SOLIDARITY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST A WORD

In 2008, Tim Rogers posted a commentary on why the word "metroplex" needs to die. More recently, there's been debate on Twitter ("dork fight") between Tim and Texas Monthly editor Jake Silverstein about the m-word. With respect to Silverstein and his wonderful publication (call me), I agree with Tim. It's an awkward and unnecessary word. Worst of all, it sounds dated. I imagine Charles Eames using it for one of his corporate promotional videos: "Come to where the fun is. Come to the... METROPLEX!"

As a sign of solidarity, I've gone through my blog -- and I've assassinated the word wherever it appears. Out of 1,210 posts, I only used the word twice. Ironically, I've used the word twice in this very post. Maybe I didn't assassinate the word; I relocated it. I quarantined the word. Here. Where I can keep a close watch over it.

For most citizens of the greater Dallas Forth Worth area, it's a goofy discussion. However, as a person who owns the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook, as a person who downloaded a dictionary flashcard app for fun, I care about words. I like how certain words sound. I have favorite words. I view adverbs with suspicious glances and believe transitive verbs kick ass. I'd probably blog more if I didn't waste so much time trying to eliminate unnecessary instances of the word "that". I still don't like using "blog" as a verb. And I refuse to acknowledge "vlog" even exists. "Tweet" is growing on me. But the m-word needs to go.

BECAUSE WIRED SAID SO

I finally bought an eReader. Not the Kindle or Nook, I went with Kobo. Why? In the January 2012 issue of WIRED (p.45), Tim Carmody rated the Kobo Touch as best among the digital ink tablets. The dude knows his stuff. I agree with his assessment that the world is big enough for both eReaders and full-fledged tablets. If I want a larger screen for Angry Birds, then I'll buy an iPad. What I want from Kobo is a handy device to ease the burden on my strained book shelves. I love paper too, but not everything needs to be bound printed material. Kobo is intuitive with a highly responsive touch screen. With other eReaders I looked at, there was always a moment when I got lost in the navigation. Whereas with Kobo, I didn't have this problem. I like that the Kobo syncs with other devices (computer, smart phone, etc). So, if for some reason I'm away from my eReader, I can still access my books. I also think the "Reading Life" program is cool. I can earn badges for reading. Shut up. It's cool.

The only drawback? The "over 2.5 million books, newspapers and magazines" is a bit misleading. It's more like "over 2.499999 million books plus 20 newspapers and 12 magazines." I'd love to read the New Yorker or Atlantic (and D!) on Kobo. Hopefully, they'll be onboard eventually. The New York Times is available, but I just can't justify $19.99 a month for it. That's $240 a year. Still, it's only slightly more expensive than a monthly subscription to the Dallas Morning News. I might try out the two week free trial.

HUNGRY AND WIRED

We need a word to describe the vicious cycle where a consumer fixates on a piece of technology (or other cool new whatever) by stalking it online. After watching all the demo videos, he eventually cannot contain himself and must buy it. Then the consumer integrates the technology into his daily life and starts stalking something else online. The verb should be "galactize" -- taken from Galactus, devourer of worlds. Right now, I'm galactizing the Kobo Touch. Feel free to use the word in your daily conversations.

----- In keeping with "tech hunger," April sent this particular THIS AMERICAN LIFE story to me.Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory (well worth a listen)

WORKHAUS LODGE

With semester finals on Monday and Tuesday, my Christmas vacation officially began today -- and I spent it working. I visited the Workhaus Lodge on Greenville Avenue. I've read a bit on co-working and I wanted to try it out. When I'm home in the office, I get easily distracted by Twitter, Facebook, Chess.com, Age of Empires, dishes, laundry, letting Berkeley outside, bringing Berkeley back inside, letting him out again, snacking, and a variety of other shiny objects vying for my attention. I hoped that a change of location would make me more productive or at least give me a stronger sense of "being on the clock." Here are some observations. 1. This place smells like the Wesleyan in Commerce, Texas. One of my favorite jobs was working as a program director at the Wesleyan when I was in college. I have fond memories of that old building. So yes, for me, old building smell is a good thing. I don't want to spend too long trying to analyze the musky fragrance. Mildew plus a hint of mothballs? I don't know. It's nice. 2. Parking wasn't too bad, but I think I still parked in the wrong place. I didn't get towed, so that's something. 3. It's pathetic that I was more excited about the 7-11 directly across the street than the Gloria's next door. 4. I thought it might be a little empty with Christmas in a few days, but there's plenty of people here. I wonder how crowded it gets during other times in the year. 5. Not that I've been listening in on other people's phone conversations, but their jobs look (and sound) more official than mine. They are doing w-o-r-k. I've spent the past few hours writing. Do other writers feel this way? Maybe I'd feel more official if I made more phone calls? 6. The couch behind me looks more like a bed. Let's not fool ourselves. It is a bed. Do people ever nap there? That might be awkward in a co-working situation. 7. I'm suspicious of the books and magazines on the shelves. The Fountainhead, two large books on Einstein, a hardcover on modern glamour, and interior design magazines, most of them with a thin layer of dust -- do the people here actually use these books? If I worked here more often, could I bring my own books? This place needs some Calvin and Hobbes. 8. They also need a conference room. Apparently, they're on it. 9. I don't know if I was any more productive here. If anything, I couldn't do some of the usual pacing and mumbling that I undertake while working. However, if I were home most of the time, it'd be nice to see other people occasionally. 10. The people here seem friendly and focused. Good atmosphere. All in all, I like it.

