text:
Posts tagged 'Stephen Emond'
Talking About My Writing At Conferences, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
It can be really jarring being an author. It seems perfect for a quiet, unassuming shy fellow (that's me). You sit in a room and type out words; you write stories and create worlds; you can run play around, say all the things you think and live the life you want, all from the comfort of your home, maybe with a muffin and a cup of coffee. You create that wonderful book; you get an agent; you get a publisher; your book is released; and you've communicated with the whole world and touched so many lives all from your computer screen.
Then you get the call: "We've booked you to speak at a teacher's conference in Chicago next month, start packing!"
Speak?! Teacher's conference?! My high school English teachers would spit out their water if they knew I was even writing a book! I have to somehow teach THEM something? Speak???
This thought process loops for weeks, getting louder, with pounding echoes. I write! Not speak! These are two exceptionally different skill sets. People who are great writers and great speakers still amaze me. I imagine if you can speak well, if you're that social and outgoing, then you wouldn't be the type to do the actual quiet writing part. That's the case for myself, at least. I got just such a call. In fact, when I'd written Happyface I had to do a book release party in my hometown, an English teacher's conference in Chicago, a librarian conference in Pennsylvania and another teacher conference in Texas. I was petrified.
I'd never been one to raise my hand in class, or volunteer to read a passage, or for any reason choose to stand in front of a class. In most of those cases, you'd be expected to talk for a few minutes. Here I was supposed to talk to a quiet room for 20, 30 or 40 minutes!
Imagine, if you will, a montage sequence, set to the music of your choosing. I'm listing every noteworthy event that happened in the creation of the book; thinking about all the conversations I had with my editor; searching desperately for any little nugget of information I can pad out a half hour with; creating any artwork I can to at least divert a few eyes off of me; and getting on a plane, sitting in a hotel room, reading over notes and timing myself.
So much of the anxiety is just getting to 'the moment'. I guarantee you the five minutes before a speech are always worse than the five minutes after beginning a speech, and the five minutes after a speech can be near-euphoric.
One thing that bridges the 'speaker' and the 'writer' is that it's the actual writing you're speaking about. I never had to recite someone else's work or talk about something I didn't care about, and that helps. I can't say I'm the best speaker, but each time I've gotten through it.
Oddly enough, those times end up being the memories I look back on the most at the end of the year. I think to myself, "I'm a WRITER, not a SPEAKER!" I just want to WRITE. At the end of a trip like that, I think back, talking with other authors, speaking about my books, traveling, signing, hearing from people who've read my stuff, wrapped up in a whirlwind of activity all centered around not only books but MY books, those things I spent all that time writing. I have to remember, that this is part of being a writer, or the public version of a writer. That's when I'm in full on glamorous author mode, when being an author seems like a really cool gig. I go home after that and it takes a few days to adjust. Suddenly everything feels kind of empty and confusing. Why isn't anyone coordinating my travel, driving me around, ordering me food? Does anyone want me to sign something? I've got a pen…
At the end of the day, you write to finish your book and you talk to sell it. It's creative; it's a business; it's a strange, bizarre world being an author, but you do it and you love it.
Stephen Emond's author website: www.stephenemond.com
Stephen Emond's bio page
Working With My Editor, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
I had a friend ask me, when I was working on Happyface, if I disliked having an editor. He couldn't imagine someone telling him what's good and what's bad in his writing. I could see where some people would have issues with that. I'm not one of them. It would take a certain level of confidence that I've never mustered to assume that what I've written is the best it can be. I've only had great editors and I consider it an important advantage to my writing.
The books of mine you've read would not be the same had I worked on them alone. My editor (Connie) is great at taking what tends to be a rather personal work and finding the broader strokes of it. I'm often amazed at how she takes something I've written or pitched, and somehow understands me enough to say "I think THIS is what you're trying to do here," in a way that maintains the spirit of my words but also adds a laser focus to it. I see why I chose that, and how to burrow in deeper.
Meetings with Connie can also be like therapy. We've had very long conversations about my work (who else is going to listen to me talk about my fantasy lands for 3 or 4 hours?) where she can take away all the excess, all the extraneous ideas and pieces and really get at the core of what it is that I care about, what the story really is, taking it all apart and rebuilding it from the scraps.
Sometimes it's rough. Sometimes I get pages of notes that pick apart every other sentence, she wants to cut half of the stuff I just know is good but it doesn't fit. The truth hurts but she's always right. Sometimes it takes me a day or two to realize it.
My first draft of something can see close to half of it cut. Essentially saying "THIS stuff is good, this stuff over here is just okay. Let's cut that stuff and make it as good as the best parts."
More than a few times, I've gotten notes like "Ew! This part is creepy!" or "Definitely cut this section." I flush red for a few seconds and start deleting, glad those parts didn't get any further.
When you're writing 60,000+ words it gets very hard to see things objectively. At some point it all blends together, the good and the bad, and it just exists in it's own world. There are times I just have to rely on someone else to read it and be honest with me. Connie reads my words over and over and over, always making interesting notes and comments. Sometimes she just knows the right questions to ask to get my mind rolling: "Why did you choose this setting? Why is this character here?"
Of course, not everyone has an editor at a big publisher to lean on. Find someone you can trust who can really be truthful and conversational and elevate your work, and who won't butter you up and say the nice things you secretly or not-so-secretly want to hear. A good editor is completely indispensable.
Writing Stories In Different Formats, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
I've had the privilege to write for a few formats that are not novels. Namely, I got my start working on comic strips and was very entranced with that industry for a long time. I also spent a few years working in comic books, and because of my comic book Emo Boy I was given the chance to work on a feature film screenplay for a proposed film adaptation. I'll talk here about those unique processes.
All of them are of course very different from prose writing, for teens or otherwise. While the heavy lifting of creating an airtight plot remains the same for any form of writing, and believe me that can easily be the most effort-intensive part of the process, there's less focus on detail, generally because an artist or director will be supplying the actual images needed. Your job is strictly telling the story.
Comic strips may seem the easiest but I'll always maintain that it's a great boot camp for writing. You only need to do a small number of panels, usually one to four, with minimal dialogue, a small cast of characters and usually just the one scene. To do that well, to tell a full story AND elicit a laugh or a heartfelt moment, or to make someone stop and ponder something for a moment, is difficult. To do it day in and day out, week after week, year after year, you'll understand quickly how hard it is to keep that momentum going. Every strip needs to set up who is talking, where they are, what the context is and then somehow turn that idea on it's head by the end of the strip in a clever way. Sometimes a comic strip will have a storyline that goes on through a week or a month; Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame occasionally would play a game and see how long he could keep an idea going. Watterson is especially famous for pushing boundaries and testing the limits of the form. But through these storylines you can never assume a reader has read the previous instalments. You have to assume they've never even heard of your strip. So not only do you have to carry on the story, but you have to address it as if this is the first instalment of the story and find a clever or quick way to recap. Every strip is essentially a tiny standalone story.
Comic books have a bit more space to play in. You can grow from a 3 panel story to a full 3 act story. Comics generally have 24 pages to tell your story in; whether it's a standalone story or part of a longer arc, which has become more common in the past decade or two. Comics are a very visual medium, so it's often the artist who tells the story in terms of movement and dynamics, and the speed a scene may pass along at. The writer is generally setting up the scene and delivering the major actions and dialogue. I can draw decently, so I had written and drawn my comics. I'd usually come up with a long list of potential plots, as most of the issues of Emo Boy had anywhere from one to three short stories (Issue 11 had 11 stories). Once I had decided on a plot, I'd spend a day or two coming up with jokes, scenes and a general three act structure, and when it was time to write I'd keep those notes handy and often write the full issue in one sitting. The majority of the month I would spend doing all the art.
When I started work on the Emo Boy movie, I had to learn a lot about structure and writing a long-form work. With books and movies, that freewheeling speed and quick note jotting was no good, I needed to really sit down and put everything together like a puzzle. Theme, recurring motifs, and strong set pieces all became important. I had to really think of big visual moments that would look good in a trailer, I had to see everything on a screen in my head. I had to learn to cut for the first time, because, at 90 pages, you need a clean, strong storyline and you have to be aware of any scenes that divert from your story or don't in any way enhance or add to the story. Real estate is precious in a screenplay: scenes are generally short, a few pages long at best, so you don't have the freedom to stroll at your own pace the way you do in a novel. You can't spend a page talking about the flowers your character just passed. A novel can be a thousand pages or it can be 300 pages, you set your own pace. A movie needs to hit the right beats at the right times and hit them strong.
One of the best things about novel writing is the control you have over it. There's no space demand of a comic strip or even a movie, there are far fewer hands in the production. It's essentially you and your ideas, particularly at the start when the blank page truly is an invitation to your own world, as large or small as you feel comfortable existing in.
There's always an option for a writer whether to express a story as a comic, a movie, a video game, a novel, a blog, a news article… there's always a need and a place for good writing.
Structuring Novel Chapters, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
With Winter Town I thought of each chapter as its own mini story, paying close attention to giving each scene a three act structure and changing the values at stake between the start and finish. A common "rule" you'll read in writing books is that if a scene starts off positive then end it negative, and vice versa. It's really the value at stake in a scene that gets changed. Positive and negative is just a very broad way of looking at it.
A good example from Winter Town is in chapter 14. This chapter takes place early on in the relationship of Lucy and Evan, and takes place from Lucy's POV. What I wanted to show here was Lucy's inner struggle and inability to fully commit to something. She's always liked Evan, she's thrilled to be with him, but she's self destructive and already picking at the relationship. The scene takes place in the evening when Lucy and Evan leave Evan's house to walk downtown to the movie theater.
I divided the chapter into three main sections; Lucy getting outside and into a more cosmopolitan hustle and bustle, Lucy and Evan discussing small town life, the city, art and school, and then arriving at the theater where Lucy's tone shifts.
It starts positive; Lucy finds a strong energy in the night, with people all around her, the downtown lights, she holds Evan's hand, she kisses him, she can barely contain herself. The lights are reflecting on the snow, the streets are decorated, people are all out enjoying themselves, and it's a romantic scene as Lucy and Evan go out in public as some variation of boyfriend/girlfriend for the first time.
The "second act" plays with the positive and negative. Lucy and Evan talk about a fantasy life in the city, making art. Movies, comics, teaming up and living off art and love in a creative community. This is Lucy's dream and Evan's fantasy. For Evan, it isn't real. He knows he can't leave his family, he has plans for school. Lucy doesn't fit snuggly into his future vision.
The third act and "epilogue" of the chapter has Lucy reeling during the movie, emotional and on the verge of tears, while Evan just watches the movie. Lucy decides that Evan can't appreciate her or art because he doesn't know pain the way she does. He doesn't suffer and his life is too clean and neat. The chapter ends on a negative note as the idea is planted in Lucy's head that she is going to break his heart.
The constant shifting of good and bad, and light and dark, creates a dynamic flow and keeps the reader wondering what will happen next, and never getting too complacent with how things are. As readers, we truly appreciate the happy moments when they come from dark places and we cringe at the dark material that follows the lighter pieces. Beyond all that, it gives you a guide and purpose in your writing. Are things going too good for your character? Too bad? Try flipping the values at stake, sooner rather than later.
Creating Conflict For Your Character, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
In this post and the next I'll show you how I apply some common writing tactics to my own work. Today I'll talk about my first novel, Happyface.
One rule that I found useful when trying to think up events to take place early in the book was the idea of rocks and shields: the idea that your character exists in a world where rocks are constantly being thrown at him or her, so your character seeks shields for protection.
In Happyface, rocks come at the protagonist all throughout the book. The tragedy that starts him on his journey can be considered one such rock. Happyface and his mom move to a new town near the start of the book, leaving his father and brother suddenly absent. Happyface's story is about reinvention and hiding from his past. These are his goals. So what are the rocks?
An early rock is the presence in this new school of Mr Mulvey, his English teacher. Mulvey went to Happyface's old school and taught his older brother. Mulvey knows Happyface and his family story. For someone trying to hide everything he was before, Mulvey, well meaning as he is, becomes a dangerous presence.
Another rock comes from the Moon sisters; best friends of Happyface's crush, Gretchen. They're over-protective of their friend and intensely nosey. Happyface is constantly trying to throw them off his trail and keep himself a mystery but they want to know who this kid is and, more importantly, who he was.
The arrival of Chloe, his old crush from his old town, also ramps up the intensity and reveals a lot of holes in Happyface's story that has everyone questioning his reliability. Happyface's mom is also a rock, in the midst of a breakdown and wanting to keep past events in the present.
As for shields, Happyface has those too. His sketchbook is one – it's a diversion and it keeps his story straight, it makes his fake stories real. His entire "Happyface experiment" is a shield – he fully immerses himself in this social experiment that takes up his days and nights as a way of erasing a painful past and occupying his mind. Gretchen is a shield. His head-over-heels infatuation with her is a way of avoiding reality. His obsession with becoming popular, with having friends, is all to avoid his home life. If he loses them, he loses everything; all he has is a dark, broken, sad family life to return to.
Another writing method I used in Happyface is a character web – the idea that each character in some way illuminates a different part of Happyface. Around dorky Mike, who is shades of a former Happyface himself, Happyface becomes an alpha male, and talks down to him. Around Frog and Oddly, his "fan club," Happyface truly feels like the popular kid in school. Around Gretchen he's vulnerable and scared. Around Misty and Karma Moon he plays up the comedian role, not a care in the world.
Each crush of his reveals one of his "masks". Together they showcase the idea that he's always had this chameleon aspect to his personality. The book is never about popularity or about love, Gretchen is never the actual goal of the story, but it's a book about becoming comfortable with yourself. The happy ending is being able to take off the mask.
My Fiction Writing Process, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
I'm going to talk a little bit about what works for me when it comes to the process of writing. Everyone's different, and no doubt you will be too, but here's a little insight on how I work and how I came to use this process, and with any luck it can help you find your way as well.
I taught myself to write in gradual steps, by need, generally. My first 'writing' was my short comic strips. It doesn't sound like much but writing comic strips is a great boot camp – every strip has a beginning, middle and end, or set up, development and punch line. You're essentially telling a small story every day. By the time I was working on my Emo Boy comic book, I figured I'd read enough comics and watched enough TV. I knew the basic gist of how a story should look and feel. Some issues had one issue-long story and some issues had story several smaller stories. I'd generally set up the storyline, come up with some events and jokes, then wrap it all up, and if Emo Boy could learn a lesson by the end, all the better.
In 2008, I was working on two projects at once. One was Happyface, a full novel I was writing for Little Brown Books For Young Readers and the other was a screenplay for an Emo Boy movie for Vanguard Films. In 2008, I learned I knew absolutely nothing about storytelling.
The main complaint I kept hearing was: "Where's the structure?" This was coming from both companies. Having worked on short comic strips and comic books, my stories tended to feel too episodic. Emo Boy, the movie was having multiple adventures stemming from the comic book storylines. Happyface was jumping from month to month and place to place with little arc.
I've since become a strong outliner – I often spend as much time, if not more, outlining a book as I do actually writing it. I start in broad strokes and break it down piece by piece. It goes something like this:
Have an idea.
Give the idea a basic arc – a beginning, middle and end.
Flesh those pieces out into 3 acts – so the beginning, middle and end each have a beginning, middle and end.
Jot out ideas, scenes, character traits and lines of dialogue. Picture a video trailer for the book. Think up themes arising from big ideas. I ask myself: what is it about this story that excites me and makes me want to write about this in particular? How do I connect with the story? I take all those puzzle pieces and try to fit them together into some kind of loose outline.
From there, I start thinking in chapters.
For each chapter, I'll write a beginning, middle and end. I'll add more dialogue, locations and characters.
My editor says my first draft for a chapter is always very loose, like I'm racing to the end. It's closer to a comic or a screenplay: this person says this, that person says that, they both do this, the end. I'll go through it again to add more observation, detail and surroundings. I'll go through it again and add more mannerisms and movement, what the characters are thinking, sensory details like how something looks, smells or sounds. In final drafts, I pay attention to word choices, how sentences flow and the general feel of the text.
Things change a lot as I write. The outline will bend and sway, characters will reveal themselves to be far more important than I'd anticipated. So, even though I have a blueprint, I'm still discovering along the way. Some people prefer to start blind – they have a germ of an idea in mind and they start writing. I've tried this but I just stare at a blank page trying to think of something clever to say. It doesn't work for me – but we're all different. This is just my process.
