Weird Frozen-inspired Idea

This idea has been bugging me for a long time and it's really annoying so I'm going to mention it. I don't know why; I usually don't come up with these things, but I couldn't help it. It's a completely alternate plot that just keeps the titles (and music) of the songs with lyrics.

The story is about a princess (we'll call her Anna) and her mother (we'll call her Elsa and give her ice powers, even though it feels wrong that they aren't sisters). In the beginning, when the princess is young, her parents play with her a lot and they have a close relationship. But after an attack by a minority group, the mostly benevolent queen instates even-harsher-than-normal policies against all minorities in her kingdom. These cause discontent, and as the princess gets older, her parents have less time for her because they're dealing with these people.

(Do You Want to Build a Snowman?)

Then, making everything worse, the queen's husband (not sure what his title is) is kidnapped by bandits (who happen to mostly be ethnic minorities) and dies in an escape attempt. The queen becomes colder and begins to really crack down on those populations, neglecting her daughter; her powers have also attained a tendency to do destructive things while she struggles to create just snow.

(The super-sad part of Do You Want to Build a Snowman?)

In addition, her daughter was closer to her father and has a rocky relationship with her mother at the best of times. She tries to be the daughter she knows her mother wants, but she never quite succeeds and the pressure is hard.

The tradition in this kingdom is to, on the oldest child's 18th birthday (Anna's is in winter), choose the next queen from a pool of people chosen for the skill, a pool that automatically includes said child. Anna is very excited, hoping her mother will notice her and be proud of her.

(For the First Time In Forever)

But one of the people also under consideration is talented and gets along immediately with the queen. Anna spots the queen with the boy (Hans) and believes that she has been replaced in her mother's heart.

(Love is an Open Door - though I was thinking more of the "mental synchronization" part)

Anna runs away, telling herself her duties as a princess are over because there is another person who will take the kingdom and probably would do a better job than her. She takes enough money to support herself, as well as some jewels, and plans to find work as a tutor or historian. She dies her hair, putting on makeup and changing clothes to disguise herself. When she is not recognized in the marketplace, she realizes that she no longer has to seek her mother's approval and is more daring than she ever has been before.

(Let It Go)

In the meantime, the queen is extremely worried when she realizes Anna is gone. Under Hans's reassurances that they'll be alright for a few days, she dashes off in search of her daughter (on awesome ice-stuff, of course).

In Anna's spree of trying new things, she ends up more than a little high and drunk and gives at least half of her money and a ring to a cute little boy (possibly named Olaf - this one doesn't fit very well).

(In Summer)

Spurred on by her semi-drunkenness, Anna meets a person named Kristoff (definitely Kristoff) and flirts with him. He ends up taking her to his family/village (they're all related anyways), who soon recognize her as the princess. She, too, recognizes them as part of the minority population her mother has been persecuting and freaks out. But they tell her that they don't care about who she's related to and decide to take her in despite that, proclaiming that every friend of Kristoff is their friend. She, drunk, thinks it's great that they're adopting her.

(Fixer-Upper)

The queen finds the ring and traces it to Olaf, who directs the queen to the village and offers to give her the money back; in thanks, she allows him to keep it and doesn't punish him. When the queen arrives at the village, she sees her daughter through the walls and announces her presence, telling them that if they do not deliver Anna, she will freeze the village and turn everyone into ice. (This would not kill Anna because the queen could thaw her afterwards.)

They deliver Anna, knowing that they are helpless, but Anna insists that the queen promise she won't harm anyone. Anna and her mother get in a shouting match, each airing their grievances, but while they are engrossed in argument, one of the villagers throws a knife at the queen.

Anna is distraught, but the villagers tell her that unless she abandons her mother, she is their enemy. Alone and without protection, Anna pretends to agree but at night steals a couple of knives and finds her mother. Kristoff and another of the more sympathetic villagers also come to see what they can do. Anna holds them at bay until they convince her that they want to help. Anna searches for the vial of tears Rapunzel gave them, which the queen normally carries with her, in vain. (I think it's implied that the flower is gone, but I refuse to accept that. Rapunzel, and her children, and so on have magic flower powers.) Kristoff agrees to take Anna and the queen on his sled to the castle.

When they get there, however, Hans proves oddly obstructive and reveals that the vast majority of the soldiers have been lured away. Anna suddenly realizes from things he said and the villagers said that he's been in communication with them, and that he convinced the queen to leave in hopes that something would happen. Kristoff swears he didn't know; Anna knows she doesn't have time to worry about that and tells Kristoff to distract Hans while Anna runs carrying her mother to the infirmary, pursued by the people Hans snuck in with her that are now trying to stop her. She is met by a servant who smuggled her sword over, hearing about the fight. Anna thanks her and tells her to get somewhere safe.

