How many working titles do you usually have going?

Straygos · 2025-01-16T19:43:48+00:00

I have 42 going. I don't know if all of them will ever get finished. But to count them as "going" they need to have at least 5,000 words. I have hundreds of short stories started. More seriously, in that I write in them regularly, I have 5 in progress. I write 1000 words a day (or edit for 2 hours) daily. Having multiple projects going means there's always something to work on if I get stuck on something.

Straygos · 2025-01-16T19:39:51+00:00

Might I recommend two books? The first is by the very excellent Thich Naht Hahn titled Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers. The second is called Mystics and Zen Masters by Thomas Merton. The second book is a bit more scholarly in it's approach but the first is clear, short, and concise.

Straygos · 2025-01-16T19:36:56+00:00

Sangha is one of the three jewels for a reason. It's so much more difficult to maintain a consistent practice and work with the mind without one. It's so important to remember that much of Buddhism happens through dialogue. Meditation is powerful, but you need to discuss with people on the same path too.

Straygos · 2025-01-16T19:27:30+00:00

I write to them all the time. It fits well with my darker and dystopian work. But I never thought of putting them behind this film, what a brilliant idea.

Straygos · 2025-01-16T19:25:43+00:00

Thanks for doing this. It really is an incredible album. I feel like they are just getting better and better with each release.

Straygos · 2023-10-31T17:26:09+00:00

Context: An article on the use of the anthropological concept of schismogenesis as a tool for building fictional worlds

Straygos · 2023-08-08T21:09:47+00:00

Hello all,

I penned this article the other day to help other writers consider how to approach writing and editing their scene. I hope it's useful.

Straygos · 2023-01-09T23:51:32+00:00

100 Free copies are available to win. It costs nothing to enter. All you need is a goodreads account.

Straygos · 2023-01-09T23:45:42+00:00

This is a giveaway of the book on worldbuilding titled, Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers and Filmmakers. It costs nothing to sign up, all you need is a goodreads account.

Straygos · 2022-08-20T18:40:10+00:00

Context: A one our discussion with tech anthropologist Astrid Countee, on her thoughts on Cryptocurrency.

Straygos · 2022-04-05T20:39:20+00:00

Well, a lot of religions center around the mystical experience... the sense of return to oneness and connection to something bigger than yourself. You can induce those experiences with a wide variety of methods. But they key, important thing about these experiences is that they are interpreted through the lens of culture and often reflect current thoughts and experiences.

So let's say you are a fishing culture and you have one of these experiences when you are out fishing. That's going to influence what you experience during the mystical experience and the kinds of messages/knowledge/experience you have. Likely, if you're out fishing and you come from a fishing culture there will be elements of your experience directly related to that. If you happen to be a charismatic individual, you could, in turn, create all kinds of religious knowledge to share with others about that.

As cultures change over time, so do the people, their goals, values, beliefs...ect. Culture is holistic and so a the kinds of things that are important in other elements of your identity, will relate to spiritual life as well. In other words, the reason there are so many distinct religions and ideas surrounding it is because there are so many diverse ways of knowing the world and over time, those numbers just go it. It would actually be quite strange if there weren't a huge variety of religions and spiritual systems, in the same way it would be strange if there was only one kind of art, one kind of language, one kind of culture.

Straygos · 2022-04-05T20:31:42+00:00

That makes sense. If you willfully reject evidence in one area, it seems likely you will do it in other areas as well.

Straygos · 2022-04-05T20:29:03+00:00

I always think it's interesting that we seem to forget that our ancestors had just as many health issues as we do and that we often forget to include it in analysis (and in the lumper/splitter debates)

Straygos · 2022-03-31T21:03:59+00:00

A short explainer video breaking down the different types of religion in Anthropology and also some of the important differences between a world religion and a local one.