In a more general day-to-day look at my writing process, I like to write outside of my home. I find I'm easily distracted at home, I have all my books there, my TV, video games and, worst of all, house chores. I also find that other places have better lighting. It makes me feel more awake. It could be a library, a cafe, a Panera Bread or a Barnes & Noble. I listen to music while I write – nothing with lyrics or too distracting – or sometime movie scores, and there are some indie bands that do instrumental music. I like jazz, anime soundtracks and, lately, I've added hip hop instrumentals into the mix.
Writing is hard. This is an issue for me and I know it is for a lot of people. Sometimes you know you want to write but you think, "I don't have any ideas. I don't know what to write." So you don't. It takes me a few minutes to get started. My head is racing, full of to-do lists, distractions, it's been a long day, my brain is fuzz and I just want to tune out, but once I sit and just stare at the blank screen or notebook paper my brain will, one by one, shut off all those distractions. I start to think, one thought leads to another and eventually I'll be lost in my own little world. Time slips away and I can easily sit there for an hour or two and not even feel it. I imagine it's what meditation is like.
Anyone can write: you need to find what works best for you. Find that process and put your trust in it, and you'll be piling up pages before you know it.
On Story Ideas And Developing A Novel, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
There are so many story ideas out there; small, personal stories, slice-of-life, romance, adventure, horror, fantasy epics. I have lists of ideas tucked away that I'll probably never get around to writing. So how do you know which idea to follow? With luck, something will talk to you – the right idea will hold your hand and walk you right through to the end.
After I finished writing my first Happyface, my first teen graphic novel, I felt like I needed to take my writing career to the next level. Other authors were making huge deals for 6 figures writing these epic series, these volumes-long fantasies and dystopias of other worlds and barren futures. I'd only written some comics and my first teen graphic novel, but I'm an author, so I figured I should be able to write anything I choose.
I set out to work on my own series. I fumbled through a few ideas before I settled on my epic – it involved a world that exists on a molecular level, subatomic particles and whatnot that you could only see after you die, when you leave your body and become energy. Or, you could see it through The Machine.
I slaved on this thing for months as it grew and grew, lending itself to volumes of stories. There was a parallel to Homer's The Odyssey, there were gods and monsters, there was a girl… there were many girls! There was a broken protagonist, who needed to fix himself on his journey. Once the confines of the human body were left behind, the world became especially open. He could travel through time and space, there was an underworld, a heaven and lessons to be learned.
I first knew I was in trouble when I was sending my editor these long dry articles on quantum physics and theories on the soul and she said, "Okay, great, I don't know what you want me to do with these!!" I'd spent months trying to build this world that never felt tangible. I didn't know how or where to start, and I hadn't written a single word. It was just IDEAS, piles and piles of IDEAS, and research, and graphs and charts and character arcs. I wasn't getting any closer to having a BOOK. My editor pointed out that people have spent a lifetime trying to pull off The Odyssey.
One day I was at my day job and I had to call someone who lived in Winter Haven, Florida. "That's a weird place to name a town after winter," I thought. Florida is like summer all year round. This sparked the idea for Winter Town. I pictured the winters I had as a child in New England and thought it was a charming setting for a story. I thought of writing two protagonists, a boy and a girl, and how maybe they only get to see each other during the winter, making it all the more magical and romantic.
Within twenty minutes I had a rough outline for what the book could be. I emailed the idea to my editor and she immediately grasped onto it – it felt like a proper follow-up to Happyface, and it wouldn't take me years of plotting to make something of it. The basic idea for Winter Town never changed. I added personal elements, there were themes on art, dreams and comfort added, but I was moving. I was writing, and I felt like I was actually working on something and not just spinning my wheels. Then it was just solving the remaining puzzles – What do these characters want? What do they need? How do they fulfil each other? Where do they leave each other empty?
Maybe I'll still get to that epic some day, or another series, but my point is this: Don't chase trends, don't worry about what others are writing or how much money they're making, and don't follow buzz – just write your story. Write what comes from your heart or you'll be starting at the bottom of a long uphill battle.
Using Art In My Teen Novels, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
I had always considered myself an artist and had a strong interest in comic strips and comic books, and only in writing my own comics did I come to really appreciate the art of writing.
My first YA novel, Happyface, came about after the slow demise of my comic book series, Emo Boy. I'll admit, I went into it both bitter and refreshed. I felt like there was no place for me in comics, that my book wasn't embraced, blah blah blah, sour grapes. Of course, the book had its fans, one of them being the editor that I ended up pitching book ideas to.
When I started working on Happyface it was a new adventure for me. It was a chance to put comics behind me and to become… drumroll… an AUTHOR! Not too far into the process my editor suggested we bring art into the project, and I made this face: :\
Art? In a book? What if it's too child-like? What if it gets shelved with COMIC BOOKS? I'd done comics already! I was onto the next thing and strongly against the idea, and my editor was okay with that. We could do text only. If the book didn't work without art it wasn't going to be a good book anyway.
Then the more I thought about it, I started to come around. It was for all the wrong reasons but I was suddenly open to the idea. What intrigued me was that the story was written in a first person voice, so we could make it like a blank journal that the main character is hand-writing in. I had the absurd notion that I would hand-write the entire book, that as Happyface enters his downward spiral his handwriting would become manic and messier, that his once relaxed art would become rushed and he'd fill in all the spaces in the margins – stuff you can't do just with typed text.
However, you can't edit hand-written text as conveniently as typed text, you can't simply have it translated for foreign language editions, and you can't have sloppy handwriting. It's not just a piece of art – it needs to be a book.
As I started drawing for it, though, I embraced the idea again. As long as we could avoid the comic book racks it could really stand out - a new frontier, a book FULL of illustrations. Not just spot art or random chapter headings but tons of art on each page, text integrated directly into the art! I wasn't aware of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which was starting to catch on as I worked on Happyface. My editor sent me a copy of the book and asked for my thoughts on it. I felt like Happyface still stood on it's own – that it was for a different age group, and the art was more mature and more integrated. We agreed to keep going.
I initially wanted to use illustrations to make my story stand out as a work of art and not just another book on the shelf. My editor wanted to use all of my capabilities since other authors didn't have the option. It was its own little market. What I learned after releasing the book informed why I use art in all my projects post Happyface.
I'd certainly never thought of or intended for it but Happyface became a big book for reluctant readers – particularly for teen boys, who are generally considered too busy blowing things up in video games to read books. I got emails from people saying their son had read the book three times, and that he never reads ANYTHING. I got emails from kids thanking me for writing it. A lot of reviews pointed to the art in Happyface as a bridge for teens that would generally only read comic books or find dense blocks of words intimidating.
I write for myself, generally. Then I hope my writing can find an audience. To actually build an audience where there wasn't previously one – to actually get people that don't read to pick up a book and read – clinched the deal. Thank goodness I used the art. I still want those manic margin-filled pages, though.
In my next article, I'll talk a bit about how I generate ideas. Thanks for reading!
Writing Personal Stories For Teens, by Stephen Emond (graphic novelist)
I would never say that I write autobiography but I like to say that I write personal stories, because I do cull a lot from my life and from people around me and things that I see, as I imagine most authors do. It gets more difficult with each project because writers look for new aspects of their personality to mine, and usually it's that first book that is the culmination of a life's worth of experiences.
I was no different, as my book Happyface definitely felt like a look back on everything I'd lived before. It really wasn't intentional. It would have been bold of me to say, "I plan to write a book about me, and the people shall love it." Although, I may have pitched that at some point. It was an organic process, and when you're sitting there asking, "What would this character say? Where can they go?" it's definitely easy to answer with what you would say and where you've been.
In case you haven't read it, Happyface is about a boy who suffers an unnamed family tragedy, moves to a new town and decides to start life over for himself. It becomes a social experiment and he uses it to bury pain and escape his reality. It's a "downward spiral" story.
The genesis of the book came from a title I'd just written it down in a sketchbook. Later I wondered who Happyface was, and the idea of a kid smiling through a lot of inner pain seemed like a great character to dive into. I had his parents divorced, because my own parents were divorced. I made him kind of shy, a little geeky, because I could definitely sell that. He was an artist. That pretty much clenched it -this was going to be a personal story.
I spent a lot of time thinking about my high school years when working on Happyface. I often wished I'd kept a journal of some kind, something I've always felt through life but never actually did. It would have been a goldmine for material! I had moved to a new town my sophomore year of high school when my parents divorced, and I viewed it as a chance to be a new person, but this was honestly lost on me as I wrote and only after did it dawn on me that I had actually lived through that experience. I thought I'd just been coming up with interesting story points. Other things I did intentionally use. I pulled a lot of details and banter and relationship tics from my first girlfriend. I thought about the kids that reached out to me when I first moved. These girls Leslie and Emily would always talk to me in French class. They didn't seem to realize I was an unpopular hermit, so they inspired the Moon sisters. A kid I sat with at lunch with a strong affinity for Married With Children inspired the character Mike. Much later in life, after a breakup, I met new people and had a new group of friends, and that inspired a chunk of the story as well.
This all sounds like autobiographical fiction but it really isn't. A book starts off as an idea and usually for me it has little to do with anything going on in my life. The arc of the story, even when it involves real events, usually needs to be fictionalized. It needs closure, it needs structure, a lesson to learn, a theme, things a little more tidy than life ever offers. As I flesh it out, personal details tend to fill in the spaces, and round out the characters, and provide the little bits of wisdom and insight. Eventually, though, it also goes through my editor, and a much wider audience than myself or my friends is considered. It goes back to telling a story the right way, giving it a real structure, adding drama and taking away fluff. This is when we get rid of the 90s nostalgia, the Super Mario references, the old sitcom references. I keep adding those in, I can't help it. This is when we search the story for those universal truths, where we find the pieces teenagers will really relate too, and we strengthen those and bring them to the front. That's the stage where I stop writing for me, and start writing for an audience.
In my next article, I'll talk a bit about how I use art in books – thanks for reading!
Month In Review with Steve Rossiter (January 2013)
The Writing Teen Novels 2013 line-up was launched on January 1st with a diverse range of novelists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand as monthly contributors. Each monthly contributor now has their first Writing Teen Novels article online.
Thank you to all the contributors, to everyone who has been reading the articles and those who have connected with Writing Historical Novels on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Tumblr, or via Novel Writing Quotes on Facebook or Google+.
The purpose of these Month In Review articles is to:
- provide a handy list of links to the articles for the past month, then to
- relate some of the content of these articles to my own novel writing to help novel writers and other interested people discover the month's content and gain some insights into ways the month's content can be engaged with in a practical context.
Articles for January 2013
What I Did Wrong And What I Did Right On The Way To Becoming A New York Times Bestselling Novelist by Beth Revis
Some Themes For Teen Novels by Elizabeth Wein
Why I Write Mysteries And Thrillers – And Read Them, Too by April Henry
I Was A Teenage Artist by Stephen Emond
Voice In Teen Novels by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Why I Write For Young Adults by Laurie Faria Stolarz
On Finding Story Ideas by Kate Forsyth
On Story Development by Andy Briggs
Teen Fiction: A Definition? by Bernard Beckett
Getting 'Great Ideas' For Novels by Carolyn Meyer
Combining Personal Experience And Imagination For Writing Novels by Kashmira Sheth
Why I Write Young Adult Novels by Lish McBride
What Is The Appeal Of Teen Dystopian Novels? by Sam Hawksmoor
How Reading Berlin Newspapers From The Fall Of 1918 Helped Me Write 'My Brother's Shadow' by Monika Schroder
Why I Made The Switch To Writing Young Adult Novels, by Catherine Ryan Hyde (guest article)
On Creating Conflict (Secrets Of Narrative Drive) by Sarah Mussi
Choosing The Right Story For Your Teen Novel by Paul Volponi
Historical Teen Novels: Fact, Fiction And Friction by Pauline Francis
Writing Narrative Point Of View In Teen Novels by Diane Lee Wilson
Approaching the writing of teen novels
Beth Revis wrote: "Do the things you fear. Don't try to be like everyone else. Care more about the story than the market."
Elizabeth Wein wrote: "I don't write teen novels. Most of my novels are about teens, but I have never once in my life set out to write a 'teen novel'."
Guest contributor Catherine Ryan Hyde: "It helps to remind myself that when I was 14, my favorite book and movie was Midnight Cowboy, though my parents didn't know it. That's how I assess the reading level of a teen."
Laurie Faria Stolarz wrote: "I knew that I wanted to target readers that were like me as a young person – those who found themselves getting discouraged by reading, whose minds tended to wander as soon as they got bored on the page. I wanted to create high concept, page-turning books that would grab the reluctant reader and get them excited about reading."
Lish McBride wrote: "The writing coming out of Young Adult and Middle Grade sections makes my imagination burn and my heart glow with pure, unabashed joy. There have always been writers and editors that take writing for kids seriously, but now they're being let onto the playing field. It makes me happier than you can ever know to be part of that team."
Paul Volponi wrote: "After having written 10 novels for young adults, I believe that the most challenging aspect of writing a YA novel is choosing the right story. Why? You're probably going to live with that story every day for a long while. In my case, it usually takes me anywhere from 10 months to a year to complete a novel. Then, following the initial writing process, there will probably be several more months of working with the editor representing the publishing company, making modifications on the novel. So there is little doubt that you need to choose a story that inspires you."
I am currently writing a teen historical novel set in western Poland in 1939. The basic premise is that a teenage boy living with his family in Bydgoszcz in western Poland discovers at the outbreak of WW2 that he was adopted and his biological parents want to take him to Berlin, but he has different ideas. The story follows him as he tries to bring his family in Bydgoszcz back together amidst the German invasion and occupation.
I live in Australia and, like Beth Revis recommends, I'm not being like everyone else; writing a teen historical novel set in wartime Poland is not an attempt to hitch onto market trends and be just like the current bestsellers. It has originality but can also fit firmly into genres such as teen novels, historical novels and wartime novels. Like Elizabeth Wein, I am writing about a teenage main character but not necessarily writing a 'teen' novel in the sense of following criteria to fit a specific idea of what 'teen' novels should be. The novel I'm writing is intended for teenage readers and adult readers. The subject matter means I would not be actively promoting the novel to pre-teen children, given the setting in the opening months of WW2 Poland and being written for teen-adult readers in mind, but, as Catherine Ryan Hyde indicated, many young readers read above the recommended age-range. I first read one of Stephen King's adult horror novels when I was 9 and enjoyed it because it didn't talk down and overly simplify things like many of the novels I had read that were recommended for my age. Whereas Laurie Faria Stolarz has an emphasis on catering for reluctant readers, my natural emphasis for teen readers is probably more toward creating something which will entertain and intellectually stimulate Honour Roll students and intelligent adults, while still being accessible and emotionally engaging for more reluctant readers. As Lish McBride pointed out, there is a lot of sophisticated and entertaining fiction available to teen readers now. My approach to my novel-in-progress is not to focus on a simplistic action-adventure approach to war, nor a simplistic anti-war morality tale, or something similar, but a story about things like family, friendship, courage, responsibility, joy, sorrow and striving against adversity. Another key aspect of my approach for this novel is in-depth research; I want my depiction of the setting to stand up to expert scrutiny as well as the story being entertaining and intellectually stimulating for teen and adult readers. All this amounts to a story I am happy to write, revise and edit over a long timeframe then discuss with people over an even longer timeframe.
Teen readers deserve novels which are not a simplified version of adult novels but sophisticated and entertaining novels created with as much effort and attention to detail as adult novels.
Why I Write Teen Fiction, by Sam Hawksmoor
Writing Description In Novels, by Carolyn Meyer
Plot Structure In Novels (Part 2), by Kate Forsyth
Worldbuilding When Writing A Novel, by Lish McBride
Who Buys (And Who Reads) Teen Novels, by Elizabeth Wein
Writing A Good First Sentence For A Teen Novel, by Diane Lee Wilson
Maximizing The Potential Of Your Writing Group, by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Dealing With The Idea Of Writer's Block, by Paul Volponi
Why I Write Teen Fiction, by Sam Hawksmoor wp.me/p29ESk-w5 #teenfiction #teenlit #teennovels #YAfiction #YAnovels #YAlit #teenbooks 15 hours ago
On Creating Interesting Characters For Historical Teen Novels, by Pauline Francis wp.me/p29ESk-vY #characters #teennovels #YAlit #YA 2 days ago
Writing Description In Novels, by Carolyn Meyer wp.me/p29ESk-vR - @CMeyerBooks #description #writingnovels #writingfiction #books 3 days ago
RT @NovelRetreatsAu: Overlooking #Taroona, #Tasmania, where the Novel Writing Retreats Australia property is located. https://t.co/kLv5aHr6… 3 days ago
Congratulations to @EWein2412 for getting number one on the @YALSA Teens' Top Ten this year with 'Code Name Verity'. #books #teenlit #YAlit 3 days ago
RT @RandomHouseCA: The top 10 teen books of 2013 as chosen by @yalsa! ow.ly/qbL5L Have you read any of them? 3 days ago


