tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-198416182024-03-06T04:22:07.273-05:00EN/SANE WorldEN/SANE World is James Bucky Carter's enclave of English Education (EN) resources as well as a haven for those looking for information on Sequential Art Narratives in Education (SANE).Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.comBlogger1265125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-80221760285971421862023-07-31T14:07:00.000-04:002023-07-31T14:07:12.594-04:00A Cover Letter to a Classical Academy<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/9f/78/7e9f78bc795f5380177ea7d02b164a35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="670" height="240" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7e/9f/78/7e9f78bc795f5380177ea7d02b164a35.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>Recently I have been researching classical academies and, God willing, may even help start one someday. Here is a cover letter to one such institution that will help you see where my mind has been lately regarding American education at the K12 level:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i>Greetings! I am Dr. James B. Carter, and this note is to express interest in working with you in a virtual capacity. I am a lifelong educator currently living in Boone, North Carolina. I started tutoring in 1996 and started teaching in 1999. I have earned teaching certifications across several states in middle school English Language Arts, high school English, K12 ELL, K12 Gifted, and in K12 Reading. Along with my K12 experiences, I have taught college courses in both English departments and Education programs. These courses range from literacy methods courses to courses on popular culture. I am a parent to two teenage boys, one who requires special attention due to autism and severe depression. I have seen what American public schools have done to distort learning, to distort parental agency, and to distort what it means to be compassionate, empathetic, and mentally, socially, and emotionally healthy.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i> I believe wholeheartedly that both religious and secular Classical Education constitute the remedy to such revision, which is rooted, essentially, in anti-American, anti-logic pretenses. To preserve the best of American culture while working to improve what needs improving, Americans must educate their children to see the best of what their country has accomplished while recognizing there remains areas of improvement (elements of the “promissory note” that have yet to be fully realized); we must return to a knowledge-based system of education since primary knowledge is foundational to everything else; we must help our children reclaim a real “critical” stance: The ability to hold multiple competing thoughts and perspectives at once and to be capable of sifting through the ones that are inherently flawed. I am excited to help in all those capacities. Passionate, really. Indeed, at one time, I was constructing a board for a Barney Charter School in North Carolina, but family matters put that on hold. Facilitating the development of deep-thinking, critical thinking, considerate, giving young people is a monumental task, but such an essential one. To move education from a vapid “Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink” enterprise, one must work to create intrepid and informed sojourners who are confident in joining the ranks of pragmatic change agents who have worked with the confidence that they are extending the efforts of those who acknowledged the greatness of human potential and realization that came before them, and, therefore, are less likely to cower in the face of ignorant – sometimes willfully ignorant – radicalism, even if it comes from the State. A difficult task, to be sure, but “that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?” </i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i>I am a first-generation college student who rose from a working poor family to earn a PhD from a Public Ivy, the University of Virginia. I graduated from public schools and universities. That does not mean I have no Classical education: I was that kid who read encyclopedias for fun, who studied the Renaissance masters even before there were turtles named after them, who made a decision at age twelve that he would work toward being a Renaissance Man and would one day attend President Jefferson’s university. I studied literature, art, and music in high school and as an undergraduate, and one reason I went into teaching is because I love helping others appreciate the humanities as a means of centering greatness (not Whiteness, not Blackness) in their own lives to glean wisdom from the accomplishments and mistakes of impressive, amazing, yet still inherently flawed people.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i>I consider myself to be a pro-Humanism, open-minded Christian Conservative/Classical Liberal. I believe in Neoclassical ideas and want to see them infused with multiculturalism. I know that “neoclassical” and “multiculturism” are considered passé – bigoted, even – by many on the Left (As someone who worked in K12- and Higher Education/Teacher Education, I know the pain of dealing with a majority that thinks that way). Indeed, my evolution from progressive to Classical Liberal has seeds in noting the impropriety and logic breakdowns of my professors while a doctoral student, of my peers when I was an NEA member, and of my administrative education “leaders” (K12 principals and college deans) who bought into bad ideas, often more for the sake of their own careers than their students. </i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i>I would love to be part of a team that understands our current educational exigency and is working actively to be a remedy to our contemporary pedagogical crises and a stalwart presence once we have remedied.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i> </i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i>Sincerely,</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i><br /></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i>James B. Carter, PhD.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i><br /></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><i><br /></i></p>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-26718218636484998822023-02-07T11:30:00.050-05:002023-06-30T14:45:49.018-04:00What is the GBG Metric of DEI Utility? A Definition and a Sample<p>This formula for determining the utility of a college or university's DEI faculty and staff was developed by my Twitter friend DeAngelo "Dee" Snutz in late January or early February of 2023. I am sure it is overly simplistic in many ways, but perhaps it is a necessary start to evaluating (and articulating) clearly-defined goals of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity work on campuses?<b> </b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijW0GLk8rvlHdodxIjOwPcic3CUAbZvKLb_k_c4gMxxuukOBWp7h4WuCvQxS82gJ18fxbq6K8ASUPuWlYs1IN7xUf2_UGgXAQ7X-tzxaZE-MnB6RnH3TwrQDypknUtMNouXTQeW2wYeg5jFdJBkma0M9q2asL13dTzWi1xnYX5q99eoHPjgS5zfA/s533/editedBGBmetricillustration.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="533" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijW0GLk8rvlHdodxIjOwPcic3CUAbZvKLb_k_c4gMxxuukOBWp7h4WuCvQxS82gJ18fxbq6K8ASUPuWlYs1IN7xUf2_UGgXAQ7X-tzxaZE-MnB6RnH3TwrQDypknUtMNouXTQeW2wYeg5jFdJBkma0M9q2asL13dTzWi1xnYX5q99eoHPjgS5zfA/w400-h299/editedBGBmetricillustration.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>An Application of the GBG Metric of DEI
Utility</b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The GBG presupposes:</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--> A. That the goal of DEI is to increase the numbers
of students of color on campus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> B.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>That the goal of DEI might be to increase the
number of students on campus who are students of color, first-generation
students, students from working class backgrounds, and any and all combinations
or iterations thereof.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>Example: “Presupposition A” Applied to Smahller-Mahn
College:<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">SMC employs 5 people who are listed as working in the DEI
domain. Their combined salary is $200,000 per year (X). The overall cost of
attending Smahller-Mahn College is $25,000 per year (Y). These numbers yield a score
of 8 (Z), given that 8 students of color could attend SMC if the $200,000 were
applied differently. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Currently, SMC has an exact enrollment of 5 students of
color (A). So, the ratio of students of color who could attend SMC (Z) compared
to the current number actually enrolled (A) is 8:5.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ideally, the Z should exhibit at least a 1:1 ratio, but
better Z scores would represent 1:1+N metric wherein it is clear that there are
more people of color enrolled at Smahller-Mahn than the combined salaries
