfully, one of the helpful tips is to tell people you are doing NaNoWriMo. In a way, the more people that know, the expectation that I finish can’t be kept secret in case I likely give up in Week 2. I can’t give up because now everyone on Facebook knows I’m  actually going to write that book I decided to spend thousands of dollars in grad school for

Just kidding.

I do not take this month-long project and the hopefully 200-250 page result to be anywhere near book ready. It’s more like the long awaited kick in the ass I need to just write. Just write.

The beauty of the project is the inherent messiness of it. There is a push to NOT edit at all. I was warned that it would be difficult to silence my inner editor and I found myself doing that for the first few paragraphs, but once I started to ignore looking back, the writing came out much faster. It’s all about forward writing.

Again, I have no plan whatsoever and the first two pages were going okay despite a struggle about the voice. Because it’s my first time and I don’t want to give up too easily, I’ve fallen somewhere around fictionalized memoir. It really is heavy in the fictionalized part because the character breaks up a friendship by telling her friend, “I think your baby is ugly.”

So yeah, let’s just say, I would never do that.

But I can sure make my character say it.

In the end, my two goals for the month are  to write daily so I can hit the eventual goal of 50,000 words and two, to just keep writing even if this stuff is utter crap (which, of course it will be). Even if I start to hate the material and I change a lot, I can’t find that as reason enough to stop.

I’ve also registered with the main site and hopefully I can go to write-ins or meet other writers in the Santa Barbara and Goleta area who are attempting this same crazy feat.

First Day Word Count: 2,082.

Registration and FAQs about National Novel Writing Month can be found here.

Young Adult (At Heart)

It seems as if you can never outgrow certain things. In this case, the world of young adult fiction which is currently experiencing a sort of renaissance. Then again, how anyone can outgrow reading is beyond me.

Young adult novels are not merely for young adults anymore. With copies selling in the millions and being read by all age groups, it’s a growing genre proving that literature aimed at the young can be both impressive and formidable. Topics have always been wide-ranging, but I think good storytelling is key. No matter the target audience, good writing is blind to age.

The genre of young adult fiction is really flourishing these last few years and like all book trends, topics move in waves. We had vampires and other supernatural beings to the current trend of dystopian novels ushered in by the phenomenon that is The Hunger Games–which I’m glad to take part of. Speaking of which, it seems my next reads might be about mermaids as they seem to be the next big thing. 

A year ago I was living in San Jose, California with a part time job and lots of free time. Luckily, the South Bay Area has an amazing public library system. They have so many new libraries that have been recently built and an easy network for accessing books. I was pretty much devouring anything as good as The Hunger Games and came across a bunch of great reads–one classic and some recent publications.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

This was first published in 2011 and is the first in a trilogy (young adult fiction loves its trilogies, and then some). I actually just finished the second in the series which is called Insurgent while I was flying to those weddings earlier this summer. In my post Hunger Games haze, I needed more dystopian fiction and Divergent is actually quite good. I was actually more intrigued by how the society in future Chicago was laid out over the main character, Tris, and her motivations. She is much more of a typical romantic character and I realized I was skimming over sections that involved her and her boyfriend. I was much more fascinated by the organization of the population as separate factions, but that is not to dissuade you from checking this out as the second one gets pretty interesting. I’ve also read that the film rights have sold and they are in the process of producing it. Visually, this book has the foundation for a good movie.

Matched by Ally Condie

Like Divergent, society is divided in groups, which again I found fascinating. But a typical trope of young adult novels is introduced–a love triangle is involved. Sigh. I’m not sure anymore, especially after Hunger Games successfully underutilizing one, why these are necessary. Yet, I think as the target audience is probably dealing with first loves and hormones, I guess it makes sense. I’m all for female leads in books so I like this series in that regard. Matched is not as sharp or particularly outstanding in terms of the writing, but I’ve chugged along and earlier this year Crossed, the second in the series, propelled me forward. I could tell Condie had gotten better and it’s worth at least a library checkout. This is also in the process of trying to get film rights. 