text:
Home > News > featured news > Latin Homeownership Rate is Fastest Growing in the U.S.
Latin Homeownership Rate is Fastest Growing in the U.S.
Zillow | October 09, 2019
According to Zillow research, Latinos are buying homes are a higher rate than the overall U.S. population, beginning to close a gap between the Hispanic and white homeownership rate that has tripled since the start of last century. Affordability and racial inequity combined to compound a disparity throughout the past 12 decades. The typical Latino household in the U.S. earns 75.7% of the typical white household income, and the typical Latin household wealth is only 12.2% of the typical white household wealth. That means Latino households carry a far greater share (64.7% vs. 38.1%) of their wealth in their home, which made those families harder hit when home values nosedived during the Great Recession.
REMAX Fit To Sell - Prepare Your Home For Sale
Avoid these 10 mistakes and discover easy steps to make your home "Fit To Sell." These simple concepts can help you and your RE/MAX Sales Associate get the most on the sale of your home.
Comprehensive Analysis Reveals the Hottest Markets for Real Estate Investing In the Nation
MyHouseDeals | May 26, 2021
MyHouseDeals, a leading digital platform for real estate investors, recently released a comprehensive analysis of the top markets within the country for real estate investing. "Our quarterly and yearly market reports have always been a big hit with our members. The key insights provided in each one provide invaluable advice on how to pivot and grow our businesses as real estate investors," said Alex Soares, President of the platform. The detailed reports are an important way for investors to discover new opportunities and make strategic decisions regarding the year ahead. 2020 was a historic year because the US navigated the coronavirus pandemic. The residential real estate industry thrived as historically low mortgage interest rates led to unprecedented demand. Strong market conditions have extended into 2021. While mortgage rates have crept up a bit, the market is still red-hot and pricing wars are commonplace. During the first quarter of the year, MyHouseDeals added thousands of deals in the following categories: wholesale real estate deals (76.9%), foreclosures (18.1%), motivated MLS deals (4.4%), and motivated seller deals (0.5%). Wholesale land deals dominated the first quarter as the most popular investing strategy for the tens of thousands of active investors who are members of MyHouseDeals. After some number-crunching, the results show that the top five markets for investment property deals in the country are South Florida, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Houston. These markets, alongside others at the top, will likely remain attractive in the months to come and offer an opportunity for investors to make deals with high-profit potential. About MyHouseDeals Founded in 2005, MyHouseDeals is the premier online community for residential real estate investors, providing networking tools, on-demand training, and property lead generation, including access to wholesale land deals, motivated seller leads, and investor-ready foreclosures nationwide.
Veteran Toronto Realtor Daniel Milstein Joins Top-Producing LA Team Aaron Kirman Group
prnewswire | October 19, 2020
Daniel Milstein, a veteran real estate agent and regular top-producer in the luxury market, announced today he's joined Aaron Kirman Group at Compass. Milstein joins billion-dollar producing team Aaron Kirman Group and will serve as an agent within Aaron Kirman Group's Luxury Estates Division based in their Beverly Hills headquarters. Originally launching his real estate business in Toronto, Canada over 15 years ago, Milstein has been recognized as a continuous leader among North American Realtors, curatively selling over $150 million in real estate. Milstein's background in the music and fashion industries has connected him with notable and prolific clients from around the world. He has regularly been featured on A&E's hit series "Buying the View."
Majid Al Futtaim Properties Selects Newgen for Automating Enterprise-wide Document and Records
Newgen Software | September 20, 2021
Newgen Software, a global provider of digital transformation platform, is pleased to announce that the Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Properties has selected Newgen to digitize its records and documents, as part of its enterprise-wide strategic digital transformation initiative. Majid Al Futtaim Properties will use Newgen's document management system (DMS)—part of the contextual content services platform to manage business-critical records while maintaining security and ensuring regulatory compliance. Newgen will help them build a central repository for enabling remote, secure, and easy access to content. This will ensure end-to-end management of enterprise content from creation to disposal, thereby optimizing workforce collaboration and productivity. With Newgen, Majid Al Futtaim Properties can bridge information silos and facilitate anytime-anywhere access to documents and records. We look forward to supporting their current and future digital transformation initiatives. - Vivek Bhatnagar, VP EMEA, Newgen Software. Newgen's DMS built on a low code digital transformation platform—enables end-to-end management of both physical and electronic records, while retaining integrity and authenticity. The software manages the complete record lifecycle, from creation, usage, storage, and maintenance to preservation all in line with the organization's policies. About Newgen Software Newgen is the leading provider of a unified digital transformation platform with native process automation, content services, and communication management capabilities. Globally, successful enterprises rely on Newgen's industry-recognized low code application platform to develop and deploy complex, content-driven, and customer-engaging business applications on the cloud. From onboarding to service requests, lending to underwriting, and for many more use cases across industries.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Cafe au Lait Macules (CALMs) are localized well-demarcated macules or patches of uniform hyperpigmentation seen in 10-20% of the population. They typically develop in childhood and represent increased melanin deposition with normal numbers of melanocytes. CALMs range in size from 2-5cm and can occur on any skin surface. On their own, CALMs are completely benign but multiple lesions may be a cutaneous indicator of neurofibromatosis.