By the numbers...

Hours spent at Workhaus: 3.5 Words I've typed today: 1,588 Blog posts made: 2 (including this one) Tweets: 2 Trips to 7-11: 1 Trips to bathroom: 3 Trips to Chess.com: 1 Trips to Facebook: 2 Ounces of Coca-Cola: 20

PATH AND TOO MANY SOCIAL NETWORKS

I joined another one. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Linkedin, Google+, Goodreads, and now Path -- all these updates through all these formats, is it really worth it? I quit MySpace a few years ago, and it was long overdue. Tumblr is also on the chopping block. Google+ remains largely unused. Linkedin, I have because I worry that I might need it someday. Goodreads is for fun. Twitter and Facebook are the only social networks I actually use with any regularity. Why Path? I don't know. I'm trying it out. The design is beautiful.

Social networks haven't found perfection in Facebook. The technology is improving; better options are available. And yet, every blog post and status update I make is time I could have spent working on the Tammi True memoir, a magazine article, a new comic book project, or my ever evolving Creative Writing curriculum. Thoreau says, "Let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand." I don't think Thoreau would enjoy the Internet.

LIBRARY AS INCUBATOR

I found the Library as Incubator Project through the daily GOOD newsletter. "Library as Incubator" isn't the most catchy name for a movement/project, but their mission is solid.

The Project highlights the ways that libraries and artists can work together and features:* Visual artists, performing artists, and writers who use libraries in their communities for inspiration, information, and as gallery space * Collections, libraries and library staff that incubate the arts, and the ways that artists can use them effectively * Free-to-share resources for librarians looking to incubate the arts at their libraries * Ideas for artists looking to connect with their communities through library programming

Using the verb "to incubate" is a little awkward. (Definition: "to maintain at a favorable temperature and in other conditions promoting development, as cultures of bacteria or prematurely born infants.") It feels like the jargon from within nonprofit culture, which doesn't always work long-term and tends to abuse perfectly good words. Remember when "synergy" and "paradigm" lost all meaning?

My own nit-picking about word choice aside, the site is a great resource. I didn't fully discover the value of my local library until I realized it's more than just "a place where the books live." For writers and artists, libraries work well to facilitate coworking on the cheap.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TIME GOBLINS GONE?

Sometimes, I use examples from previous Creative Writing classes to let my current students know what not to do. For instance, the Time Goblins. I had a student. He was funny, creative, and fairly talented. However, instead of actually doing any work, he would just try to pitch these "million dollar ideas" that would just write themselves. And thus, he wouldn't need to write anything. He was like a Hollywood agent selling me on the same idea over and over. Enter the Time Goblins. According to this student, the Time Goblins eat time. That's all I know about them. That's all he's every told me about them. And, in his own words, that's all I need to know. Instead of writing stories, he'd just say the story has Time Goblins and take a bow. (He probably didn't actually take a bow. But in my mind, it was like he took a bow or made some dramatic gesture to anticipate my glowing approval.) I hate these stupid goblins, and they kept appearing in every assignment he chose not to write.

Recently, I told my Creative Writing class about the Time Goblins. It was part of my lesson that "good" ideas don't sell themselves. You have to develop a story, work at it, and craft it into something of value. There are numerous stories about magic and witches; there's only one Harry Potter. The fact that a story has a witch in it does not immediately make it a great story. Sweat equity, my young scholars. However, my example backfired on me. It turns out my class loves the Time Goblins. Loves them. They want Time Goblins in their stories. After all, they eat time. What more do you need to know? Somewhere, my former student, the champion of Time Goblins, is smiling.

KING OF ALL JERKS

Today, a student got really mad at me. The kind of mad where you are fearless in the face of authority because you are so certain of the rightness of your cause. Truth is he had every right to be mad. I didn't know his name. We're entering into the third six-week period, and I didn't know his name. He's completed assignments that I've inflicted upon him, both the necessary and pointless ones. He's bothered to listen to my lectures, even the ones where I ramble aimlessly. Quite literally, learning his name is the very least I could do. Learning a student's name is step one of the teaching process. How can you discipline, how can you instruct, without knowing their names? I stress respect in my classroom, and yet, a name is foundation of one's respect. I feel like the king of all jerks. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself? After all, I do have some 150+ students, but I can't let myself off the hook. "All my other teachers know my name. You don't." Those words hurt, because I knew that I lost him. For the rest of the year, no matter what I say or what I ask him to do, I will be the teacher who didn't learn his name. I plan to talk with him and apologize.

Some days, it sucks to be a teacher. Parents are weary of you. Other teachers are just as worn out as you are. Politicians want to make "bad teachers" the root cause of all educational failures. (Why worry about the budget when "bad teachers" are plaguing our fine institution?) At times, it feels like only the students are on your side. Yes, the students. There's an amazing sense of community in a classroom. "You don't like this benchmark test, I don't like this benchmark test, but we'll get through it." "Isn't The Crucible a great play?" "I'm sorry to hear about your friends. It'll get better I promise." "During lunch, come by and we'll play a game of chess." "I know this essay is hard. Let me help." As a teacher, I'm there for the students. That's my job.