of DEI personnel could support. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To that end, to maximize utility of DEI monies for the sake
of increasing enrollment of students of color such that the ratio of students of
color who could be enrolled matches the number of students of color who are
enrolled (a 1:1 ratio), Smahller-Mahn College should reallocate at least $75,000 to
funds that would directly enroll more students of color. For the greater good
of Smahller-Mahn, current DEI salary expenditures should be reallocated toward
student scholarships or other entities that would directly affect minority
student enrollment. If diversity, equity, and inclusion are truly important on
campus, making these adjustments would make Smahller-Mahn a greater campus than
as it exists currently. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Update: The name of the metric was changed to the GBG Metric as a goodwill gesture on March 27, 2023. Image updated June 30, 2023. </p><b></b><p></p>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-10448955910728593062023-02-07T10:54:00.001-05:002023-02-07T10:54:10.035-05:00Diversity Pledge/Statement of Pledges and Supports<p><b> Last year or so, I began working on what, for me, would constitute an honest diversity pledge. I worked on it under the pretense that my employer would soon ask for such documents. As you know, many universities and colleges ask applicants to share a diversity statement or to take a diversity pledge. I share mine with you below. Feel free to tell me what you think about it via a post at my current twitter account, @CarterAcademyNC. What does it lack? Is it a radical document based on today's preferences within the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI, or "DIE," as some call it)? What elements of current academic parlance and conscientiousness does it not cover?</b></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>I support the notion that people deserve to be named as
they want to be named and identified how they want to be identified regarding
gender and pronouns. I do not support the idea that one must <i>believe</i>
that the named identity or named gender of any person is who or what they
really are, though I pledge to be respectful of calling people by their chosen
names and using their chosen pronouns to the best of my ability. I do not
support the corrupt, Marxist radical front known as Black Lives Matter. I do
believe that all Black lives are important, including the lives of Black
Republicans, Libertarians, Classical Liberals, and Conservatives, and the
millions of Black lives that have been lost through abortion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do support and pledge to continue to
support the pro-country, pro-family, and pro-accountability Black-led movement
Take Charge. I do not support Black sovereignty, or the sovereignty of any
people based solely on race. I support and pledge to continue to support national
sovereignty, sovereignty of a nation to be a nation, to protect its citizens, to
maintain borders, and to act in the interests of its own citizenry while
offering help to those who may not yet be its citizens. I do not support the
erroneous, divisive 1619 Project or its tenets as teachings of fact and am
especially skeptical of the claim that America’s founding principle is slavery.
I support the pro-Founders, pro-American 1776 Unites and the Black-led Woodson
Center that helped create it. I acknowledge the efforts of Thomas Jefferson to
pinpoint the stain of America’s reliance on slavery as a sin foisted upon the
colonies by its European controllers, as Jefferson maintained in an early draft
of the Declaration of Independence. I support and pledge to continue to support
notions of history that are expansive, interpretive, as accurate as possible,
and centered around the recognition of the sacrifices people of all kinds have
made to move America ever closer to what Barack Obama has called its Promissory
Note. I recognize that land existed in the eyes of God as His before it was
ever conceived of as property and that the human notions of stewardship,
ownership, and inheritance of land have shifted throughout millennia. I pledge
to continue to acknowledge that land pre-dated man, and that land will
post-date humanity as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not
believe that the opposite of racism is anti-racism, or that, as Black academic
Ibram X. Kendi says, the only way to deal with past discrimination is with more
discrimination. Rather, I believe and pledge to continue to believe – and to
act in the belief in -- what accomplished Black scholar Carol Swain says: “The
opposite of racism is not anti-racism. The opposite of racism is pluralism.” I
believe this pluralism must extend to embracing viewpoint diversity as one of many
necessary diversities championed through actual diversity, inclusion, and
equity work. Inclusion must not be gained through exclusion, and equity work must
be rooted, from its onset, in the notion that all people are equal in the eyes
of God and were bestowed from God with inalienable rights, rights that have
been and still may be systematically kept from them by flawed humans, but not by
God. I do not believe that white scholars should champion themselves as
anti-racist; rather, it seems to me that should be an honor bestowed upon them
from people of color based on their actions rather than from white scholars’
privileged position of and authority to describe themselves as anti-racist. I
believe and pledge to continue to believe that the primary goal of diversity,
equity, and inclusion work should be opening spaces to those who have not had
access to them based on socioeconomic factors and such initiatives should work
to create opportunities for the disenfranchised and people of color from all
belief systems and political points of view. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that education must be rooted in the
classical sense of critical consciousness – the ability to consider multiple
viewpoints and think them through – rather than rooted in ideologies of
indoctrination and dogma. I pledge to teach according to this belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I maintain that the responsibility of those
who educate is to help young people learn how to think and to think for
themselves, with an emphasis on exploring the multitudinous reasons – not
single-factor reasons -- systems have developed the way they have throughout
the full run of human development. Further, I do not believe that any rational
person should take advice about diversity, inclusion, and equity from any organization
or entity so unaware of itself such that it feels compelled to take a lead in
that work while concurrently being comprised of a membership that gathers
periodically to celebrate ritualistic rites of passage while its members are
adorned in hoods and robes.<o:p></o:p></b></p><br /><p></p>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-5208234938304661922021-12-29T18:48:00.000-05:002021-12-29T18:48:11.791-05:00Call for Papers on Creating and Sustaining Comics Studies Programs, Library Collections, and Journals<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltnoHuyig41ovAr3pBaWpA1_dbxYlZO4-ohhD4z8KRpGKEGAdiEiMXTtO2KdWsk86085B82ac68HZf4Gdv_Y_4wqwM86Vg3G1_UEXBnXXCUQMtMTMgn_1kuSOj6PN9nsTRK-VUw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="457" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltnoHuyig41ovAr3pBaWpA1_dbxYlZO4-ohhD4z8KRpGKEGAdiEiMXTtO2KdWsk86085B82ac68HZf4Gdv_Y_4wqwM86Vg3G1_UEXBnXXCUQMtMTMgn_1kuSOj6PN9nsTRK-VUw/w424-h122/image.png" width="424" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">CFP: Paneled Scaffolding: Reflecting on
Building and Sustaining Comics Studies Programs, Library Collections, and
Journals.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SANE Journal</span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is seeking critical, evaluative, and reflective works from
those engaged in the making, preserving, teaching, and studying of comics
through the creation of comics studies programs, the stewardship of comics
collections within libraries, and the establishing of comics studies-associated
journals. We prefer writings that address the history, evolution, and
dissolution of such entities. What is</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrWtypVVGsp0pF9guOCSeJ1BSY7eG4O0Ns6vH6jOC9OXGRnknVkdE4gi-HLcM0bmYFK_WqXt1IiFQUM0ZRKPn9F5v8_qtr2ueUQ7sq_d2YOFZlGE2nn_lnbhJjT1Bjs25109xktA/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="271" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrWtypVVGsp0pF9guOCSeJ1BSY7eG4O0Ns6vH6jOC9OXGRnknVkdE4gi-HLcM0bmYFK_WqXt1IiFQUM0ZRKPn9F5v8_qtr2ueUQ7sq_d2YOFZlGE2nn_lnbhJjT1Bjs25109xktA/" width="320" /></a></div><br /> the story of your program, collection, or
journal? How does it reflect a situatedness in its field and the ontological,
teleological, and epistemological surrounding it, both in relation to current
exigencies but in relation to the past as well? What processes, people, and
supports were in place – or not in place – to facilitate success or failure?
