The Writer’s Escape

Memes, writing advice, sometimes analyzing books idk

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Something I don’t see many people talking about is how that scene in the school’s councilor’s office with Miles and his parents like. Fully demonstrates how shallow and infuriating the college admissions process in America is. Like yes you need to start preparing at 15 to even have a shot at top colleges, yes you need to have a ‘story’ as a teenager, yes if you come from a certain background you’re assumed to have struggled. Yes, use your trauma and issues and rebrand it all nice and neat but make sure it doesn’t seem like it actually affected you badly or you’ll be seen as a liability. Package yourself and whittle yourself into nothing but a shiny statue who’s never failed at all in one of the most confusing periods of your life. Market yourself. Sell yourself. You are a product, not a person.

[gogreenordie]

"Market yourself. Sell yourself. You are a product, not a person."

This is so jarring, but it's such a real representation of the college process. My physics teacher tried to give us advice for the college admissions process, but he ended up going into a little rant that I'd like to summarize here:

In the time of Ancient Greece, when the first university-like institution was established, it was the Academy of Athens by Plato. This school was made for education, and attended by people who were learning for the love of learning. The "student culture" there (if you can call it that) was "wait, I can learn about this all the time??" Students would research outside of class for the fun of it. They would come to class assuming everyone had read the literature on their own already, simply because they loved it. The professors taught to educate, and that was the sole purpose of the school. The curriculum at the Academy focused on intellectual inquiry, dialectical discussions, and the pursuit of knowledge.

Now, students are seen as financial assets for colleges, either now (through tuition) or later (through donations). Because of this profit-centered lens, colleges are trying to see how you are going to make them money in the future. They want packaged stories that show you will have a path in life that will give them power. You're a future asset for them, not a person who just wants to learn for the passion of it. So, essentially, capitalism ruined college.

It's disgusting, and awful, and (just for the record), makes me hate the entire college admissions process I'm going through rn.

[gogreenordie]

This Started Out About College Applications but Turned Into A Rant About Top 20 Universities like the Ivies and Classism; I'm Sorry

I have beef with the way college applications are done right now. You're telling me that I have to send you my standardized test scores (for a test that was taken during a global pandemic), PAY for those to be sent to you (even though this is being done online and could be done through email for free), write multiple essays, pay YOU [the university] to send you my application, all for me to either:

a) be rejected and waste money from application/score send fees and time I spent writing essays for you

or

b) be accepted and pay you another 100 grand, which I cannot afford, and which you will not help me with, all for an education that I could get online for free, but which would be useless without a degree since our society puts more merit into the actual paper* and proof of "good education" than the actual education??

*AND THIS INCLUDES HOW PISSED I AM THAT IVY LEAGUE DEGREES OR DEGREES FROM A TOP 10 SCHOOL HELP YOU GET A JOB MORE THAN NON-IVIES. For the record, the whole "omfg an ivy is the best" is rooted in classism. Just because a person went to an ivy league school doesn't mean they are smarter!! Just because a person could afford to pay for that sort of education does not mean they are superior to someone who could not afford it and therefore did not go to that sort of college.

And just so I am not misconstrued on here bc Ik y'all LOVEEEE to do that: I am not saying that Ivy League schools are bad schools. They have incredible programs and leading experts/world-class professors teaching, along with a plethora of resources that other schools do not, which does give an Ivy League student an "edge" in their education that other college students may not have.

BUT I would like to point out how SHITTY IT IS that legacy-students or people who can afford 80, 000 a year tuition are given that edge through an Ivy League education. An education that other students (namely those of a lower socioeconomic class) cannot access because of their class status which just perpetuates poverty cycles. So, yes, Ivy League students may have an "edge," but this is only because they had the family (legacy status) or the money that they can access those resources. An Ivy League education does not mean that one is "smarter" than those who do not have it. They are most likely just richer.

And before you all say "what about financial aid?? what about need-blind admission policies?? people of lower socioeconomic status should access education through that!!"

First of all, did you know that you are LESS LIKELY to be accepted to a university (this includes all the T20 schools, UChicago, NYU, the Ivies, all those) if you indicate that your family requires financial assistance? Need-blind is a joke.

