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On the topic of panels...
Would there be interest in a panel based on my Psychology of Fruits Basket series? Aimed at learning how to identify mental illness characteristics and how to helpfully interact with friends or family who may struggle with them? (I'd minimize the manga spoilers of course.) Let me know in the replies!
June 2019 Update
Yes, I’m a few days late. The end of June completely snuck up on me!
All and all, June was a good month! @lindowyn , @dancingemlin , and I had a great time presenting our panel (Child Soldiers Then and Now) at AnimeNEXT. We look forward to applying for Katsucon 2020 to present the panel again.
June was light for new essays from me. I spent a lot of time working on The Psychology of Attack on Titan: Erwin and I’m largely happy with how it came out. I’ve also returned to being far more active on Tumblr which has always been my primary platform for writing, especially related to that specific anime. I answer a lot of questions posed to me by the fandom there. The down side, though, is that it’s more difficult to post that content elsewhere! I think I may do a monthly wrap up document of my most popular questions each month.
I spent a lot of time during June brainstorming ideas for the future of my content creation. I’ve mentioned it in passing before, but I am really using this creative space to help hammer down exactly what I want to do for my Ph.D. Obtaining my Ph.D is bucket list goal of mine, so I’m not necessarily in rush, but I do want to make sure I am working towards a really solid research proposal that will contribute to society and culture as a whole.
So my “Psychology of” series has been well received and I really enjoy using pop culture as examples of psychological concepts. I feel it can help people connect to what these concepts may actually look and feel like. I also have backgrounds in other topics and skill too that I would really like to utilize, though.
I am also devising a second type of content creation in addition to the essay writing. I’m going to keep it a secret for now because it will be a lot of work. My goal is to have it ready to debut in August for Lughnasadh. As a result, my Patreon rewards will also be changing accordingly.
Thank you so much for your continued support! This return to writing has been so incredibly helpful and fulfilling for me!
It took me many years, but I finally hit my 1st thousand followers! Thank you everyone for following me! I hope to continue delivering interesting content for you all to enjoy!
Become Teetan’s Patron!
If you enjoy reading my meta analyses, characters analyses, and my crazy thoughts and opinions, please consider becoming a patron! For just $1, $5, or $10 a month you can help support my writing and research. The more people who support me, the more I am able to do! My first goal is to get 10 patrons. If I hit that goal, then I will start recording my posts as mini-podcasts that you can listen to on the go!
Check out my Patreon page for more information!
What is Patreon?
“Patreon is a way to join your favorite creator's community and pay them for making the stuff you love. Instead of literally throwing money at your screen (trust us, that doesn’t work), you can now pay a few bucks per month or per post that a creator makes. For example, if you pay $2 per video, and the creator releases 3 videos in February, then your card gets charged a total of $6 that month. This means the creator gets paid regularly (every time she releases something new), and you become a bonafide, real-life patron of the arts. That’s right--Imagine you, in a long frilly white wig, painted on a 10-foot canvas on the wall of a Victorian mansion. And imagine your favorite creators making a living doing what they do best… because of you. “
Teetan Things: April Update
Wow, what a month! It seems like it’s stretched on for ages. My life has gone through a lot of a big changes this month, and all for the better.
Hello to all my new followers! Most have you joined as a result of my “Psychology of Fruits Basket” series. I’m so glad you enjoy them and I hope you stick around for my other works too.
I got a new job! Still at the same company, but I’m now a Data Analyst! I teared up when I was offered the position. This is the career move I’ve been working towards for a couple years now. And it is far FAR less stressful than the previous department I was working in. While I don’t regret my previous work at all because I learned so much, I’m so incredibly happy to have achieved this goal!
This month’s MCU Revisited post will be late. I didn’t realize it was the last weekend of the month already! I will work on getting it up in the next few days. This month I’m reviewing Ironman 2.
SECOND HALF OF THE NEW ATTACK ON TITAN STARTS TOMORROW! I will be reposting some of older Attack on Titan meta that’s more psychology focused. I am working on adding more content to my Patreon and personal blog site and I’m really proud of some of those older posts. I DO have some ideas for manga meta. (Omg, I KNOW right? It’s been ages!) It all comes down to time right now. But believe me, I am DEFINITELY working on making more time for writing.
Stay tuned! ;)
My Yearly Check-In
Hello tumblr! Time for my yearly check-in where I peek in and give some updates as to what has been going on in my life!
Last year ended up being extremely busy with work. Somehow by the grace of the gods I was able to get a week off to go to South Korea with @lindowyn and @dancingemlin to visit @lullys-diary during her study abroad. It was absolutely MAGNIFICENT and a memory I will treasure always.
The biggest news in 2019 so far is that I’ve applied for my PhD! I’m really hoping that goes well. The ladies and I also presented a panel at AniMore here in Baltimore and are looking to start presenting the panel at more conventions this year. I’ll try to update here if we get accepted in case anyone wants to see it!
As part of preparing for my PhD, I have begun a renewed attempted at blogging! I’ve launched a separate website where I’ll be mostly concentrating on posting there (though I will be cross-posting here too). As I made mention last year, I’ll be writing on more than just Attack on Titan. I do hope that you’ll continue with me as I explore other pop-culture topics!
I’ve also opened a Patreon to help raise money for school. If you would like to help support me, become a 5 meter patron here. ;)
I’ve also created a Facebook and a Twitter that I’ll update with new posts and interesting news stories.
So, here’s to new a year with new possibilities!
What is this "pop culture psychology" actually about?
Originally posted on The Would-Be-Doctor Teetan Jaeger.
You may be asking yourself: “So what is different about this blog? How is it any different than every other person spewing their opinions on the internet?”