Can the process of success and/or failure within these domains best be
illuminated through a particular – or particular set – of critical lenses? In
these reflections, articulate the issues regarding the proliferation of
existing and future programs of study, collections, and journals within comics
studies. Methodological approaches to addressing these questions are acceptable
for consideration, as well as critical and reflective approaches. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Please submit works through the <i>SANE
Journal</i> system (<a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sane/">https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sane/</a>)
by February 1, 2023. Inquiries can be sent to Richard L. Graham and James B.
Carter at <a href="mailto:rgraham7@unl.edu">rgraham7@unl.edu</a> and <a href="mailto:carterj@lmc.edu">carterj@lmc.edu</a>, respectively. Abstracts sent
in anticipation of possible submissions are appreciated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-27704053338258009092019-06-24T11:47:00.000-04:002019-06-24T11:47:37.218-04:00Join Doc Carter's Truth-To-Power Army: Raise Your Teacher Voice!<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-28924976880561925232019-05-13T18:36:00.002-04:002019-05-13T18:36:32.508-04:00What has Dr. Carter Been Up To Lately? Give a Listen! <a class="spreaker-player" href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/ncnc-podcast" data-resource="show_id=3511835" data-theme="light" data-autoplay="false" data-playlist="show" data-cover="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/images.spreaker.com/original/3b96c77fb173269033273a3b9c70f4db.jpg" data-width="100%" data-height="400px">Listen to "NCNC Podcast" on Spreaker.</a><script async src="https://widget.spreaker.com/widgets.js"></script>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-40718034117333788152017-08-08T20:20:00.002-04:002017-08-08T20:20:26.230-04:00Welcome to the Archive!<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/29/d0/95/29d095420520eb2df290d225ceaccb7e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/29/d0/95/29d095420520eb2df290d225ceaccb7e.jpg" width="206" /></a>From 2006 to 2016, I used this space to discuss issues associated with comics and literacy. The blog was helpful to many -- probably to more than admit it! ;) -- and only after emerging from a few years of feeling silenced do I now reopen the blog as an archive.<br />
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Perhaps I'll be moved to start writing here again, but for now, <b>welcome</b> (again or for the first time) and may this space and its decade worth or thoughts inform and inspire your notions on comics and teaching.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
<br />
James B. Carter, Ph.D.<br />
<br />Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-29326127422752078632016-01-07T19:04:00.003-05:002016-01-07T19:04:55.720-05:00Gene Yang "Levels Up," Named Library of Congress Ambassador For Young People's Literature<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media2.fdncms.com/eastbayexpress/imager/the-odd-couple-gene-yang-and-thien-pham/u/zoom/2682712/culturespy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://media2.fdncms.com/eastbayexpress/imager/the-odd-couple-gene-yang-and-thien-pham/u/zoom/2682712/culturespy.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yang, pictured here with<i> Level Up</i> co-creator Thien Pham, is<br />a long-time advocate of Asian American voices in comics and<br />other literatures. The multi-talented comics creator now adds<br />Ambassador as an *official* title, adding to a distinguished career.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gene Yang is celebrated for his comics, his commitment to responsible diversity within them, and -- of special import to this blog -- his teaching. Yang has K12- and college-level teaching experience and gets the comics-and-literacy connections. I am so pleased he has been granted this honor and opportunity. He's the perfect person to help the rest of the comics-and-education community fight <span style="color: red;">*</span><a href="http://ensaneworld.blogspot.com/2015/12/privileged-not-informed-perspectives.html" target="_blank">prejudices</a><span style="color: red;">*</span> and bigotries associated with oppressive notions of favoritism regarding so many things, the tyranny of the printed word among them. Learn more about his new position <span style="color: red;">*</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/gene-luen-yang-appointed-national-ambassador-for-young-peoples-lit/2016/01/03/6cd25c84-b241-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: red;">*</span>.</span>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-32937299305602984592016-01-05T21:38:00.000-05:002016-01-05T21:48:18.974-05:00No Female Action Figures? No Problem! (Sort Of). Is 3D Printing a Maker-Space Solution?Notice anything interesting about these toy sets? Go ahead, scroll on down for a bit.<br />
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<a href="http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/COSTCO-Hero-Mashers-pkg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/COSTCO-Hero-Mashers-pkg.jpg" height="358" width="400" /></a><br />
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They feature characters from blockbuster movie and comics chains, but where are the women characters? There is no Black Widow in the Marvel set, and no Leia in the Star Wars sets. Vision makes it into the Avengers toys, but not Scarlet Witch. If and when The Force Awakens sets are released, will they include Phasma and Rey? You won't find Rey in the new <a href="http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2016/01/04/rey-excluded-from-latest-edition-of-star-wars-monopoly/" target="_blank">Star Wars Monopoly</a> either, nor in several other toy sets.</div>
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Perhaps the toys are on the way, but if they aren't, is there a 21st-century solution waiting to become reality in the realm of maker spaces?</div>
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While having the toy companies decide on their own to release female figures would be great, could someone take matters into their own hands and draft some custom parts for the Mashers series via 3D printing?</div>
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I'll bet there's a market for such parts, akin to the market for special-made LEGO sets. And if someone made such plans and wanted to distribute them for free, I am sure the internet hive-mind would approve.</div>
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I come from a tradition of unsanctioned action figure customization. Before there were viable X-Men action figures, I would use acrylic paint and markers to turn my wrestling action figures into X-Men. Larry Zybysko made a heck of a Banshee, let me tell you!One of the Fabulous Freebirds had curly hair perfect for Nightcrawler, and I even had a Colossus covered in chrome model car paint, though I do not recall whom I customized to make him. My heroes were mine, of course. I didn't have the means or desire to make them for other kids, and it took some tolerance from the adults in my life to let me mess up my toys with costumes and accessories "no one" had even heard of (yet!).</div>
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Surely if I could scrounge materials to make the heroes the toy companies weren't interested in yet, today's savvy makers can help solve the gender problem in action figure sets until some of the toy lines become more inclusive. </div>