And some days, even the students are against you--not just rowdy, disruptive, and goofy, but actually against you. That's the worst.

SOLIDARITY, FELLOW WRITERS

It's November, which means National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. Twice I've attempted and failed at the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Here's what happens. I get about 10,000 words into the novel, and I'm overwhelmed by two forces. The first force is this pressure to make sure the novel is "publishable" and of a certain high standard, which undermines the whole point of NaNoWriMo. It's about completion not excellence. You can always edit in March. The second force is this emotion that I can only describe as "You're not the boss of me." I get defiant and want to prove that NaNoWriMo has no power over me. I turn quitting into a virtue. It's pathetic, but you're not the boss of me either, so stop judging. I'm capable of completing large projects because I've done it before. I've written a few sizable graphic novels, ones that have been published and a few that will tragically never see the light of day. I can write, but the words don't always flow and that bothers me. NaNoWriMo appeals to me because I like the idea of writing more. I like that moment where "can't start" transforms into "can't stop."

NaNoWriMo, I may never know you. However, as an act of solidarity with those braver November novelists, I will commit to writing more this month. My goal will be to post on my blog every day. Since we're already at the midpoint for November, I'll need to double up on some days so that it equals one post per day. This post will be my 8th for November.

It's not as impressive as writing a novel, but it's a start. And since it's my blog, I really am the boss.

WRITING FOR MAGAZINES

This past year, I've written one feature and three shorter stories for D Magazine (my "Letter to Downtown Arlington" will be in the December issue and my article on Dallas microbreweries has been bumped to January). I love writing for magazines. I hope to write more. A few years ago, I talked with my friend Andrea Grimes. We went to the same high school, same church youth group, and same summer camp. She was writing for the Dallas Observer, and I wanted to pick her brain on the process. 90% of my writing experience is with comic books. I took only one year of journalism in high school and one year of journalism in college. I was overwhelmed at the prospect of writing something true. Andrea suggested The New New Journalism for direction and inspiration. And like all good advice, I ignored it for a while.

I finally started the book. It's a great read. (Thanks Andrea!) In part, the book confirms a lot of things I already love about magazine writing. I just didn't have the terms "literary nonfiction" or "longform journalism" in my lexicon.

My interest in magazine-format journalism started with a grim moment from my senior year at Mansfield High School. On December 1995, my friend Adrianne Jones was murdered. Adrianne and I weren't incredibly close, but we shared a theater arts class and talked a bit. She confided in me about her own troubles, and I listened. A month later, she was gone. It wasn't until after graduation that we discovered she was murdered by one of our classmates David Graham and his girlfriend Diane Zamora. I collected everything I could find about the murder. I needed to know what happened. Most newspaper reports stuck to the bare facts and little more. People magazine offered the most scandalous and absurd aspects, but they missed the heart of it. Then I read Skip Hollandsworth's article in Texas Monthly. The story was a little over 9,000 words. Filled with disturbing and painful details, it was difficult to read. I had to put the magazine down at several points. I don't know how others closer to Adrianne responded to Hollandsworth's account, but I felt as though a necessary story was finally told. I marveled at how powerful a magazine could be. I was able to grieve on the side of the road where Adrianne's body was abandoned.

Facts are a slippery thing, and certain truths can be revealed in a narrative that are lost in a report. I love the idea that a writer can invest himself or herself so thoroughly in a subject that he or she becomes more than a tourist. They carry the burden of the story.

Magazines can surpass the literary merit of novels and the journalistic merit of newspapers. They can be more entertaining than movies and absolutely essential in helping us to understand complex issues. The format is capable of so much. The New Yorker, Atlantic, Writer's Digest, Creative Screenwriting, D Magazine, Texas Monthly, Time, Mental Floss, Just Labs, Slam, Maxim, and any one of April's "women's magazines" that I read when she's not looking -- my favorite gift is a gift subscription.

Yes, I will still write comics, but I plan to improve as a writer and contribute more to magazines in the next few years. At least, that's the hope.

BEING BULLIED

Very happy to hear that Lady Gaga is launching an anti-bullying foundation, Born This Way. (I should also mention the tremendous efforts of the It Gets Better Project.) All of this is very necessary and long overdue. In the past few years, bullying has received more attention. Schools are responding. Admittedly, they aren't always addressing the issue of LGBT bullying directly--but rest assured in every school there are teachers and administrators who make an issue of it. I was a nerd, and I was bullied in school. However, the kind of bullying I endured was nothing compared to the kind of bullying LGBT kids experienced at my school. On the bullying food chain, being a kid who played D&D during lunch was still "better" than being effeminate or, if you were so brave in the '90s, completely out of the closet. Only once did I get a glimpse at what LGBT kids experienced on a daily basis. One day in high school, I decided to show up wearing a long skirt. It was a nice skirt and it went well with my Doc Martens. I was going for a Kurt Cobain grunge thing. That day, I had two rednecks threaten to kick my ass. I remember thinking, "Why are you so concerned about what I'm wearing? Why is this a big deal?" My playful dabbling with women's clothing (once again, it was a nice skirt) immediately lead to a threat of physical violence. So, when I talk about bullying, understand that my experiences were pretty light compared to others.

Nowadays, "being a nerd" is supposed to be cool. Although, I will attest that people claiming nerd-status like they would choose a t-shirt at Hot Topic is completely different from being an actual nerd. The awkward outsiders still get picked on.

