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I'm Posting on YouTube Now

I have been thinking about getting back on YouTube for a while now (a friend and I used to have a fledgling lifestyle channel together), but with a more writing/reading-related focus.  Since I am still between homes (sold old place and new one is still not fixed up en ough to move into) I haven't felt able to start back up on YouTube. I figured no one wants to see me and five small noisy dogs cramped into a tiny bedroom (with all but current schoolbooks still in boxes). Not quite the background I would like to present. But then I thought, I could always try recording and posting my real time random word poem writing sessions. They're short, and hopefully/possibly interesting. Now I admit this first video needs to be improved upon greatly when it comes to camerawork. But it's a first attempt, so cut me some slack. I'll work out the kinks as I go.  

Short Story Published on Literary Heist

Rape Culture is a short story about a brief exchange in a police interrogation room - somewhere in a post-patriarchal future - where the onus is placed on men to be sure they have consent, and all allegations of rape are automatically believed.   https://www.literaryheist.com/short-stories/rape-culture/ I also posted my first Medium article the other day. I've added an icon here on the site to my Medium profile because I think I'll keep posting there sometimes.

Animals and Society Class - Discussion 4, Zoos

Q: How are zoos an example of classifying and categorizing of animals today? What role might culture have in their approach to education and entertainment of their videos? Or in the kinds of animals they have? How might zoos reinforce ideas of charismatic megafauna? Provide examples to support your answers. A: Zoos classify and categorize animals in the literal sense of often having like animals grouped together in close proximity; e.g. a reptile house, an aviary, a section for insects, etc. However, they also categorize them by popularity to some extent. The factor of “charismatic megafauna” comes into play in choosing which animals to keep, and where to house them. But it isn’t fair to say that zoos only house those animals we love to see. Zoos do work to be educational about the intrinsic value of every animal they display – plaques and videos will try to convert you to the merits of scorpions – but most of the visitors probably didn’t come for the scorpions. And zoos know this....

Animals and Society Class - Discussion 3

Q: Prompt: How are animals biologically classified? What are the categories? How were animals classified by Aristotle? How is the medieval bestiary or the Physiologus an example of a sociozoologic scale?   A: The system for biological classification created by Linnaeus in 1735 was a way of grouping animals together based on observed physical traits. Groupings were formed based on things like the way an animal was constructed (e.g. vertebrates/invertebrates), reproduction was accomplished (e.g. mammals/various non-mammals), or what it ate (e.g. carnivore/herbivore). The categories are: phyla, classes, orders, families, genera, species.   Aristotle believed strongly that all animals, and all other life for that matter, were inferior to humans. He constructed a “scala naturae” or “Great Chain of Being” which was a hierarchical invention of fixed categories; placing human beings at the pinnacle of his ever ‘ascending’ scale, which started with insects. His opinion became ...

Historical Jesus Class - Discussion 2

Based on this week's reading, describe three ways in which Jesus acted in the expected role of a rabbi.   Three ways Jesus fit the bill as a rabbi would include the following: 1)     Jesus was called a rabbi in his lifetime, and his reported actions fit the definition. As the book points out on page 354 Jesus had the title applied to him in much of the early texts, and the use of the title was left in the texts post-Easter. The fact the text was not altered to say that Jesus had always been referred to as the Messiah or Christ indicates the probable accuracy of the use of the rabbi title within his lifetime. Also, a rabbi is defined on page 355 as being the Aramaic word for teacher. Regardless of what one believes about the divinity of Jesus, the historical life of the man is certainly focused on teaching. The entire ethic of the historical man was traveling and talking to people about life and a promised afterlife, and how to have a better one of both. And desp...

6 Random Word Poem 9/12/2020

Words I had to use: apparatus, listen, eye, son, drunk, women. Words I didn't have to use (but did): in.

Blackout Poem 9/10/2020

This came from a NYT piece found HERE , by Michelle Goldberg .