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(Thanks to my Facebook friend J.A. for helping this idea long via his posts on gender exclusion in toy sets!)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The right paint and cloth for the "wings" was all <br />it took for me to have a Banshee action figure!</i><br />
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<a href="http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/09/COSTCO-Hero-Mashers-pkg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-76617146902433173682015-12-31T16:38:00.003-05:002015-12-31T16:38:45.758-05:00Happy New Year! Welcome a 2016 Filled With Comics Goodness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZXzc4L9zSb-GrY_RKzPq-pq-dowHS5Lbg8LoTR5gIsgrDK949Vi0El29MX7xdQAWxevkUU8tXxCDOnHlaDt73bouj6Bp-wpg0IwxMvb3mIPM0uItTpD7vgqi9wPrWhHaZP18/s1600/Krazy+Kat+Heppy+New+Year.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZXzc4L9zSb-GrY_RKzPq-pq-dowHS5Lbg8LoTR5gIsgrDK949Vi0El29MX7xdQAWxevkUU8tXxCDOnHlaDt73bouj6Bp-wpg0IwxMvb3mIPM0uItTpD7vgqi9wPrWhHaZP18/s1600/Krazy+Kat+Heppy+New+Year.png" height="640" width="584" /></a></div>
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May your back issues be found, your bags unyellowed, your boards crisp and straight, and may your passion for comics benefit you and those around you all the livelong days of this new year, 2016.Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-7895323784673664312015-12-20T19:17:00.000-05:002015-12-20T19:20:00.947-05:00Merry Christmas, 1979-style! Two-year old me wishes you a happy holiday season via this groundbreaking rap from Kurtis Blow, whom I wouldn't know about for at least another 20 years but would have wanted you to know about had I known about it then. ;)<br />
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The rap reminds me of the time I accompanied my father on a trucking trip through New York State. I was in fifth grade, if memory serves. I remember Ithaca, Syracuse, and a town called White Plains (?) or White Falls. I remember a complete white out while we were on the road and a deer jumping in front of the cab so high into the sky it was on level with the 18-wheeler's windshield. Luckily it made it past us! I recall stopping at a shop and getting a brownie almost as big as my head. I remember flipping of someone in a Camaro who almost ran over me. I remember stopping in a drug store and seeing the Todd McFarlane <i>Marvel Poster Book</i>! </div>
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Dad purchased a truck-stop cassette tape of Christmas rap songs somewhere along the way, which we listened to for as long as we could before tossing it out the window! We were harsh critics. I don't think Blow's rap was on the tape. </div>
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Anyway, happy holidays and Merry Christmas! </div>
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Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-44715161714307556832015-12-05T12:29:00.002-05:002015-12-05T12:29:36.961-05:00Privileged -- Not Informed -- Perspectives Keep Comics out of Classrooms, Teacher Educators' Considerations<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5636px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Noting what appears to be less attention being paid to comics and graphic novels at the recent 2015 National Council of Teachers of English, Assembly on Literature for Adolescent of NCTE, and the Literacy Research Association, I have to revisit the reasons why sequential art may be getting pushed back to the periphery of teachers' and teacher educators' social and critical consciousness.</div>
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Luckily, current top burner theory and concerns, namely White Privilege, Social Justice, and White Supremacy offer lenses through which to, once again, make a claim as to why this might be the case: </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thesimonscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/hand-writing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://thesimonscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/hand-writing.jpg" height="283" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The light, white, right hand that feeds and starves. </i></td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 17.5636px;">Around the nation, teachers and teacher educators continue to favor their dominant cultural biases regarding notions of success, quality, and worth. They keep out certain elements such that prevailing discourses and traditions are favored and those with different perspectives remain disenfranchised and under thumb, best seen and not heard -- if acknowledged at all. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.5636px;">Despite all the wonder adding new voices could could add to their classrooms, these teachers maintain the status qu</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 17.5636px;">o of bigotry and ignorance. Their knapsacks, ironically, are incredibly visible, and very few stand up to them due to the sheer numbers and weight of those who think similarly. Their privilege knows no ends because they privilege one another and can be as radical as they think they are nestled in the safety of their group think.</span></div>
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Miles Myers, Gunther Kress, other New Londerers, Scott McCloud, Theirry Groensteen, Nick Sousanis and so many others have discussed the reasons why, but has anyone called the reason comics and other visual forms remain on the outside looking in of so man English teachers' and English educators' classes?</div>
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Let it be so named: The privilege, bigotry and ignorance is the result of :</div>
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Write Privilege <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=oppression+of+the+written+word" target="_blank">and</a> Write Supremacy.</div>
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Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-51511666285233027092015-11-08T20:42:00.000-05:002015-11-08T20:42:45.951-05:00Julian Peters' Comic Poetry Adaptation of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a Beauty to Behold...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://julianpeters.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/cropped-prufrock2header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://julianpeters.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/cropped-prufrock2header.jpg" width="580" /></a></div>
... and you can view it in its entirety <a href="http://julianpeterscomics.com/page-1-the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock-by-t-s-eliot/" target="_blank">here</a>! It's not to be missed.Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-1622923428303453262015-11-04T15:41:00.000-05:002015-11-04T15:41:04.004-05:00The Panels Guide to Manga Terminology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Who can't use a nifty guide to vocabulary associated with Manga? Surely no one in education or literacy studies can afford not to have access to one, especially given the monstrous sales numbers of <i><a href="http://www.comicsbeat.com/attack-on-titan-manga-50-mllion-copies-sold-but-trails-one-piece/" target="_blank">Attack on Titan</a></i> recently. Some even suggest that when it comes to American comics sales, Manga is the dominating force.<br />
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Luckily the folks at Panels have created a primer. See their Guide to Essential Manga Terminology <a href="http://panels.net/2015/11/04/beginners-guide-essential-manga-terminology/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-27382554637038563682015-11-03T14:27:00.001-05:002015-11-03T14:28:14.113-05:00Hey, Hey!Hi there, readers. You may have noticed I don't update here as often as I have in the past. The blog's not dead. When I read a comic or graphic novel about which I think the public needs to know more, I'll post a review. In the meantime, here are ways to keep up with my work:<br />