And that’s a legit question! You can go to any number of blogs or culture websites and find people’s opinions, theories, expressed beliefs, or anything else all over the place. None of those people are necessarily wrong in what they have to say. That’s what I find really beautiful about pop culture fandom: it engages our minds and souls. It can impact our worldviews and beliefs, help to shape who we may become. It can also just be a fun escape for a short while. A “what if” experiment that breaks us away from the doldrums of our normal day to day lives.
But that still begs the question: How is my blog different?
The answer is that my content is written using discursive analysis.
That’s a fancy phrase, but what does it mean?
Discourse (as a noun) of course is:
1: verbal interchange of ideas especially : CONVERSATION
2 a: formal and orderly and usually extended expression of thought on a subject
b: connected speech or writing
c: a linguistic unit (such as a conversation or a story) larger than a sentence
3: a mode of organizing knowledge, ideas, or experience that is rooted in language and its concrete contexts (such as history or institutions) critical discourse
So, discursive (or discourse) analysis is a systematic way of looking at those interchanges of ideas.
My style of analysis comes out of the field of critical social psychology. I could go in a lot of potentially boring detail about this (feel free to leave a comment if you would like me to in the future!) but core idea of the field is that the hallmarks of the scientific method used in other scientific fields (biology, chemistry, etc.) just doesn’t work for researching how people interact.
Context is vitally important to understanding social interactions. Sterile environments (which the scientific method calls for) cause unrealistic interactions.
For example: If you see a close friend of yours that you have not seen in a long time, the way you react to them may be different depending where you are. If you are in a familiar location, you may be loud and boisterous about greeting them. If you are in a public location like a subway you may not be so boisterous. If you are in a laboratory, you may be self conscious about the fact that someone is watching you and you may not act as you normally would.
I write my content with context in mind. I look for patterns in written text or spoken dialogue that might indicate something specific. I look at the language used to determine its function. Words are chosen for specific reasons, to accomplish specific tasks, to convey certain ideas. I ask “what is this language trying to accomplish here?”.
Books, movies, TV shows, and video games are all written with very specific goals in mind. Even if it it just to provide entertainment without deeper meaning, all of the words in those mediums are specially curated. There is a lot we can learn from that.
I am possibly the most quintessential Gryffindor you will ever meet, in case you were wondering.
The thing I love about entertainment is how it is a part of our culture. It both reflects our current culture as well as impacts our culture. Look at Harry Potter for example. We can now self-define by which house we think we would be sorted into.
One of my passions in research is looking at our pop culture icons and asking what are they reflecting as well as how are they impacting our day to day lives. I will dig into that topic in my next post, so be sure to stick around.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to get notified on new posts!
Katsucon 2019 Round-up!
It only took me 2 days to recover (man, I'm getting old!) but we had a great time this year wandering around the National Harbor in DC for this year's Katsucon.
Our cosplay themes this year included Fem!Disney Princes / Kingdom Hearts (we had the cutest Heartless in the world, look at her) and video game characters. I just barely got Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn together in time. By in time, I mean 3am the morning of. I did not get any pictures of her though because I was unhappy with the wig being too small. But I learned a lot this season about customizing store bought patterns so I plan on making another Aloy costume in the future.
This year the crew FINALLY got to do the Lord of the Rings cosplay we've been talking about doing for YEARS and quite honestly I think it was a runaway success. We had SO much fun and everyone looked so good. By the way, if you want pictures of your cosplay but have no idea who to hire, I really recommend Katsucon's Photo Suite. They usually have it at the back of the Artist Alley. They're really great photographers and apparently the best time to go is first thing on Friday morning. We got the entire photoshoot package and had a blast.
The Artist Alley was AMAZING this year by the way! The artists who had tables were all so super talented and there was so much merchandise to buy! We tend to spend the most amount of time in the Artist Alley at any convention, but unfortunately I only have so much room for art prints on my walls. This year almost all of the artists were also selling printed t-shirts, clothing made from custom designed fabrics, enamel pins, acrylic standees and keychains, etc. It was SO MUCH FUN to go shopping! I went way over my spending budget but I was so happy to do so.
I am so incredibly excited to hang a print of Merida from @artofelaineho in my house! Seriously, go follow her, love her. She's writing her own interpretation of Beauty and the Beast and I just love her progress so far!
We also had the additional delight of visiting Yaya Han's booth and talking with her husband for a short while. Yaya Han is someone whom I respect and look up to a great deal as a brilliant business woman. She's worked incredibly hard to build up her brand and is the reason that there are so many more resources for cosplayers in Joann fabrics now. (Seriously, her patterns actually have DIFFERENT CUP SIZES for busty women which is so helpful!). The group bought some Worbla and we're really looking forward to playing with it for Otakon this year.
I will say, though, that I was really disappointed with the panel offerings this year. Usually Katsucon offers a great selection of interesting panels but it felt like either I had already seen the interesting panels in past years or they were all 101 level. For example, there was actually a panel on "Shipping How-To's". WHAT?! It was sad. I didn't end up going to any and I did not hear great reviews about the other panels my friends attended.
However, I DID get Trina Nishamura's signature to add to my Attack on Titan signature collection! Some how I'm missing Josh Grelle's signature though, I'm not sure how that happened...
Overall it was a great time this year! We got to see some friends (including @momtaku who called me out for saying I'm going to post regularly again for 3 years now but haven't been. You're right! I'm working on it!).
Our plans for the rest of the year are a little dependent on if our panel submissions are accepted and if @lindowyn gets into Artist Alleys (go love her too, she's the best!) but our current thoughts include:
AnimeNEXT: June 7-9, 2019
Otakon: July 26-28, 2019 (We'll DEFINITELY be here!)
AnimeUSA: November 1-3, 2019
I hope to see people there!