Functions for exploring the best subsets in regression with a genetic algorithm. The package is much faster than methods relying on complete enumeration, and is suitable for data sets with large number of variables. For more information, see Sinha, Malo & Kuosmanen (2015) <doi:10.1080/10618600.2014.899236>.
Please use the canonical form https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=mogavs to link to this page.


Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hit back at the media amid questions over Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld, insisting his players are not "s***".
Spurs slumped to a third straight loss on Tuesday, beaten 2-1 by Inter at San Siro in the Champions League.
Trippier and Alderweireld missed the Group B clash, Pochettino citing a "technical decision", as late goals from Mauro Icardi and Matias Vecino saw Inter to a win after Christian Eriksen's opener.
But Pochettino was unhappy with questions around Trippier and Alderweireld as he defended his squad.
"Why disrespect the players that aren't on the pitch?" he told a news conference.
"You can blame me and say, 'Gaffer, you were so so rubbish in your selection of the starting 11.' But please don't disrespect the players who were playing, because it's my decision.
"Of course, Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, we have 25 players. And you believe that and sometimes you behave with your question, you ask me like I can only use 11 and the other 13 or 14 players are rubbish, are s***, I don't know.
"Sorry, but I am so disappointed because I am a person that respects you a lot and the players. When my decision is to play with 11, you must respect my decision because I am the manager.
"You cannot disrespect. You show too much disrespect for the players who play in the position, as the players you have given me the names of now."


