tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14082335430620997532024-02-20T01:59:13.855+00:00Barbie Ruined My LifeThoughts from inside my head on life, writing, work and study.kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-73486249285763471312014-01-17T21:31:00.000+00:002014-01-17T21:31:00.109+00:00Essential Writing Aids <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well, November has come and gone and I managed to reach my target of writing 20k words in a month. Then December happened and the inevitable Christmas/New Year productivity slump. I've been getting back into the swing of things this week and in honour of that, and in the spirit of looking forward into what is officially The Final Year of thesis writing for me, I thought that a post on those things that I cannot write without. Not so much the books and the plans, the citation guides and the academic blogs that support and shape the content of the thesis. I mean the aids in the actual writing process that make it a little more enjoyable and that, from time to time, stave of the fears and insecurities that will plague any long-term writing project like a thesis.</div>
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<li><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="color: black;">Sounds</strong></span></li>
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While some people can only work in complete silence, I need sounds to be able to write. Paradoxically, I tend to tune them out once I really get going. This means that I have a fairly specific set of requirements when it comes to what goes on when I'm working. I cycle between a few different options:</div>
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<li>Music that I' know all the words too - any music that I could sing along with the majority of the lyrics to, for when I'm in deep writing mode and can easily loose my train of thought. This allows me to tune out when I'm focused on writing and tune back in when I'm taking a momentary pause. I usually play albums on CD or from my iPod in my hi-fi speaker dock.</li>
<li>News - a television news loop, like BBC News, is good because we are already accustomed to tuning out the voices of other people when we need to; loud people on phones, discussion groups in the library, people's conversations when we're walking down the street. It also gives you a little "wake up" call periodically when they repeat the headlines on the hour. Which leads nicely into the next option...</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.classicfm.com/" href="http://www.classicfm.com/" style="color: #743399;">Classic FM</a> - no lyrics to worry about as well as the handy "wake up" all of the news on the hour. The downside to this is that, being a commercial radio station, you get interrupted by adverts on occasion. For some reason I find these much harder to tune out.</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.blinkboxmusic.com/" href="http://www.blinkboxmusic.com/" style="color: #743399;">BlinkBox</a> - I initially used we7, but this was bought over by the Tesco owned BlinkBox Music. Despite Tesco's involvement, it has remained a very good on demand online streaming service. An alternative to DAB and online radio stations, it works a bit like Pandora in the US. You can either choose and artist or genre and BlinkBox will play a station of similar artists/styles or you can choose from their pre-programme stations by things like mood or activity. I'm writing this post to their 'Energy Boost' station, but there are loads to choose from. Only the occasional add to listen through, and because they don't mess around with volume suppression it doesn't get louder during the adverts.</li>
<li>Fire App for Apple TV - we were very lucky to get Apple TV as a wedding present, and I sometimes use the Fire App streamed through this when music is too much. There are also plenty of videos on YouTube that do exactly the same thing for when I'm not in the house.</li>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/60618_10151998385544183_1108964022_n1.jpg" href="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/60618_10151998385544183_1108964022_n1.jpg" style="color: #743399;"><img alt="Temporary writing cave set up at my parents'" class=" wp-image-500 " data-mce-src="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/60618_10151998385544183_1108964022_n1.jpg?w=300" src="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/60618_10151998385544183_1108964022_n1.jpg?w=300" height="168" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; cursor: default; margin: 5px; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Temporary writing cave set up at my parents'</dd></dl>
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<span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="color: black;">2. Tea</strong></span> - not always the caffeinated kind, but I like it strong and often. Iced only in the height of summer, but hot the rest of the year. This is related to...</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/30340_10151224116969183_1002324632_n.jpg" href="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/30340_10151224116969183_1002324632_n.jpg" style="color: #743399;"><img alt="30340_10151224116969183_1002324632_n" class="size-medium wp-image-501" data-mce-src="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/30340_10151224116969183_1002324632_n.jpg?w=225" src="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/30340_10151224116969183_1002324632_n.jpg?w=225" height="300" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; cursor: default; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="225" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">Macbeth mug from the gift shop at Shakespeare's Globe</dd></dl>