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1. See a version of my online vita here: <a href="http://virginia.academia.edu/JamesBuckyCarter">http://virginia.academia.edu/JamesBuckyCarter</a><br />
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2. I have a Google Scholar profile now! You should be able to access it at this address: <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v_YyMagAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v_YyMagAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao</a>. According to information gleaned from Google Scholar on November 3, 2015, my works have been cited at least 270 times, and I have an h-index of 8 and an i10-index of 7.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The latest *SANE* features cover art by<br />Gene Kannenberg, Jr.</i> </td></tr>
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3. I'm scheduled as featured speaker at 2016's Michigan Reading Association. In Detroit, I'll give a rundown of where I see the next decade of comics evolution and how teachers can tap into growing and emergent trends. For more information, visit <a href="http://michiganreading.org/conferences/annual-conference/2016speakers">http://michiganreading.org/conferences/annual-conference/2016speakers</a>.<br />
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4. I'm still writing! I have work with ALAN's "Under the Radar" team in development, as well as entries for edited collections from academic presses. For one such project, I was deemed a "pioneering figure" regarding comics and education. That was quite an honor.<br />
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5. <i><a href="http://www.sanejournal.net/" target="_blank">SANEjournal</a></i> is still going strong. My latest peer-reviewed article, "PIM Pedagogy," was downloaded 17 times in September and had views from across the globe. Richard Graham is the managing editor of the journal now, and his first issue went live earlier this fall. <i>SANEjournal</i> now has four issues worth of research and practitioner-based texts, lesson plans, rationales, and more on the subject of comics and education. <br />
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Now for some miscellaneous comics considerations en mi cabeza, presented in stream of consciousness for your bemusement:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Learn to code! </i></td></tr>
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<i>Saga</i> still rocks; <i>Sex Criminals</i> is fun reading; G. Willow Wilson's work on <i>Ms. Marvel</i> is awesome but <i>G-Force</i> is over-rated; Gene Yang is amazing and his <i>Secret Coders</i> is such a great idea for a book. I'm puzzled that <i>Nimona</i> is getting as much critical attention as it has based on its quality, which is, well, "meh," in my opinion. I'd hoped reading Stevenson, Ellis, Watters and Allen's <i>Lumberjanes</i> would reveal that <i>Nimona</i> was a working space for a new comics writer to hone their skills before nailing it with their next efforts, but I've read enough summer camp comics already. I do feel <i>Lumberjanes</i> has merited the positive attention it has received, though. <i>Bitch Planet</i> continues to challenge me, engage me and enrage me (Well, consternate me, anyway). Writers and critics need to let a series actually debut before they critique it for shortfalls. Also, it would be nice if writers would address a character's entire history and mediated representations before making claims about race, gender, or privilege within their articles -- or at the very least acknowledge the narrowed focus of their articles. <i>Squirrel Girl</i> is a fun, fun series, though I didn't like seeing it get a new #1 so soon after debuting. Raina Telgemeier is a full-fledged phenomenon now, as is Nick Sousanis. All comics are flawed in some way, as are all texts, and this is good news to scholars, as it gives us something to talk about. I'm eager to see fan reaction to the new comics featuring Red Wolf and Spider-Woman. I miss the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle being in our critical consciousness. I still want to make more comics. I'm about to start reading Phoebe Gloeckner's <i>The Diary of a Teenage Girl</i>, the one with the "Now a Major Motion Picture" label on its cover. First Second seems to have become more corporate in attitude and marketing recently. I am curious to see how <i>Preacher</i> works as a TV series. I want to want to watch Supergirl, but I didn't watch Smallville, Gotham, Arrow or The Flash, so I probably won't. As comics readership demographics shift, keep an eye on who appears, reappears, and (particularly) disappears in their pages. Doing so will help you see if we're experiencing a more open medium or one happy to replace old powered discourses with new ones. Swamp Thing is still DC's most interesting character, to me. Most floppy comics that I'm not reading but would like to read look like they'd be better read in trade paperback or graphic novel form. Definitely, I can see generational preferences emerge regarding what young people like in comics versus what I like in them, My oldest son is on a Doug TenNapel kick. I'm still hip to Derf Backderf, Nate Powell, and Ed Piskor. Have any comics works of the last five year had as much power as David Mazzucchelli's <i>Asterious Polpy</i> or Jaime Hernandez' <i>The Love Bunglers</i>? Maybe the Tamaki's <i>This One Summer</i>. Maybe. Otherwise, not that I've seen. I need to read more grown-up comics, though. When it comes to comics-and-literacy scholarship, I often feel overlooked, discarded and disrespected within the education and literacy communities. A good job would fix that for me, though, I'm sure. I picked up the first issue of Gene Yang's <i>Superman</i> but haven't read any other issues in the series. The news of a <i>Dark Knight III</i> intrigues me more than excites me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://projectfandom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Squirrel-Girl-4-Eat-Nuts-and-Kick-Butts-e1429893652255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://projectfandom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Squirrel-Girl-4-Eat-Nuts-and-Kick-Butts-e1429893652255.jpg" height="161" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Squirrel Girl has an entertaining set of eponymous titles and the best catch phrase ever.</i></td></tr>
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Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-67339937648945899202015-08-03T19:46:00.000-04:002015-08-03T19:46:03.661-04:00An Alternative to Bags and Boards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.jimzub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Panels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jimzub.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Panels.jpg" height="227" width="400" /></a></div>
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I just read an article from Panels contributor Christine Hoxmeier about an alternative method of storing comics. I won't say too much except I thought the method and article were intriguing enough to post about it here. <a href="http://panels.net/2015/08/03/living-without-bags-boards/" target="_blank">Click</a> to see what I mean. Here's a teaser image:<br />