Anna wants to wait to hear if her mother can be saved, but remembers Kristoff. The door is blocked, but Anna climbs out though the window and then, holding her sword in her mouth, climbs across the windows (her childhood antics coming in handy now) and into a hallway. She runs to where she can hear a commotion. The door, she discovers, was blocked because of Kristoff. The few soldiers remaining are still fighting against Hans's fighters, leaving Kristoff alone against Hans and losing. Anna charges in to rescue him, incapacitating Hans. With her help, they soon defeat the rest of Hans's fighters.

They are sending someone to get rope for the non-killed fighters, but the queen rounded the corner just in time to see the last one fall and she now binds them using her awesome magical icy powers. Anna stands in front of Kristoff protectively. To everyone's surprise, the queen thanks Kristoff. Anna apologizes for running off and yelling at her mother, and fluffiness ensues.

In the last scene, the queen publically announces that she will change her policies towards ethnic minorities and thanks Kristoff for his part in saving her life. She creates a new office for relations between ethnic groups and appoints Kristoff (temporarily) to a high position in it. She also explains what Hans did and that there will be another ceremony to choose her successor since this one was interrupted.

And while there are lots of problems ahead for all of them, they all lived (for the most part), happily ever after.

Mareftia Map

Fractures in a Dream is set in a civilization called Essential. They call their world Mareftia, on which there are three continents: Teipin (where Essential is), Anamyarit, and Lokhejs. Teipin is usually separated into Sunrise Teipin, Central Teipin, and Sunset Teipin. Central Teipin is by far the smallest, consisting only of the band of mountains  in the middle of Teipin (created when the two parts of the continent collided with each other). Sunrise Teipin is often further divided into Polar Sunrise Teipin and Equatorial Sunrise Teipin.

Civilization originated near the big lake in equatorial Teipin, along a river leading from it to the ocean. Civilization spread quickly across Teipin and to Lokhejs, but Anamyarit was too far initially. The empire with the greatest impact, the Dinnu empire, had its capital right where "Teipin" is written in Essentiali. At its height, it covered all of Sunrise Teipin. It was only after the Dinnu's collapse that a huge migration happened (populating both Central Teipin and Anamyarit) and Anamyarit got its first written language. Scholars debate whether any of the cities that previously existed there could be considered civilization.

The Dinnu were also notable for being the first civilization to recognize the right of all species to civilize; previously civilizations usually repressed the attempts by other species. The Dinnu, instead, invented a language made of taps of varying lengths and helped these species to civilize. The main reason it managed to get so powerful was because it, though this method and the species' power, took many "subordinate civilizations", many of whom had their own subordinate civilizations.

I did not name the plates, just drew them to vaguely place a few islands. As you can see, sunrise is on the left, because most of their landmass is on what we would consider the southern hemisphere and therefore the pole on the top of their globe is the one we would call the south pole.

When I drew Anamyarit, I drew it to fit perfectly with Teipin, then moved them apart and flooded the edges (the islands on the sides are where the mountains once were). Essential is marked on Teipin by the sign. Those black dots are what happen when you draw mountains with pencil and scan it into the computer. I did not draw all the islands, all the lakes, or any rivers.

Having looked at this map again, though, I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it. It looks like it would fit somewhat well in a "what Americans think the world looks like". That's probably because I was lazy and mostly copied our plates. On the other hand, I've grown attached to this, and there are already a lot of similarities between their world and ours. This would not come at all as a surprise to the religious in Essential, because they don't believe different worlds split up until what we call the Cambrian explosion. Therefore, everything pre-Cambrian explosion, and quite a bit after that (the Senti are still mostly in control, so they mostly do the same things in each universe) should be the same.

I'll probably do whatever people tell me to :)

Test Test Essay

I'm entering my junior year, and with that comes things like the SAT and its optional(?) essay. It's known that they choose obscure essay topics that most people haven't really thought about. Which makes sense; it would be unfair to give people topics that not everyone is equally familiar with.

But wait. There is one topic that everyone taking that SAT is equally familiar with, and probably very passionate about.

Yep, I'm talking about the test they just took.

Look, students like complaining about tests. They really like complaining about tests. When the PARCC happened, pretty much everyone spent more time and thought telling the PARCC why it sucked than on the PARCC's essays. This is what we do.