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<span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="color: black;">3. Mug du jour</strong></span> - alter depending on mood. A good variety of styles is essential, as is a variation in size and shape.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="line-height: 1.5;" style="line-height: 1.5;"><span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="color: black;">4. Glasses</strong></span> - switching from contacts to glasses can sometimes be a Godsend. Not only does this stop my eyes from getting tired staring at the computer screen thanks to the anti-glare coating, it also helps my concentration. Odd as it is having my glasses on = serious </span>business<span data-mce-style="line-height: 1.5;" style="line-height: 1.5;">. Contacts are for play, glasses are for work. (Just me? Ok...)</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="color: black;">5. Writing cape</strong></span> - also known as my black, witchy looking poncho. Just as cosy as a hoddie, but I don't have to worry about sleaves getting in the way. Warning: do not leave the house wearing it. It is for writing only. No-one else needs to see that.</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1382864_10151906909524183_970982411_n.jpg" href="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1382864_10151906909524183_970982411_n.jpg" style="color: #743399;"><img alt="1382864_10151906909524183_970982411_n" class=" wp-image-502 " data-mce-src="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1382864_10151906909524183_970982411_n.jpg?w=168" src="http://kargraham.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1382864_10151906909524183_970982411_n.jpg?w=168" height="300" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; cursor: default; margin: 5px; padding: 0px;" width="168" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">November image for last year's calendar. © Edward Monkton http://www.edwardmonkton.com</dd></dl>
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<span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong style="color: black;">6. Leaving the house</strong></span> - remember to get out on occasion. Go see friends, walk around the park, return books to the library and get new ones, even just go to the supermarket rather than booking a delivery. Reminding yourself that there is a world outside your thesis and that it is waiting on you does two things. It gives your brain some breathing space and it motivates you to keep going so that you can finish your PhD and get back out there.</div>
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<strong style="color: black;">So, over to you. Do you have an essential writing aids that you can't work without?</strong></div>
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kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-65079407850905121742014-01-08T15:59:00.000+00:002014-01-08T16:01:42.648+00:00Choosing...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm not a poetry kind of girl. That's odd to say as someone who studied Anglo-Saxon and Medieval literature, but it's true. I have a few collections of poems - Burns, Frost, Heaney - on top of the ones I had to get for Uni. I might have ten poetry collections at the very most. Compare this to three overflowing bookcases and a dozen boxes of books, most of which are novels, and the imbalance becomes pretty clear.<br />
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Every now and then, however, a poem forces itself into my field of vision and demands that I read it. These are almost always poems touch me in some deep emotional way, and in a way that novels rarely do. Seamus Heaney's 'Digging' is one. His voice is one that I return to again and again, for its almost hypnotic rhythm. Another is Liz Lockhead, whose experience as a young girl growing up in Scotland speaks to me in a way other poets often fail. Recently this one forced its way in, so I thought I'd share it here.<br />
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What about you? Have you come across any poems/poets recently that jumped out at you and demanded to be read?<br />
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"The Choosing," by Liz Lochhead<br />
From Memo for Spring, 1972:<br />
"The Choosing"<br />
<br />
We were first equal Mary and I<br />
with the same coloured ribbons in mouse-coloured hair<br />
and with equal shyness<br />
we curtseyed to the lady councillor<br />
for copies of Collins’s Children Classics.<br />
First equal, equally proud.<br />
<br />
Best friends too Mary and I<br />
a common bond in being cleverest (equal)<br />
in our small school’s small class.<br />
I remember<br />
the competition for top desk<br />
or to read aloud the lesson<br />
at school service.<br />
And my terrible fear<br />
of her superiority at sums.<br />
<br />
I remember the housing scheme<br />
Where we both stayed.<br />
The same house, different homes,<br />
where the choices were made.<br />
<br />
I don’t know exactly why they moved,<br />
but anyway they went.<br />
Something about a three-apartment<br />
and a cheaper rent.<br />
But from the top deck of the high school bus<br />
I’d glimpse among the others on the corner<br />
Mary’s father, mufflered, contrasting strangely<br />
with the elegant greyhounds by his side.<br />
He didn’t believe in high school education,<br />
especially for girls,<br />
or in forking out for uniforms.<br />
<br />
Ten years later on a Saturday —<br />
I am coming home from the library —<br />
sitting near me on the bus,<br />
Mary<br />
with a husband who is tall,<br />
curly haired, has eyes<br />
for no one else but Mary.<br />
Her arms are round the full-shaped vase<br />
that is her body.<br />
Oh, you can see where the attraction lies<br />
in Mary’s life —<br />
not that I envy her, really.<br />
<br />
And I am coming from the library<br />
with my arms full of books.<br />
I think of the prizes that were ours for the taking<br />
and wonder when the choices got made<br />
we don’t remember making.</div>
kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-47339614467424870222013-06-26T18:44:00.002+01:002013-06-27T12:00:04.665+01:00Congratulations Class of 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's all been quiet on the blog of late. Regular readers will notice a blogging lull at this time of the year, an may or may not remember that this is busiest time of the year for me at work. As part of the Events Team at the University of Dundee, our biggest event of the year is always Graduation - a whole week of events which focus on the culmination of the students' four years at the university, ending with being officially conferred as graduates of the university and a big ol' party. It's the <i>raison d'etre</i><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> of our office, and in some ways of the university in general.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">I know I'm biased, being both a current member of staff and an alumna from the university, but I think you'd struggle to find another university in Scotland who does Graduation quite as well as we do. I'm also allowed to say that because most of the mechanisms and range of events were derived and put in place long before I started in the job, so it's not really down to me. I'm just part of the team that helps smooth things along on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">So, that's the reason for the tumbleweeds blowing across Barbie Ruined My Life for the past couple of months. I can't really think of a much better reason to neglect the blog (except maybe a little holiday for me...) but normal service will resume shortly. you can expect posts on Dundee, Uni, writing, current affairs and the other bits and pieces that catch my eye in the future. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">For now though, here's to the Class of 2013 graduates from the University of Dundee. Congratulations guys, and best of luck for the future.</span></span><br />