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<br />Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-3043326927514287142015-07-21T13:45:00.000-04:002015-07-21T14:42:56.924-04:00Rest Well, Tom Moore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogs.elpasotimes.com/morgue/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/07/0107162_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blogs.elpasotimes.com/morgue/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/07/0107162_2.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_28512107/el-paso-artist-archie-cartoonist-tom-moore-dies" target="_blank">News outlets</a> report that Tom Moore, an influential comics artist known for his work in <i>Archie,</i> has passed in El Paso, Texas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mr. Moore, who worked on <i>Archie</i> comics for three decades, was among the guests an "El Paso in the Comics" event I organized while I worked at UTEP. I learned about his presence in the area through an anonymous tip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember him as collegial, humble, and eager to speak to any of the other comics creators and event attendees. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">While my time with him was brief, he left an impression, and I join his family and the comics community in mourning his loss. Mr. Moore was 86.</span>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-1282984519919746572015-07-18T19:28:00.005-04:002015-07-18T19:38:55.057-04:00The Quick n' Dirty: An Underdeveloped Review of Ant-Man<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">Low-key, quiet, and with a simplified plot even for a superhero film,<i> Ant-Man</i> retains a balance of action and (mostly) family-friendly charm not seen since the first <i>Fantastic Four</i> release. Like that picture, the movie invokes both joy and tedium, but with enough charisma and character to make the most hardened comics film critic accept it like a goofy, well-meaning best friend -- with a pat on the back, a "Ruddy" smile, and a welcoming embrace. "Come over here and let me hug you<i>, Ant-Man</i>. I love you despite your flaws."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;"><br /></span>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-43904644363424779042015-07-11T20:31:00.000-04:002015-07-11T22:20:11.504-04:00A "Way Too Early" Look at 2016's Eisner Award Winners<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://legionofleia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/spider-woman-e4d51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://legionofleia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/spider-woman-e4d51.jpg" height="400" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Can the emergence of feminine forces in comics help a series like Spider-Woman become an award-winning hit?<br /> Read on to find out!</i></td></tr>
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In the spirit of college sports writers everywhere, now that the 2015 champions have been crowned, it's time to write immediately about next year's winners. I'm talking Eisners instead of Final Fours, though. Or would the comparison be more apt if I used the College Football Playoff instead? Regardless, here are some comics titles and creators sure to make it on 2016 Eisner ballots. I think. I mean, what do I know?<br />
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Scott McCloud's <i>The Sculptor</i>, a study on the life of exceptionally creative people and what it must be to have the urge to make and the compulsion and Godly skill to make art imitate one's visions of life and life imitate one's visions of art -- yet remain a fully fallible human restricted by the realities and fates of non-deity living -- is a sure-fire choice. Having garnered critical and commercial praise, expect this tome from First Second to be up for Best Graphic Album New. McCloud's reputation and place as an American Master will cement even more due to this great work, nomination or no.<br />
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In the categories of Best Academic Work and/or Best Comics-Related Book, expect to Nick Sousanis's Harvard University Press release <i>Unflattening</i> to make the ballot and get the win. With excellent, ongoing press and a network of fans spanning academic fields and popular culture audiences, already <i>Unflattening</i> has made an impact on hundreds and that number may reach tens of thousands by the time the ballots are announced. Part <i>Understanding Comics</i>, part <i>Ways of Seeing</i>, part <i>Literary Theory: An Anthology</i>, this book -- marketed as a comic dissertation (and it is in so much as it is a long essay on a particular set of subjects, but do not mistake it for the same work Sousanis would have submitted as a dissertation for his recent doctorate) -- asks readers to reconsider their conceptualizations of knowledge and what counts as serious intellectual representations of such. Inspiring and eye-opening -- mind- and opinion-altering, even -- especially to those who need to see a book of comics theory from an Ivy League press and an Ivy League-educated author -- <i>Unflattening</i>'s following and success at expanding the minds of intellectuals and casual scholars alike make it a sure-fire awards winner. Expect second and third printings to wear some sort of medallion, if not the Eisner.<br />
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<i>Bitch Planet</i> is a lock for a Best New Series nomination and would make a controversial non-win <br />
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unless another title debuts with as much interest and pinache as DeConnick and De Landro's not-quite-monthly floppy from Image. With a loyal, championing (maybe even defensive?) fan following, this title's mega-splash debut is enough to get it on the watch list, and while the series is still gaining steam and finding its flow, nothing short of a narrative meltdown will keep <i>Bitch Planet</i> from appearing on the ballots. Not recognizing this self-aware ironic female prison exploitation trope buster would make for judges who were non-compliant to popular opinion.<br />
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I have a hunch some assortment of Spider-Man titles will be in the hunt as well and will, along with <i>Ms. Marvel</i>, comprise most of Marvel's representation on the ballots. Whether the categories will honor Spidey-centric writer, artist, or series I can't prognosticate. Will Miles Morales or Spider-Gwen take center stage, or will an off-center, quirky "super-powered yet still domestic"-themed series featuring a very pregnant Spider-Woman fill the void left as series like Matt Fraction's <i>Hawkeye</i> and the fan-favorite <i>She-Hulk</i> fade from public consciousness? Could <i>Silk</i> be a dark horse beak-out series or character? Maybe the new group book will prove an Eisner winner. G. Willow Wilson deserves the recognition an Eisner would bring, but now that <i>Ms. Marvel</i> is not a new series, her best bet might be the very tough Best Writer category. Another prediction? The great-in-concept but tepid-so-far <i>A-Force</i> will not garner awards consideration, nor will a majority of contemporary Marvel properties beyond the titles mentioned.<br />
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Marvel will still have more representation on the ballot than DC, though, who will have to hope Gene Yang and John Romita Jr's <i>Superman</i> run continues to bring the heat.<br />
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Expect current sure-things like <i>Saga</i> and its creators to make at least one category, and expect a return of <i>The Walking Dead</i>, maybe in compendium form (?), as well. I've a hunch <i>Sex Criminals</i> will find a way back into the ballots too, and that we'll see a push toward more literary, adult-themed comics and graphic novels to offset -- but in no way to invalidate -- this year's crowded slate of winners cross-associated with Young Adult Literature. If the Hernandez brothers catch fire with a new work or a chapter of <i>Love & Rockets</i> with the same meteoric impact as <i>The Love Bunglers</i> -- and having studied their cycles of work, they're due -- I expect Fantagraphics, Drawn + Quarterly, and Image to make the strongest hauls this time next year. <br />