I'm not an expert and all my insight is anecdotal, but I would categorize bullying into three levels: light, heavy, and thermal nuclear warfare. Light bullying happens to almost everyone. You have an odd last name. You're too tall or too short. You have crazy hair or some medical condition. You have zits. You're overweight. You're underweight. Your breasts grew too soon or not soon enough. You speak with a strange midwestern accent. Pretty much everyone gets teased for some stupid thing. Even the popular kids will get the occasional harassment. There's not a lot you can do about this. Kids are mean. It sucks, and you try your best to cope. Heavy bullying happens exclusively to the weirdos. Usually, it's one tormentor who targets one victim. He or she tries to make the other person's life absolute hell. I had a few tormentors in elementary school, a few more in junior high, and then they mostly disappeared in high school. I was lucky. Heavy bullying can send a kid to private school. In junior high, my parents wanted to move me to another school to avoid one particular kid. (I wonder now why we never talked to the principal. It seems like a cheaper alternative.) This kid shoved me into lockers, punched me, and threatened me. I was scared of him, and I hated him. I had to re-route my path to particular classes in order to avoid him. Thermal nuclear warfare bullying is when these bullies form into packs and target one poor, poor kid. Remember that short story The Lottery? It's like that. Every school has that one student, or maybe a few, who got incredibly unlucky. Sadly, even the weirdos might pick on this kid. Weirdos are not morally superior. If they had the opportunity, some of them would be bullies too. Unfortunately, in this lottery, the LGBT kids have their names at the top of the ballot. Teenagers are some of the world's worst homophobes.

Here's the good news and the bad news. The TNW bullying is the easiest bullying to prevent. You simply identify the bullied kid, which is not hard to do, then the teachers and administrators form a protective shield around this kid. If anyone does anything to him or her, you lay down the swift hammer of judgment and make the bully regret the day they ever tried anything against this kid. Soon, the whole school will know: you do not mess with this kid. Schools need to be vigilante. As one kid is shielded, another is targeted. Heavy bullying is moderately easy to prevent too. Same tactics apply. If you simply adhere to school policy, these things should resolve themselves like instant karma. A kid gets shoved into a school locker; the shover gets detention. The problem is these bullies don't all look like Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons. Some of them are very likable, charismatic kids, and they know how to talk to adults. Parents take note. Your precious little angel might be a bully. With light bullying, like I said before, there's not much you can do (as an adult or foundation) to prevent it. This one falls to the students. If the school promotes a culture where everyone sticks up for each other, the students can do more to stop the light bullying than the teachers can. So that's the good news.

The bad news is I think many anti-bullying programs spend 70% of their energy worrying about light bullying, 25% on heavy bullying, and 5% on the thermal nuclear warfare. Their priorities are inverted.

LGBT kids are the ones who are potentially most vulnerable. They are the ones who need the most support.

I'm open to anyone else's perspective on bullying. Please post comments. These are my thoughts. If you disagree or have your own take, I'd love to know about it.

WALKING DEAD IS MY NEW LOST

SPOILER ALERT: I MIGHT SPOIL SOMETHING IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP ON WALKING DEAD (TV OR COMIC). I was obsessed with LOST. Remember that TV show, the one that became a cautionary tale for bad endings? Since the finale, there has been a LOST-shaped hole in my heart that all the primetime comedies and Daily Show episodes just couldn't fill. I need geeked-out drama for regular consumption. WALKING DEAD came at the right time. It didn't hurt that I also adore the comic book series.

What the series does right:

* It follows the comic book, but is not overly obligated to the comic book. The characters are all there, with a few additions and a few omissions. Can we all agree that Daryl makes every episode better? He's the "chaotic neutral" rogue in this ensemble. And unlike Sawyer in LOST, we don't have to deal with any tortured lovelorn annoyances. Daryl's a bad ass, and everyone's first pick for zombie hunting. Other changes: Shane is still alive, which I think is a smart move on behalf of the TV show. We're at Hershel's Farm, so we're still (more or less) on track. I don't want simply a panel-for-panel reproduction of the comic. It worked for SIN CITY, but with a television series I want to see the story try something new. Only one time did the show get a little too far off the beaten path with the episode TS-19. They started journeying into dangerous LOST-territory, i.e. season finales where we see behind the curtain with some completely new setting. Fortunately, CDC has been vaporized and we can pretend it never happened.

* No mystery, only survival and emigration. With LOST, yes, we were all interested in that stupid hatch. The hatch lead to more mysteries, which lead to more mysteries, which lead to more mysteries, which lead to an awful series finale and the show creators desperately trying to rationalize their decisions. WALKING DEAD writing staff take note. We don't care where the zombies came from nor do we care about a cure. Leave that storyline alone (*cough* TS-19). LOST was a lot of fun when they were trying to hunt boar, build shelters, find water, and not kill each other. Could it have lasted like that for six seasons? Probably not. However, with WALKING DEAD, the show can go beyond mere survival to explore how people adjust to settling in a new world (read my essay in TRIUMPH OF THE WALKING DEAD for more insight on this topic). By the nature of this genre, I don't think WALKING DEAD viewers are optimistic about their fate. There's no need to candy coat the series with a happy ending and a miracle zombie cure.