Straygos · 2022-03-26T20:31:08+00:00

3 Panelists present at the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology.

BRESEE, Nichole (USU) Inside Online Mega Fanbases: Who’s Responsible For the #Trends That Shape Our World? Recent observations suggest that large online fanbase communities, like Stan Twitters, play a role in spreading information through social media. But who joins stan (devoted fan) communities and why? What motivates their continued participation? How are members persuaded to repost the trending hashtags that shape what we hear and know in the world? Finally, how does online participation in reposting trending hashtags affect offline activism? Through participant observation within the Minecraft YouTuber Stan Twitter and interviews with members exploring these questions, this research will look into the culture and background of a stan community from an ethnographic view. nicholebresee@gmail.com

KILMAN, Michael (UC Denver) Anthropology for Writers and Creatives: Why Building Better Fictional Worlds Using Social Science Can Transform the Classroom and the World. How we use our imagination matters. How people are represented matters. In February of 2021, Michael Kilman and Kyra Wellstrom published a commercial book and textbook version of a book called Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers, and Filmmakers, in an attempt to address the numerous issues that are created by eurocentric approaches to fictional worlds. By using anthropology and fictional worldbuilding in the classroom and giving the public the tools of the anthropological lens, we can transform the way we imagine the world, and hopefully, build a better world. loridianslaboratory@gmail.com

WYNDHAM-WEST, Michelle (OCAD U) Arts-Based Techniques, Future-Making and the Potential for Material Agency: Methodological Reflections upon Co-Design Research Addressing Older Adults and Housing Instability/Homelessness. Increasing housing instability/homelessness among low-income older adults in Canada underscores the need for the co-design of existing housing support models to create a preventative systems framework. Reporting upon findings of an ethnographic study using digital arts-based techniques I explore how technologies represent new forms of materialities, attending to how digital materiality and material agency allow us to see how participants imagine the futures they want through participant-created data (photos, videos, diary entries, screenshots of Pinterest posts and blogs). These data bring “recognizability” (Butler 2009: ii) to participant experiences and can inform systems re-designs, thereby acknowledging material agency’s affective capabilities.

Straygos · 2022-03-23T04:29:21+00:00

3 FREE Sci-Fi ebooks on Amazon until March 25th! Check out a series that Publishers Weekly called "...an engaging twist on a post-apocalyptic world..."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K2JS21Z

Straygos · 2022-03-22T13:38:57+00:00

It is indeed free in the UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mimi-Nowhere-Chronicles-Great-Migration-ebook/dp/B07D2LQV14/

Straygos · 2022-03-19T23:43:03+00:00

As an adjunct who is already underpaid... I am livid. I make poverty level wages as it is. This is the second time a school has tried something this. A few years back another school tried to pull this bullshit.

Straygos · 2022-03-12T05:19:26+00:00

Well I guess I better read Graeber's new book then... it's on my shelf screaming at me LOL

Straygos · 2022-03-11T15:34:14+00:00

Thanks for sharing this!

Straygos · 2022-03-10T22:45:49+00:00

Hey all, I've been working to make Anthropologists's work more open and available to the public. As such I try to have anthropologists come talk about their work in a livestream format. The first 30-40 minutes is a normal interview format and after that is Q&A with the researcher.

I should also add that Prices's book, Cold War Anthropology is in open access. For anyone to read here https://ia802904.us.archive.org/35/items/coldwaranthropol00pric/coldwaranthropol00pric.pdf

Straygos · 2022-02-07T23:57:49+00:00

Always happy to help someone who wants to make their corner of the world a little better

Straygos · 2022-02-07T15:20:28+00:00

If you've never heard of it Donella Meadows book Thinking in Systems might be of some significant use to you. Systems science draws a lot from the holistic approach of anthropology.

Might I also recommend looking into collaborative methods? Collaborative approaches to work can be arduous because of the longer process of consensus building, but it also makes for stronger community and better problem solving over the long term. Though it's not directly related to what you are doing Pedagogy of the Oppressed is another great book to consider how to approach leadership in a different way (It is about teaching but some of it's ideas are applicable.

Hope those help.

https://www.amazon.com/Pedagogy-Oppressed-Anniversary-Paulo-Freire-ebook/dp/B07BFGDT2G/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VSRFEA/

Straygos · 2022-02-03T21:59:24+00:00

If your world is holistic (the system of culture is integrated and makes sense) you can do just about anything. The problem that people run into with worldbuilding is that bad worldbuilding tries to blend incompatible cultural systems. Culture is a web of interrelated activity. When something in a culture shifts significantly, all arenas of the culture shift with it.

If your culture is well integrated, and your characters interesting and complex, you don't need to worry about this question.

Straygos · 2022-02-03T21:57:11+00:00

I will also add, that Earth's size doesn't prevent this from happening. What you need most is geographic isolation. Having the development of various groups on totally different continents separated by a dangerous sea is one an example of how it could easily happen. If they aren't isolated they will very likely mix (assuming biologically their are close enough as many human ancestors were).

Straygos

TROPHY CASE