It's what I've spent at least three posts doing.

In addition, all the material they could possibly want is there, right in that packet that they just spent hours pouring over.

And, as a bonus, any particularly good comments can be forwarded to the test-makers for future improvement.

The questions could be broad or specific. "Write a persuasive essay about why the SAT should or should not be used as a metric for college admissions." "Evaluate how effective this test was at testing critical thinking skills."

It doesn't even have to be about the SAT specifically. Do you know what would probably test our creativity? Designing the education system we think would be ideal. Persuading the grader that standardized tests should be replaced with a metric we design, or that standardized tests are the best metric possible. Yes, it'd be pretty hard to design a metric in a couple of minutes, but for those who haven't done it already, there's always the latter argument. And writing essays in 25 minutes about things you, frankly, have no opinion regarding, is not easy either.

Or we could broaden it still more. I think it's fair to say the vast majority of people taking the SAT are students, home-schooled or not, who want to go to college. Write an essay about grades, whether they hurt or help. Write an essay about whether education should be provided by the state. Write a persuasive essay proposing anything that you think would make school better (nap-time). Write an essay about Pearson. Write an essay about why colleges should be free. Write an essay about colleges, period.

Good essays to be forwarded to the respective institutions.

There are things that apply to everyone taking the test. There is absolutely no need to go search for obscure topics when every person taking this test is sitting in a classroom with a number two pencil, hoping for a good score so they can get into the college of their dreams.

Or any college, possibly.

These aren't just topics we care about or topics that all testers know about. These are hot topics. Education matters, and as students, it affects our lives directly.

I still really like the idea of writing about the test, though.

Your ideas?

Don't Judge This Cover By Its Book

After months of procrastination, I finally finished a cover for my book!

More accurately, I created a background (I know, beautiful).
<-------------
I wrote the words three times - first in pencil, then neater in pencil, and then in sharpie, and despite the vertical lines, I still ended up moving the words using Paint to create nice looking lines.

Then, because I was lazy,
Eyob took the initiative
and inverted the colors
to produce ---->



I added, rather ineptly (I really need to get something other than Paint), a title, but then Sophia did a much better one.

                      Which Gabe then edited to produce three different covers with different colors.

I'm still playing around, but comments on these existing covers are very much appreciated. I am most likely not going to change the background, however, because I don't want to do anything that isn't possible with a sharpie and piece of paper. Also, because I'm lazy. Even though these covers might not quite invoke the general tone of my book. Any suggestions are also appreciated.

(I have a cover that doesn't make my book look like a dictionary I'm so excited!)

Parts of a Book

For the most part, I have so far focused on editing. I say editing, but considering I deleted and re-wrote about an eighth of my book, that might not be the right word.

I'm finally, however, finishing up the major rewriting. At least, I think. I saved each "version" of my book, and there are at least three different versions labelled variations of "finished", so it's quite possible that at some point I will return and turn over my book again. I have, however, reached the point when I seriously consider the other parts of a book.

It turns out there are a lot of them, and a lot of words for them that I didn't know before (credits to Joel Friedlander).

Frontmatter

The pages at the beginning of a book before the body of the book. These pages are traditionally numbered with lowercase roman numerals

Half title—Also called the Bastard title, this page contains only the title of the book and is typically the first page you see when opening the cover. This page and its verso (the back, or left-hand reverse of the page) are often eliminated in an attempt to control the length of the finished book.

Frontispiece—An illustration on the verso facing the title page.

Title page—Announces the title, subtitle, author and publisher of the book. Other information that may be found on the title page can include the publisher’s location, the year of publication, or descriptive text about the book, and illustrations are also common on title pages.

Copyright page—Usually the verso of the title page, this page carries the copyright notice, edition information, publication information, printing history, cataloging data, legal notices, and the books ISBN or identification number. In addition, rows of numbers are sometimes printed at the bottom of the page to indicate the year and number of the printing. Credits for design, production, editing and illustration are also commonly listed on the copyright page.

Dedication—Not every book carries a dedication but, for those that do, it follows the copyright page.

Epigraph—An author may wish to include an epigraph—a quotation—near the front of the book. The epigraph may also appear facing the Table of Contents, or facing the first page of text. Epigraphs can also be used at the heads of each chapter.

Table of Contents—Also known as the Contents page, this page lists all the major divisions of the book including parts, if used, and chapters. Depending on the length of the book, a greater level of detail may be provided to help the reader navigate the book. History records that the Table of Contents was invented by Quintus Valerius Soranus before 82 bce.

