Art and Poem: A Toast for You

A Toast for You

Let me raise a glass

To you, to us.

Why, you ask? Well...

For all reasons and

no reason at all.

Because it is a lovely evening,

with lovely company?

Because we celebrate,

just for the sake of doing it?

Do we need a reason,

to raise a toast

To You, to us?

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

Language, Writing and Art Entwined

Whenever I can, I like to incorporate my various interests in my writing and art. One of my main hobbies is languages. I originally trained as a foreign language/English as a second language teacher in college. I love the sounds, the complexity of grammar, how semantics can change a spoken or written word, and how body language conveys messages on its own.

I think that's why I enjoy writing science fiction and fantasy. I can build my own worlds and make up their cultures and languages. Sometimes they are based on Earth peoples and places, other times they sound truly alien. I can draw on my experience as a linguist, teacher and artist to make my stories unique and believable.

Language can be a basis for art too. I'm currently studying Japanese, and brushing up on my Mandarin Chinese. My family history is from Southeast Asia, so it's also a link to my own cultural roots. Here are some examples of how I combine 3 of my loves: foreign language, writing and art.

Marumochi, Japanese rice cakes. The word is written in hiragana and kanji (two of the three writing systems in Japanese.

 Sakura, cherry blossom. The word is written on the right (and vertically) in hiragana.


 These two are Chinese calligraphy, yellow acrylic on a red acrylic background.  The character on the left is Ming, "bright", which consists of the characters for the sun and the moon. Makes sense, in a way, especially once you see the characters side by side to understand the meaning.

   The one on the right is Fu,  "happiness". This one's a bit more abstract. On the right side are the symbols meaning "to fill" (which consist of the symbols for "one", "mouth" and "field"), joined with the symbol for "heaven" on the left. To be filled with bounty from the rice field, sent from heaven equals happiness.

Language, writing and art are interconnected in many ways. I really enjoy incorporating the three in many different ways and in many different mediums. Fiction. prose, poetry, collage and art all tell a different story for different people. What does it tell you?

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

More Books on the Reading List

A few more books on the summer reading list:


1) The Curved Planks, Poems: A Bilingual Edition, by Yves Bonnefoy, Translated by Hoyt Rogers A set of poems by French poet Yves Bonnefoy, with the original French alongside the English. Yeah, my French is pretty rusty right now.


2) Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki Leon This is by the author of the "Uppity Women Series".  It outlines the more *ahem* interesting jobs in the ancient world, including something called astercorarius, also known as a "manure entrepreneur". Seriously.


3) Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp who would be Human by Elizabeth Hess. Nim was a chimpanzee, who was involved with an experiment by Herbert S. Terrace at Columbia University. Can chimps learn ASL (American Sign Language) and prove that language "isn't just for humans"? (Ironically, his last name is a play on Chomsky, a linguist who believed that language is only found among humans.) But when the experiment ended, what became of Nim?


As my sister once asked, "Don't you read anything for fun?" I do, but my idea of fun's a little different from hers.

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

I'm an Animated Artist!

I usually don't put a lot of stock in personality tests, but this is one of the few that is eerily accurate. It has me as an "Animated Artist."


High in: Openness, Femininity and Sponteneity
Low in: Agency, Masculinity, and Authoritarianism


My personalDNA Report

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

What Do my Characters Look Like?

When I start a story project, one of my first questions is, What does my protagonist look like? What does my antagonist look like?Words paint a picture for the reader. "The top of her head barely reached his shoulder, even with the three-inch heels." "He tied his long hair back in a ponytail, making sure it was safely out of the way." "I could imagine him twirling the ends of his mustache like some bad Frenchman in an awful dime store romance novel." Show your reader through their movements (twirling the mustache), comparison (much shorter than he is, even with the heels) or action (tying his long hair back in a ponytail).


I am a visual person and sometimes I have a hard time imagining the character in my mind's eye. A fellow author I know bases his characters' likenesses on actors and actresses, past and present. It gives him a base to build his characters, a guide on how they react to other characters, and a general idea on their personalities. My approach is a bit different from his: as a visual artist, I sketch, draw, paint who I see for the character. Use the approach that is most helpful for your writing.


Here are some examples (all artwork copyright 2010 by A. Dameron):

Holly, a character from

my sci-fi story, "First Duty."

Ramon the Scribe from "The Eye of the Falcon"

Magadalena from "Cantadora"

                                                                                                                                            

 Isabel and Morena "Cantadora"

                                                                                  

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

Art and Poem: "The Power of Intention"

Intention

The Power of Intention:

Prayer

Invocation

Declaration

The wizard sings his spell,

The king proclaims his law.

Words

Intention

Incantation

A chain of them spreads magic

A single one changes lifetimes.

Heart

Dedication

Facilitation.

Emotion summons the power:

The strength of "I will."

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010

Decoding Baby Babble--Language in Motion

My younger daughter has been babbling up a storm. It's amazing to hear her, especially since my older two are autistic and non-verbal. I was trained as a languages/linguistics person, so this is something new for me.


"She's loud," my sister commented yesterday, trying to raise her voice over Sarah telling her about her day.


"Yeah," I agreed.


"She sounds like Mom."


"Mom babbles?"


"No. Well, yeah. I mean, she *sounds* like Mom. You know, how she talks. With everything, like her face and her hands."


Mom does talk loudly and fast with the occasional back slap to make her point. It's the Spanish side of the family (Filipino/Spanish/Chinese), the enthusiasm for life. And until Dee pointed it out, I didn't realize that Sarah had inherited that quality. It can be annoying or endearing, depending on whether or not you're in striking range.


A person's mannerisms can be a definite clue to their personality. If you watch someone in a coffee shop, you can pick up clues about their lives. Are they on a cell phone with their boss? Taking their toddler's hand out of the candy jar? Wanting their coffee *yesterday*, hurry up, they're on the clock? Flirting with the barista? Typing away on a laptop, oblivious to the rest of the world? Do they talk with a slow drawl, quickly, with an accent? Watch and listen, and you can learn a lot about character.


Today, I can tell Sarah is going to be just like my mom: loud, chatty and expressive. She'll definitely be quite a character.

All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010