Robert and David

I want to write a story about a girl named Robert.  I just saw an ad about a story featuring two girls called Bryce and Cameron, so why the heck not?  How about female twins called Prometheus and Epimetheus?

Just finished reading a story set in a rural village in England, where there is a portal to a fairy world, which contains Elves and Dwarves, (they refer to the Dwarves as 'Amish') and the story is about a sort of inter-species war.

What's interesting about it is that one of the main characters in it is called Duke.  It's not her real name, but it's what she calls herself.  It appears that, early on, lesbian kids would take on boys' names.  Duke was a lovely person, a Dwarf, tough as nails, with a heart of gold.  I ought to identify the book clearly: The Fire I Called, by M. Xxxxx (oops, I forgot the author's name.)  (Added later:  The author is M. Dane.)

Kay Hemlock Brown

ANOTHER GRIPE!

OK, tell me this: why are all the women wearing swimsuits (or something like one) on DeviantArt?

Answer: most members are guys.  Well, that's just my suspicion, but it is a strong one.  As a matter of fact, you can follow the clicks for each piece, and learn the pronouns of most of the artists.  But of course, we don't know whether they're being truthful.  In matters like this, though, I think we could take them at their word.  (In the case of their self-identification in the matter of which bathroom they want to use, I think I want to think about it some more.) They're guys.  There are a number of women, but the majority of the artistic fiends are guys.  Instead of drawing nude girls in their notebooks, they upload them to DA.

I'm still trying to find a clue about how to tell the female artists from the male; once I discover such a thing, I will report on it.

Another trend I hate is: eye make-up.  Even queens, or fairies, or goddesses wear tons of eye-makeup.  If you were a goddess, would you try to have naturally attractive eyes, or would you use a spell to make it appear as though you're wearing eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, and prosthetic eyelashes?  Tell me honestly.  This is a question that every artist who is inspired to draw supernatural women should answer: if you were a female deity, nymph or fairy: would you use your powers to (a) appear naturally attractive, or (b) magically simulate modern cosmetics?

KHB 

How We Prepare

I have been a teacher.  A lot of what educationists want from those who prepare students for their classes (in the previous year, for instance), is to be able to efficiently perform mechanical tasks.

But kids today (kids, man!) want a succinct rationale for anything that doesn't immediately strike them as valuable.  So I was at pains to try to deliver this, though it took time away from other teaching activities.

A drawback was that many kids didn't have the patience to sit through these explanations.  ('Is this going to be on the test?'). To extend the moral, the less teachers try to justify elements of the curriculum, the less kids are going to have the patience to sit through these explanations---perhaps from another teacher---and the less able they are to look at their material at a little greater depth, and the less they can participate in their own learning.

Actually, just giving kids shortcuts to get the superficial skills the teachers in the next course want, is easy for a teacher.  It's easier to emphasize "I before E, except after ..." than to take just a second to mention that the spellings often come from words descended from French, vs. words descended from Germanic languages, including Anglo-Saxon.  Unfortunately, kids are left with the impression that spelling is totally arbitrary.  There's just enough truth to that belief to make it dangerous.

Once in a while, there are a large number of interesting and lovable kids in a particular class, for a teacher to try to go the second mile, and teach his or her subject in a little more depth.  And often, strong slap-back will discourage this teacher from any approach but the most utilitarian one.  And they have effectively destroyed a teacher.

Kay 

Emma Watson Suffering

No; EW is not suffering, that I know of, anyway.  It's just that I do admire her, and I think she contributed immensely to the success of the Harry Potter stories, in particular as they were made into movies.  (In books, I think a less glamorous, frizzy-haired, bespectacled Hermione could have been successful.)

I'm talking about something completely different: it is about how EW has become a sex symbol on popular media.  Emma has been blessed with a lovely face, and a slim body.  But this combination is not sufficiently sexy for the hormone saturated artists on DeviantArt.  Starting with showing Emma with (1) blue eyes, they moved onto showing her (2) nude, then (3) incredibly well-endowed, (4) clothed in provocative costumes, with (5) extremely long, luxurious hair, and so on.

I don't know whether Emma Watson is tempted to undergo a makeover, and present herself as somewhat more obviously sexy; she wouldn't be the first actress who wanted to transcend the demure appearance she had initially adopted.  But some of us love Emma as she is now, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is unhappy with her being presented as a pubescent wet dream.  Guys and gals alike are obsessed with her, and one member girl's entire gallery consists of pictures of Emma Watson in various provocative poses, bondage, and so on.  This is par for the course in DA; one of the basic tenets of the site is that members are free to indulge in perverse depiction of characters, with sexual overtones.  That's why, presumably, it's called DEVIANTart.  My frustration is with their choosing to do this with Emma Watson!

Another character who has been taken into the collective breast of DA is Daenerys, the tragic heroine in Game Of Thrones.  At least she was already sexualized in the TV series, so that the artists could be forgiven for following up.  Some of the cosplays depicting Daenerys are really amazingly good.

So that's my rant for today.

Kay Hemlock B.

Random Remarks

These are observations based on what I see on DeviantArt, Facebook, The New York Times, Amazon, and the local TV news.  Being completely idle is not easy, because I get bored, and then I'm at the mercy of whoever suggest something that promises to be entertaining!

Okay: Blue eyes.  I'm getting heartily sick of pics with blue eyes on DA.  I guess I ought to stop looking at artwork politically, but blue eyes are characteristic of the northern European type that Hitler held in such high regard.  I don't mind grey eyes, but blue eyes are sort of getting to me.  I can't think of any of my friends who have blue eyes, but I'm sure there are a couple.  Good thing I'm using a pen-name, or my friends are going to be so upset ...

Next: Sansa Stark.  I get the impression that this character (from Game of Thrones) is a redheaded, well-endowed girl who hates to wear clothes.  Why are the guys (and gals) on DA obsessed with drawing her, or cosplaying her, and generally reminding us of her (former) existence?  Can some GoT expert tell us whether this woman was an interesting character, beyond her ample chest?  I like chests as much as the next girl, but the frequency of Sansa-related entries is wearing me out.

Next: Mail-Order Bride, a story on Kindle that is really far out.  It is about a time in the not-so-distant future, when Earth has come in contact with an entire consortium of civilizations, which are rapidly absorbing Earth's culture, technology, and population into its framework.  (It's not violent or cruel; it's just that people just know that humans are, and will be, second-class citizens of the so-called Hegemony.)  This is  'hard' science fiction, and the author seems well informed about the aspects of technology that are relevant.  Very interesting, altogether.

Last but not least:. Get over this fussing with the hair, already!  More than half the pictures of women have an elaborate hairdo, with strands down the sides of the face!!  They must be designed to make the face look younger.  One of the pictures is of a girl who supposedly was born to sail the seas.  Sorry to break this to you, Mr. Artist, but you can't be a sailor with a fussy hairdo, not unless your Dad is the captain.

Addendum:  Going back to the blue eyes ---and a lot of the other complaints---it seems that many of the young artists on DA are youthful, and some of them are immature and childlike, and they have quite cliche fantasies:  blue-eyed blonde girls with lots of fly-away hair, and exposed breasts.  That's sort of the difficulty with a site like DA, where it's open membership.  And you certainly don't want to restrict membership to superior artists because who's to judge?  And by its very name you know the artistic values on DeviantArt are going to be unconventional.  But I do deplore their heading like lemmings to the blonde blue-eyed sea!

Just a few minutes ago, I saw a couple of pieces with grey eyes, and I nearly cried with joy!

Kay