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kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-40771742322736477932013-04-24T14:10:00.003+01:002013-06-27T12:38:11.972+01:00What's Your Dundee?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wedundee.com/">We Dundee</a></td></tr>
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I've blogged before about the city I live in, and how it had a completely undeserved reputation as being...well a bit rubbish.<br>
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Things have been changing in people's attitudes both in and outside of Dundee and I'm so pleased that this is being recognised with Dundee's bid to be the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/eleven-bid-to-become-uk-city-of-culture-2017">2017 UK City of Culture</a>.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/04/whats-your-dundee.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-64708239653089922902013-04-20T12:33:00.000+01:002013-06-27T12:37:58.837+01:00Love is a Verb<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Please forgive the cliché in the title, I'm struggling with titles at the moment and there's not really much of a better way to out this. I'm 6 months into that supposedly tricky first year of marriage, and I've been thinking about love quite a bit of late. Partly because I've recently taken to using 'love' as a term of endearment and because of all of the life/relationship upheavals that I hinted at <a href="http://kartook.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/friendship.html">here</a>. In that blog I mostly talked my way around the things that were on my mind, primarily because I'm no longer an even semi-anonymous blogger and I now need to take into account that my words have further reaching consequences than me ranting into the void. <br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/04/love-is-verb.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-60538821064526503752013-04-13T00:30:00.000+01:002013-06-30T17:47:29.923+01:00Waking up alone again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's late at night, or early in the morning...I can't quite tell because it doesn't feel like either. It's appropriate because I feel like I'm in limbo. It's FridaySaturday and in a few days I'll be back in this bed, but my husband won't be with me. I'll be leaving him behind in England and coming back home without him. I'll go back to waking up alone again. I've delayed the inevitable by taking time off work and forking out for the train fair back up north. It won't feel strange then, because I've travelled on my own on trains so often. Its familiar and routine and mundane and I think it will help.<br />
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Not that long ago I still lived on my own, and this wouldn't have seemed like a big deal. Up until very recently, on the occasions when we'd share our bed with the other, in the other ones flat, I'd wake up in the middle of the night and, dreary with sleep, wonder who this strange man in my bed was. At some point, after we moved in together, I stopped feeling like that. I even got so used to him here that I stopped waking up in the night. I'm wondering how ill learn to sleep, without him. More - how will I get up without him.<br />
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I've been talking a good game. Telling him and who ever else will listen that I can't wait to get my space back. That I'll finally have the space I need to write again, and that I've been stifled. The truth is, I haven't been stifled, I've been closeted and loved and held. I've felt safe and comfortable. It's contentment that has slowed me down, not suppression. I want to turn the clock back, tell my past-self that I won't miss my space, but that I will feel the empty hole that he leaves when he's gone. To enjoy it, because its all to fleeting.<br />
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I knew it would happen. We both did. We chose this life when we decided that this is what we want to do with our lives. It was inevitable. And yet I can't be rational or reasonable right now, knowing that this is almost over for who knows how long.<br />
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I joked about getting to watch BBC Four programmes at night again when he was gone. But I know that, even without him, I'll put on the rain noise app that he loves to fall asleep to. That I bought, just for him. Because I love him, and love changes you.<br />
I hope that this change doesn't hurt as much as I fear.</div>
kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-52090575823136281602013-04-01T14:00:00.000+01:002013-06-27T12:37:08.974+01:00Read the Books You Have<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fU9qf2phFpRQesW8EFkt9KcT2o19253k_1Wmy-XVXA2JuIYJSrhCeEEN9NOeeL2URo2nMXHa7Pp76ENE-8XLaZXBireotchXCHzv-xZOh91Tcig7nl1KGujk5QTyptgmkp8TWRVYf3BF/s1600/Confessions+Logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fU9qf2phFpRQesW8EFkt9KcT2o19253k_1Wmy-XVXA2JuIYJSrhCeEEN9NOeeL2URo2nMXHa7Pp76ENE-8XLaZXBireotchXCHzv-xZOh91Tcig7nl1KGujk5QTyptgmkp8TWRVYf3BF/s400/Confessions+Logo.JPG" width="400"></a></div>
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It might be the product of following so many book blogs, or perhaps the perceived challenge of a new as yet unfilled book case. It might even be the propensity to wander book stores when left unsupervised, or Amazon's 'recommended for you' section designed to separate you from your hard earned cash.<br>
</div></div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/04/read-books-you-have.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-57027848048783577732013-03-29T17:01:00.000+00:002013-06-27T12:36:55.719+01:00Making Good Art and the Fear of the Fraud Police<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From this...</td></tr>