List of Figures—In books with numerous figures (or illustrations) it can be helpful to include a list of all figures, their titles and the page numbers on which they occur.

List of Tables—Similar to the List of Figures above, a list of tables occurring in the book may be helpful for readers.

Foreword—Usually a short piece written by someone other than the author, the Foreword may provide a context for the main work. Remember that the Foreword is always signed, usually with the author’s name, place and date.

Preface—Written by the author, the Preface often tells how the book came into being, and is often signed with the name, place and date, although this is not always the case.

Acknowledgments—The author expresses their gratitude for help in the creation of the book.

Introduction—The author explains the purposes and the goals of the work, and may also place the work in a context, as well as spell out the organization and scope of the book.

Prologue—In a work of fiction, the Prologue sets the scene for the story and is told in the voice of a character from the book, not the author’s voice.

Second Half Title—If the frontmatter is particularly extensive, a second half title identical to the first, can be added before the beginning of the text. The page following is usually blank but may contain an illustration or an epigraph. When the book design calls for double-page chapter opening spreads, the second half title can be used to force the chapter opening to a left-hand page.

Body

This is the main portion or body of the book.

Part Opening page—Both fiction and nonfiction books are often divided into parts when there is a large conceptual, historical or structural logic that suggests these divisions, and the belief that reader will benefit from a meta-organization.

Chapter Opening page—Most fiction and almost all nonfiction books are divided into chapters for the sake of organizing the material to be covered. Chapter Opening pages and Part Opening pages may be a single right-hand page, or in some cases a spread consisting of a left- and right-hand page, (or a verso and a recto). Statistically, if a spread opening is used, half the chapters (or parts) will generate a blank right hand page, and the author or publisher will have to work with the book designer to decide how to resolve these right-hand page blanks.

Epilogue—An ending piece, either in the voice of the author or as a continuation of the main narrative, meant to bring closure of some kind to the work.

Afterword—May be written by the author or another, and might deal with the origin of the book or seek to situate the work in some wider context.

Conclusion—A brief summary of the salient arguments of the main work that attempts to give a sense of completeness to the work.

Backmatter

At the end of the book various citations, notes and ancillary material are gathered together into the backmatter.

Postscript—From the latin post scriptum, “after the writing” meaning anything added as an addition or afterthought to the main body of the work.

Appendix or Addendum—A supplement of some kind to the main work. An Appendix might include source documents cited in the text, material that arose too late to be included in the main body of the work, or any of a number of other insertions.

Chronology—In some works, particularly histories, a chronological list of events may be helpful for the reader. It may appear as an appendix, but can also appear in the frontmatter if the author considers it critical to the reader’s understanding of the work.

Notes—Endnotes come after any appendices, and before the bibliography or list of references. The notes are typically divided by chapter to make them easier to locate.

Glossary—An alphabetical list of terms and their definitions, usually restricted to some specific area.

Bibliography—A systematic list of books or other works such as articles in periodicals, usually used as a list of works that have been cited in the main body of the work, although not necessarily limited to those works.

List of Contributors—A work by many authors may demand a list of contributors, which should appear immediately before the index, although it is sometimes moved to the front matter. Contributor’s names should be listed alphabetically by last name, but appear in the form “First Name Last Name.” Information about each contributor may include brief biographical notes, academic affiliations, or previous publications.

Index—An alphabetical listing of people, places, events, concepts, and works cited along with page numbers indicating where they can be found within the main body of the work.

Errata—A notice from the publisher of an error in the book, usually caused in the production process.

Colophon—A brief notice at the end of a book usually describing the text typography, identifying the typeface by name along with a brief history. It may also credit the book’s designer and other persons or companies involved in its physical production.

Of course, these aren't all required, but I used to think that the copyright page was written by the publisher.

I was not terribly happy to learn it wasn't.

The article can be found in full at http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2009/09/parts-of-a-book/.

Place of Rest

Off a bustling highway down a lonely road, far away from the region's water sources, is a cracked parking lot, weeds beginning to squeeze past the concrete. There are only a few cars, parked between the slanted lines, but the lot is rarely empty, except at night. On one side are a couple of stalls, with rickety wooden doors and fans on top to wave the smell to the distance; next to them sit a clump of trash cans and recycling bins. The road ends here; the nearest residents are farmers with acres of ripe corn stalks. Past this, there is only a dirt path, trodden down by generations of feet large and small. The wind blows as the path's few travelers plod along, ruffling the leaves of the trees lining the sides.

