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Latest Posts by isang--mag-aaral - Page 3

isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

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isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

Getting Started with Graphic Design

I started getting into graphic design because I wanted to present my blog posts in a more visually appealing way and provide more content such as wallpapers and printables. Since then, I’ve been able to enhance my design skills by designing for different events as well as working as a designer for campus organizations.

So, I wanted to share a few tips on how you can get started designing things on your own. Here are some of the things I did when I was starting out. Hope they help!

Read on for text format + additional information.

Keep reading

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isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

yemen and how to help

help save yemen linktree

two links with more links and resources to help yemen, including what to read to know more, where to donate, petitions to sign, etc.

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isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

In the wake of JK once more being a total jk, here’s a (non-exhaustive) thread of works by Black trans writers.

Don’t Call Us Dead - Danez Smith, poetry about Black masculinity, police brutality, gender and queerness. Probably the best book of poetry I’ve ever read. Smith has several collections available and you should read them all.

The Deep - Rivers Solomon, a speculative fiction novella about the descendants of murdered slave women. Themes of trauma and memory. Really beautiful writing. Their sci-fi novel An Unkindness of Ghosts is equally unmissable.

Redefining Realness - Janet Mock, the memoir of Mock’s childhood and adolescence as a trans woman before she transitioned. Mock’s second memoir, Surpassing Certainty, focuses on her life in her twenties.

Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender, a YA novel about a teenage trans boy (at the start of the book), Felix, as he further questions his identity, tries to find love, and works on his artistic future. Everything that makes YA novels great.

Reacquainted with Life - KOKUMO, a debut about Black trans womanhood and the power of her voice and body. This work is so hard to describe. Ferocious? Lively? Witty? Completely different to literally any poetry I’ve ever read? All of the above and more.

Mannish Tongues - jay dodd, a poetry collection about Black youth, queerness, religion, family, and gender. I hate how pretentious the word ‘visceral’ is, but it’s pretty accurate here. dodd’s collection The Black Condition ft. Narcissus is also phenomenal.

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi, a YA novel about a Black trans teenage girl and having to confront the existence of monsters. Emezi also has an acclaimed adult novel out, Freshwater, and I believe their new adult novel, The Death of Vivek Oji, is out in August 2020.

trigger - Venus Selenite, poetry about being Black, trans, queer, and unapologetic. This one is hard to get hold of, but worth it if you can. Selenite also co-edited and is featured in Nameless Woman, an anthology of writing by trans women of colour.

Surge - Jay Bernard, a poetry collection written in response to the 1981 fire at New Cross Road, as well as Grenfell Tower and the Windrush Scandal. Bernard is one of those poets who can use 10 words to say more than most of us can in 1,000.

Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color - ed. Venus Selenite, Ellyn Peña and Jamie Berrout, this one includes several stories by Black trans women and is, as a body of work, completely invaluable. The stories here range from semi-autobiographical and romance to sci-fi and speculative fiction.

Resilience - ed. Amy Heart, Larissa Glasser and Sugi Pyrrophyta, an anthology of writing by ©AMAB trans people. Again, this anthology is not specifically dedicated to Black trans people, but it includes work by KOKUMO and CHRYSALISAMIDST, amongst others. This book is super varied, with short stories, poetry and personal essays.

Consider ordering these, where possible, from independent Black owned bookstores.

You can also financially support Black trans people through donating to organisations such as this and these.

Important addendum: I tried incredibly hard to find published works by Black trans women, because trans women are the focus of JK Rowling’s tweets and indeed an overwhelming amount of violence and bigotry in general, but I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that Black trans women are enormously discriminated against by the publishing industry, and are routinely denied a platform for their work and their voices. Literally, when you Google ‘black trans woman author’, you just get Janet Mock’s author page. I think all of the books by Black trans women in the list above, with the exception of Janet Mock, are self/indie pub.

I have trawled through online indie and radical publishing magazines, message boards, and nearly 100 lists of ‘trans authors you must read now!’ and I would charitably say that about 1% of people featured in such lists are Black trans women. Obviously, Black trans women are writing, but the lack of available platform for their work is a huge barrier to their voices being heard. If anyone else has recommendations for work by Black trans women, whether it’s a physical book, an online chapbook, an Insta account of poetry, or anything else, please add it, because there must be so much more than I’ve managed to find.