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I have a growing and slightly inappropriate obsession with a married couple. I knew him first, and met her through him before I knew that they were properly serious. I follow her on twitter, him on facebook. For some reason I feel the need to keep these separate. Thanks to them, and a few other people in my life I'm thinking and doing more about my writing. I'm writing more often and I'm taking what I do much more seriously. There's a couple of pretty good videos from them at the bottom of the post.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/03/making-good-art-and-fear-of-fraud-police.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-1117117536119656672013-03-27T15:42:00.002+00:002013-06-27T12:36:43.023+01:00Oz the Great and Powerful: A Blog in Two Parts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><span font-family:="" inherit="" style="font-family: inherit;">Cross-posted from my academic blog.</span></i></b><br>
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<strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span font-family:="" inherit="" style="font-family: inherit;">Part One: Oz, Disney and Authenticity</span></strong></div>
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<span font-family:="" inherit="" style="font-family: inherit;">Tonight I am going to (finally) see <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oz the Great and Powerful</em>. Having heard two excellent papers on Disney’s previous attempt at an ‘official’ Oz film, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Return to Oz</em>, at the <a href="http://www.hic-dragones.co.uk/returning-to-oz-the-afterlife-of-dorothy/" style="border: 0px; color: #743399; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Returning to Oz: The Afterlife of Dorothy</a> conference in February, I was in no doubt that OTGAP would be a box office smash.</span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/03/oz-great-and-powerful-blog-in-two-parts.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-66561683445152319142013-03-20T12:35:00.000+00:002013-06-27T12:36:25.171+01:00Everyday Sexism and Pet Names<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yesterday a male colleague ended a phone conversation with me by saying "good girl" before the more usual "bye". Before I could think about it for too long, I tweeted the experience to @<a href="https://twitter.com/EverydaySexism"><span style="background-color: white;">everydaysexism</span></a><span style="background-color: white;">.</span> Afterwards, I felt pretty awkward, both from the encounter and the instantaneous tweet. Although very few people in my department use twitter, it's fairly obvious that I'm me, as it were. I'm identified by name, but also by job and location on twitter so anyone viewing it from my organisation is likely to be see the connection. I'd worried, after when I'd had time to think, that the gentleman would be able to tell that this apparently obscure tweet was about him. He would quite rightly wonder why I hadn't raised any objection on the phone, or what was so heinous as to deserve this. I also worried that, since I knew he was senior to me, there would be repercussions. And that's just for starters. I worried, as I have done the past two times I've responded to the <a href="http://www.everydaysexism.com/">Everyday Sexism</a> project, that it's all just a storm in a teacup. That now that I have somewhere that it's ok to talk about these things, I'm looking for them and seeing things as an issue that I wouldn't have not too long ago.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/03/everyday-sexism-and-pet-names.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-21879703014303009102013-03-08T16:15:00.000+00:002013-06-27T12:36:00.686+01:00I'm not doing a post about International Women's Day...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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...mainly because I'm doing a lot of reading other people articles and I'm in the office today, instead of working from home. I'm thinking about it a lot and I've been thinking about a post on the dreaded 'Women's Issues' for a while, so a post today would just be a bit of a garbled mess. There's a lot of stuff out there, so instead of reading me ramble incoherently, here a round up of some of the stuff I've read today by following the links from International Women's Day articles.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/03/im-not-doing-post-about-international.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-74003680132053397832013-02-14T16:12:00.000+00:002013-06-27T12:35:39.225+01:00New Marla Mason Novel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marla from <i>Bone Shop</i> (C) Daniel Dos Santos and T. A. Pratt</td></tr>
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Marla Mason, sorceress of considerable reputation, queen of snark and all-round badass is back.<br>
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I first met Marla around 2007 when <i>Blood Engines</i> was available as a free e-book from Random House in scribd. Since then I've been totally hooked, and when the series by <a href="http://www.timpratt.org/">T. A Pratt</a> was dropped by the publisher in 2009. Due to the response from readers wanting to find out more about the character, and read the resolution to the cliffhanger at the end of <i>Spell Games </i>Pratt set up a readers funded sequel, whoch I'm proud to say I backed.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/02/new-marla-mason-novel.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-13236012192812726762013-02-13T13:34:00.001+00:002013-06-27T12:35:18.760+01:00Farewell CatMan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_JWp6j1Zkv48qnIjVUUECefGQ7pfhhTkjyU1lBoTp0qVTn7KQ3UFSKNFOjmhE2juLFF8j5ryZxhc2PM6q1GyFnPEtzM5I0o_I_SfQOyYj04qJ9gGTwr5MBuz_cP127N-gGxfjV3JOVYX/s1600/227644_592733684076841_1327962419_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_JWp6j1Zkv48qnIjVUUECefGQ7pfhhTkjyU1lBoTp0qVTn7KQ3UFSKNFOjmhE2juLFF8j5ryZxhc2PM6q1GyFnPEtzM5I0o_I_SfQOyYj04qJ9gGTwr5MBuz_cP127N-gGxfjV3JOVYX/s320/227644_592733684076841_1327962419_n.jpg" width="238"></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: start;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A Tribute to a Beloved Moggy </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I think of J, I have the impression of her always having had cats around. Thinking a little deeper about this, I realise that this impression is false. J had cats when she was growing up, before I knew her (I'm tempted to say before I was born, but she'll kill me). I remember fondly the stories of her cat that followed her to school that she used to shoo away with manic limb waving, which almost never worked. The fact that her neighbours couldn't see the cat she was waving at behind the short garden walls of the houses in her area only added to her general aura of weirdness for them. It's about as perfect and all encompassing characterisation of her as I can imagine.</span> </div>
