It's a big wide world out there... @gvlm - Tumblr Blog

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noorasaertre

Charlotte Brontë — Jane Eyre.

smilecapsules-deactivated202106

open a new window somewhere in the world.

vampireapologist-archive-deacti

so this loads a short video of the view outside a random person’s window somewhere in the world, and somewhere between Taiwan and Italy, I burst into tears. THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF IT ALL…….OH TO BE HUMAN!!!!!

tikkety-tok

My cats trying to fit into this shelf.

catchymemes

blackwoolncrown

I want all nonblack people to watch this video, especially white people.

This is the best video IMO that displays the depth of what it feels like to be Black in the midst of white supremacy.

This is the rage that burns in so many Black people and eats at us when it is not sufficiently soothed by our self restraint and years of learning to cope with and sit with us. This is the pain that shortens Black people’s very lives, that we smother each day. This is the justified yet unjustly ignored anger we have learned to hold and to aim and to deal with without breaking (too much).

This is the fire that those of you who are just showing up on the scene are learning to sit beside.

When you ask us ‘how we’re doing’, understand that this is the real core of it, every single day, and we have had to learn to laugh, to sing, to dance, to work, to grieve, to heal around heavy, heavy pain. I don’t get the feeling that y’all are expecting nor could you handle if we answered you like this. But I do feel like you should already know how we’re doing: we’re Black.

So y’all, sit with this video for a hot minute.

Kimberly Jones, you are a warrior. I feel every moment of this, every diaphragm flex, every tenuously tempered shout. And I hope that you are taking a break, and experiencing a moment of peace, because you deserve it.

isthisrubble

for those who need a transcript, A Martel in the youtube comments wrote it all out. I can’t link to it directly so I’ll copy it here:

“So, I’ve been seeing a lot of things talking, people making commentary, interestingly enough, the ones I’ve noticed have been making the commentary are wealthy black people, making the commentary about we should not be rioting, we should not be rioting, we should not be tearing up our own communities, and then theres been an argument of the other side of we should be hitting them in the pocket, we should be focusing on the blackout days where we don’t spend money. But you know, I feel like we should do both, and I feel like I support both, and I’ll tell you why I support both. I support both because:

When you have a civil unrest like this, there are 3 types of people in the streets, there are the protesters, there are the rioters, and there are the looters. 

 The protesters are there, because they actually care about what is happening in the community, they want to raise their voices, and they are there strictly to protest.  

You have the rioters:  that are angry, who are anarchists, who really just want to fuck shit up, and thats what they’re going to do regardless.

And then you have the looters:  And the looters almost exclusively are just there to do that, to loot.

Now, people are like, “Well what did you gain?” “Well, what did you get from looting?”

I think that as long as we’re focusing on the “What”, we’re not focusing not the “Why”, and thats my issue with that. As long as we’re focusing on “What” they’re doing, we’re not focusing on “Why” they’re doing. And some people are like “Well those aren’t people who are legitimately angry about what’s happening, those are people who just want to get stuff.”

Ok well then, lets go with that.

Lets say that’s what it is.

Lets ask ourselves why, in this country, in 2020, the financial gap between poor Blacks and the rest of the world, is at such a distance, that people feel like their only hope and only opportunity to get some of the things that we flaunt and flash in front of them all the time is to walk to walk through a broken glass window and get it, that they are so hopeless, that getting that necklace, getting that TV, getting that change, getting that bed, getting that phone, whatever it is they’re going to get, is that in that moment when the riot happen and they present an opportunity of looting, thats their only opportunity to get it, we need to be questioning that “Why”.

WHY are people that poor, why are people that broke, why are people that food insecure, that clothing insecure, that they feel like their only shot, that they’re shooting their shot, by walking through that broken glass window to get what they need?  

And then people want to talk about “Well, there are plenty of people who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and got it on their own, why can’t they do that?“  

Let me explain something to you about economics in America. And I’m so glad that as a child I got an opportunity to spend time at PUSH where they taught me this:   Is that we must never forget, that economics was the reason, that Black people were brought to this country. We came to do the agricultural work in the South, and the textile work in the North.

Do you understand that?

Thats what we came to do.   We came to do the agricultural work in the South, and the textile work in the North.

Now if I right now, if I right now decided that I wanted to play Monopoly with you, and for 400 rounds of playing Monopoly, I didn’t allow you to have any money, I didn’t allow you to have anything on the board, I didn’t allow for you to have anything. And then, we played another 50 rounds of Monopoly, and everything that you gained and you earned while you were playing that round of Monopoly was taken from you.

That was Tulsa, that was Rosewood, there are, those are places where we built black economic wealth, we were self sufficient, where we owned our stores, where we owned our property.

And they burned them to the ground.

So thats 450 years, so for 400 rounds of Monopoly, you don’t get to play at all.   Not only do you not get to play, you have to play on behalf of the person you are playing against. You have to play and make money and earn wealth for them and you have to turn it over to them.

So then for 50 years, you finally get a little bit and you’re allowed to play, and every time they don’t like, the way that you’re playing or that you’re catching up, or that you’re doing something to be self sufficient:

They burn your game.