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As with the sports columns, though, such columns as this serve as fun speculation more than anything else at this point in the new awards year. Let's meet in just under 400 days to revisit my predictions, though, eh?<br />
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<br />Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-55374892401885493362015-07-11T01:55:00.002-04:002015-07-11T01:57:24.694-04:002015 Eisner Awards Winners Announced! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://girlslikecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/eisner-awards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://girlslikecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/eisner-awards.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Click <span style="color: red;">*</span><a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/07/10/sdcc-15-the-eisner-awards/#.VaCtdvgVptk.twitter" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: red;">*</span> to see which creators and titles won. Though, while awards are nice, these accolades do not mean the other nominees and many others not nominated aren't doing equally awesome work.</span>Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-35227975297220625322015-07-09T15:06:00.000-04:002015-07-12T04:13:35.139-04:00One of Nation's Largest Literacy Events Happening This Week! San Diego Comic Con 2015Memories of my last Comic-Con from 2012 loom large. Attending this event, which, this year, will most-likely attract over 100,000 enthusiastic readers and viewers of popular culture, is an astounding experience. Educators at all levels should recognize comic conventions for what they are: Literacy events for reading communities.<br />
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Seriously, you've never seen a deep reader if you've never experienced a conversation about what that one artifact in the corner of <i>Uncanny X-Men</i> #238 might signify. You've never met an informed, critical reader like the fangirl who can tell you every reason Carol Danvers rocks and exactly how creators have mishandled her character throughout the years and exactly how Kelly Sue DeConnick got her right.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0qv6tdGC3tAior3-tnWKJNef88KBkUwwe6pe_8ehUqQbsVF0d0lJogiZGpaPzFxb6YnUWtw6H6qszvAEg7-tSfHERadn_18K1E4dlmCIkVc5_ZlajJFlQtoN6tQwflcddQA9t_A/s1600/1342214796780.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0qv6tdGC3tAior3-tnWKJNef88KBkUwwe6pe_8ehUqQbsVF0d0lJogiZGpaPzFxb6YnUWtw6H6qszvAEg7-tSfHERadn_18K1E4dlmCIkVc5_ZlajJFlQtoN6tQwflcddQA9t_A/s400/1342214796780.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me on my way to SDCC 2012, during which I spent some of my time cosplaying as The Thing.</td></tr>
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Here's to San Diego Comic Con, all comics conventions, and the eager, critical, engaged, smart, savvy readers and fans who make them authentic literacy events worthy of educators' admiration and respect.Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-69075706039356785882015-05-08T15:40:00.002-04:002015-05-08T15:41:45.729-04:00See My Talk about Batman and Superman for WSU's Global Campus (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://videovault.wsu.edu/Images/SecondaryHeader.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://videovault.wsu.edu/Images/SecondaryHeader.png" height="86" width="400" /></a></div>
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Click<a href="http://videovault.wsu.edu/ShowVideo.aspx?vid=9222270f-696e-43e0-aa3f-7a59ec1b4f95&TIP=" target="_blank"> here</a> to see me talk about the mythoi of Batman and Superman for the Washington State University Global Campus.<br />
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<a href="http://flashvideo.wsu.edu/global/Global%20Connections/Thumbnails%20for%20video%20vault/Comic%20Con%20Iconic%20Comic.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://flashvideo.wsu.edu/global/Global%20Connections/Thumbnails%20for%20video%20vault/Comic%20Con%20Iconic%20Comic.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-32683742098504162192015-04-02T14:52:00.001-04:002015-04-02T14:54:24.435-04:00Comics Resources Via Academia.EDUHi, all. Just a quick note to inform you I have created a page on Academia.EDU where I have uploaded versions of some of my more-formal published writings on comics and literacy. To access the links and PDF's, just visit<a href="http://virginia.academia.edu/JamesBuckyCarter" target="_blank"> http://www.virginia.academia.edu/JamesBuckyCarter</a>.<br />
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I have work from previous projects and even a pre-publication draft or two of other resources. While there is overlap with critical theory and Young Adult Literature, most of the work focuses on comics and teaching. Lesson plans, articles, columns and even links to book previews await!Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-24067197105454583722015-02-05T17:03:00.002-05:002015-02-05T23:16:24.035-05:00Review of Dalrymple's *The Wrenchies*<span style="font-size: large;">One of the tropes of Chris Claremont's run on the<i> Uncanny X-Men</i> was the "fever dream," a narrative which took a character or characters to esoteric, often frightful depths of soul searching and offered events which a reader was never sure were real or imaginary, <i>the</i> reality or possible realities or real alternate realities. Reading Farel Dalrymple's <i>The Wrenchies</i> feels like one of Claremont's fever dream arcs. Indeed, many of the main characters of the book are teen fighters, some with superpowers, who are described as the best at what they do. Some characters even seem to be visual homages to Marvel's merry mutants, especially in their punk or "Days of Future Past" days. Like Wolverine, they're the best at what they do...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And what they do is...serve some nebulous purpose which seems to be a commentary on comics and the creative process itself. Sherwood, a leading character, is a comics artist who created a comic book called <i>The Wrenchie</i>s, which is discovered by another band of gifted, down-on-their-luck, roving, fighting youngsters, which calls itself the Wrenchies after that comic. This takes place in the graphic novel by the same name we are reading.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Meta-meta-meta-meta? Who knows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eventually, members of both Wrenchies teams and a kid who seems to inhabit the same "base" universe as Wrenchies creator Sherwood team up to save a world where kids are eventually killed (?)/transformed (?) by evil beings like zombies, wizards, and shadowsmen. The Wrenchies' goal? Kill the source of the evil, Sherwood himself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I see evidence of an author working through issues associated with Plato's cave allegory, existentialist angst, Freudian sublimation and Jungian concepts, but the book often seems as much a plot hodgepodge as it does a critical one. Dalrymple isn't just playing through multiliniarity in comics narratives; he's toying with the concept of a single, clear-cut driving narrative itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Make no mistake, the book is gorgeous. Dalrymple's visual detail and storytelling are as exciting and fresh as they've ever been, even in muted palettes, and the arcane, weird vibe of his previous work is intact, even if often the images are grotesque and violent. Characters like Hollis and Scientist are easy to like. Motivations are endearing and piteous. But the book feels tangled, a knot of meaning and reflection perhaps too abstruse to appreciate, a text as confused as it is confusing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Still, if you're a fan of the recherché and post-apocalyptic sensations and don't mind a read where you're probably never going to have a full sense of what is going on or even why the narrative exists (as in what deep, dark need it served for the author), <i>The Wrenchies </i>offers a twenty-side die of a read, the graphic novel as icosahedron. Revel in its mysteries, teases and taunts, but don't expect easy answers in terms of plot or presence.</span><br />