What the series should be careful about:

* Go light on the speeches and monologues. We're only a few episodes into season two, and I start rolling my eyes when they dive into another "hope in a desolate world" speech. I feel like these moments are huge wastes of time. I'd rather know how Carl is doing or how Shane got back with the medical supplies in one piece. The writers are stalling. Speeches and monologues become crutches for characterization and "growth." In actuality, actions-speak-louder and show-don't-tell should be kept in mind at all times. I don't mind the occasional soliloquy into the walkie-talkie at the beginning of an episode. However, then coupled with TWO monologues to Jesus in the church at the end of the episode, the writers are pushing our tolerance for character rambling.

* There needs to be a balance between the brutal and the sweet. In LOST, the smoke monster and the Others are a continual threat. Everyone is desperate for food, water, shelter, and protection. Yet they found time for golf. Even during the more brutal episodes, there were moments of sweetness -- human interactions, a smile and a laugh. OK, the WALKING DEAD is about the zombie apocalypse. The world they knew is over. Everyone is dying and suffering. The show gets bleak. Let's hope the writer give the audience a few moments to enjoy the humanity of these characters, their charm.

What are your thoughts on WALKING DEAD, thus far?

THE ANTI 9 TO 5

At April's urging, I'm reading THE ANTI 9 TO 5 GUIDE: PRACTICAL CAREER ADVICE FOR WOMEN WHO THINK OUTSIDE THE CUBE by Michelle Goodman. It's a good book, well written, and I plan to read her follow up MY SO-CALLED FREELANCE LIFE. It's amusing to read something written with default feminine pronouns. I sometimes forget I live in a culture that defaults to masculine pronouns. When she writes things specific to her female audience (such as from page 21 "...and unless you're one of the lucky few with a savings account burning a hole in her bra..."), it feels like my high school PE teacher is yelling me at while I'm walking/jogging laps around the dirt track. ("Okay ladies, pick up your pace and start running!") Thus, Goodman's tone attempts to build rapport--but I feel like I should hustle and stopping slacking off. Either way, it's effective.

In other freelance news, I just finished two more pieces for D Magazine, one about downtown Arlington and one about the three new breweries in Dallas.

16 COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES

What can chess teach us? As a public school teacher, when a student raises his or her hand, asking "When will we ever use this in real life?" -- this is no small question. The short answer is: "It will be on the test and you need to know this to pass my class." And then, I can continue with my lesson. However, the true answer is a little more complex and much more vital. We'll get to that in a second.

Fact is chess in itself isn't that useful in real life. I know. Shocking. Hear me out. If we are so delusional to think that Chess Club of Arlington's objective should be to mass produce GMs like the Russian Chess School, our success rate will be very small. There are only about 1,300 GMs worldwide. (For comparison, Chess.com has about 3.9 million members registered.) Few of them are able to make a career from it. I would like to believe that my knowledge of the Colle-Zukertort System will have real world applications, but its value is limited to the game itself. Keep in mind, a lot of what we learn in school will not be used in real life. My knowledge of geology, algebra, and adverbal phrases doesn't come into daily use like my teachers warned me it would. So, what's the value in learning anything?

Here's the true answer: Learning something difficult, something challenging, helps develop cognitive skills. We improve our comprehension strategies, and we grow as thinkers. In other words, we learn how to learn. Learning anything is beneficial, and not merely for the content itself. Chess is ideal for this purpose, because (1) chess can be taught to a five-year-old and he or she could spend a lifetime mastering the game (2) chess is intricate, deep, and challenging (3) chess allows for individual self-guided learning (4) chess offers tangible ways to measure improvement and learning (5) chess is fun.

If Chess Club of Arlington had unlimited resources at its disposal, I probably wouldn't turn it into a GM-factory. (Arlington already has one on Hwy 360. Pun!) Instead, I would focus on these 16  strategies, which are commonly cited for reading comprehension. I discovered them through my ELLevate training. I believe the skills transfer.

1. Using prior knowledge and experiences 2. Making connections 3. Making predictions 4. Using visual and context support 5. Monitoring and clarifying comprehension 6. Sequencing information 7. Distinguishing main ideas from details 8. Comparing and contrasting 9. Finding supporting evidence 10. Generating questions 11. Retelling and summarizing 12. Differentiating fact from opinion 13. Drawing inferences 14. Using inductive reasoning 15. Using deductive reasoning 16. Analyzing and evaluation

While learning chess, you're learning how to think critically and creating a framework for further education. With these 16 strategies, you could continue from here and learn anything you want -- anything the real world offers. That's an invaluable education, without leaving anyone behind.

SAINT LOUIS TRIP, OBSERVATIONS AND INSIGHT

The whole purpose of my Saint Louis trip was to learn something, to get ideas and a little bit of inspiration that I can bring back to Chess Club of Arlington. 1. I don't want a club that just meets at a diner somewhere on Saturday mornings. Although, there's certainly nothing wrong with that model. It's simple and builds a nice community of chess players. On the other hand, I don't think it's possible to reproduce what's happening in Saint Louis. There's only one Mecca. And when it comes to US chess, Saint Louis is where we make our pilgrimage. Certainly, there's  mystique with the chess tables at Washington Square Park, and there's the tradition of clubs like Marshall and Mechanics. However, in Saint Louis, we have a world-class modern chess facility and across the street an absolutely gorgeous World Chess Hall of Fame. Chess Club of Arlington must find its own identity somewhere in between.