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This one is quite different from the above two. It’s more supernatural and a love triangle is involved, but also more compelling and interesting than in Matched. I’m not against love triangles, but you’ve got to make the trio involved have motivations outside of pursuing each other. Again, female protagonist who is coming into her own and the setting for this is London in the time of Queen Victoria. So it’s not only a young adult, but historical fiction. The book is not only part of a trilogy, but a prequel trilogy to Clare’s popular series The Mortal Instruments which–you guessed it–is being turned into a film.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game is a classic not only in young adult literature, but in all of science fiction. Novels like The Hunger Games are not new in pitting young people (sometimes the very young) against each other in battles of death. Ender’s Game also takes the time to develop the psyche and motivations of their characters and doesn’t shy from brutality. It was well-awarded when it was published and its reputation only mildly tarnished by its author’s personal views on subjects like homosexuality. Aside from that, on its own the novel examines life and survival and how we question that in times of war. The book is currently being adapted to film. I always imagined Harrison Ford in it, but not exactly as Graff. Looking forward to it regardless!

Overall, it’s exciting to see the onslaught of such good young adult fiction coming out. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from heavier reads and escape a little. I also started to notice that much of the great fiction coming out comes from women authors. J.K. Rowling being the most obvious example whose famous series might have a central male hero, but without a certain witch, might not ever have graduated Hogwarts. There seems to be much disparity in adult fiction when it comes to awards and recognition often going to male counterparts, but in YA, it definitely seems to be a female dominated field. Not just in authors, but also in characters. The Atlantic ran a piece over the summer regarding that and it’s also an interesting read. It’s also a trend I hope never goes away.

monday readings

First day of October already! Perfect day to mention one of my favorite pieces from McSweeny’s Internet Tendency site.

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers.

This might be one of my favorite titles for a written piece of work. Ever.

I first read it a year ago around this time as we were heading into Fall, but the piece was originally published in 2009. It’s funny, brazen, and hits hard because it’s a bit accurate—I often take decorating into a dark and serious territory that borders on crazy. This short piece epitomizes what is great about what McSweeney’s publishes. Colin Nissan is just the perfect humor writer for them. He also wrote The Ultimate Guide To Writing Better Than You Normally Do.  Under “DON’T PROCRASTINATE” he suggests, “Well, it’s time to look procrastination in the eye and tell that seafaring wench, “Sorry not today, today I write.” It made me smile and also reminded me of another McSweeney’s piece written in the days after Ray Bradbury’s death, who I was lucky to meet in real life when I was in high school. The piece quotes Bradbury who wrote about writing: “… if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer.” That quote alone compelled me to start writing on another blog. It felt so urgent somehow, almost like a warning. But it sure did light something for me.

I actually enjoy reading writing guides. The New York Times has a Writing Rules guide out as well. Rule No. 5 is my favorite: Study Sentences. One of my favorite classes in grad school was studying the shapes of narratives and sometimes, even though a whole story is built a certain way, it takes single sentences to get there. Jhumpa Lahiri’s excerpt is enough to hit home that sentences do really matter.

I also love the art that accompanied the piece by Alex Camlin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve never wanted to jam a No. 2  pencil into my nose or ear, but I’ve definitely chewed on pencils during moments of writer’s block. Mcsweeney’s is definitely geared towards humor while pieces I read from The Atlantic offer a broader range. One story I came across recently has left a mark.

Lisa Kristine is a photographer who recently documented modern-day slavery around the world. Her piece, “Slavery Still Exists” in The Atlantic is short but she lets her images do most of the talking. They are incredible, shocking, and arresting. Without context, they convey so much raw emotion. I won’t show them here because they’re worth the look and read. She also did a TED talk on it and her interview with the Huffington Post highlights more of the work being done to address this global problem. She mentions the organization Free The Slaves whose founders and group have dedicated their lives to ending slavery in the world today. Like Ms. Kristine, there was an incredible sense of shame about my lack of knowledge and awareness of the topic. What began as a casual perusal of online magazines was an abrupt and necessary wake-up call.

I find it both amazing and telling that reading, especially in online form, can lead me to a humorous piece about autumn gourds to one that directly addresses modern human atrocities. It hits home that that the global community partially lives in this online space and is a reminder of Western privilege. And to push me, at the very least as an online blogger, to drive my content to all the places it can go. I don’t shy away from my everyday life, but it would be a disservice to ignore this story. It is often pieces like this that reminds me the importance of stories, especially of the ones who don’t get a voice.

Gusto in writing and in life.