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When I first met her and even when we first started being friends, she didn't have any cats. It wasn't until life moved on a little, as its wont to do, and she lived in a different flat that she got cats. That was many years and several moves ago now and the last of her furry feline companions had to say goodbye recently. That over there is Cat, or Mr. Cat, CatMan or CatManDoo. That last name was given to him by Husband, whom all animals adore, but CatMan especially loved.<br>
</div></div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/02/farewell-catman.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-15070915072833694182013-02-04T17:30:00.003+00:002013-06-27T12:34:47.096+01:00THRESHOLDS 2013 Feature Writing Competition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received this by email from the Folklore mailing list I'm registered on. It coincided with me reading Kate Bernheimer's wonderful introduction to <i>My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me</i>, an anthology of fairy tales from both established and new writers. You can read an extract from it <a href="http://www.flamesrising.com/bernheimer-fairy-tales/">here</a>. In it she mentions the controversy that her suggestion of engaging with fairy tales caused at a writers conference and how, despite the obvious popularity and quality of such writing, 'c<span style="background-color: white;">ollections and/or retellings of folk-tales, myths, and fairy-tales are not eligible' for the National Book Awards. If fact, she started a petition to change this, which you can read about <a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tatar/2010/10/24/petition-to-national-book-foundation-kate-bernheimer-and-maria-tatar-are-on-a-mission/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.salon.com/2010/11/17/fairy_tales/">here</a>. And you can find out if it worked <a href="http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaentry.html#.UQ_vnx0yISF">here</a>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Anyway, my point is that there is a new writing competition open, and all the details are below. So, what are you waiting for? Go write some fairy tales...</span></span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/02/thresholds-2013-feature-writing.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-52018109502396425732013-01-30T17:00:00.000+00:002013-06-27T12:34:26.741+01:00A decade on...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Do you remember what you were doing in Winter 2002? How old were you, were did you work or go to school? What were your plans for the impending new year? What about the world in 2002...what was it like? How did we communicated then in the time before smartphones, Facebook and Twitter? Had most of us even heard of blogging, or were we keeping old fashioned, written on paper diaries?<br>
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I was 16 in 2002, I was in my final year of high school and I met the boy who would some day be the Husband. And what's more, I knew by the end of 2002 that I would marry him someday.<br>
</div></div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-decade-on.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-87598227361994975842013-01-28T00:45:00.000+00:002013-06-27T12:34:03.518+01:00Friendship<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/20UhjXpFX_c/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/20UhjXpFX_c&fs=1&source=uds"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/20UhjXpFX_c&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></object></div>
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That's Harvey and Rabbit. It's unbelievably cute, and reminds me of something my Mum used to say when I moaned about my sister's best friend growing up (of whom I did not approve). In not so many words my Mum taught me that you can't choose who you love, and that our family and friends have to accept things about us that they don't necessarily understand, like why you stay friends with someone who is an arrogant, self-centred, unpleasant little twat. Oops. Sorry. I got a tiny bit carried away...</div>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2013/01/friendship.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-11866458986138958252012-11-07T12:37:00.001+00:002012-11-07T13:20:52.893+00:00Radio Gaga<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYjimINVKNGe6CDoQlgyMdhZTHEKS_6zRwlYWUM9gEmxLnoeAeL7FgwQEfUktpjreRdDIRFdAUqnh0rEpbnjd005POLDaDtX1aqsRlr54RBOOnA91Q6mOXChd1cqRrc4DwKwnJy9drjg2/s1600/app-development-for-radio-stations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYjimINVKNGe6CDoQlgyMdhZTHEKS_6zRwlYWUM9gEmxLnoeAeL7FgwQEfUktpjreRdDIRFdAUqnh0rEpbnjd005POLDaDtX1aqsRlr54RBOOnA91Q6mOXChd1cqRrc4DwKwnJy9drjg2/s200/app-development-for-radio-stations.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Today I'm filling for my friend and fellow blogger <a href="http://marshrachel.wordpress.com/">Rachel</a> on Discover Radio. You can listen to it online <a href="http://discoverradio.dundee.ac.uk/?page_id=219">here</a>, or through the iTunes radio directory. The show is usually hosted by Writer and Actor duo <a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/dramatic.pause.5?fref=ts">Rachel Marsh and Annie Bottoms</a>, so I'll be joining Annie today.<br />
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On <i>The Art Show</i> today we have Dundee born <a href="http://hayleyscanlan.blogspot.co.uk/">Hayley Scanlon</a>, who won Young Designer of the Year in the Scottish Fashion Awards 2012. Hayley's new line<a href="http://www.hayleyscanlan.com/collections.php?id=2"> HS</a> launched this weekend at a live catwalk event in Dundee's own McManus Art Gallery and Museum. </div>
kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-46210649985334491532012-11-05T14:55:00.000+00:002013-01-28T01:00:03.771+00:00How the NaNoWriMo Fever Can Help You Write Your Thesis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<i>*Cross posted from my academic wordpress blog.*</i></div>
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It's now officially November, and the blogosphere is buzzing with the optimism of the first few days of National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.<br>
</div></div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-nanowrimo-fever-can-help-you-write.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-41654175003774459342012-10-29T14:20:00.001+00:002013-02-13T16:23:39.767+00:00Missing you...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Reading <a href="http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/20121027/">this</a> on the train back to Scotland and thinking of our own Becca again. Every now and again I dream about her, wake up having forgotten that she died and feel the pain all over again. <br />
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The people we lose are never really not on our minds, but Becca has been at the forefront of mine for some time now. When I'm in a darker mood I wonder if I exaggerate how much she meant to me, and how important to each other our friendship was. I feel like a fraud at times, berating myself with thoughts that, had Becca still been alive, I'd be no closer to her than other friends from that time in my life very few of whom I'm still close to.<br />
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On the better days I remember that she was one of few, if not the only person who could see that my relationship with the Boy was something different. We confided in her, and she encouraged us when others wrote us off as well intentions but deluded teenagers. We got married just over a week ago.<br />
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At the wedding many people finally saw what Becca had seen nearly 10 years ago when me and the Husband (as he shall now be known as) were just Boyfriend and Girlfriend. I wish she had been there to say "I told you so."</div>
kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-63520245528215740712012-10-03T15:24:00.000+01:002013-01-28T01:00:23.541+00:00On having big boobs...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Normally I post a mildly amusing photo, related to the content of my posts over there on the left had side of my blog. (I experimented with alternating left and right for a while, but I decided that it just looks better over there on the left). Today, I'm not going to do that. Today I'm talking about something quite a bit more personal, and so I'm going to post a photo of me. I'll post it further down, since I'm still working up to it. This is a big deal, so bear with me.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2012/10/on-having-big-boobs.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-13145061476685744052012-10-01T16:47:00.000+01:002012-10-01T16:47:09.762+01:00Quick Post: Word Verification<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sP0tash8gbLfJSEE6iZXNpLxmFvtQXY7P6s27avCgyVujSBE0-mloJR-DO5qtlgzr9CLyW1bMCoLsiXVy9H_IBR3YQe0KM6wdkR2AAtZfP-CXxvrHuAABBq93gfKgQbsrDE4hAemqAcD/s1600/Just_Say_No_-_Word_Verification%5B4%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sP0tash8gbLfJSEE6iZXNpLxmFvtQXY7P6s27avCgyVujSBE0-mloJR-DO5qtlgzr9CLyW1bMCoLsiXVy9H_IBR3YQe0KM6wdkR2AAtZfP-CXxvrHuAABBq93gfKgQbsrDE4hAemqAcD/s320/Just_Say_No_-_Word_Verification%5B4%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Just a flying visit to point out the campaign to remove word verification software from blog comments.<br />
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Go here to read Misha Gericke's <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/open-letter-to-bloggers-with-word.html">blog post</a>. I removed my word verification about a month after starting the blog when I read a post giving advice on getting more readers. I agree that it goes against the spirit of blogging, and I groan any time that I come across it. If you do too, go sign Misha's petition and spread the word.<br />
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New, full length, original blog post coming later this week.</div>
kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-59474812350810612902012-09-24T15:12:00.000+01:002013-09-06T16:48:07.464+01:00That's Not My Name<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigl2n2vZ4TAqjoGqr9Sl9fCEvYLEpTXeu7NKacNFy4dYeM5UxLYQnD7-YB2NtPTPI6u29_ok0cUaV-hs32QEhIT1O8hBETebb6nyHUEqrYQjrmlrxNrFGfWmeawDfrFODQHppAHFKO0hGb/s1600/legal_name_changesquare_RESIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhbbeD7nS-Wv3NkC5FCD6GlYipx-DM6dLFNjGFX29cp_1lVucib92blAzgK-7t0e5j2IXx3LHiTtgZEM4s9hFiqIdyyHNEB2Hi4ZfbsUiGg5tAHT_Z_wA1lBaNU4aKHbN0EQpGuNDClqT/s1600/legal_name_changesquare_RESIZED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhbbeD7nS-Wv3NkC5FCD6GlYipx-DM6dLFNjGFX29cp_1lVucib92blAzgK-7t0e5j2IXx3LHiTtgZEM4s9hFiqIdyyHNEB2Hi4ZfbsUiGg5tAHT_Z_wA1lBaNU4aKHbN0EQpGuNDClqT/s1600/legal_name_changesquare_RESIZED.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the wedding date hurtling ever closer, the Boy and I
have started to dread Fridays. The rest of the office gets to go home at the
end of a Friday and relax into a weekend of lie-ins, brunches, cooking
programmes and socialising. Weekends are a time when you don't need to worry
about being in a certain place at a certain time. You do things and make plans
on your own terms not dictated by work schedules or deadlines. </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least you do if you're not getting married in less than a
month. If this is the case your weekend becomes about sitting down with the
people involved to 'finalise' things. I've been finalising wedding stuff for
the past month of weekends, and will be continuing to do so for
the foreseeable future. I'm continually complimented by suppliers,
vendors and venues about how well organised everything is, much more so than
other couples. This helps a little, to know that it's paying off and that we are
getting there. A little.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the latest things is arranging to collect/be
presented with our gifts. We went with a slightly unconventional method for our
gift list. Instead of registering with one department store and choosing gifts
from there, we built our own online gift list on our wedding website.