According to a study done by Opportunity Insights, a group of economists at Harvard (yes, they can recognize their place in a system and still perpetuate it), Ivy-Leagues "favor the children of the ultra-wealthy," AND "the study also shows that academically high-performing students from middle-income families are among the least likely to gain admission to one these elite colleges."

About 40% of students from the wealthiest families who scored at the 99th percentile on the SAT or ACT class attend an Ivy-plus college, according to that study. If you score 99th percentile as a student from the poorest families in the United States, that number is cut in HALF at 20%.

"So are you saying that the wealthy student shouldn't be given admission?? Their scores are in the 99th percentile???" Not what I am saying. I'm pointing out that students from the poorest families are less likely to gain admission simply because they are poor. You want to know what I'm saying?? Colleges should also be admitting those students who scored high who are from the working class. I'm saying colleges should not let wealth dictate admission.

Combine that with the recent court-case where top 20 colleges ADMITTED that they were trying to pay the least bit possible for students of lower socioeconomic class?? The court-case where colleges settled, bc it was revealed that top 20s are less likely to admit students who required financial aid?? Where at least 17 UNIVERSITIES used a shared methodology to find financial need in a way that "reduces institutional dollars to students from working- and middle-class families." (my emphasis). Where at least 17 universities "consider students’ ability to pay and favor the wealthy."

No wonder these schools are chock full of classism. These schools are more concerned with making a profit then the worldview of their students, and the kids they are admitting are in a rich kid bubble. You want to talk about why the United States--whose government are mostly made out of people who went to Top 20 schools-- is so awful to its lower classes and homeless population? This is why. The people who are eventually going to be leaders in government and business have NO IDEA what it is like to be a person in that situation, and they have never interacted with a person in that situation.

We have to change the system. Let me repeat this for you guys: WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM.

And one final thing: This is not attacking anyone who went to an Ivy League!! You went to Yale, congratulations. I am simply pointing out stuff, ok? nobody is blaming you for a broken institution.

You guys can disagree w/ me, and you can even put it in comments here, I welcome discussion, and I actually WANT this post to start discussion, but pls don't call me like a dumb bitch or wtv in the comments.

I cannot reiterate this enough, pls do not doxx me or bully me or wtv. I am literally just a girl. With college admission season and everything, I will have a breakdown if somebody even calls me a mean name.

Citations for quotes:

University of Chicago agrees to $13.5M settlement in financial aid case - The Washington Post

Ivy colleges favor rich kids for admission, while middle-class students face obstacles, study finds - CBS News

[milogirtheim]

[teapot-studies]

Random writing tips that my history professor just told during class that are actually helpful

Download all your sources or print them so you can turn off your wifi

Give your phone to someone

Just. WRITE. Writing is analysing, you’ll get more ideas as you write. It doesn’t need to be perfect, for now you can just blurt out words and ideas randomly. You can fix it later.

Create a skeleton/structure before writing.

Stop before you get exhausted. It’s best to stop writing when you still have some energy and inspiration left, this will also motivate you to get started again next time.

Make a to do list

Work in bite sizes. Even if it’s not much, as long as you put some ideas on paper or do some editing.

Simple language =/= boring language, simple language = clear language.

Own your words. If they are not your words, state this clearly in the text, not just in the footnotes.

STOP BEFORE YOU GET EXHAUSTED. Listing it again because it’s easily one of the best tips a teacher has ever given me.

[william-shakespeare-official]

Here's THE masterpost of free and full adaptations, by which I mean that it's a post made by the master.

Anthony and Cleopatra: here's the BBC version, here's a 2017 version.

As you like it: you'll find here an outdoor stage adaptation and here the BBC version. Here's Kenneth Brannagh's 2006 one.

Coriolanus: Here's a college play, here's the 1984 telefilm, here's the 2014 one with tom hiddleston. Here's the Ralph Fiennes 2011 one.

Cymbelline: Here's the 2014 one.

Hamlet: the 1948 Laurence Olivier one is here. The 1964 russian version is here and the 1964 american version is here. The 1964 Broadway production is here, the 1969 Williamson-Parfitt-Hopkins one is there, and the 1980 version is here. Here are part 1 and 2 of the 1990 BBC adaptation, the Kenneth Branagh 1996 Hamlet is here, the 2000 Ethan Hawke one is here. 2009 Tennant's here. And have the 2018 Almeida version here. On a sidenote, here's A Midwinter's Tale, about a man trying to make Hamlet.

