Q: Why do you write about gender?
A: Gender is thought to be a two-headed beast when in actuality it's more spectral and complicated like the many-headed Hydra. There's no one way of looking at gender, and I find that books that reinforce gender norms are fascinating because they contradict my world view. Really, I think I write more about masculinity than anything because in the books I tend to read there is more likely than not a woman who is living in the confines of a man's construction of masculinity.
Q: Why feminism?
A: Essentially feminism talks about women being politically, socially, and economically equal to men, but I think that feminism really is about advocacy for people who have not traditionally had a voice who, like women, have been underrepresented politically, socially, economically, and literarily. I choose to look at literature through a feminist perspective because not all characters are created or looked at equally, and it's important to find those characters and figure out how and why they are speaking and how it impacts the narrative in which they reside.
Q: Why make the StoryMap? What's the point? How does it work?
A: While I primarily studied American and British literature throughout school, it doesn't mean that American and British literature is the only thing out there. I put the WorldMap and StoryMap U.S.A on the blog because I want to make sure the things I'm reading are as diverse as the world I live in, and are coming from other places that I might not be so familiar with or accustomed to. Even though the concept of diversity was easy for me to put into a graphic, the StoryMaps are complicated for me theoretically because I don't want to oversimplify the idea of globalized authorship. So, I tried to simplify the maps based on my personal philosophy/feelings towards literature.
If you see a dot on the WorldMap it means that the book read took place in that country. So for instance, if I read a book that took place in China, then the dot for that book would be in China. And if you see a dot in a particular state in the U.S. of A map, then it means that the book took place in that state. My goal is to read at least one book from each country of the world and each state before I die.
Q: What's your writing process like? Do you have a format you follow?
A: I tend to free write about the book I've finished reading over a period of days before I reread and edit what I've written. Narrowing down my ideas is the hardest part, but there's no good way to do that. The best way to keep my writing as streamlined as possible is to make note of the themes and go from there. I also like an exercise one of my professors would have the class do. Sometimes I start with my personal response to a particular passage then analyze the style in terms of personal response. Using this method tends to be the most productive.
Q: Where do you get your books? Why aren't there a lot of textual citations?
A: I typically read e-books although there are many books I've read and am writing about that are hardbacks or paperbacks. I tend more towards e-books because they're more tailored to me lifestyle. I typically get e-books from Google's Play Books, Amazon's Kindle book store, and books from Oyster's library. Citing e-books with Play Books and Kindle is much easier than citing with Oyster. Pagination with Google and Kindle are typically very different than print books, so if you see something funky it's probably an e-book. Oyster is impossible to cite because it doesn't give page numbers. Instead Oyster marks page with percentage read, so if there's no citations for quotes in a post it's definitely an Oyster book.
A: Gender is thought to be a two-headed beast when in actuality it's more spectral and complicated like the many-headed Hydra. There's no one way of looking at gender, and I find that books that reinforce gender norms are fascinating because they contradict my world view. Really, I think I write more about masculinity than anything because in the books I tend to read there is more likely than not a woman who is living in the confines of a man's construction of masculinity.
Q: Why feminism?
A: Essentially feminism talks about women being politically, socially, and economically equal to men, but I think that feminism really is about advocacy for people who have not traditionally had a voice who, like women, have been underrepresented politically, socially, economically, and literarily. I choose to look at literature through a feminist perspective because not all characters are created or looked at equally, and it's important to find those characters and figure out how and why they are speaking and how it impacts the narrative in which they reside.
Q: Why make the StoryMap? What's the point? How does it work?
A: While I primarily studied American and British literature throughout school, it doesn't mean that American and British literature is the only thing out there. I put the WorldMap and StoryMap U.S.A on the blog because I want to make sure the things I'm reading are as diverse as the world I live in, and are coming from other places that I might not be so familiar with or accustomed to. Even though the concept of diversity was easy for me to put into a graphic, the StoryMaps are complicated for me theoretically because I don't want to oversimplify the idea of globalized authorship. So, I tried to simplify the maps based on my personal philosophy/feelings towards literature.
If you see a dot on the WorldMap it means that the book read took place in that country. So for instance, if I read a book that took place in China, then the dot for that book would be in China. And if you see a dot in a particular state in the U.S. of A map, then it means that the book took place in that state. My goal is to read at least one book from each country of the world and each state before I die.
Q: What's your writing process like? Do you have a format you follow?
A: I tend to free write about the book I've finished reading over a period of days before I reread and edit what I've written. Narrowing down my ideas is the hardest part, but there's no good way to do that. The best way to keep my writing as streamlined as possible is to make note of the themes and go from there. I also like an exercise one of my professors would have the class do. Sometimes I start with my personal response to a particular passage then analyze the style in terms of personal response. Using this method tends to be the most productive.
Q: Where do you get your books? Why aren't there a lot of textual citations?
A: I typically read e-books although there are many books I've read and am writing about that are hardbacks or paperbacks. I tend more towards e-books because they're more tailored to me lifestyle. I typically get e-books from Google's Play Books, Amazon's Kindle book store, and books from Oyster's library. Citing e-books with Play Books and Kindle is much easier than citing with Oyster. Pagination with Google and Kindle are typically very different than print books, so if you see something funky it's probably an e-book. Oyster is impossible to cite because it doesn't give page numbers. Instead Oyster marks page with percentage read, so if there's no citations for quotes in a post it's definitely an Oyster book.
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