At the end of the 1990s (following the painful collapse of the Albanian pyramid schemes which took with them the hard earned savings of a generation of Albanian immigrants – the topic of immigrants and saving will be the subject of a subsequent post), more Albanians arrived and more settled permanently as, finally, Greece decided to legalize all the undocumented workers and give them Green cards. Now – suddenly – the schools were full of Albanian children and with them the first successful cases of Albanian students passing the university entrance exams. For the first time Albanian newspapers were published in Athens, Albanian politicians held election rallies in Greek cities, the National Greek Opera had Albanian dancers in its cast, the World Champion in female javelin from Greece was Albanian, together with a large part of the Greek weightlifting dream-team that has dominated two successive Olympics. Theatre companies and rap groups composed of Albanian immigrants and Albanian journalists writing in Greek papers have now become a regular part of national life. Greeks slowly and with difficultly began to get used to the reality (and some to the necessity) of living with the Albanian immigrants. But then three years ago there was an incident which, while lamentable in itself, serves very well as an example of the kind of issues of migration, inclusion, assimilation, national and European identity etc, which might usefully be borne in mind by our leaders when they get down to framing the document they have in hand. What follows was sent to me by Talos, who many of you will already know from the comments section, and who others may be interested enough to read in his own blog Histologion (I am also grateful to him for providing me with the background information which forms the basis of this post).
Odysseas Tsenai (Oddisej Qena)was a high-school student in Nea Mechaniona, a town near Thessaloniki. He was the son of Albanian immigrants and a great student despite his recent arrival and initial inability to speak the Greek language. He was actually too good for his own good.
fascist dictatorship in the 1930's and should be stopped anyway).
and there was no way that this should be allowed and it was against the law anyway. They were right about the last part, but in a lightning move (and to its credit) the ministry of education modified the law, thus allowing Odysseas to bear the flag after all. The parents threatened a boycott of all festivities. Faced with such mind boggling arrogance, xenophobia, plain stupidity and despite the teachers council decision to back him regardless of any reactions, Odysseas gracefully said that he would not accept the flag because he didn't want to cause a disturbance in the ceremony or the parade.
This became a national issue quickly, the media running with it with all sorts of interviews and live coverage. To their credit all the main parties and the President of the Greek republic stood by Odysseas. So did the teachers unions. But there were 50% of people in opinion polls that were against Odysseas raising the flag, a sign that socially immigrants were far from universally accepted even when they excelled. So Odysseas, soon after this, and obviously needing to feel part of the society he grew up in, decided to be baptized as an Orthodox Christian (something astoundingly frequent among Albanians living in Greece). One of his godfathers was a big time TV journalist who championed his cause. All seemed to be going fine for Odysseas, but, annoyingly he still remained a great student.
Flag row revives as Odhise still tops class. No citizenship for the Qena family. Support to Tsenai. Best pupil denied right to carry Greek flag for being Albanian. Controversy over Greek flag bearer continues.
Finally here is the good news: The top politicians of all parties and most of the MPs for both the Socialists and the Conservatives (and all the leftist MPs) were 100% behind Qena. The teachers both in Nea Mechaniona and through their unions as well, most serious commentators, artists, media personalities most (if not all) were supportive of Odysseas selection. Tens of other immigrant students around Greece marched with the flag with little or no problem (one or two exceptions when far right groups tried to create a scene at the parade).
Now for the bad news: this time most of his fellow students were against him. The town seemed to isolate those of the students and parents. Again public opinion is split on it (most common opinion: if he is a good student they should give him another kind of award and not the flag). It seems that the far right is using this to recruit new members. For the first time I think that a far right party might be able to elect MPs. See this on why I'm worried.
This entry was posted in A Fistful Of Euros, Life and tagged europe, far right, greece, greek flag, immigrants, Life, mechaniona, migragtion, national, odysseas, opinion, parents, school, students, teachers, the greek by Edward Hugh. Bookmark the permalink.
Greece has a history of denial about its ethnolinguistic nature and of using oppressive measures to make the state fit a vision of a monolingual, monoethnic, Orthodox Greek state. I was shocked in the late 80's to find cultured, British educated Greeks talking about how generous the Greek state is to permit foreigners like the Turks and Macedonians to live on Greek soil, in areas that were hardly Greek at all until the Balkan wars.
The worst of it is gone, and I'm inclined to simply view it as a good sign that at least the mainstream parties are on the right side. Greece has long been a sore spot in European policy towards minorities.


Bristol Business School is one of the leading schools of accounting, economics, business and management in the country. We offer a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate, professional and short courses.
Find out about our undergraduate and postgraduate courses in accounting and finance, and why you should study at UWE Bristol.
Explore our undergraduate and postgraduate business and management courses, and why you should study Business and Management at UWE Bristol.
Find out about our undergraduate and postgraduate courses in economics and why you should study at UWE Bristol.
Discover our range of professional and short courses in business.
UWE Bristol offer a range of Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) level 3-7 programmes in Leadership and Management and Coaching and Mentoring.
Gain the skills, experience and networks to become an inspirational leader through the Bristol MBA programme.


The International Iron Metallics Association (IIMA) is an international trade association representing the global ore-based metallics industry. The Members of IIMA represent many of the world's producers, traders and distributors of ore-based metallics as well as other companies associated with the industry, such as suppliers of raw materials, freight and logistics services, technology, equipment, etc. It is IIMA's policy to govern its activities by the standards of the strictest and most developed antitrust and competition law principles, especially those of the United States (USA) and the European Union (EU). IIMA also acknowledges that multiple jurisdictions in addition to the USA and EU have become increasingly vigorous with respect to antitrust and competition law enforcement.
Antitrust and competition laws in the EU, USA and in other jurisdictions are intended to ensure that there is free and open competition in business and expressly prohibit any business behaviour, practice, activity or agreement that restrains or limits competition. With their meetings of members who are often competitors, trade associations must be particularly careful to ensure compliance with these laws. Failure to comply can result in serious consequences, both financial and legal/criminal, for the association, member companies and their employees.It is noteworthy that various antitrust and competition law authorities have recognised that a strong antitrust policy and compliance guidelines can serve as factors in determining whether to pursue investigations where trade associations are concerned.
customers or classes of customers.
any discussions of present or future capacity or production must be monitored or approved by Legal Counsel.
These principles apply at both IIMA meetings and social events.
The purpose of IIMA's Code of Conduct is to ensure that the conduct of IIMA, its staff, contractors and its Members does not raise antitrust issues in any applicable jurisdiction. It is therefore an obligation of each IIMA Member, staff member and contractor to be familiar with this Code of Conduct and to abide by it.
However, it is fundamental that none of the foregoing should deter membership in IIMA or discourage Members from participation in its activities. The courts (including the US Supreme Court) and antitrust enforcement authorities have recognised that legitimate trade and industry association activities can promote competition and efficiency. Furthermore, they can provide industry and public benefits, such as ensuring safety and protecting the environment. In addition, trade association activities can create a better and more informed marketplace, permitting individual Members to determine what makes business sense for themselves, the industry and the public at large.
IIMA's Code of Conduct applies to all IIMA meetings, communications and other activities and must be observed and followed at all times. Any member who has any questions with respect to these guidelines or compliance with antitrust laws should in the first instance contact the Secretary General who will obtain appropriate legal advice.


City of Conway officials say they will no longer associate with Central Arkansas Sports Management after the company's owner was arrested for a second time on meth charges last month.
While city officials and the United States Specialty Sports Association have dropped all contracts with CASM, area tournament schedules will not be affected, Conway Parks and Recreation Director Steve Ibbotston said.
"We have been assured by the state [USSSA] director that whatever tournaments were scheduled and all teams that have signed up prior to this will automatically be enrolled to our new [organizer]," he told the Log Cabin on Wednesday.
Taking CASM's place will be Central Arkansas Sports Events, he said.
The decision to drop CASM from anything related to local sports came after the president and owner of CASM was arrested on drug charges in Pulaski County last month. An official announcement regarding CASM's firing was issued Feb. 1, one day after the Log Cabin reported Rusty Imhoff was again facing drug charges.
Online records show James "Rusty" Randall Imhoff, 55, of Sherwood was arrested following a traffic stop Jan. 11 during the early morning hours. The traffic stop led to four felony charges and one traffic citation: possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver, a Class D felony; possession of meth cocaine with purpose to deliver, a Class B felony; manufacturing methamphetamine, a Class C felony; possession of drug (meth cocaine) paraphernalia, a Class D felony; and a citation for reportedly speeding more than 15 miles over the speed limit.
The man who once led local minor league baseball and softball tournaments has pleaded not guilty to the allegations against him and is currently scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. April 1 in Pulaski County District Court for a review hearing.
Records also show Imhoff faces a felony possession of meth cocaine charge and a misdemeanor possession of marijuana charge stemming from an unrelated incident on Oct. 19.
Imhoff is currently scheduled to appear for a plea and arraignment before a circuit judge on Monday regarding the charges that stem from the October incident.
USSSA officials said have said they knew of the October traffic stop that led to charges against Imhoff but did not drop him at the time because he led organizers to believe drugs found in his vehicle were not his.
"We were fully aware of what happened in October," one administrator wrote in a comment on a Facebook thread earlier this week. "we were told by Rusty that he was pulled over for a simple driving violation and the person he was with had the drugs and all charges against him would be dropped. It was the off season and no events were even planned until after his hearing."
When the Pulaski County man was arrested a second time for similar charges, he was fired.
"Rusty was with us for 15 years, we were not going to condemn him for something he said he didn't do," the online message reads. "We had [three] months before the season started to figure this out and do what was best for all parties. He was then arrested for the same thing and was immediately fired."
The CASM website shows to be "temporarily closed" and all related links to the site have been deactivated.


