Jordan and Jasper

 Jordan and Jasper (Continued) Chapter 2

text messages conversation

(Jor) Hey, I got your number from John, I hope that's okay. We forgot to exchange numbers before. How was the library?

(Jas) Hey! That's fine! I was actually going to text you too. I found your number in my yearbook-but it's last year's and I didn't know if it was the same or not. Then I thought one of my sisters might know your sister's number and I could get it that way-but yeah, we totally forgot about numbers before! Awkward-sorry this is so long-I can go off on tangents sometimes!

(Jor) 😊Hahaha you're good, no worries! So now you have my number-how was the library? Exciting?

(Jas) Oh yeah, there was a jewel thief, I think one of the ones that hit the Louvre last year, and they were hiding in the mystery section and the librarians had them cornered until the cops got there! You know, usual library stuff.

(Jor) ???

(Jas) It's true!

(Jor) No.

(Jas) Ok, no. You're right. I just returned my theoretical physics and ancient Greek philosophy books. How was your cafe adventure?

(Jor) Really though?

(Jas) Ok, no. I had a book on how to buikd a backyard barbecue and one on birdwatching in the Pacific Northwest. I actually want to buy that one, so I can take it on hikes to the lake. 

(Jor) Birds, huh? That's cool. I like birds. And philosophy and physics would have been cool too. 

(Jas) I know, it's just not light summer reading. 😉

(Jor) Makes sense. And the cafe was peaceful as usual. I always get a lot of reading or writing done when I go there, and I asked about a summer job too, and the manager said they'd let me know if something opened up. So, not as exciting as the library was (jk) but a good afternoon anyway. 😄

(Jas) I was thinking about your speech 👏and everything we were talking about, and I was thinking ... we should make a 'Zine - or a podcast - or both? Something.

(Jor) Really? Like, talking about feminism or history or what?

(Jas) Both. Like just highlight something specific in each episode or issue, and really share some helpful statistics and data to enlighten people. I mean, there's so much I don't know, and I think other people who don't know will want to know, and we can tell them.

(Jor) I'm pretty sure that's already been done ... like a LOT.

(Jas) Yeah of course. BUT, it will be from our own perspective. THAT hasn't been done before, ever. And we can do interviews too. Like with strangers on the street, people we know, and maybe even get a guest speaker with experience teaching or studying the topic. It could be like our summer project.

(Jor) 🕷I think that sounds really interesting. I wouldn't want to do it unless you are going to definitely be a big part of it, and we do it as partners ... it would be really helpful to show a guy's point of view. Especially since you consider yourself a feminist, but like you said before, someone who hasn't always spoken up for women when you wished you had. There are probably a lot of guys who agree with premises of feminism and don't really understand what that means, or they define it themselves to fit a personal narrative. Are you willing to do that? To be that open and honest about what you know or don't know, and how your personal experiences include things you maybe regret, or wish you could do differently?

(Jas) Why the spider? 🤔And yes, I thought about that, though not too deeply yet, when I suggested the idea. Mostly, I want to help bring change, and doing it in a creative way is how I best express myself.

(Jor) Spider was random, but I do like spiders! I was going to put a thinking face emoji and got distracted by the cool spider. So I went with it. 🤔

(Jas) haha, i get it. 🕷🕸❥I like spiders too. Birds eat them too. But, yes, I think I could bare my soul when necessary for an important cause, and we could definitely interview or quote other guys too. Give them a statistic and ask if they were even aware of it. We could do like a point-counterpoint together, except that we are on the same "side," so there's no debate, per se, it's just information, facts, and education.

(Jor) Interpsersed with real stories from real people, not just history (or Herstory). And we can still share our own opinions, from the perspective of our own loves [she mistyped and felt embarrassed for some reason as she corrected it] lives and experiences, as few or as many as there may be so far ...

(Jas) Yeah, totally. I think that's what would make it different and interesting to people. I mean, if we could get anyone to read or listen, but I think we can. And at the very least, it's a project that looks good for college, or whatever future career you might do ... or really, just to know you tried to do something, anything, to make a difference. I don't know. what do you think?

(Jor) I think we should talk abou it more in person. I like it, I like it a lot. I already have ideas for our first topic.