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isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

Quick Tips For Learning Languages On Your Own

Quick Tips for Learning Languages on Your Own

Here are some mindsets and techniques that helped me study Italian on my own after classes ended. Hope this helps :)

Also, I’m trying out a new format for shorter posts–let me know what you think!

Text format below.

Keep reading

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isang--mag-aaral

4 years ago

Energy Management

A human-based organization method

click on images for better resolution; images also available here (link to google drive)

Korean Mythology [pt. 1]

안녕하세요! This post was requested by lunax02, who suggested that I talk about Korean Mythological Creatures as a way to incorporate more Korean culture into my blog! This ask is brilliant and I appreciate all requests made to me (especially if you guys are super interested in it)! In order to tell you about Mythological Creatures in Korea, you first need to know where they come from! This is crucial for understanding their history and why they are an important part of Korean culture!

This is also very exciting to me as this post (and future Korean Mythology posts) will be a collab with my friend / mutual, @patrooocle! Dare I say, the queen of giving us Korean culture blogs. She has been so kind as to share her notes and help me through this process, so if you don’t follow her already please please do!

patrooocle’s blog // patrooocle’s twitter // patrooocle’s IG

WARNING: This post will be very long!

*for this post, I will be using some Hanja ( 한자 // 漢字 ), anything written by me is open to criticism as I am still learning how to make it more natural and the correct stroke order and would love all the help I can get

I am using Hanja as a way to incorporate a deeper understanding of the Korean characters and their origins! It is a way to break down the literal meaning of the Korean words so we can have a better understanding of their history!

Keep reading

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

If you look at the world and say “Yes, there are enough homes for people, yes, there is enough food for people, but if we give it away for free they won’t have earned it and the economy will collapse.” Then you have chosen money (a constructed medium of exchange) over living beings who only want to continue living in peace and safety.

And I have no qualms telling you, that is the wrong choice, and you have been brainwashed by this destructive, exploitative system.

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

I Thought There Might Be A Lot Of Other People Who Would Benefit From Reading This, Too.

I thought there might be a lot of other people who would benefit from reading this, too.

(Original tweet.)

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

Quarantine tips for students

🎒 Treat it like you’re actually going to classes.

Take a shower. Get dressed. Don’t just roll out of bed into Zoom. It’ll put you in the correct mindset to get some work done.

☀️ Use this time as a chance to operate based on your natural energy cycles.

Work when you’re most productive. Rest when you aren’t. (Unless you have non-recorded, scheduled classes/meetings.)

⏰ Create a routine.

You’ll get used to doing the things you do and you won’t need as much motivation to get them done each time.

🎯 Set daily goals

You’ll have an idea of where you’re headed and how much you have to do for the day.

🏡 Establish boundaries by creating a separate space for doing work.

Keep coming to this space when you have to do work and don’t allow any distractions there - this will train your brain to focus.

☎️ Stay in touch with people.

Avoid feeling isolated by calling your friends, spending time with your family, roommates, etc. Social support can help reduce stress.

🎨 Keep your spirits up by spending time on your hobbies, exercising, doing something creative etc.

Coloring, doing yoga, and playing music/singing/listening to music have been shown to improve mental health.

📚 Exercise your brain

by learning a new skill you’ve always wanted to learn, reading a book on your TBR, listening to podcasts, etc.

🌿 Spend some time every day in nature,

whether it’s going out into your backyard or balcony or just opening a window.

😷 Take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating properly, etc.

This will make you better equipped to fight diseases, and you’ll feel better in general.

