One group is not the culmination of an entire religion.

Terrible acts are not the representation of an entire religion.

Voice in Contemporary Literature: Karen Russell

After reading Vampires in Lemon Grove and reading articles in which Karen Russell is interviewed about her writing style and choices, I have grown to love her writing style and thought pattern. Learning about her background and simple love of looking at typical things in new ways is extremely appealing to me! Her imagination shows through in the world she builds in Swamplandia!, which is a very descriptive Pulitzer finalist story about a family running a threadbare alligator theme park in the Everglades. 

Karen’s voice surrounds taking the ordinary, or know, and making normal situations remarkable or surreal. She writes with a clear voice, describing each environment and situation with great detail and an excellent use of smilies that are unexpected and fantastic. She has a great way of pulling the audience into her world and immersing the reader entirely. She doesn’t beat around the bush with her stories, but instead is completely straightforward in her storytelling, with a poignant quality that reflects the issues facing the human race. 

Though they are not necessarily her own personal reflections, Karen is able to project a variety of tones through her characters in her stories. After reading multiple interviews, she made it clear that her stories don’t necessarily reflect her own memories or experiences, but rather that something sounded interesting to write about, so she did! Simple as that. In these stories, her tone is very relatable as she does not just stick to one overarching theme or tone in her writing. She has an incredible ability to make a completely new situation feel completely relatable because of the characters clearly written feelings. When reading her character’s thoughts, it almost feels like you’re reading their diary or having an intimate conversation, which completely immerses the reader. In turn, it also feels like we’re having a conversation with the author herself.

I found Karen Russell’s writing completely enjoyable and entertaining to read and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future!

Ready Player Once: A Virtual Reality Experience

The user materializes in a bright, bustling hallway in front of a long row of hight school lockers. The user log on screen fades, reading “Identity verification successful. Welcome to the OASIS, Parzival! Login Completed: 07:53:21 OST-2.10.2045" Turning in a full circle, the user examines their surroundings, beautifully rendered in high definition three dimensions. Other users are opening their lockers with a touch and making their way into their respective classrooms before the bell tone. The user can explore the hall space, looking into classroom windows and walking the breezeway, but there is not much to explore. Turning back to their locker, a glowing green icon appears where the locker’s handle would be. Touching the icon, the locker door opens with a soft metallic click. The inside is sparsely decorated, save a picture of the cast of Monty Python dress in their Holy Grail costumes and a picture of Princess Leia posing with a blaster pistol. In the back of the locker is a solitary picture of James Halliday’s Time magazine cover. After taking in the metallic locker, two more glowing icons appear over the next class period’s textbooks. Tapping the icons, the books appear in the users inventory. Before closing the door, the user notices a small mirror, catching a glimpse of their virtual self, and the floating username ‘Wade3'. Interrupted by a warning bell and a flashing in the corner of their display, the user is informed that they have 30 minute until the start of first period. 

Using voice commands to navigate, the user walks in the direction of the World History classroom. Appearing in the classroom, other students avatars are already seated motionless with their eyes closed, engaged in phone calls or browsing the web, or logged into chat rooms. Ignoring them, the user walks to the glowing icon by their seat and sits down, with 25 minutes to spare before class begins. Tapping the engage icon, the users own eyelids shut, classroom faded as they begin scanning messages and threads when an instant message pops up:

        Aech: Top o' the morning, amigo. 

The user is prompted with a few responses, they select and continue the conversation.

        Parzival: Hola, compadre. 

        Aech: What are you up to? 

        Parzival:Just surfing the turf. You? 

        Aech: Got the Basement online. Come and hang out before school, fool. 

        Parzival: Sweet!I'll betherein a sec.

Closing the IM window, the user taps a small highlighted door icon at the edge of their display, selecting Aech’s chat room from the list of favorites and their view fades to black as they transport to Aech’s chatroom.

My Voice as an Artist

What are some common elements that represent your work and makes your voice...well, yours?

        There are multiple elements that come into play when I begin planning out the stories I tell. These stories come in the form of CG animation, animatics (storyboards) and storytelling images. When planning a story, memory is my first inspiration, whether it be an experience or the emotion derived from an experience. My personal outlook is on the positive side, (with no lack of puns) but I have not lived through life unscathed of dark moments and sadness. The realism of life is something I value and grounds many of my stories to some extent, one foot in reality while the other could be anywhere else. Overall, the most common themes to be found in my work are light hearted, comical and relatable.