In the hands of Disney's extraordinary animators, Lewis Carroll's immortal literary classic comes to life like never before!
The surprises begin when a daydreaming Alice encounters a White Rabbit who is frantically running late. She chases him and falls into the magical, madcap world of Wonderland with its kaleidoscope of off-the-wall characters -- including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, and the manic Mad Hatter, who invites her to a memorable tea party! The crowning confrontation begins when Alice meets the notorious Queen of Hearts and her enchanted deck of playing cards. Tricked into a curious game of croquet, Alice, and her patience, end up on trial. Is there no escape from this whimsical escapade?
Filled with fantasy and topsy-turvy fun, Alice In Wonderland is teeming with spectacular songs and astounding animation in the highest Disney tradition!
Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Musical Score, 1952.
DVD: Standard 1.33:1; audio English DD 5.0, Spanish Digital Mono; subtitles none; closed-captioned; single side - dual layer; 27 chapters; rated G; 75 min.; $29.99; street date 7/5/00.
Supplements: Alice In Wonderland DVD Storybook; Alice In Wonderland Trivia Game; "Operation Wonderland" Featurette; "The Unbirthday Song" Sing-Along; "All In The Golden Afternoon" Sing-Along; Theatrical Trailer.
Perhaps the folks at Disney have a perverse sense of humor. Why else would they release two of their least-liked animated films on DVD on the same day? For whatever reason, that's exactly what they did - and on Independence Day, as well! Both Robin Hood and Alice In Wonderland hit the streets that day, and both are often regarded as among the worst Disney has to offer. Perhaps not coincidentally, these two films feature some of the weakest plots to be found in Disney animation. Neither has any real storyline; instead, they essentially combine various largely unrelated sequences and hope we dig the result.
As far as I'm concerned, that's where the similarities between RH and Alice stop. I fully agree with the critics of RH; it really is a lackluster, cheaply-made mess. Alice, on the other hand, is where I don't understand the poor reception. Not only do I disagree with the extreme negative assessments, but I actually find it to be one of Disney's best films; Alice differs from the typical fare, which may be one reason for its less-than-welcome reception, but that's part of the reason I like it so much.
Because I never read the Lewis Carroll books, I can't provide a direct comparison of how well Disney adapted the tales. Frankly, I believe such examinations are fairly useless. I don't care if a movie perfectly resembles its source or if it seems radically different; I judge the film on its own, not how well it duplicates other material.
Nonetheless, I believe many of the criticisms of Alice stem from the fact that Disney did too much to tame the books' anarchic spirit. That said, the movie stands as one of Disney's most irreverent and least "heart-warming" films, at least for the era; I honestly think it seems ahead of its time in that it presented a more daring and glib exterior than we'd see until more recent pictures like Aladdin or Hercules.
Is Alice consistently and completely successful in this regard? No, but it works more often than it doesn't. Some criticism - even from Walt himself - has been leveled at the character of Alice because she's a fairly cold and distant girl; she lacks the warmth and charm of other Disney heroines. Personally, I liked that fact. I don't want to see 100 characters who are all variations on the others. At the root, Alice really isn't much of a character; like many Disney protagonists, she's more of a spectator in her story than she is an active participant. However, it felt refreshing to have a character who seemed a bit cold and selfish; too much perfection gets old.
I also was mildly happy to see a film that really didn't try to teach us many lessons. Throughout her adventure, Alice makes mistakes and gets into all sorts of predicaments, but she doesn't seem to learn much from these. If anything, the movie serves as an anti-lesson; Alice finds that she can fall into many binds but still emerge fine, as the whole thing was just a dream. One gets the feeling that after this fantasy, Alice hasn't changed one iota.
Don't get me wrong: I think that movies that features morals or lessons are a positive thing. But every once in a while, it's nice to find one that doesn't tattoo us with "ways to live". Alice says that there are a lot of weird people in the world, you won't figure them out most of the time, but keep on trucking! Or something like that.
Maybe I'm dense and I missed all sorts of lessons, but I find that Alice is more of an expression of the randomness of life. Not everything comes wrapped in a neat little bow, and Alice discovers this through the wildly inconsistent world she experiences. Rules make little sense and they change rapidly; you can try to figure them out, but you probably won't succeed. Just do your best and things will probably work out fine in the end.
I'm officially babbling now, so I'll stop my theories on the "meaning" of Alice, other than to say I don't think it really has one. In any case, it works very well, as it packs in more diverse, clever and funny characters than probably any other Disney film. Surprisingly, however, it never seems like overkill. That's because it usually gives us the character, has some fun, then moves on to the next. Yes, some - like the Cheshire Cat or the mysterious White Rabbit - reappear from time to time, but even in those cases they remain in the background on later occasions; never do they wear out their welcomes.
Alice doesn't provide the best animation Disney has to offer, but I thought the film provided a pleasing visual look. It differs from the classic appearance we associate with the Carroll books, but it really needed to do this or else the comparisons would have been even more withering. The movie probably could have looked less "cute", though in a perverse way, the sweet look of the characters makes their oddness stand out even more.
Ultimately, I don't know how well Alice In Wonderland stands up to analysis, and if I were better acquainted with the original stories I may indeed find it less satisfying. At the current time, however, I really like the film. Alice provides an unusual and very entertaining Disney experience.
Alice In Wonderland appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of approximately 1.33:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; due to those dimensions, the image has not been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Although it sports a few flaws, Alice generally looks quite splendid, and it virtually never belies its advanced age.
Sharpness seems consistently strong, with most of the picture appearing nicely crisp and well-defined. On a few occasions, I encountered some mild softness during wide shots, but this remained infrequent and minor. Moir� effects were not an issue, but I did note a few examples of jagged edges, particularly during some scenes with a lot of camera movement.
At no point does the print used appear to come from a nearly 50-year-old movie. It seems so clean as to be nearly flawless. I saw no signs of grain, speckles, scratches, hairs, spots or other problems, with a single exception: about halfway through the film, I detected some dirt on Alice's face for one frame. It was small enough that I had to reverse the film to examine it again, since I thought I might have imagined it. Nope, it's there, but it remains the only flaw I detected. Say what you will about Disney, but they take very good care of most of their animated films.
Colors largely appear bold and vibrant, but a few inconsistencies appear. Fleshtones vary too much; the ostensibly human characters in the film can go from tan to fairly white to mildly pink throughout the movie. It's not a radical issue, but it was a moderate concern. I also noticed during a couple of scenes that used colored lighting that the hues looked a bit heavy and weren't as soft as they should have appeared. Black levels seemed nicely deep and dark, and shadow detail was fine. Contrast could be a minor issue, as sometimes white objects - such as the White Rabbit - appeared overly bright, but this was also a small concern. Note that my "B+" grade for Alice is not curved to take the age of the material into account; I'd give it the same mark if it were made yesterday. As such, although it has a few concerns, I nonetheless found Alice to look pretty terrific.
Less scintillating is the film's newly-remixed Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtrack. I remain of two minds on the topic of multi-channel remixes from monaural sources. For the most part, I don't object to them because most of these stay pretty close to the original track; the extra channels may open up the sound somewhat, but they rarely try to reinvent the wheel. Also, much of the time the additional channels offer mainly music, which may have come from a stereo source; as such, the alterations seem logical and work fairly well.
On the other hand, there's something to be said for sticking to the original material. The vast majority of monaural soundtracks exist in that state because of technological confinements from the period; yeah, some folks like Woody Allen still like mono, and Kubrick used it pretty late into his career as well, but since various multi-channel formats have become common, this happens very rarely. It's clear that most monaural movies aren't that way because of a conscious stylistic choice; they use that kind of audio because it was pretty much all that was available.
Nonetheless, if the soundtracks were designed for mono, one could easily argue they should stay mono because alterations may corrupt the original plans. It doesn't seem likely that the multi-channel edition of a film will harm the material, but we can't say that with any certainty, and the potential for damage exists.
All of these issues occurred to me as I listened to Alice In Wonderland because I found it to be an imperfect remix. To be sure, the 5.0 version doesn't try to go nuts with sonic expansion. In fact, the soundfield stays pretty close to the center. Virtually all singing and dialogue emerges from the middle speaker, and most effects remain there as well. It's largely the music that expands to (primarily) the forward right and left channels, with some light reinforcement of the tunes in the rears. At no point did I note any particularly discrete audio from the front or rear sides; the music in the forward speakers offered a mildly stereophonic impression, but I couldn't point out a single instance in which I heard a particular distinguishable sound from any of the side speakers. The surrounds definitely present no discrete audio, and one would be hard pressed to hear anything of note from them.
Since this track is so mildly remixed, why do I maintain any objections? Because it features a slight thinness that's not present in the original version. Pretty much any soundtrack from 1951 will appear relatively thin and tinny to our ears; that's due to those nasty technological restrictions again. However, many the wan qualities of Alice seemed to result mainly from some "bleed through" problems; this occurs when the audio spreads to places where it wasn't supposed to go.
The effects appear especially ill-defined in this regard; at times they'll seep through to all the front channels for no apparent reason. The music stays more clearly distinct and doesn't suffer from this concern as much, though the songs largely lack heft and are moderately bland. Dialogue can sound a bit rough at times, although it remains intelligible and clear. Clearly I didn't dislike the 5.0 soundtrack of Alice; my "C+" reflects some affection for it, and the remix does spread out the music nicely. However, the quality appears weaker than it should, and some "bleed-through" concerns exist. Whatever additional spatiality the 5.0 environment adds seems counterbalanced by the decrease in quality; my grade for the mono original would probably have been a "C+", so it appears like wasted effort that this one was redone.
In late 1995, Disney released a deluxe laserdisc boxed set of Alice In Wonderland. That set included some terrific supplemental features. This DVD doesn't. It gives us a few, but little to raise the pulse.
One part of the LD set that ports to the DVD is "Operation Wonderland", an 11 minute and 20 second TV clip from 1951. Although it's little more than a primitive version of today's featurettes - otherwise known as "glorified trailers" - I enjoyed the piece simply because it provides a little behind-the-scenes action from the Disney studios. Whereas this kind of material seems like nothing special for new movies, since we're so inundated with it, when it comes for an older film, it becomes much more delightful, simply because so little similar stuff exists. The emphasis remains largely promotional in this program, but it's quite entertaining nonetheless.
Two "Disney Sing-Alongs" appear on the DVD. These show the respective scenes from the movie and accompany the tunes with lyrics at the bottom of the screen; the words show highlighting to indicate what to sing. We get "The Unbirthday Song" and "All In the Golden Afternoon" in this segment. This feature did absolutely nothing for me.
A few other "Gold Classic Collection" staples round out the package. We find the film's theatrical trailer - actually one for a reissue of the movie - plus a "Read-Along Storybook" that reiterates the plot for the kiddies as they follow the text. Finally, a simple 16-question trivia game completes the package. These games are all quite easy, but here's a way to make them a little tougher: only read the answers when a question appears. You can still figure out the correct response pretty quickly, but it's a bit more of a challenge this way, especially because every once in a while, they toss in an alternate answer that fits within the context of the film.
It's that time again: here come my standard comments about some of the other aspects of this and other Disney DVDs. (If you've been down this road before, feel free to jump to the final paragraph - I don't mind!) Alice continues the questionable trend we now find on most of their product: a slew of advertisements that appear prior to the main menu. The DVD starts with the usual copyright warning, and then it launches immediately into an announcer with his usual "Coming soon to own on video and DVD..." line. We find ads for the Disney Gold Classic Collection as a whole plus promos for The Little Mermaid II, The Tigger Movie and Toy Story 2. I don't particularly mind these ads; they offer some potentially interesting information and my Panasonic players allow me to quickly and easily skip them through the "chapter skip" button.
However, many others detest these trailers; some feel that way just due to the principle of the thing, whereas others have had a trouble bypassing the commercials as easily as I could do so. It appears some DVD players have more difficulty with them than others, though I haven't heard of any concrete trends that indicate any particular models that all refuse to advance. Whether these ads are a serious negative or just a mild nuisance is up to you, but be warned that they're there. At this point, I've started to hate the stupid things just because so many of the DVDs have the same ads; this is almost the same lineup we saw three months ago on The Aristocats, and it's varied little since then. C'mon, folks - shake up the roster a bit!
A more positive feature appears on this and other Disney "Gold Classic Collection" DVDs. According to Disney, they're supporting the DVD with a 30-day money-back guarantee; if you don't like the DVD for any reason, they'll refund your cost. I have no idea how easy or difficult it'll be to do so, but I thought this made for a nice gesture.
Some drawbacks to that offer exist. For one, there's a limit of $23.49 that you can receive, so if you paid more than that, you're out of luck. Also, the forms indicate that "store cash register receipts must emanate from the same state as the consumer address." That's nuts! That excludes most of the folks who buy their DVDs online - which probably was the intention - but also may affect those who live in areas that intersect closely. For example, I live in Virginia but I work in Maryland, which is all of five miles from my apartment. If I stop by a store on the way home from work and grab a Disney title there, I'm out of luck in regard to this plan because I don't live in Maryland. What difference does it make in which state the person bought the DVD? As long as the receipt backs up the purchase, it shouldn't matter. Why complicate something intended as a public relations gesture?
An (apparently) more clear-cut positive comes from a $5 rebate that previous owners of Alice can receive if they buy this DVD. If you send in your receipt and proof of purchase for the DVD with the proof of purchase from your prior copy of the film plus the certificate that comes with the DVD, you can then get $5 back from Disney.
Because this DVD of Alice In Wonderland almost completely omits the supplements that appeared on its last LD issue, I can't call it a complete success, but I like it nonetheless. Yes, I'm in the minority, but I find Alice to be a very entertaining Disney film; it's funnier and quirkier than most, especially for its era. The DVD offers very good picture plus decent though mildly flawed sound and a few minor extras. A more comprehensive supplemental section would make my recommendation easier, but even as a fairly basic DVD, I still encourage fans of Disney animation to give this one a whirl.