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<br />Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19841618.post-50878673521066527802015-02-03T14:30:00.000-05:002015-02-03T14:38:47.074-05:00Review of Tamaki & Tamaki's *This One Summer*<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nothing nestles one out of their plans to review a book like learning it just won a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/02/02/caldecott-printz-honors-this-one-summer-co-authors-grateful-for-graphic-novel-milestone-as-honor-book/" target="_blank">Caldecott <i>and </i>a Printz,</a> but that's what happened with me and <i>This One Summer</i>, a 2014 release from Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, who some may remember from their 2008 graphic novel <i>Skim</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I started reading <i>This One Summer </i>months ago. The book details a particularly eventful -- in a subdued sort of way -- family vacation to Awago Beach for young Rose, a teenager teetering between liking girlish joys and being thrilled and titillatingly confused by the provocativeness of dabbling in more adult realities, some of which feel like confronting an adulterated abyss and others which feel like the pangs of pubescence. Rose is a domestic detective eager to place together clues about her family life and the lives she might want, and Awago Beach is her beat to canvas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As she grows weary of her parents' bickering and emotional isolation from each other, Rose finds some comfort (and some vexing too) in her younger friend Windy, who provides a vehicle for reflecting on the word of girlhood versus a new, more aware existence where sex is real, boys are...?, mother nature's a bitch (and named as such), and just getting by alive, much less well, can seem like the greatest of successes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But as much as I enjoyed the story and worried alongside Rose about what exactly was up with her despondent mother, the thing that kept me from finishing the book for so long, kept me hoarding it to myself, is its mastery of the comics form. I wanted to keep it to myself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>This One Summer</i> offers a low-key, domestic plot which manages to tap into the universals of living and growing, so it is never boring even though its topics are mundane, but <i>ohmygoodnesstheART! </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Tamakis know their comics craft, and they offer us a mastery of panel work and emanata as not just story framing but story telling like few graphic novelists I've seen. They are in complete control of what comics making affords them and utilize unique elements of sequential art so adeptly I'm not surprised the honors have rolled in. I couldn't keep this book to myself if I tried. Someone was bound to recognize its brilliance. What gets me as someone who has metacognitive awareness of comics' affordances and applies it to readings, though, is that the plot and those elements so impressively used are never at odds. I never felt so impressed by the artistry that it took me out of the story. The story <i>is</i> the artistry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Panel work can seem banal, for example. Comics are always framed -- by readers, by pages, and by cells or panels within the page. Even open panels with full bleed still reside within the space of the page. But the Tamakis show even the basic elements of comics can be art, not just artifice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In one panel, for example, Rose holds up a jellied candy, peering through it and noting the distorted image of reality it offers, a chaotic frame within the frame which creates for the reader the experience of seeing the physical real as it is, as it could be, and as it is comprehended in Rose's mind. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A series of panels in which Rose looks through the slits of a high wooden fence into the yard of local, working-class teens offer another amazing bit of formal mastery. Again, the scene works to give Rose a glimpse of another lifestyle or realism, one more grown-up than she's used to. The vertical, rectangular slits in the fence are already bordered by traditional comics panels but also become comics panels, and the angle work -- another strength of the book -- creates a dual perspective and multi-framing effect which draws the reader into Rose's psyche while also helping us experience her angst, excitement and nervousness about noting worlds beyond her own lived experiences. It's not just the plot, but the form which snags the audience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As well, the creators spin onomatopoeia and diegetic and nondiegetic sound into high art. In one panel, the word "slut" weighs heavily on Rose's mind and intermingles with her physical surroundings to replace the sound of walking on crunching leaves. When Windy practices inhaling and exhaling, her breath has body. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When Windy and Rose listen to tunes, the music, visually represented as notes in the air -- not a new trick, but never one so accomplished as it is herein (seriously, Schroeder, if you saw how well music was expressed in this comic, you'd feel the full weight of working for Peanuts!) -- seem tangible, movable, customizable, even, as if the air itself becomes a workshop for creation and expression. When Rose swims and we need to feel the depth of the water, we are placed half-submerged behind treading Rose, and the panels are long and horizontal. When space itself becomes daunting or dangerous, splash pages full of ink help readers see when space itself can become daunting or dangerous, and every single element, from line work to angling to panel work to use of emanata and onomatopoeia</span><span style="font-size: large;">, seems essential. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And so they are. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Printz and the Caldecott and whatever other awards are coming don't make <i>This One Summer</i> a masterpiece, of course, and I do wonder if folks have gotten so keen to the comics scene that they are aware of all the artistic work going on in the book or just sort of "felt" its specialness without being able to note the formal command at work. The book would be a magnum opus of comics art regardless. I am sure it will be studied and explicated for years to come. It's a true exemplar. I suppose the book is a credit to the success of comics as a medium which has full respect among many within the literati now. But award recognition alone doesn't adequately describe how rare and special is <i>This One Summer</i>. </span><br />
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Bucky C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06076289438556471019noreply@blogger.com0