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

students as months of the year

january: fresh journals, black and white notes, bullet journals filled with motivational quotes, cold brew coffee, loves writing letters, finishes everything on time, a daydreamer, seems laid back but really they’re stressed about everything

february: doodles in the margins of notes, the person who lends you their pens, sloppy handwriting, loves motivational speeches and classical music, finishes easy assignments early but writes their essay the night before its due,

march: straight A’s, study playlists, the teachers favorite, color coded notes, everyone thinks they’re naturally smart (but really they’re spending every night studying), forgets to eat sometimes, hasn’t slept for what feels like years

april: open windows, listening to the rain and thunder, tea pots full of earl grey, a functionally messy desk, fairy lights, always losing their pens, a huge nerd, afraid to raise their hand in class in case their answer is wrong

may: cramming for tests, lives in the library, highlighters and sticky notes everywhere, drinks espresso, would definitely consider bringing their coffee pot to school, messy desk, if an assignment is due at 9:00 they’ll submit it at 8:59

june: late nights, smoothies for breakfast, hanging out with friends, takes notes on their laptop, minimalist, organized, says they’re studying but they’re actually on studyblr, tries to study everything at once and gets distracted

july: staying up late to read, learning new languages, focuses on the learning and not the grade, watches documentaries for fun, loves the classics, owns a thousand pens, takes studyspo pictures, hundreds of unread emails,

august: stationery shopping, getting ahead in class, iced drinks, spending weekends with friends, takes very little notes but does well in class anyways, a relaxed personality, healthy snacks, the master of self care

september: a morning person, new pens and folders, a perfectionist, audio records classes and re-writes notes, over works themselves, loves the smell of new books, competitive, “i’m gonna fail!” but ends up getting A’s and B’s

october: chai lattes in travel mugs, will study for three days straight and then not study for a week, snacking in class, uses washi tape and stickers, sleeps for eight hours but is tired anyways, terrible at accepting compliments

november: gratitude journals, mental health days, the baristas at their local cafe know their name because they’re always studying there, study groups, loves to travel but never travels, cinnamon in their drinks, trouble sleeping, sweet smiles

december: hot chocolate, wrapped in a fluffy blanket, says they don’t care about grades but panics when they get less than a B, to-do lists, tutors their friends, watches movies in their free time, vanilla candles

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

executive dysfunction is telling yourself for two and a half hours that you need to shower bc you smell like your workplace and you absolutely Cannot do Anything Else until you shower, doing Any Other Thing before showering is illegal!!! but you still haven’t for some reason??? you’ve just been sitting on your bed in a towel scrolling tumblr for 2+ hours thinking “I need to shower right now immediately” and growing increasingly frustrated that you are still not clean and you haven’t eaten or done your laundry either

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

What are your top tips for dealing with a bad grade or failing a class? :-)

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

some things i read in january:

although it’s not quite the end of january here is most of what i read this month. various essays, interviews, works of fiction, poetry etc.

In the Storm of Roses: Selected Poems, Ingeborg Bachmann

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli’s Field

The Seeker & Other Poems, Nelly Sachs

Our Men Do Not Belong To Us, Warsan Shire

On Evil & Suffering in Modern Poetry, Anne Carson

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Bringing Together, Maxine Kumin

You But for the Body Fell Against, Nathalie Stephens

Conversation/s with Toni Morrison

War on a Lunchbreak, Ana Božičević

The Grownup, Gillian Flynn

Wade in the Water, Tracy K. Smith

I Watched You Disappear, Anya Krugovoy Silver

Veils, Hélène Cixous

An Interview with Audre Lorde (Adrienne Rich)

An Interview with Toni Morrison

The Passion According to G.H., Clarice Lispector

I Can’t Get That Monster Out of My Head, Joan Didion

Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde

Milk and Filth, Carmen Giménez Smith

Sharks in the Rivers & The Carrying, Ada Limón

The Moon is Always Female, Marge Piercy

Silver Water, Amy Bloom

Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart, Alice Walker

The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector

The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

truly an old-book-enthusiast haven.

i remember going to this mall once, then having severe anxiety and guilt for not using that time on studying or requirements instead. thankfully, i saw this shop, and although it did not fully relieve me of my guilt— it made me feel like i would also regret it if i wasn’t with my family to see this.

give yourself a break sometimes! ✨

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

In my drafts, I literally have three (3) unfinished posts that chronicles my Getting Into College journey. It captures who I am as a person lol

small studyblrs reblog!

if you’re a small studyblr (<100 followers) and active, reblog this post! i want to queue original content from my fellow small studyblrs

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

“A thought occurred to me today – so obvious, so always obvious! It was absurd to suddenly comprehend it for the first time – I felt rather giddy, a little hysterical: – There is nothing, nothing that stops me from doing anything except myself… What is to prevent me from just picking up and taking off?”

— Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person.

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect.

Hello! I'm Sorry If This Has Been Asked Before, But How Do You Become Proficient At Handling Conversations

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization.

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head.

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice.

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too.

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think.

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby.

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it.

…But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency.

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits.

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you.

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn.

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past.

As for increasing writing fluency…well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation.

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write.

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese.

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting.

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

“If you were alone, feeling could overtake you and stick to you like a shadow.”

— Beloved, Toni Morrison

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

This is the rare money moomin . Reblog and money will come your way !

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

ODE TO LIFE (1) / (2) / (3) Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things / (4) / (5) Keith Haring, Journals / (6) / (7) / (8) / (9) / (10) /

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

The First Semester is finally Done and I've checked out of my dorm! My semester finished earlier than others, and it was fun to just lounge around my room until it was the time to go home.

Today, I offer you pictures of Iska sleeping at our common area. Tomorrow? Who knows?

15 steps on making a sweet sweet powerpoint presentation*

*for class presentations and seminars, like at conferences or meetings. Lecture notes for teaching are different, though some of these may still apply:

Tell a story. A story always has 3 parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Create a compelling narrative so the audience feels invested in knowing what’s next.

Know your audience, and adjust accordingly. Presenting to people with our same background (like students in our program) will differ from presenting to a broader audience like the general public, who may not care (or understand) nitty gritty detail.

Use large readable font. Especially on graphs and figures, and..

Limit text. A busy intimidating slide = a distracted/zoned out audience

Refrain from using pastel colors with a white background, or dark colors with a dark background. Projectors =/= your computer screen, and these colors may not have the same contrast during a presentation.

Also related, be considerate of the color-blind/visually impaired. Make figures accessible to them by not just relying on color but also patterns, shading, symbols, etc.

Show only what’s necessary. Try not to overwhelm an audience who’s seeing all this for the first time. Always remember: presentations are not data dumps; they’re stories. Simplify figures by remaking them if possible, or block out unimportant areas.

And walk the audience through complicated slides. We should never assume everyone in the audience knows exactly what we’re talking about. Use animations to show only one point or figure at a time if necessary.

Speaking of figures, use high-quality ones! None of the deep fried-jpegs please.

Also refrain from putting things that have no meaning. Examples include gratuitous eye candy (which are only acceptable in title and closing slides) or points that won’t be talked about. They’re just distracting.

Show interest when speaking. If the speaker sounds bored talking about their work, then I assume it’s boring and not worth my attention.

Refrain from going wild with that laser pointer. It’s there to bring attention to certain key points, not to continuously circle around the entire slide like we’re playing with cats. (If your hand holding the pointer is shaking, it helps to grab your wrist with your other free hand, or rest that arm on something (like the podium) to “root” it.)

Refrain from going wild with the animations/transitions also. Super cool in 4th grade; slightly nauseating at a national meeting. A simple “appear” animation will do just fine.

Rehearse rehearse rehearse. Being well-prepared can combat stage-fright, as it takes away the anxiety of “not knowing what to do next” or “mental freezes”. You may also find yourself editing a few things as you rehearse, because something that seemed ok while making the ppt may not flow so well when you actually get to talking about it. Also, pay attention to the usage of filler words (like “um”, “sorta”), and body language: are you leaning on the podium too much? pacing a lot? looking at the screen and not the audience?

Adopt a “power pose” to instantly feel more confident and relaxed. Stand up straight, chest out, shoulders back, uncross those arms, and smile. Hold yourself up like royalty, baby! Here’s a TedTalk on power poses.

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

art by blindthesun.

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isang--mag-aaral

5 years ago

the sun/the moon headers.

bonus: stars.

no one of these pics/arts are mine. credits to all owners.

(vou ficar devendo os significados. como eu já expliquei, estou sem computador, então pra não demorar mais no pedido, resolvi postar assim e depois fazer outras com os significados. espero que entendam.)

like if you save.

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