text:
CFS coordinating volcano relief efforts through Recovery Information & Assistance Center at Pahoa Community Center
Hawai'i Island families impacted by the volcano eruptions can seek assistance through a central relief effort, which is being coordinated by the County of Hawai'i and numerous community organizations that include Child & Family Service (CFS).
To access available resources, Hawai'i Island residents should complete a County Assessment Form and CFS Financial Needs Assessment Form at the Recovery Information and Assistance Center at Pahoa Community Center on Kauhale Road, Mondays through Fridays, 9 am to 3 pm. The Center can also be reached by calling (808) 965-9771.
Resources are limited, and needs will be determined through the Recovery Information and Assistance Center, with various agencies working together to identify and allocate agency resources support available through the coordinated County and community system.
Priority for CFS assistance is being given to families who were evacuated from mandatory zones or whose homes were destroyed by the eruption.
Counseling services are also available for families having a hard time coping with the impacts of the lava eruptions or those worried about the effects of the events on their children by calling The Parent Line at 1-800-816-1222. CFS administers The Parent Line, a free statewide confidential telephone line funded by the Hawaii State Department of Health.
Funding to help relieve hardship as a result of mandatory or voluntary evacuation due to Kilauea volcanic activity is available to Child & Family Service by First Hawaiian Bank, the Pettus Foundation, and Kona Brewing Co.


2004 Harley-Davidson Road King CLASSIC, adult ridden, and never dropped. Comes with stage 1 completed with screaming eagle breather, V & H Big Shot Duals, and fuel deliverly re-mapped. Runs, sounds, and rides great.


Making Cameras is fun and fascinating. I realized it when I was a kid. I made my first camera at the age of ten. It was a little plastic box with a magnifying glass attached held together by rubber bands. Photo paper was used as film. The pictures weren't great but it was enough to trigger my interest for darkroom work and camera making.
I don't know how many cameras or modifications of camera equipment I've made since then. Anyway, a few of the projects that may be of interest to the public are presented on this site.


text:
John Paul II Speeches 1988 December
[ EN - ES - FR - IT ]
A S.E. IL SIGNOR LARS J. T. BERGQUIST,
NUOVO AMBASCIATORE DI SVEZIA PRESSO LA SANTA SEDE*
Mr. Ambassador,
Welcome to this residence! I am happy to receive you as Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of his Majesty King Carl Gustaf of Sweden to the Holy See. I would be grateful to you if you would offer to His Majesty my sincere thanks for the attention his country gives to the persevering action of the Holy See in favour of respect for human rights and of world peace.
As to yourself, Your Excellency, be assured that I welcome you with great satisfaction and hope. The dispositions of mind and heart with which you are undertaking your high mission and which you have just expressed to me are altogether worthy of the ideal that should inspire diplomats accredited to the Holy See.
It is indeed a question of strengthening the good relations which already exist between your Government and the Apostolic See of Rome. We hope that these relations will be useful especially for the effort expended by your country to cooperate in the development of the Third World, an immense task to which the Holy See devotes constant attention and support. These relations contribute likewise to the good of the Catholic Church, which is present in your land of Sweden through a minority which, I am happy to note, has its recognized place in the nation.
Without further delay, I would like to express my gratitude to your Government for having decided to establish in Rome itself the chancellery of its Embassy to the Holy See. This happy initiative will allow you, Mr. Ambassador, to devote yourself more easily to your noble mission, to be in direct contact with your peers in the Diplomatic Corps, to follow with an interest increased by proximity the efforts and activities of the Holy See. Here also you will discover better its spirit, that is to say, the fact that the Apostolic See is conscious of its ability to contribute, through diplomatic channels, specific points of view and often, too, an invaluable moral support to the ever sacred cause of the defence and the promotion of every individual, of every people, as well as to peace among nations. I need hardly add that your residence in Rome will give you the opportunity to develop a more profound knowledge of the origins and history of Europe, of which this city has for so long been an eminent home. Also the presence of the Diplomatic Corps, into which you are entering today, will allow you fruitful contacts with representatives of the peoples of all continents. You will become better acquainted here with the ecclesial institution in its desire to serve humanity, while rendering testimony to a mystery which transcends all generations.
Mr. Ambassador, you made a very kind reference to the pastoral journey which I will undertake next year to your country, thanks to the greatly appreciated invitation of His Majesty the King of Sweden and his Government. I assure you that my joy is great at the prospect of being received on Scandinavian soil, so unique in character and so rich in history. It is true that my primary objective is of the spiritual order, as I go to meet and to encourage the local Catholic community. I also look forward with pleasure to the meetings I will have with the worthy representatives of the other Christian communities and, more generally, with the Swedish authorities and people. Your Excellency, you have expressed your willingness to do all in your power to ensure that the entire course of this first papal journey to your country will be to the satisfaction and for the good of all: I thank you for this!
I sincerely wish you a fruitful accomplishment of the mission to which King Carl Gustaf has called you. May the fulfilment of your functions live up to the expectations of your Government and of the Holy See, and may it bring you the personal satisfaction which you desire! May you come to experience the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the See of the Apostle Peter as a great family! May you be able to perceive here that through the diversity of its Ambassadors, and of the continents and cultures to which they belong, there truly exists a climate of respect, mutual esteem, dialogue, and support aimed at contributing to that civilization which my predecessor, Pope Paul VI, called «the civilization of love» – it is the only civilization that has a future, because it is rooted in a message which comes from above and which bears the name «the Good News», the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Saviour»!
It is with these sentiments that I invoke on your person and on your diplomatic activities the protection and the support of God.
*L'Osservatore Romano. Weekly Edition in English 1989 n.4 p.2.