When the path breaks out of the shadow of forest, it is to meet a brief clearing and then more trees, tall, sturdy ones and saplings newly planted. The grass here has been mowed, and people sit on it, under the shade of great spreading oaks and tall evergreens, watching squirrels camper above and listening to birds chirp in the warm air. Sunshine crosses through the leaves to play on the trunks and grass.

On the base of the trees, in the grass, are wooden signs.

The white ash of Cecil Rodney, beloved father and brother.

The American beech of Alicia Everett, who lit up every room.

Maybe it's her loved ones' imagination, but there always seems to be some dancing rays of sunshine above where her remains have given life to the beech.

It was her favorite tree.

Her young niece comes every week, riding the solar-powered shuttle provided for the commute. She comes bearing flowers and fertilizer, and as she sits under the sapling's shade and leans against the solid trunk, she feels like her aunt is there, watching her.

Perhaps she is.

One life gives birth to another. And a grieving father waters the grave of his son, dead too soon, and nobody tells him when they frantically replace the tree because it fell in a storm. If he knows, he doesn't think about it.

The gardeners who tend to the trees know everyone and their stories. They lay a mat for the niece who does her homework against her aunt's side, let the father tend to his son's tree, hang up sweets for the little boy who will grow up with his mother's elm. They know which tree was playful, which one liked to read, which one never complained, no matter how bad her pain. 

They know that the trees still are.

One life gives birth to another, as it returns to the earth. Life ends, and yet never ends.

As it should be, they say.

The grieving pay for the upkeep, but the trees are provided, unless someone requests a particular species, by the state. It's a natural right, a human right, to live forever. And one by one, the people have repopulated the earth with trees. The wealthy have turned the deserts into moist forests.

Life is an ever-expanding cycle.

And in dense clumps are sturdy, mature trees. They receive no human visitors, save for a few exceptions, but no one pities them, for they are plenty visited. They are the homes of many plants and animals, and insects as well, and they have moved far from grief.

Grief is finite. Life goes on forever.

And when the graveyard is deserted and the parking lot overrun by weeds, the trees will still be there, carrying life on their strong branches, with the sun playing between their leaves.

Grades

Recently I read this answer on Quora that said, among other things, that schools should teach us that if we aren't failing, we aren't learning enough. Instead of praising students for getting four As in a row, it suggested, teachers should ask students, "What can we do to challenge you more?"

Now, I don't entirely agree with that, because on things like unit tests, the idea is that we should have mastered the content. But I do agree with the general sentiment. If a student is succeeding (otherwise known, for better or worse, as getting 'A's) without much effort, that's a problem that should be fixed. I totally agree with that.

But something in me screams, "Noooo, don't take away my 'A's!"

Perhaps it's just my bias, but it seems like every day I am confronted with the stigma against grade obsession. Professors say they want people who like learning, not getting good grades, college admissions assure us they look at more than just the numbers, teachers tell us that ultimately, grades don't really matter. And I agree. Learning's important; grades are, at best, an imperfect measure of that.

But I'm not going to delete the app I have for the sole purpose of making it as easy as possible to check my grades every five minutes.

The way people speak of it, it sometimes seems like they think we care about grades solely because of an erroneous mindset that values recognition over achievement. And of course, I can only speak for myself, but getting good grades is seriously addicting. Deserved or not, there is nothing quite like the feeling of getting a high A on a project I put my sweat and tears into. There is nothing more guaranteed to keep me energetic and productive than a row of grades that are 95% or above.

Is this relationship unhealthy? My mood—and, unfortunately, performance—fall with my grades. When the last test of the quarter comes, my head is bent over the calculator, figuring out what I need to get to end with an A; lying in bed, I frantically dust off my mental arithmetic skills to achieve an approximation. I feel a pang when the grade for the most recent test hasn't been posted; a horrible shiver runs down my spine, immobilizing me temporarily, if the grade is bad.

If it is good, better than I expected, there is a sudden rush; for a few days, nothing (save a bad grade) can get me down.

So maybe it's bad that my spirits can be so strongly affected by a number I'm not fully in control of, especially when that number is always present. And yet I can't bring myself to stop caring, because  nothing has been able to replace that rush; no anticipation is as guaranteed to be rewarded (whether with horror, relief, or joy) as the wait while the teacher passes back an important assessment.

I don't care whether the number means anything. I want to learn in a way that is wholly separate from my desire for good grades. I do assignments because I couldn't not. If I regard good grades as anything more than instant, long-lasting gratification, it's as reward for effort put in.

And that's what I wish people understood.