What Is Good Modern TV?

DISCO, Reflections

Pt. 2 of DISCO, series

In my last post, I discussed what I liked and didn’t like about Star Trek Discovery (abbreviated as DISCO). Now It’s time to talk more generally about good, modern TV and what regular watchers like me expect to view. I’m making a list of what I like in a TV show as a precursor to a new rule I developed to use as a lens for my discussion of DISCO.

Also, if your too time pressed to read it all, I bolded the key words😊

  • I love space sic fic. That’s a personal preference.
  • For a show to be good it should be thoughtful, interesting, and have “swallow-able” philosophy I love it when the story is well told, and my mind blows after watching it. Star Trek has generally been good at this.
  • A good modern show should have a good mix of characters. Characters who don’t identify as male who are of many races who identify with many sexualities and romantic orientations, people with intellectual and physical disabilities (also characters with mental health and chronic sickness) as well as people who have mental and physical exceptionalities, and the last big area of diversity to include to me is to have people of varying ages.
  • Also, one character does not equal diversity. Troupes and stereotypes generally aren’t cool. There’s a lot of those to avoid. I’m particularly annoyed at the “White Savior” trope. You know, the white guy who gives a helping hand to give someone with less power achieve a goal, get a leg up, achieve a dream…I hate that.
  • Characters should have different desires and flaws, and be unique, just as we are. One interesting woman is not going to have the same desires or for that matter, `story as another.
  • I don’t want diverse characters to only be in supporting and side roles. No, there has to be people in charge who aren’t usually powerful to have power. There are a few exceptions. If the show is, for example, exploring the presidency in the United Sates, then only showing men as the president makes sense because only guys have held that title up to today. However, that is not an excuse to have only male characters with power.
  • Put marginalized, oppressed, and ignored people at the center of the story, at the center of the story’s message. This is important because it does more to fight oppression, more than inclusion. DISCO actually doses an alright job at doing this. Putting Michael Burnham at the center of the story, puts a person of color at the center.
  • Hope is important. Not only does it give you a reason to keep watching, hope is also a social justice tool. Having hope, aspirations, keep you fighting for a better future. If the characters in a story who are like you, especially in a show set in the future, have hope, that helps the you, the viewer keep hope alive in you.

Of course, all of this isn’t mine. Gosh, there’s so many people to thank for all this. So, some big ones. Credit to A Michael J. Dumas’s talk “Running out of Damns to Give: Refusing Antiblackness and Settler Colonialism in the Next 25 years” especially for the importance of centering, Bridging Barriers class for a lot, especially for informing me more deeply importance of hope, Yosso’s Who’s Culture has Capital, The Bechdel Test for inspiring my new rule. Speaking of which… That’s in the next post!

Robots!

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This past quarter I took a robotics course. It was fun to watch my robots work, and do tasks correctly. These are two robots I was particularly proud of.

Fangy Boi, my sumo robot
Singing Spider, my final project. Detects different colors and makes different sounds at each color

Unfortunately, I would not suggest taking the course at Western. The main issue was that RobotC, what you use to program the robot crashes ALL the time.

A Delicious Fall Treat

Life at Western- food

Halloween is over. And the question arises: What to do with that beautiful pumpkin I decorated and don’t want to just discard in the compost?

my pumpkin, as Deep Space 9

Well, I ate it. I took half a sandwich, ripped it up and put it inside the baked pumpkin with some milk, and baked it some more, till the sandwich was a yummy gooey mess. Then I dug in and ate it.

For dessert, I had baked pumpkin with cinnamon and brown sugar and cinnamon baked seeds. So good.

Here is the recipe and instructions:

ingredients: small pumpkin, sandwich- I used a croissant, bacon and cheddar sandwich, cinnamon, brown sugar, canola oil

tools: baking sheet, knife- doesn’t need to be sharp, spoon, hand protection from hot objects, oven, cleaning supplies

Instructions:

First bake the pumpkin. Place it on the baking sheet, use the knife to poke a hole in pumpkin. Bake at 350 for about an hour. I know that’s a long time, but you want a soft pumpkin to eat! Then use the knife to remove the top of the pumpkin. Since it was baked fist a  butter knife should work fine, I used one. Use the knife and spoon to remove the seeds and stringy bits. The stringy bits are harder to eat and not tasty. Place the seeds on the baking sheet with the pumpkin. Pour a little oil on the seeds and then sprinkle on cinnamon. The oil helps the cinnamon to stick to the seeds, but isn’t necessary. Fill the pumpkin with torn up piece of sandwich and a splash of milk. Put the pumpkin back in the oven. I would suggest a half hour, but this part is up to you.  Keep an eye (or nose) on on the seeds! When I took the pumpkin out of the oven again, the seeds where done, the sandwich had turned to yummy goo, and I was happy with my meal. I ate the filling and some of the pumpkin for dinner. For dessert, I peeled away the skin, leaving a jumble of pumpkin (the remainders of pumpkin from dinner), which I mixed with cinnamon and brown sugar. Once your done eating, make sure to clean up!