2. It's not about the money, not entirely. I've heard a lot of people make comments about Rex Sinquefield and the millions of dollars in capital he used to create the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. As if all that's needed for a nonprofit to be successful is for a wealthy man to throw money at the problem. That's terribly inaccurate and simplistic. Yes, the money needs to come from somewhere. But without people invested in its success, CCSCSL wouldn't exist. It can't be just one person with a dream. This may be my greatest challenge with Chess Club of Arlington. I'll find the money. What I need is other people willing to believe in our mission and our goals, people willing to work.

3. This next point may be a little bit harder to communicate. I appreciate the autonomy of CCSCSL and yet their ability to work with other organizations. I believe the strength of the US Chess Federation is its affiliate program. These affiliates are independent organizations that collaborate and cooperate with USCF. A successful chess club, like CCSCSL, is able to work with and work independently. Their success is their own, but we all benefit.  We have a lot of great chess clubs and chess programs in the Dallas Fort Worth area. I don't want to take away from what they're doing. I'm trying to create something that is unique to our community and our needs. At the same time, we should be constantly searching for kindred organizations, innovative thinkers and leaders to partner with.

4. Speaking of leadership, I refuse to believe that every idea has been tried and all options have been pursued in terms of chess advocacy in the US. We have barely scratched the surface on what is possible. I'm certain CCSCSL will be a leader in new ideas, but they shouldn't be the only one. After this weekend, I'm convinced we need a leadership conference for chess organizers, and not just a workshop at a tournament. Curmudgeons need not apply.

5. Titled players (GM, WGM, IM, WIM, FM, NM, and CM) deserve a lot respect. That's all. Chess Club of Arlington needs to find a way to create meaningful experiences for the higher rated players. Until I talk with some pros, I don't even know where to begin in this regard. CCSCSL has the benefit of constant, daily, interaction with titled players.

6. A chess club needs to be more than a clearing house for Elo ratings. It comes back to chess, and the simple enjoyment of the game. Again, we need to create a meaningful experience for our members. We need to listen to our members and what they want.

7. For Chess Club of Arlington to be successful, Arlington itself needs to become "chess friendly" (similar to the bike-friendly initiatives). Offering chess as part of the city's culture, making it a point of pride, is important. Chess Club of Arlington needs to build something that improves the quality of life in Arlington and not just focuses inward on the quality of our club. CCSCSL has been incredibly successful in this regard.

8. I still have a lot to learn. I'd like to believe that Chess Club of Arlington will accomplish all its goals within a year. I'm not ready for that. Slow growth is probably going to be our path, quiet moves intermingled with some tactical surprises to make the game interesting.

What are your thoughts? Comments, disagreements, insights, kibitzing, and questions are all encouraged. Post below.

GOOD LUCK, ODUNAYO

My friend and our club secretary Odunayo Ajiboye is competing in the 77th Annual Southwest Open this weekend. He's rated 2107, 93 points short of earning a National Master title. I don't want to put any additional pressure on him, but I promised Odunayo a party once he reaches 2200. We'll order a cake and celebrate during one of our Thursday meetings. Here's a game Odunayo played against David Phillips at this year's Texas State Championship. I found it posted in the July-August 2011 issue of Texas Knights.

[pgn height=450 initialHalfmove=start autoplayMode=none] [Event "Texas State Championship"] [Site "Dallas Texas"] [Date "2011.05.28"] [Round "4"] [White "Odunayo Ajiboye"] [Black "David Phillips"] [WhiteElo "2028"] [BlackElo "2072"] [ECO "D31"] [Result "1-0"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.e3 O-O 6.Bd3 c5 7.cxd5 cxd4 8.exd4 Nxd5 9.Bg3 Nc6 10.Nf3 Nf6 11.a3 b6 12.O-O Bb7 13.Re1 Rc8 14.Bh4 Rc7 15.Qa4 Nh5 16.Bxe7 Nxe7 17.Nb5 Bc6 18.Qb3 Bxb5 19.Qxb5 Qd5 20.Qa4 Nf6 21.Ba6 Qc6 22.Qxc6 Rxc6 23.Rac1 Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Nfd5 25.Ne5 Rd8 26.Kf1 Kf8 27.Ke2 Nf5 28.Nc6 Rd7 29.g4 Nd6 30.Ne5 Rc7 31.Rc6 Ke7 32.Rxc7+ Nxc7 33.Bd3 a6 34.Bxh7 g6 35.h4 Nd5 36.Kf3 Nf6 37.Nxg6+ fxg6 38.Bxg6 Nc4 39.g5 Nd5 40.Bd3 b5 41.Bxc4 bxc4 42.Ke4 c3 43.bxc3 Nxc3+ 44.Ke5 Kf7 45.h5 a5 46.g6+ Kg7 47.Kxe6 Nb5 48.d5 Nd4+ 49.Ke7 Nf5+ 50.Ke8 a4 51.f3 Kh6 52.f4 Ng7+ 53.Kf7 Nf5 54.Kf6 Nd6 55.Ke6 Nb5 56.d6 Nd4+ 57.Kd5 1-0 [/pgn]

And Odunayo, I want some cake.