The Lobby Bar opens at 11:00 a.m. and, for your convenience, works until midnight. Our bartenders will be glad to create the cocktail you want, even if it is not in the menu.
The Bellevue Park Hotel Riga offers to enjoy a broad assortment of snacks and drinks in our Lobby Bar, which is located in the hotel's foyer.


text:
Ејда Бајрон, грофица од Лавлејса, (често се у литератури наводи и као Ада, ; 10. децембар 1815 — 27. новембар 1852) рођена је као ћерка енглеског песника лорда Бајрона и Анабеле Милбанк. Бавила се математиком и заинтересовала се за пројекат аналитичке машине. Помагала је у документовању рада ове машине као и у раду на њој - и финансијски и својим предлозима, од којих је најзначајнији био пренос контроле и рад са циклусима, тако да наредбе програма не би морале да се извршавају редоследом којим су дате већ у зависности од тока програма. Предвиђала је и могућност ове машине и за општије ствари (компоновање музике, графику) али и за шире научне примене. Предложила је да се помоћу аналитичке машине израчунају Бернулијеви бројеви. Овај план се уједно сматра и првим програмом, а Ејда Лавлејс првим програмером. У њену част један програмски језик добио је њено име.

Биографија

Ејда Бајрон је једна од најзанимљивијих и најсликовитијих личности у историји информатике. Огаста Ејда Бајрон је рођена 10. децембра 1815. у Лондону. Била је ћерка британског песника лорда Бајрона и Ен Изабел Милбанк, тј. леди Бајрон. Када је имала пет месеци њени родитељи су се развели. У априлу 1816, лорд Бајрон је отишао у иностранство, где је и умро. Иако Ејда није стигла да упозна свог оца, она му је била веома слична као по изгледу тако и по нарави. Њена мајка није желела да јој ћерка постане песникиња, па се потрудила да све уради како се то не би десило.
Леди Бајрон се интересовала за математику и науку, и потрудила се да Ејдино образовање буде у складу са њеним интересовањима. Ејда је учила математику, запостављајући области из очеве струке: поезију и књижевност. Још као млада, показала је извесне математичке способности и њена мајка је то здушно подржавала. Имала је доста тутора који су усмеравали њено знање. Са шест година ју је подучавала госпођица Ламонт, но када је њена мајка сазнала да Ејда више воли географију од аритметике, госпођица Ламонт је замењена новим тутором. Сер Вилијам Френд и др Вилијам Кинг су је даље подучавали. Са тринаест година се разболела од мистериозне болести и није могла да хода три године. За то време наставила је да учи, и убрзо је надмашила очекивања у математици, а постала је и одличан лингвиста и музичар.

Особа коју је Ејда веома желела да упозна је била Мери Сомервил, која је била прва жена члан Краљевског астрономског друштва () и признати математичар. Госпођа Сомервил је била особа на коју се Ејда угледала, па јој је много значило када су се њих две спријатељиле. Управо је госпођа Сомервил упознала Ејду са њеним будућим мужем, лордом Вилијамом Кингом. На једној од забава које је приређивала Мери Сомервил, Ејда је, са осамнаест година, упознала Чарлса Бабиџа, веома поштованог професора математике. Дубоко су је импресионирале Чарлсове идеје о новој машини за рачунање, такозваној аналитичкој машини, а и он сам је остао запањен Ејдином интелигенцијом. Он се заносио следећим идејама: "Шта када би машина за рачунање, не само предвиђала, него и функционисала на том предвиђању?" Била је задивљена универзалношћу његових идеја и чинило се као да их разуме боље него он сам.

Са деветнаест година се венчала са Вилијамом Кингом, који је убрзо постао гроф од Лавлејса (). Имали су складан брак иако је Ејда била интелектуално надмоћнија. Њихово троје деце, два сина и ћерку која је кренула мајчиним стопама, више су одгајали њена мајка и њен муж него она сама, али такав вид одгајања је био доста популаран међу енглеском вишом класом у то време. Вилијам је, међутим, био поносан на достигнућа своје жене и увек јој је пружао подршку.

Године 1842, Бабиџ је био позван да одржи семинар на Универзитету у Торину, у Италији, на тему аналитичке машине. Луиђи Менабреа, млади италијански инжењер и будући министар, записивао је оно што је Бабиџ објашњавао да би нешто касније његове белешке биле објављене на француском језику. Бабиџ је тада замолио Ејду да их преведе са француског на енглески језик, да би више људи могло да разуме. Док је преводила, додавала је сопствене белешке и убрзо је превод био три пута дужи. У њима је наглашавала разлику између Паскалове машине, која би могла да се пореди са данашњим калкулатором, и Бабиџове машине, која може да се пореди са модерним рачунарима. Белешке је означавала словима од А до Г. У последњој, Г белешки, Ејда описује алгоритам за аналитичку машину за израчунавање Бернулијевих бројева. Сматра се да је то први алгоритам икада сачињен са идејом да се примени на рачунару, и из овог разлога она се може сматрати првим рачунарским програмером.

Концентрисала се на оно што бисмо могли данас назвати "софтверским" апликацијама за аналитичку машину. У овом смислу, Ејда се може назвати правим визионаром, јер је могла да предвиди да ће Бабиџова машина имати огромних примена у пољу графике, вештачке интелигенције и у компоновању комплексне музике. На крају свог дела се потписала као А. Л. Л. јер за жене, из више класе тог доба, је било неприхватљиво да се баве било каквим научним списима.

Ејди је било двадесет девет година када је њено дело објављено и када је родила треће дете. На велико изненађење, доживела је душевни и ментални слом. Лекари су јој преписали комбинацију лекова и алкохола која се данас сматра смртоносном. Изгубљена у лаудануму, леку који је садржао опијум и који се користио да ублажи бол и да успава, и другим лековима, имала је разне визије, чак верујући да је њен мозак попут Божјег. Успела је да остави алкохол на неко време, али је нашла другу зависност – коцкање. Из писама које су једно другом слали, откривена је несрећа која је задесила Бабиџа и године безуспешног Ејдиног лечења (с обзиром да јој је установљен рак материце).

Заједно су тестирали математичке теорије о вероватноћама коњских трка. Ејда Бајрон је одувек волела коње, а за Бабиџа је то био начин да се извуче из дугова. Влада је изгубила веру у његове радове, па је тако остао ускраћен за финансијска средства и са недовршеном диференцијалном машином. Њихове авантуре са коњима су се завршиле катастрофално. Иако је Бабиџ успео да се извуче из дугова, Ејда није била те среће. Да би отплатила дугове, морала је да заложи породични накит. Њен муж је узалуд покушавао да изађе на крај са њеним кредиторима и гомилом скандала који су је окруживали.

Умрла је од рака са тридесет и шест година, исто колико је имао њен отац када је умро. По сопственом захтеву, сахрањена је поред свог оца у Хакнал Торкарду, цркви у Нотингамширу. Као награду за њен допринос, Америчко министарство одбране је 1979. године развило један програмски језик и назвало га Ејда (). У току свог живота, сарађивала је са сер Дејвидом Брустером, творцем калеидоскопа, Чарлсом Витстоном, Чарлсом Дикенсом и Мајклом Фарадејом.

Ејда Лавлејс је прешла границу стереотипне улоге жене и била је један од пионира у истраживању рачунара и програмирању. Иако је њен живот био кратак, и живела је пре сто педесет година, наслутила је већину од онога што се данас сматра модерним рачунарством.

Референце

Литература

 .
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .

 .
  With notes upon the memoir by the translator.
 Miller, Clair Cain. "Ada Lovelace, 1815–1852," New York Times, 8 March 2018.
 .
 .
 .
 .
 .

 .
 .
 Jennifer Chiaverini, 2017,  Enchantress of Numbers, Dutton, 426 pp.
 Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin, and Adrian Rice, 2018, Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Bodleian Library, 114 pp.
 Miranda Seymour, 2018, In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace, Pegasus, 547 pp.
 Jenny Uglow (22 November 2018), "Stepping Out of Byron's Shadow", The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 18, pp. 30–32.

Спољашње везе

 Следбенице Бајронове кћери ("Политика", 27. мај 2013)
 Пионирка информатике - Ејда Лавлејс (Заштита података - Блог Дата Солушнс Лабораторије, Април 2012)
 "Ada's Army gets set to rewrite history at Inspirefest 2018" by Luke Maxwell, 4 August 2018

 "Untangling the Tale of Ada Lovelace" by Stephen Wolfram, December 2015

Рођени 1815.
Умрли 1852.
Умрли од рака
Британски информатичари
Британско племство

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia