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Posted by Katje on January 3, 2012
I completed some of my 2011 Writing Goals, but not all of them. That’s okay. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I’m just going to do better this year.
Posted in General | Tagged: 2012, blogging, goals, writing life | 3 Comments »
Posted by Katje on May 24, 2012
Today’s post is a bit of a deviation from the ordinary: I am hosting Wayne Basta on a blog tour for his upcoming new release, Aristeia: A Little Rebellion.
Unlike her brother, Saracasi Ocaitchi has always known that her loyalties belong to the ideals of freedom and democracy, not the government of the Alliance, and that protecting those ideals would require a fight. But now that the rebellion she has dreamed about has finally begun, she must come to terms with what that truly means: for herself, for her brother, and for all of the people who will die in the coming war.
The second novel in the Aristeia Series by Wayne Basta. Available June 1, 2012.
You can visit the author’s website at http://waynebasta.com for more information and to enter a contest to win FREE books.
You also have a chance to purchase the book before its official release in the Prelaunch Blitz: http://waynebasta.com/aristeia-contest/prelaunch-purchase-blitz/
The Alliance has always stood for freedom and democracy, but after winning control of the planets of the Confederacy, the Alliance’s vaunted principles have become secondary to its security. Disillusioned with the Alliance and its subjugation of its citizens, Maarkean, a former naval pilot and supporter of the Alliance, has become a smuggler. Despite the conditions he survives under, he nevertheless refuses to believe his sister’s notion that the whole system is corrupt… until she is arrested and jailed as a traitor.
Now, Maarkean must decide where his loyalty lies, and will either spark a rebellion or crush the spirit of democracy once and for all.
Written in the spirit of heroic space adventure, Aristeia; Revolutionary Right is the first book in a series that explores the essence of resistance, loyalty and friendship.
You can find Aristeia: Revolutionary Right on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo in ebook, paperback and hardback.
Aristeia (Greek): is a scene in the dramatic conventions of such works as the Iliad in which a hero in battle has his finest moments
The main inspiration for much of my writing comes from my love of history. In this case, the American Revolution. One thing that fascinates me about history is the difference between actual events and the common perception of the story. Here in the US, the Founding Fathers who participated in the war are larger than life heroes. In reality, they were just ordinary men in an extraordinary time; flaws and all. This in no means diminishes their accomplishments, but instead raises them up from caricatures of ideals to genuine people.
When writing Revolutionary Right, I set out to combine that flawed aspect of historical heroes with the concept of aristeia; and to tie them together in a fun space adventure setting. This book follows Maarkean Ocaitchi as he goes from a man down on his luck but still loyal to the Alliance to a man the galaxy at large perceives as a heroic revolutionary leader. Throughout the book he faces his aristeia moment while his loyalty is torn between his government, his family and his beliefs. In the end, he has to decide if he is the traitor he thinks he is, or the hero everyone else says he is.
In this new book, A Little Rebellion, Maarkean has made his decision about where his loyalties lie. This book moves to follow his sister Saracasi, as fate moves her toward her moment and she has to decide what kind of person she wants to be; the peaceful idealist or the fiery revolutionary.
While each book heavily features one character’s aristeia moment and follows their personal journey, the books include a wide array of interesting characters. No hero is ever alone on their journey and no revolution is ever won by one person. It takes a large swell of people, each with their own unique story to tell.
As a child, Wayne Basta was introduced to science fiction at a young age by his father. Mainstream hits like Star Trek and Star Wars were followed by old Tom Swift novels and then classics like Asimov and Clarke. Growing up on Florida’s space coast only served to fuel his imagination and love of space, science and adventure.
At the age of 9, his family got their first home computer, an old Macintosh Plus, and he immediately used it to start writing science fiction adventure stories. He continued writing as a hobby all the way through college at the University of Florida, where he initially pursued a career in the US Navy until an injury changed his plans. Wayne then spent several years teaching high school and working in the education non-profit sector before coming back to his old dream of writing.
Wayne currently lives in Houston with his wife, son, and dog. He remains a fan of geek culture, board games, video games, fantasy, science fiction and all around silliness.
Posted in Blog Tours and Guest Posts | Tagged: adventure, Aristeia, blog, books, sci-fi adventure, science-fiction, Wayne Basta | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Katje on May 18, 2012
Unfortunately I can’t find a bigger picture of the cover.
Today I’ll be reading some more of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Myths from the Arapaho to the Zuni: An Anthology, edited by Jim Elledge. I’ve been reading this book for class — namely, so I could find a myth to turn into a skit that would be performed in order to teach our classmates about trans* issues from a Native perspective (my class is a 400-level First Nations Studies course in community development). I’ve found that myth now, and so the other thing I’ll be doing today is writing the skit and putting together a props list.
However, I’m still reading the book. Some of the myths are really interesting, some are funny, some are WTF — like most myths from most cultures. The one thing they all have in common, however, is they show that the origins of American and Canadian literature were most definitely not heteronormative and cissexist — knowledge of queer and trans identities has existed in North America as long as Native cultures have. This book is not even a complete anthology — it is a selection of some of the myths, notably ones where Two-Spirit characters are more prominent then those where they have more secondary or tertiary roles.
In fact, in many of the myths, Two-Spirit characters were responsible for much of why the world is the way it is. They create cultural traditions, they decide how the animals will be, they create the earth itself…. They were not people of little importance; they were vital parts of community and cosmology.
Interesting how easily that narrative can get turned around. From the original literature of this continent acknowledging and even featuring prominently trans and queer individuals to us fighting for our right to live in peace, let alone have the same basic rights as cis and het people do.
Another example of how colonialism is still alive and well in these countries. We’ve come a long way, but it’s not even a fraction of an inch of the distance we still need to travel. Let’s not forget that.
Posted in Friday Reads | Tagged: 2012, American literature, Canada, Canadian literature, First Nations studies, Friday reads, indigenous mythology, Literature, Native American studies, North America, politics, trans and queer identities, trans and queer issues, trans and queer rights, United States | 2 Comments »
Posted by Katje on May 17, 2012
Today I bring you my first official v-log! In this v-log I tell you random important things about me.
A must-see for any fan of Katje. (I’m thinking of calling you the Loonies. Y/y?)
Posted in Vlogs | Tagged: blogs, Humor, video, videos | 3 Comments »
Posted by Katje on May 16, 2012
A Coldstone’s by itself. (Photo credit: Michael D. Dunn)
Today a friend and I decided to go to Tim Horton’s for some Coldstone’s ice cream. I was really happy when Coldstone’s came up here from the States, as it had been a favourite of mine when I lived in Hawaii. The fact that it’s in Tim Horton’s means it’s easier to convince my boyfriend to go and get it, so win-win.
There are several Timmy-Coldstone’s in Vancouver and the GVRD, but only one in Nanaimo. (There’s also one in Duncan, which is a 100-km round trip. Not happening.) There are other, cheaper ice cream places in Nanaimo, any of which we could have gone to — but we wanted Coldstone’s. It’s special. And it was a really hot day. Also we make no apologies for wanting whatever the fuck we want and eating it too — in public, even.
Here is the point where I tell you something you already know: I’m fat. So is my friend. And while we are both feisty, fat, awesome individuals, we still struggle with self-esteem issues. Because we have spent our entire lives being told that we are inhuman, horrible disgusting blobs that should kill ourselves for allowing ourselves to be so fat and offensive to the eyes of society. How dare we breathe your air and take up all your space with our fat! How dare we have big bellies! How dare we eat ice cream or junkfood — this is, of course, no problem if you’re skinny and it’s all you eat, because obviously thinness is the only measure of health. No, because we are already fat we should eat nothing but salad and watercress and wear nothing but sackcloth and ashes.
So, let’s start from that. We’re fat, and we’re awesome people and we deserve to be treated like human beings. Regardless of our fatness or awesomeness. We’re human.
We’ve gone to this Coldstone’s before. Almost every time we go, we stand there for a long time before someone serves us.
Today we stood there for 10 minutes. There were several people walking around behind the counter, and it wasn’t terribly busy. Each person ignored us.
I stepped away for a moment to look in the freezer at the pre-made stuff, to see if I would rather want something from there as it was taking so long. Two people who were pretty damn tall and pretty damn thin walk up to where I’d been standing a second ago. Instead of saying “Excuse me, I was here first,” and taking my place back in the line, I stand back. As an experiment. (My friend was still at the head of the line.)
Within 10 seconds someone comes up to take their order. And my friend says “Actually, we were here first. Before them.”
And the guy says, rudely, “So you haven’t gotten your ice cream yet?” with this look on his face like we don’t need any and we shouldn’t complain about the free diet advice.
My friend says “No, no one has even taken our order.” At this point I come to stand with her.
Rude guy starts taking my friend’s order, and another guy comes up to take the skinny couple’s order. No one takes mine, but at this point I’m too angry to want any fucking ice cream. Not from Coldstone’s.
My friend ended up paying over 5 dollars for something that was advertised as 3.99, and she was too upset to eat it. She ended up throwing it out. She would have refused to pay for it in the first place, but here’s a secret: we’re Canadian and we’re taught to be polite and just take our lumps. We’re fat, so we’re taught to not have attitude about anything because then no one will fuck us, and that’s the worst fate ever for a fat girl! Programming is really hard to overcome. Programming + societal pressure to never look weird, lest you get shunned? Yeah, fucking walk in the park.
I get confrontational on my blog and in my video-logs. I do not in person. I am timid and mousey in person. I wanted to hit someone with my cane in Timmy’s. Instead I didn’t even say anything.
So here. Let me FAT AT YOU, Timmy’s and Coldstone’s. I am FATTING AT YOU RIGHT NOW. I am FAT, and I DESERVE SERVICE. Also, how fucking stupid are you at capitalism that you’re going to treat a fat person badly in a food establishment? Like, seriously. Putting aside the fact that I deserve basic humanity, I’m going to be your best customer.
Well, I was. Not anymore.
This is the last I will be eating of Coldstone’s or Timmy’s, for that matter. At least at this location. Nanaimo, you can take your fatphobia and shove it.
I think I may call them and demand reparations for my friend. She deserves her five dollars back.
Fattingly,
PS: The sad thing is, I’m used to this. I get this treatment all the time in restaurants. Let me tell you, Fat Lady don’t need a diet — Fat Lady needs her fucking ice cream, and maybe some fries. Chop chop, sanctimonious bastards.
Posted in I FAT AT YOU | Tagged: Canada, Coldstone, fat acceptance, Fatphobia, Food, local, Nanaimo, people, Tim Horton | 4 Comments »
Posted by Katje on May 14, 2012
When my brain is not fried, I wonder about things. This isn’t very often these days, so I cherish my confusion. Here, you can cherish it too.
Now you know some of the things I wonder.
Posted in Monday Musings | Tagged: 2012, Captain America, life, Pegasus, Star Trek, Star Trek The Next Generation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Katje on May 13, 2012
Every part of you belongs to you.
-ILU-486, by Amanda Ching
It’s Mother’s Day. And while I’d love to just post a happy one to all the mothers out there, whether to children of their own womb, adopted, fur-babies, or creative projects, and be done with it, I cannot.
For there is a war on parents.
Greek Goddess Demeter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We are all parents. Whether child-free or child-abundant, we all nurture something, we all help something grow. I’m as much a parent to my books as I am to my dog, Tyee, and as much as I will be when my partner and I finally decide to get down to some egg-fertilizing. My mother is not only parent to me, but to her own creative projects, to her garden, to Tyee, to my partner though we’ve not gotten hitched. We are also parents to ourselves, once we leave the nest: setting bedtimes, setting chores, comforting ourselves when we’re down, rewarding good behaviour. We have to be, because such a relationship with friends or partners can be dangerous.
This is a lesson I learned from Demeter when I went to Spring Mysteries. I saw Her in Her shrine, and She told me this. I wanted to know how I could be a better daughter to my mom, and She told me that we are all parents — and to speak to Her daughter.
Something I’ve learned on my own time is that while we are all parents to something, what we are parents to is a choice. And it should be. We should be able to choose who or what we will nurture.
If you choose not to have children so you can instead direct your energy to nurturing your own life, your garden, your cooking skills, your hiking time, your skee ball skills…whatever you choose to nurture, that’s what you’re parenting. And it’s all good. No one should ever have the power to control this choice for you.
If you choose to have children, you get to choose when. This is a human right given to us by the gods Themselves — or the Universe, or Chance, or whatever you ascribe to (let’s not forget the Abrahamic God isn’t even pro-life) — for even before we had doctors giving us birth control, there were herbal options to reduce fertility or produce a miscarriage.
Female demonstrator wearing a hat in Madrid. It says “Abortion is my freedom, my choice.” She protested against Pope visit to Spain. Español: Chica manifestante con un sombrero en Madrid. Protesta contra la visita del papa a España. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
That right has only ever been taken away by people who are convinced the gods (or “God”) is talking to them. Controlling a person’s right to choose to have children or not is a human ill.
The year I was born there were still legal restrictions on abortion in Canada. The 1969 law was still in effect, making access to abortion uneven. It wasn’t until 1988 that all laws restricting abortion were struck down and they became available on-demand with no restrictions or waiting (in theory; abortion isn’t covered by all health-care plans in Canada and we do have a pro-choice movement who are largely concerned with making this happen). Abortions should be on-demand, no questions asked.
In the past few years I have watched a terrible maelstrom of anti-life (anti-choice is anti-life) take over our neighbor to the south. Constantly trying to pass “personhood” amendments — what a ridiculous word! — wherein the life and rights of a zygote are affirmed but the life and rights of the person holding the zygote are stripped, tossed aside. A continuing, building climate of hate towards people who can carry zygotes, no matter their gender, and their loving partners (this is not a war on women for it effects more than just one gender, thank you very much). It makes me terrified for the people of the United States.
For a while I thought I was safe in Canada — one of the few nations with no legal restrictions on abortion. This is as it should be, in case you’re confused.
Except…. MP Woodworth has brought M312 before Parliament. Motion 312 seeks to redefine the definition of when a fetus becomes a person under the Canada Criminal Code — in other words, it’s a personhood amendment. It’s being brought to a vote in just 6 weeks time. We are fighting it every step of the way, unwilling to let Canada’s future look like a Margaret Atwood dystopian novel.
I’ve been told several times that there’s no point in fighting. That PM Harper has “promised” that he won’t reopen the debate on abortion, that it’ll never get passed, so what’s the point in getting so worked up?
Like Dillon Black of Ottawa, I do not trust Harper. If you knew the shit he did you wouldn’t either.
Even if we’re confident that the motion will be defeated, even if Harper keeps his promises, there is always a reason to fight. We must show our sister nation it can be done — we must show them we will never cave in. We will continue fighting no matter the cost.
Because abortion rights affect everyone — not just the owners of uteri. They affect me and my boyfriend, and my mother, and my boyfriend’s mother, and my boyfriend’s dad, and my friends, and my dog, and you and your entire family, and everyone you have ever known.
If you have a mother and you love and respect her or him or them*, then you will be pro-choice. To be anything less is an affront to the person who carried you, the person who bore you, or the person who raised you (whether those are the same person or not). To believe that the person who gave you life shouldn’t have complete control over zie’s own body is despicable.
It’s Mother’s Day. What are you going to do?
*As I’ve said in a prior post about abortion I use the term mother to refer to people of all genders because I see motherhood as a role non-specific to gender. You are free to disagree with me on this.
Posted in Feminism | Tagged: 2012, Abortion, Abortion debate, Canada, Canada Criminal Code, feminism, m312, Margaret Atwood, politics, Pro-choice, Pro-life, United States | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Katje on May 2, 2012
In the class I’m taking — First Nations Studies 400: Applied Community Research Institute — we have a coffee hour in the first hour of class for our groups to discuss project outcomes, outputs, and inputs. The class is twice a week, 9am to 3pm, so we have that sort of time.
Today I slept in, because my body hates me, that’s why, and so didn’t arrive until coffee hour was over. It’s only the second day of class, so I missed our discussion of the introductions we would make after coffee hour (which I didn’t miss). After introductions, I went to fill my coffee cup cause damn was I tired. There were two Tim Hortons coffee boxes, one near-empty and one near-full, so I poured the remainder from one into my coffee mug and then filled it up with the other, fuller box.
And drank some delicious “toffee” — or a mix of tea and coffee.
I had completely missed the big signs on the chalkboard saying “TEA” and “COFFEE” with arrows pointing down.
Proving yet again that I am no where near human before caffeine has been inserted.
PS: Don’t try this combo of drinks. It’s disgusting. As this blog post will tell you.
PPS: I did end up getting a real coffee at break time, so I was human for the rest of class.
Posted in General, Scenes from my life | Tagged: 2012, blog, Food, life, school, what what what WHAT ARE YOU DOING | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Katje on May 2, 2012
Last week I went up to Powell River, where I was supposed to film some things. Communication was sketchy that first week and I didn’t fully understand what I’d be doing until the end of the weekend — namely, a ten-minute documentary — but regardless, I got some good shots.
A new camera was in order, as the one I was using was 12 years old and guess what — they don’t make tape for it anymore. (We do have access to a firewire to grab the two hours of tape I did manage to shoot, so that’s all good.) As was a new tripod, because when you take long sabbaticals from filmmaking and move a bunch things go missing.
I had to film in an elementary school where Margriet Ruurs was doing workshops on poetry as part of the International Peace Poem Walkers’ Association’s Youth Peace Poem Competition and literacy initiative. The documentary itself is about the Youth Peace Poem Competition and how it — and the workshops funded by it — have positive impacts on the kids and the community.
[The showing of the documentary will be on May 31st, during the awards ceremony. For pretty much every weekend in May I'll be in Powell River filming and editing, and I have class from 9-4 on Mondays and Wednesdays in Nanaimo (my final class before graduation with my BA).]
First lesson about documentaries: they are organic creatures. You can set out with an idea of what you want to say, and how you want to say it, but you won’t actually know for sure how it’ll play out until you’ve started filming. Buy enough film (or memory, I guess, is how they do it on the new future cameras they got) to canvas an entire continent, every day, all day for several months. And about ten extra batteries.
Second lesson: you have to be ready for action. That means you must be able to catch things on the spur of the moment; have to be able to drive anywhere, get into any sort of position, run with your camera.
Third lesson: it is like herding cats. Especially when you’re filming in an elementary school, just saying.
Things you should know about me:
It’s been so many years since I’ve worked on a documentary that I’d forgotten all these things — all these things that are so much more important when you don’t have a camera crew. Ie, when your camera crew…is you.
Which isn’t to say documentary filmmaking isn’t fun. It is. It’s a lot of fun. And in some ways it allows more creative freedom than filming a scripted story (“drama”).
It’s also very hard. Because on top of all these points, you must make your documentary interesting. It must have a story to it — you must take a bunch of bits of film and put it together in a cohesive story with a smooth flow. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of random thoughts with no overarching theme or message, and that gets boring quick.
(I have watched some boring documentaries, let me tell you. One I don’t even remember the name of, but I know it was about Jamaica — interesting, sure, for the first half hour. After that my brain leaked out my ears and eventually I had to turn it off. Why? Because there was no story. There was too much repetition. And it was too long without having a clear progression from beginning to middle to end.)
So my challenge for this month — challenge for the control freak cripple — is to create a documentary that shows the positive impact literacy and peace initiatives such as the Youth Peace Poem Competition and the workshops they fund have on Powell River community and kids. I have 12 more days in which to film, and after that I have four days in which to edit.
I’ve worked with far tighter deadlines before. I can probably do this. However, it’ll still be difficult: as I said, documentary filmmaking is tough work. Rewarding, but very difficult. I’m rusty and not as able as I used to be.
Onwards and ever upwards, I suppose. Tomorrow I go off to film some more. This weekend, I think, will really give me the spine of my story.
Posted in Film, General | Tagged: documentaries, events, film, filmmaking, international peace poem, literacy, local, peace, poems, poetry, video, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Katje on May 1, 2012
Today is May 1st, making it the traditional day for Beltane, a Pagan festival. (Or, okay, well, my traditional day for Beltane.)
In the Neo-Wiccan Wheel of the Year, Beltane is one of eight sabbats (solar festivals; the others are the solstices, equinoxes, Imbolc, Lughnasadh, and Samhain). It is based off older traditions from various parts of Europe and the British Isles, but its modern-day celebrations are a mishmash of these traditions. Like Wicca, today’s Neo-Pagan Beltane is new.
Celebrations of Beltane can include jumping the fire for fertility (of any sort; not just baby-making), dancing around the May-pole (which, yes, is supposed to be a phallus), making lewd motions with ritual implements (or perhaps that’s just me), candy shaped like genitalia, getting married or handfasted for a year and a day, and unbridled coupling in the woods. Or your bedroom; whatevs.
Beltane is also known as the sex holiday, and for good reason.
For me personally, Beltane is sacred to Morrigan, who is so much more than a “goddess of war and death”. She’s the goddess of sovereignty, which is inherently tied up with sexuality and being a warrior. (For more on my take on the Morrigan and many other topics related to paganism, check out my writings under the name Morag Spinner at Innocence and Immanence.)
Also, the sex celebrated at Beltane is, to me, more than just what I do with my boyfriend (though that is quite awesome, don’t get me wrong). If you were to ask me to define “The Force” or the divine source of life pulsing through the universe, I would say “sex”. Sex is what makes us; sex continues the cycle of life. The earth is teeming with the life force, and it’s inherently sexual — if you do energy work, you may know what I mean. There’s a thrill that comes with really great connection during ritual or magic.
What am I doing for Beltane this year?
I’ll be doing a small ritual re-affirming my bond with the Morrigan and re-opening my connection to the land and its life-force. I’ll also be writing, hard at work on The Jade Star of Athering.
If you want to do something to commemorate the day but you’re not sure where to start, you could consider downloading Bellica on the Kindle. Today is the last promo day for Bellica, and it’s full of pretty sexy prose. (Check out my SSFSat snippets if you don’t believe me.) Besides, what better way to celebrate a pagan holiday than by reading some pagan fiction?
If you’ve been waiting for Bellica to come out on other formats, today is your lucky day! My Kindle select period ends tomorrow, and as soon as possible I’ll be releasing Bellica through Smashwords (I’m working on the file right now). I’m also working on the proof from Createspace, so if you prefer a paperback version that will be available this month as well.
Posted in General | Tagged: 2012, bellica, Beltane, books, British Isles, eBooks, Imbolc, Maypole, paganism, Samhain, Wheel of the Year, Wicca, writing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Katje on April 28, 2012
Posted in Movie Rants 'n Raves | Tagged: Katje rants, Mirror Mirror, movies, reviews, Sean Bean, what what what WHAT ARE YOU DOING | Leave a Comment »