(Jas) What is it?

(Jor) I'll tell you when I come over for lunch. OR dinner. Whatever it was you invited me to.

(Jas) Hah! Okay, deal. I'll text you tomorrow, if that's okay.

(Jor) OK. Goodnight! 🌃

(Jas) Nite! Zzzzz...🌛

Paper Dragons Need Taming

 I'm going to change names and details and edit this later, if I decide it is worth it, but for now I think this is a great place to collect it as I write, instead of keeping it in random notebooks or loose leaf paper that inevitably collects dust, or becomes misplaced, as one of my biggest clutter issues is paper collections. Not blank paper, though there's that too, but papers from school and journals and letters, that are decades old, but I cannot destroy or discard. 

I have talked about this in my own mind, read book sections about it, discussed methods with the LLM chat bots, and listened to podcasts on the subject, but it comes down to both sentiment and wanting to be the keeper of personal historical records. You throw out useless garbage, and that's not what my collection is. The solution of course, is to digitize it all, both in OCR and photographic formats, so it can be easily accessed, organized, and kept safe. 

It's from a mostly pre-digital age, so it's mostly hand-drawn and written, though there are a handful of typed (on a manual typewriter we used to have when I was at home growing up), and printed (from college "computer" years) papers. But, even though the ones that were printed must have been written on a PC, at home or in the library, I know the original is only saved on a floppy 3.5 diskette somewhere, and is there a machine that can even read those anymore? So those too would need to be photographed, and digitized from their paper versions.

It's very complex, at least to me, and that's the biggest deterrent in even getting started on such a project, because it is a capital P Project akin to someone who has a big shoebox full of photos and wants to make a scrapbook complete with stickers and fancy papers and designer rubber stamps (or just digitize them).

Whew, that was a digression/tangent! Here's the next section of the story of (I guess I will keep calling them Rachael and Jasper ... or was it Jordan? Maybe it could be Jordan and Jasper? I am a fan of alliteration, even if it's just the same beginning sound in the names, and it could be fun to have a scene where the characters themselves play around with this...). Okay, thank you rubber duck, aka, Blogger. Jordan and Jasper it is (for now) and I won't edit the other post until, (unless), I stick with this set/coupling. I'm going to type it in its own post, but here are some fun pics of delicious It's-Its and the cat who is becoming more and more at home here every day since we asopted him. What a good boy!

Book to Read & Challenge to Try!

Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC

This book was highly recommended by Leon Noel, teacher, developer, entrepreneur and founder. I had heard of it, but never read it, so I looked it up and discovered a cool talk by the author. I have seen versions of blackout poetry before, but I didn't know the origins of it, which he thoroughly researched and presented in an abbreviated version in such an engaging way. It's unfortunate that the Ted Talks are so succinct by nature, because it's a fascinating topic (which I am sure there is a lot more to discover about in other talks or podcasts that I have yet to listen to).

https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 

While I am familiar with cutting out words from magazines for collage, and even using as random affirmations that you "pull from a hat," I haven't delved into circling and drawing on old book pages. (Though I coincidentally did just that in a group art therapy experience online, when I didn't want to use my blank sketchbook and thought it would be fun and different to draw with crayons in a book I had on my desk. But, that was more intuitive and less intentionally done.) I think the first step is deciding that the book pages aren't *holy* or too sacred to be marked up, graffiti'd upon, and transformed ... it's not vandalism or defacing, as you might feel at first. Then you go for it and do it. On the one hand, it might feel awkward at first, and on the other, it's freeing because you are starting from a place that is already full of content, such as it is to paint your canvas full of color before applying any design details or structure of form.

Attempt to embed a YouTube video that apparently did not work, but I'm going to leave it here so I can come back someday to right this wrong. (Later): well, I'll be ... I looked at the preview for this, and the video very well *did* embed, and *does* work. So I guess I learned something in my class I'm taking!

This is Mr. Kleon, a photo from his website that I think is so well done because it shows his personality in a single expression. An inspiring thinker and creative person, who authored this book (and others) and did the interesting Tedx talk that I am motivated by to do some "black out poetry" using the old books I saved. I thank you sir, and those artists and creatives who came before you to influence this method of working with words on the page, already printed and published, to create something new.