CHRONICLES OF THE AUSTIN HOMELESS HIPPY

There is a reoccurring minor character in WE'VE NEVER MET. In the scripts, he's dubbed the "Austin Homeless Hippy." He's made appearances inWNM #9, WNM #10, WNM #11, and more recently in WNM #38

The basic storyline is that the Austin Homeless Hippy hitched a ride with Alex from Austin to Denton, when Alex accidentally thought Inklings were performing at SXSW. Austin Homeless Hippy then gets left in Dallas. Liz makes the comment: "We need to get this guy home." Apparently, she never followed through, because by WNM #38 he's panhandling for bus fare. For people who pay extra close attention, the Austin Homeless Hippy did return in last week's WNM #57 in panel one (click here). Liz doesn't even recognize him. After a few months in Dallas, he's turned his life around, and works for a home insulation company.

Will we see him again in WE'VE NEVER MET? Quite possibly. (Yes.)

RAGE AGAINST ROB GRANITO

To every creative artistic soul reading this post, I want you to take a moment, stop what you're doing and pray. Even if you are not religious, I would encourage you to find a god and pray. If you can't think of a god, you may choose the ancient Roman snake god Glycon or pray to the Muse, Calliope. Pray that you will never ever incur the wrath that has been directed towards Rob Granito.

Rob is an art thief. For many years, he has taken credit for work that is not his. His claims are so absurd. It almost makes you think the story itself is a hoax. Among other things, he's claimed to work on Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, the Batman stamp for the US Postal Service, the Batman Animated Series, a White House commissioned portrait for the President, A Christmas Story on Broadway, and X-Men. Several people have stepped forward to verify it. The hoax is no hoax.

Reading his online bio is equally painful:

"Rob Granito, internationally known artist and illustrator, has worked for over 15 years in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic art. His name has been attached to major projects for companies such as Warner Brothers, DC and Marvel Comics, Disney, MTV, and VH1, where he has worked on comics, graphic novels, trading cards, animation, as well as book, CD, magazine, and novel covers."

Internationally known? Well, maybe now.

Here's the story. Here's a follow-up. And another follow-up.

Here's a Facebook page devoted to making fun of him. (As of 5:11 PM CST time, 586 people like this.)

On his DeviantArt page, here is a sampling of the most vicious comments:

"Shameful."

"LMAO You're FUCKED dude"

"you're a complete dick..."

"You bastard. Get out."

"I'm not kidding, I will punch you in the face, hoping to break your jaw. I'm pretty big, and with luck, I might shatter your cheekbone, you piece of garbage."

"Heres the douchebags # off his website if anyone cares: [no, I'm not re-posting it]"

"I would recommend everyone that was ripped off by that guy to contact your lawyers because this man deserves a Class A lawsuit!"

"I bust my ass every day, and you just prance around with stolen artwork... I wanna spit in your face. You disgust me."

"I want to curb stomp this guy!"

"You're a scumbag. You're a thief. A Liar and I hope your kids know that their Father is a piece of shit."

My good friend Jake Ekiss got downright biblical on him...

"May your whole existence drift into utter obscurity, not even a footnote in the annals of art history. May your name be spoken in hushed tones only as a cautionary tale to young artists. May your greatest achievement be that your flaming wreckage of a career serve as warning to other pretenders foolish enough to entertain similar thoughts. You are an obscenity made flesh, and I wish nothing more than for your whole being to be censored forthwith."

Jake, that is one hell of a roast.

Let me just say, I hate people who pad their resumé. I've called out friends who throw around the term "critically acclaimed" in their bios. I especially can't stand people who would go so far to steal other people's work. In the case of Rob, I look at his Facebook profile (his real one with 318 friends, not the profile to make fun of him, which now has 612 liking it). He has photos of him at conventions, him proudly holding up paintings, him with his daughters going to see Santa Claus. He looks happy, a big happy comic book geek. I look at him and wonder, "Why would you do it?"

What he did was wrong. It was. However, I think I know the deep dark reasons that pushed him to do it. I get that relentless insecurity tugging at any creative individual. I wish I was a better writer. The kind of writer who could have worked on the Batman Animated Series or X-Men. I wish I was as talented as some of the people at the conventions I attend. I wish I could make a full-time career out of something I love. I envy the people who are able to survive on their talent. And sometimes, do I wish Y The Last Man was my idea? Absolutely. Hell yes. Have I gone to Barnes & Noble, pointed out graphic novels by creators I've met once or twice, and pretended I was their peer? It's pathetic, but guilty as charged.

Rob, it's better to fail with your own ideas and on your own merit. Trust me. I've failed a lot. I would rather do my own thing and wallow in obscurity than be called out as a fake. My advice? Apologize. Publicly and profusely. Send out individual apologies to everyone you've ripped off. Make no excuses. Just say you're sorry. If you have the money, try to reimburse people. Take down your site. Take down your DeviantArt page. Lay low for a year or two, spend some time in reflection. And if you want to try again as a comic book artist, work your ass off and be humble. When you fail (and the odds are against you), at least you can say that it was with your own work. You.

I don't feel sorry for Rob. (Update: 634.)

He's an adult, and he brought this on himself. I don't feel sorry for Rob, but I understand. We all want to be important. We want to matter, so badly.

Pray to Calliope.

ARTISTS AND MONEY

I found this excerpt of an interview with Francis Ford Coppola on Brian Denham's website (click here). I hope he doesn't mind if I re-post it. Of course, after you read this, you are obligated to visit Brian's site and Denham Shorts. His work is just too good to leave alone.