Henry IV: part 1 and part 2 of the BBC 1989 version. And here's part 1 of a corwall school version.

Henry V: Laurence Olivier (who would have guessed) 1944 version. The 1989 Branagh version here. The BBC version is here.

Julius Caesar: here's the 1979 BBC adaptation, here the 1970 John Gielgud one. A theater Live from the late 2010's here.

King Lear: Laurence Olivier once again plays in here. And Gregory Kozintsev, who was I think in charge of the russian hamlet, has a king lear here. The 1975 BBC version is here. The Royal Shakespeare Compagny's 2008 version is here. The 1974 version with James Earl Jones is here. The 1953 Orson Wells one is here.

Macbeth: Here's the 1948 one, there the 1955 Joe McBeth. Here's the 1961 one with Sean Connery, and the 1966 BBC version is here. The 1969 radio one with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench is here, here's the 1971 by Roman Polanski, with spanish subtitles. The 1988 BBC one with portugese subtitles, and here the 2001 one). Here's Scotland, PA, the 2001 modern retelling. Rave Macbeth for anyone interested is here. And 2017 brings you this.

Measure for Measure: BBC version here. Hugo Weaving here.

The Merchant of Venice: here's a stage version, here's the 1980 movie, here the 1973 Lawrence Olivier movie, here's the 2004 movie with Al Pacino. The 2001 movie is here.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: the Royal Shakespeare Compagny gives you this movie.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: have this sponsored by the City of Columbia, and here the BBC version. Have the 1986 Duncan-Jennings version here. 2019 Live Theater version? Have it here!

Much Ado About Nothing: Here is the kenneth branagh version and here the Tennant and Tate 2011 version. Here's the 1984 version.

Othello: A Massachussets Performance here, the 2001 movie her is the Orson Wells movie with portuguese subtitles theree, and a fifteen minutes long lego adaptation here. THen if you want more good ole reliable you've got the BBC version here and there.

Richard II: here is the BBC version. If you want a more meta approach, here's the commentary for the Tennant version. 1997 one here.

Richard III: here's the 1955 one with Laurence Olivier. The 1995 one with Ian McKellen is no longer available at the previous link but I found it HERE.

Romeo and Juliet: here's the 1988 BBC version. Here's a stage production. 1954 brings you this. The french musical with english subtitles is here!

The Taming of the Shrew: the 1980 BBC version here and the 1988 one is here, sorry for the prior confusion. The 1929 version here, some Ontario stuff here, and here is the 1967 one with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. This one is the Shakespeare Retold modern retelling.

The Tempest: the 1979 one is here, the 2010 is here. Here is the 1988 one. Theater Live did a show of it in the late 2010's too.

Timon of Athens: here is the 1981 movie with Jonathan Pryce,

Troilus and Cressida can be found here

Titus Andronicus: the 1999 movie with Anthony Hopkins here

Twelfth night: here for the BBC, here for the 1970 version with Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright and Ralph Richardson.

Two Gentlemen of Verona: have the 2018 one here. The BBC version is here.

The Winter's Tale: the BBC version is here

Please do contribute if you find more. This is far from exhaustive.

(also look up the original post from time to time for more plays)

[charliejaneanders]

Every single craft has been paying “The Passion Tax” for generations. This term (coined by author and organizational psychologist Adam Grant) — and backed by scientific research — simply states that the more someone is passionate about their work, the more acceptable it is to take advantage of them. In short, loving what we do makes us easy to exploit.

Guest Column: If Writers Lose the Standoff With Studios, It Hurts All Filmmakers

[galvanizedfriend]

The US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI

US Copyright Office wants to hear what people think about AI and copyright

People have until October 18th to comment.

American friends! The US Copyright Office (which we know exerts huuuge influence in how these things are treated elsewhere) wants to hear opinions on copyright and AI.

"The US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI and copyright issues beginning August 30th as the agency figures out how to approach the subject."

We can assume that the opposing side will definitely be using all of their lobbying power towards widespread AI use, so this is a very good chance to let them know your thoughts on AI and how art and creative content of all kinds should be protected.

[aye-write]