 

Underground With A Veiw

Life at Western- food

I love the Underground café at Western. On the third floor of the VU, it is both underground and above ground. It is made to look and feel like a neighborhood café, even though it is conveniently located on campus. There is ambient lighting, special drinks and a stage for music and comedy performances. To get to the coffee shop you have to go down the stairs or ride the VU’s elevator to the 3rd floor. On a cold winter’s night a study session with a lavender vanilla London fog is just right.

My rendition of the view:

Top Rules for Outdoor Fun

Life at Western- out doors

Bioluminescent plankton viewing is a trick. Some challenges include finding ocean where bioluminescent plankton live, go at the right season, and waiting for dark. I was reminded of this after going for a bike ride/bioluminescence swim with the Outdoor Center on May 3rd 2017. That execution and the snow showing execution I experienced in winter got me thinking about the top essentials of outdoor executions. Of course, as a lifetime member of Girl Scouts who spent a lot of time outside in the summers I know many essentials, but these excursions, especially snowshoeing made me think about the top essentials, true for most any execution.  I also learned essentials for snow, which I didn’t learn through Scouting in the summer.

Essentials in no particular order:

  • Know the current and predicted conditions
  • Have proper gear (10nessentuals, appropriate layers…)
  • Other humans
  • A positive attitude. If you can’t achieve this get as close to one as you can.
  • Knowledge of how to be safe
  • Away to record memories and sights
  • Flexible plan
View from Artist Point, near Mt. Baker, WA. A distant peak is half covered by clouds, sun bounces off snow which covers everything.

For snow:

  • Skis or snowshoes and a roll up plastic sled. You’re going to want to sled down the hills if you snowshoe, so bring a roll up sled or large shovel, but the sled is easier to slide down the hills on. Don’t just where waterproof hiking boots because your feet will fall in the snow and get cold.
  • Sun protection including sun screen and sun glasses. If the sun shines at all it will bounce of the snow and be extra bright.
  • Hot chocolate

Continue reading Top Rules for Outdoor Fun →

A Question To Consider

Social Justice

I went to two workshops and panel discussion. The workshops where very informative to me. I don’t want do give you too much to think about, so I’m not going to get deep into what I learned about. Instead, I want you to spend a while (5 minutes to the rest of your life) thinking about the question I’m about to ask you. Think about it in solid concrete terms. Talk about it with another person. Seriously. At least five minutes of serious thought. Then click more.

What does it mean to be White?

Continue reading A Question To Consider →

Art 109 post Nancy Holt Stone Encloses: Rock Rings

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This is a post on my class, Art 109’s, blog (found here). I’ve made a few minor edits from the original.

Part 1: time period/original intent:

The sculpture was created between 1977 and 1978. The sculpture was gifted to Western Washington University from Nancy Holt to help educate students. The sculptures original intent is related to its celestial aliment to the North Star; however, the work also has an alignment that corresponds with directions, much like a compass. Each set of circular windows goes through the structure aligning with the geographical location of a directing, being N, E, S and W.  I feel Holt’s main intent with much of her work it to be able to create something that allow the view to engage with the work. Many other installation pieces, much like the stone enclosure, associate with celestial alignments; such as, the sun tunnel located In Utah.  The sculpture consists of two rock walls, one enclosed by the other, with sets of windows showing though each direction as well as arched doorways. The sculpture is comprised of radiating color so stone varies with different hues and shades between purple, orange and even tints of blue. The stone is schist stone, brought in from British Columbia for the particular piece. Much of Nancy Holt’s Life was dedicated to her work much like her husband, Robert Smithson, who created the Spiral Jetty. Together they shared a passion for earth worked art.

Part 2: Other works/critics:

Nancy Holt has created a lot of land art. Her most famous work is Sun Tunnels, which lines up with so that the sun perfectly lines up with the tunnels on the solstices. Her land art is meant to draw people to the earth or connect people to the universe. She has a piece called Dark Star Park which are supposed to remind viewers of absence of stars or black holes. Her work often gives viewers a frame from which to view the land. She also creates other types of work including, photo series and films. She created the most films. The films often display of one of her art works, and most of the others are still meant to be experiences of the land. For example, Swamp, is a film where she walks through a swamp.

It is key to note that Nancy Holt’s work is mostly about connecting people to land. Critics have said that Nancy Holt is part of a gouge of pioneers for the land art movement. Her work is may make you feel far from modern civilization, as I among others have noted, but hopefully it will also make you feel as if you are part of the earth, and part of the universe.

Now, take a break from your screen time and go outside! Continue reading Art 109 post Nancy Holt Stone Encloses: Rock Rings →

Happy Cesar Chavez Day!

Social Justice

Today, March 31st, is in some places in the united states, Cesar Chavez day. I am currently in a place celebrating this day and it is also important in my classes. I think Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta should be celebrated all across the nation for the work they did for farm workers just as we celebrate Black civil rights leaders of the 1950’s and 60’s. There are a lot of people who need recognition for making American life better for those who are under privileged.