They burn your cards.

They burn your monopoly money.

And then, finally at the release and the onset of that, they allow you to play and they say, “Ok. Now you catch up.”  

Now at this point, the only way you’re gonna catch up in the game is if the other person shares the wealth, correct?    But what if every time you shared the wealth, then there’s physiological warfare against you to say “Oh, you’re an equal opportunity hire.”

So if I play 400 rounds of Monopoly with you, and I had to play and give you every dime that I made, and then for 50 years, every time that I played, I, if you didn’t like what I did you got to burn it, like they did in Tulsa, and like they did in Rosewood:  

How can you win? How can you win???  

You CAN’T win.

The game is fixed.  

So, when they say: “Why do you burn down the community, why do you burn down your own neighborhood?”

ITS NOT OURS. WE DON’T OWN ANYTHING.  

WE DON’T OWN ANYTHING.  

There is….Trevor Noah said it so beautifully last night, “There is a social contract that we all have, that if you steal, or if I steal, then, the person who is the authority comes in, and they fix the situation.

BUT THE PERSON WHO FIXES THE SITUATION IS KILLING US.  

So the social contract is BROKEN.   And if the social contract is broken, why the FUCK do I give a shit, about burning the fucking football hall of fame, about burning a fucking Target?   

You BROKE THE CONTRACT, when you killed us in the streets and DIDN’T GIVE A FUCK.

You BROKE THE CONTRACT, when for 400 years, we PLAYED your game and BUILT your wealth.

You BROKE THE CONTRACT when we built our wealth again, on our own, by our bootstraps in Tulsa, and you dropped BOMBS ON US.

When we built it in Rosewood, and you came in, and you slaughtered us.  

YOU broke the contract, so FUCK your Target, FUCK your Hall of Fame.

…Far as I’m concerned, they can burn this bitch to the ground, and it still, wouldn’t be enough.  

And they are LUCKY, that what Black people are looking for is equality, and not revenge.”

end transcript

cornedbeefhashtags

King David: *plays a regular, non-secret chord*

The Lord:

pinkisbitter

My mattress is strapped to eight roombas and I leave all my doors open at night so the roombas can go where they want to. I wake up where they want me to be. I trust their decisions.

catsbeaversandducks

“This is Lazuli (her sister is named Lapis) and she is so obsessed with sinks that we had to buy one for her to use as a cat bed. When it’s hot she rarely leaves it.”

Photos/text by Madge Rucker

iwillnotremember

*tags my own selfie as #goals*

hypat1a

bookishdiplodocus

How I became a book editor

@daniscreams asked me what steps I took to become a book editor.

Firstly, let me tell you what I do, because there are many different kinds of editors. I used to be an in-house editor at a publishing house, but now I work from home as a freelancer.

I read the manuscript and give feedback on the style, the storytelling, the plot, the pacing…

I rewrite sentences to better-flowing sentences.

I correct spelling and punctuation.

Sometimes I talk directly to the writer, but more often I talk to the in-house editor at the publishing house, who manages all the freelancers and who is the main contact point for writers.

And now, onto your question. I became an editor through studies and through experience.

In my country, there is no specialized degree to become an editor. You study something relevant and you learn editing on the job. I studied literature and linguistics. Creative writing, translation, and cultural or political studies are also popular routes. If you want to become a non-fiction editor, there are other ways. If you study Law, you can become an editor for Law magazines/publishers, etc.

After my first Master’s, I did a specialized Master’s degree in editing at a university abroad, with to the point subjects. Spelling and grammar. Masterclasses fiction and non-fiction, with real manuscripts from real bestselling authors. The technical aspects of bookmaking. Typography. And afterwards, a six-months, fulltime internship at a publisher.

Because this second route is not available for most, I would give you the advice to gain as much experience you can before you begin to work.

Internships help you get to know people in the business and of course, give you experience. I did two unpaid internships as a part of my Bachelor’s degree, and of course the six months during my second Master’s degree.

Alternatively: work part-time for a magazine or publisher. Maybe a summer job is an option? You get to know people, who know people, etc. If the publishing business in your country is anything like it is here, it’s a small world and everybody knows people at other publishing houses.

Maybe you can call the recruiter of a publishing house, explain that you want to work there one day and ask if they require certain courses or degrees?

When I read something, I read it as a reader and as an editor simultaneously. The reader-me will happily say, “I like this young adult novel”. The editor-me will grumble: “Yes, but did you notice the translation? And the pacing is off in chapter 17-20.” Try to sharpen your editorial skills with every book you read. As a teen, I used to take books I liked and analyse the hell out of it. What questions are being raised in this chapter/scene? When are they answered? Why does this part of the story feel tense? Etc. I used to do it consciously, but now I can’t shut editor-me up.

Editor-me also helps writing friends with their manuscripts in my writing club (for free of course).

And, I can’t stress this enough: read, read, read. Read things you like and things outside of your comfort zone. Read top 50 books and absolute trash. Check this post I recently wrote about reading to learn about storytelling.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me if you have more questions. (Sorry for any mistakes. English is not my first language and my head refuses to think in English today.)

Fellow editors on tumblr, how did you get to where you are?