It means we have a little bit more work to do in keeping the links updated, and
a few of our older relatives have had to get some help in navigating the big
world wide web, but it has the benefit of allowing us to choose gifts from
different suppliers. Unfortunately, it has also meant that we don't have a
department store to deliver all out gifts to us post-wedding in one go. People
have been getting gifts themselves and therefore need to arrange a
time and/or place to hand them over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes this has just meant an alternative delivery
address when ordering online, and sometimes people have dropped gifts off at my
parents house, or the In-Law's house. Sometimes people want to see us in person
and have us open them while they watch. The latter is the one that
I'm particularly uncomfortable with. I have rarely opened presents in
front of anyone other than my parents, my sister and the Boy. I don't
understand why people want to see me do that. Oh, and it is me that's supposed
to open presents apparently. Even though they are gifts for both of us I'm THE
BRIDE, so I must be the one to open them. It is not an experience I enjoy, and
I've never done so. I always feel uncomfortable, and feel like I'm being forced
into a show of emotional response, but I'm unsure about so I end up being
hyper aware of my facial expression. This will come as a surprise to everyone
because I do love receiving gifts, and I take great pleasure in
giving gifts also. I'm getting a little off topic, but writing that out is
the first time that I've consciously addressed those feelings and it might go a
little way to explaining my reaction to things that happened around the same
time: namely the SURNAME THING.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the gifts and cards (and even a cheque kindly sent
by an Aunt and Uncle of mine who aren't able to come to the wedding) were
addressed to Mr & Mrs His Surname. You see, most people don't know that I'm
keeping my own name after we get married.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are lots of reason's why I'm keeping my maiden name
when we get married, some of them too private for the internet (sorry guys.)
Some of them are boring and practical, like the fact that I'm already published
under my maiden name or the hassle it is to change everything from my
passport and my bank account, to my email address. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just beginning to gain an understanding for
how strange some people find this notion since within a very short space of
time two different couples were informed, in passing, that I'm keeping my name.
You know that slightly odd expression, 'you could've slapped my face with a wet
kipper'? I think I might actually understand it now. I don't think they could
have been more surprised if I had just assaulted them about the head with a
smoked herring. I have to stress here that the reactions weren't negative, and
not long after they shrugged and probably forgot about it. They were
mostly confused and surprised that I wasn't following this tradition, and it's
unlikely that the though that any Bride would keep her own name would have
crossed their minds. That's how ingrained the tradition is
within our society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This attitude was something should have been prepared for,
as I'd stumbled across <a href="http://vagendamag.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-penis-perspective-wife-by-any-other.html">an
article</a> in The Vagenda a few weeks ago on the same subject, but from
the perspective of Mr. It's a well written and interesting article, and
although it discusses a few other things that are also ringing true
for me and the Boy, it's the name thing that's got me this week:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"But, dear readers, do you know what we rarely get
asked? Whether or not my wife will change her surname to mine. As far as I can
tell, the reason we’re not asked this is because it is almost universally
assumed that she will or, more accurately, already has – and in fact probably
rushed ecstatically to do so somewhere between kissing the bride and
consummating the union. It wasn’t just that everyone assumes that her surname
is mine – which in itself is presumptuous, if understandable – but that so much
subsequent post-wedding correspondence was addressed simply to Mr and Mrs My
Full Name. Apparently not only did my wife lose her surname in the nuptials,
but in the eyes of a lot of people she lost her first name too." SPR,<i> The
Penis Perspective: A Wife By Any Other Name...</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wasn't prepared for how I'd actually fee when faced with a
card addressed to 'Mr and Mrs His Full Name'. I expected Mr & Mrs His
Surname, and actually chuckled a little to myself when I saw it for the first
time. We've been together for almost 10 years, and I'd be a massive liar
if I told you that I hadn't tried out Karen [His Surname] to see what my
signature would be like.* At some point I started to feel differently about
changing my name. I'm not sure when that was, or if there was any one thing in
particular that made my decision. I'd dithered for some time about keeping my
own name for my academic career, and being Mrs His Surname everywhere else. Yet
the thought of splitting myself like that, of being two different people - the
'career academic' and the 'wife&mother' - made
me incredibly uncomfortable. I began to question why and my search
for a good enough reason didn't find one. Karen [His Surname] isn't me.
That's either someone else, or a fictional character. I felt no attachment to
it, as if those two words couldn't hold my identity. Family stuff came up
and suddenly there were very good reasons, but for keeping <i>my</i> name
not for adopting someone else's. It might seem odd to some people, but suddenly
keeping my own name was the right choice for me. I'm not doing it for
political reasons in order to subvert the patriarchy, after all how much
difference does keeping my Father's name rather than taking on my Husband's
make to that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When faced with a card from one of the older guests addressed
to Mr and Mrs His Full Name, I felt weird. A few days later when I
explained it to the Boy I said that I felt like I suddenly didn't exist any
more. I was a non-entity, defined only by my relationship to him. It
was a very, very odd experience, but a fleeting one. I opened the card and read
the message, addressed to us both by our first names and it went away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The looks of bewilderment on the faces of the people when
the Boy told them that I was keeping my own name haven't faded from my mind
yet. It's still quite fresh, but it's left me somewhat baffled myself. I really
didn't think that it was still so uncommon in the 21st century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*It turns out that because one of the initial letters is the
same as mine it just looked like I'd tacked Mc on to the beginning of my own
name. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br /></div>
kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-28262112567923104492012-07-24T11:59:00.000+01:002012-07-24T11:59:04.632+01:00Quick Post: The Dark Knight Rises<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-nrYpaCJ2Ars1-jK9nsGj8NdY1tTcZWRYN9EL01krHAS2tXNKIGoAwjgWxgmLbzaVRO08wbCSc21GFXptHPt3p0w3o58qUlIx5ZLhempPPg0iFwZDHGByloY1SimX30QB3uCn1-kffni/s1600/TDK_P3_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-nrYpaCJ2Ars1-jK9nsGj8NdY1tTcZWRYN9EL01krHAS2tXNKIGoAwjgWxgmLbzaVRO08wbCSc21GFXptHPt3p0w3o58qUlIx5ZLhempPPg0iFwZDHGByloY1SimX30QB3uCn1-kffni/s320/TDK_P3_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Very quick post today to say that my friend <a href="http://twitter.com/stepquietly">Sam</a> has just started a blog in order to discuss <a href="http://samiandnemanjagotothemovies.tumblr.com/">her reactions</a> to seeing <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i> yesterday, which was also when The Boy and I, and my sister and her boyfriend went to see it (separately). It has certainly got us talking and Sam's blog sums up our reactions to the film so well it's worth re-posting here. As she discusses the film at length there are, of course, <b>SPOILERS</b> so I'd advise waiting until you've seen the film if you want to read it. (It's only just out in the UK, but this might be a moot point for reader in the US)<br />
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I'll be back with my feelings later in the week when I've worked out what they are, and once I've done some work on my thesis. I may edit this post, to link to a new one here. I haven't decided yet.</div>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-70039055162770580422012-07-05T12:55:00.002+01:002012-10-01T16:47:52.368+01:00Procrastination or There's No Such Thing as Writer's Block<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRJt-yPTWyZJFivBvaVsESFeySTxrB_6uEYoaysT-j6xVxGQynx1brDnJu-rmrBLAnSixZrGskIQNPi4KmMfETgO1JrTYwcB-IwIFdlm7ScosQ4G59YxkloIrYtiNLeOP33FsMUbO__RT/s1600/AwytvVLCMAEzz-l+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRJt-yPTWyZJFivBvaVsESFeySTxrB_6uEYoaysT-j6xVxGQynx1brDnJu-rmrBLAnSixZrGskIQNPi4KmMfETgO1JrTYwcB-IwIFdlm7ScosQ4G59YxkloIrYtiNLeOP33FsMUbO__RT/s320/AwytvVLCMAEzz-l+(1).jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="https://twitter.com/benwhitelaw/status/219741510478999552/photo/1">@benwhitelaw</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last year I was talking to a newly published author (let's call them NewAuthor) at a book launch dinner, and discussed with them my theory on the non-existence of writer's block. Later I found out from a friend who had also been talking to NewAuthor that they had also had a conversation about writer's block, except it had been NewAuthor telling my journalist friend (or Journo) that they were suffering badly from this thing I had insisted doesn't exist, and had moved countries in an attempt to unblock. After hearing that from Journo my first reactions were to feel guilty and tactless. I'd like to blame it on the wine with dinner, but the truth is I'm incredibly opinionated, and rarely think at the time about how my opinions will be received by others. That's normally left until something like this happens, and then I feel guilty. I've been thinking about NewAuthor and our conversation that night quite a lot this week, as I struggle with my own writing.<br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2012/07/procrastination-or-theres-no-such-thing.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408233543062099753.post-60371852141491972892012-05-31T11:25:00.000+01:002012-07-05T16:02:21.432+01:00Career vs Job<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzqGoRNNPdBjJbNc-eE2GokSTGR5XF_9-VtzPNmIlj1uccaXRkZk8k2SyAdrfHC8gHuGDoHrxdgLU9tRKztkjGMVC1e3YI2BTytHM46RCsyExl7tfDSowcyWipRkxaCsBuIdArG_HpFXc/s1600/423696_10150549105687539_14048564_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzqGoRNNPdBjJbNc-eE2GokSTGR5XF_9-VtzPNmIlj1uccaXRkZk8k2SyAdrfHC8gHuGDoHrxdgLU9tRKztkjGMVC1e3YI2BTytHM46RCsyExl7tfDSowcyWipRkxaCsBuIdArG_HpFXc/s400/423696_10150549105687539_14048564_n.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm one of the many research students within the Arts and Humanities who has a part time job alongside their PhD. I'm in the slightly more unusual situation of that part time job not being one tutoring undergraduates in my department. There are a few reasons for this, but the most obvious is that I was working in my job before I started the PhD. Instead of giving up a secure job on the off chance that I would get some teaching in the department to allow me to support myself, I spoke to my employers and they let me reduce my hours. </span><br>
</div><a href="http://kartook.blogspot.com/2012/05/career-vs-job.html#more">Read more »</a>kar_tookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15256993702885548804noreply@blogger.com0