How does an aspiring artist bridge the gap between distribution and commerce? We have to be very clever about those things. You have to remember that it’s only a few hundred years, if that much, that artists are working with money. Artists never got money. Artists had a patron, either the leader of the state or the duke of Weimar or somewhere, or the church, the pope. Or they had another job. I have another job. I make films. No one tells me what to do. But I make the money in the wine industry. You work another job and get up at five in the morning and write your script.

This idea of Metallica or some rock n’ roll singer being rich, that’s not necessarily going to happen anymore. Because, as we enter into a new age, maybe art will be free. Maybe the students are right. They should be able to download music and movies. I’m going to be shot for saying this. But who said art has to cost money? And therefore, who says artists have to make money?

In the old days, 200 years ago, if you were a composer, the only way you could make money was to travel with the orchestra and be the conductor, because then you’d be paid as a musician. There was no recording. There were no record royalties. So I would say, “Try to disconnect the idea of cinema with the idea of making a living and money.” Because there are ways around it.

Read his full interview here.

DALLAS BURLESQUE

My article on Tammi True and Dallas burlesque is available on stands or read the article online...http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2011/March/Why_Dallas_Burlesque_Owes_a_Debt_to_Tammi_True.aspx

In September, I pitched the idea for an article on the re-emerging burlesque scene in Dallas. Tim Rogers liked it, and thus I began work on my first feature for D Magazine. I initially requested that the article be 3,000 words long. Tim asked for 2,000 words. In the end, I gave him 2,755 words.

I started by interviewing Shoshana Portnoy who I went to college with at Texas A&M Commerce. She's a show producer and editor for Pincurl Magazine. My process was I'd interview someone -- tape recorder, steno notepad, all that. Then I would go home and immediately write a story about my experience. Without any regard for the final product, I'd just jot down everything I could remember about the interview itself. An excerpt:

We met on Saturday, October 9th at 3 PM at Libertine Bar on Greenville Avenue. When I got out of my car, Shoshana was already there, sitting on a bench outside, talking on the phone and smoking a long cigarette. When she noticed me, she greeted me with “How’s your world?” to which I gave a standard recap of my difficulty finding a book on burlesque at Half-Price Books. Do I look in the women’s studies section or sexuality in culture? “Or I would think it might be in the theater section. Actually, you know why you couldn't find a book?” She gives an answer to my problem and another drag on the cigarette. “#### works there and she snags all the books on burlesque that arrive. I’ll talk to her and see if we can get some of those books to you.”

Shoshana put me in contact with almost everyone I needed for the article. That evening, I went to Teddy's Room to continue my research. The next morning, I met with Pixie O'Kneel. Pixie allowed me to sit in on a dress rehearsal for her upcoming Bewitching Burlesque production. An excerpt:

I parked my car at the corner of South Crowdus and Canton in Deep Ellum. It was Sunday, October 10th at 10:50 AM. I walked across the street to the Hub Theater. Two girls were walking in the front door, carrying various items – PVC pipe, a frilly dress, burlap cloth, a lamp, stilts, a straight jacket, and an axe.

Inside the Hub Theater, it couldn’t be more different than the squeaky clean exclusive Teddy’s Room. I walked past a curtain and into the seating area of the theater. I met Pixie O’Kneel, a short woman with thick dark hair cut short. I introduced myself, and we stepped back into the lobby to talk. She introduced me to her partner Glam’Amour, contrasting in height, she towered over Pixie and myself. Pixie then offered me a mimosa and muffins. There’s some girl asleep on the couch.

Back in the theater, Pixie worked with the girls helping them with their props and set pieces. She steps away to listen to the volume of the music for the show with Tony, the sound guy.

“More or less?” “I think right there is good?” She listens again as the music swells. “That’s a little too much."

A few nights later, I interviewed Angi B Lovely. Afterward, I drove to Denton for the Tiki A GoGo show.

I had a lot of material, and I probably could have continued interviewing performers and attending various shows, but I needed a perspective on old-school burlesque. Shoshana put me in touch with Nancy Myers (aka Tammi True). Nancy was impossible to Google search. There wasn't any information floating around on the Internet. Surprising, since she headlined at the Carousel Club that Jack Ruby owned. Now, if you google "Tammi True," my article is the first and second entry. I talked with her on the phone and then met with her in person. She's funny, candid, and foul mouthed. In other words, the perfect interview. It turns out she hadn't done any interviews in decades. The only other one she gave was to Esquire, which wasn't much of an interview at all. Her whole life, people had been asking her about Jack Ruby. No one asked Nancy about Tammi True.

The problem I encountered was, at this point, I didn't have a magazine article. I had two magazine articles: one about modern burlesque and one about Nancy. I called my editor for some guidance. He suggested one of the stories needed to be subordinate to the other. Either this is a story about modern burlesque with Tammi True as an interesting footnote or this story is about Tammi with modern burlesque as the coda (i.e., her legacy lives on). It was decided that the story needed to focus on Nancy/Tammi. Hours worth of research, interviews, and field trips on modern burlesque would go unused. Literary agents, call me.

I scheduled a second interview with Nancy. A week later, I sent my finished article to Tim.

Read it here: http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2011/March/Why_Dallas_Burlesque_Owes_a_Debt_to_Tammi_True.aspx