A Thousand Farewells

This month, I read the book "A Thousand Farewells" by Nahlah Ayed as part of my journalism class.

Being that I have never really read a non-fiction book before, I wasn't too sure what to expect, other than a true story. I was surprised to find, though, that with some tweaking the book could easily appear as a creative narrative. This was because the book was about Ayed's experiences as a journalist in the Middle East, which, to put it simply, was pretty intense.

The thing that gave it away as non-fiction was the balance between narrative and historical facts. Ayed would give a small amount of narrative, and then pages and pages of historical background. Although this was somewhat necessary to the story - as it is the history that has built up over time in the Middle East that has made it what it is now - it was a little overwhelming at times. Forty years of history is a lot for one 339 page book, and I found it rather hard to absorb. 

Despite this, I did actually find the history of the book very helpful to my reading experience. This is because I know very little about the events in the Middle East, as I was very young when a lot of what most people know about happened. Even around 9/11, I was only just starting second grade. I do remember seeing news about Iraq on from time to time, enough to know that there was a war going on. But I wasn't even 10-years-old yet, so it wasn't long before I flipped on through the channels to find the cartoons. I've always been weirdly unaware of a lot of the world's history. My elementary school hardly taught us any recent, significant history, so when I went on to junior high I admittedly felt rather stupid because I knew so much less than others. Honestly, I didn't know what the KKK was until I embarrassedly asked someone last year. So, being that I was young and oblivious to the world during the events of this book, it was rather nice to have it finally explained to me - and in much greater depth than I probably would have gotten from the news anyway.

Since I usually read fiction books, though, I greatly enjoyed Ayed's narratives. She made them very compelling and interesting, and her experiences were scarily unbelievable sometimes. This was most prominent in the chapter "Ghosts", where Ayed is attacked after a bombing, as the surrounding citizens thought she was the initiator of the bombing. People were beating her mercilessly, until a man managed to pull her away. What probably shocked me most here, though, was the fact that no one really stopped the man. They could have stabbed him, yanked Ayed back into the fight, but they did not. In my mind, it sort of shows the compassion they still had, even though they were enraged. I found this scene to be rather frightening, actually. You have to be dedicated to still want to work in a place that you know you could likely die in at any time, whether by bombs or resulting attacks like this. You could be jumped, or accidentally shot. Anything could happen, and you just have to hope that it won't, or if it does, that you'll survive. Maybe a random stranger will save your life. But you don't know for sure. And that's scary.

One thing I found could have been added to the book was the prospectives of other journalists and crew. It was obvious that Ayed made contact with various other journalists during her time in the Middle East, as not only did she have her own crew, but she mentioned that she sometimes stayed in the hotels that most journalists were staying in. I like being given the opportunity to see other people's views, so I feel like it would have been more enjoyable to me if I could see her conversation with one of the other journalists, and how they've been dealing with their experiences.

Overall, I found the book to be quite interesting and informative. I think it really showed how important a journalist's role is in the world - how their job truly is to tell the stories that need to be known. But it's also about lines - ones that you have to cross, and ones to learn to stay away from - like when Ayed chose not to interview the grieving woman on the hill above the mass grave. I learned a lot from this book, and I feel comforted by the fact that some holes in my knowledge of history have been filled.

Painting with Watercolours!

This week, I began my adventures in watercolour painting.

The idea for this began with some brainstorming for my IPP for school. I knew I wanted to some kind of story-telling art book, but I hadn't come up with a story yet - and the style had to match the story. As the idea for my story slowly began to form, I decided that watercolour would suit the tone of the story best.

The problem was, though, that I had not painted at all since elementary school. Remember those crappy little paint sets that dried and cracked really horribly? Yeah. Those. But, I figured I had to give it a shot, because I could just feel that it would be awesome.

So, last Friday, I went to the little art shop across the street from my school to get some supplies. I bought some 140lb watercolour paper, a basic set of 12 paint tubes, and some brushes - totaling about $23 with my student discount. I then went to Dollarama to pick up a little plastic palette for mixing, a white out pen, and some tape.

Before I started actually painting, I became rather nervous. What if I still painted like a fifth grader? What if I couldn't paint well to save my life? Then I'd have to completely re-thing my style choice for my book.

But when I finally started painting on Thursday, things went surprisingly well. Mixing colours really wasn't much of a problem, I guess because I had a good feel of it from my digital colouring, and I remembered to take into consideration the fact that the paint dries lighter. The biggest challenge was really just getting the technique down - how to blend the colours into each other, how much water to have on my brush, etc.

When I finished my first piece (which was actually my "tooling around" - I did nothing with the paint before this!) I was pretty impressed with myself. I figured out that I painted the way I wished i could digitally colour.

 

I also learned how well fingers can come into play - although I supposed paper towel would have a similar effect. When I went to do the gray shading on the eye, it actually came out too dark, and too much water (so there was like a blob of water just waiting there, threatening to spread and ruin the eye). So I panicked and wiped it with my finger, and it came out looking lovely!

When I started on my second piece - a character I have in mind for my story, in fact - I began applying and starting to refine some of the techniques I had already learned with blending.

Although I made - and will probably continue to make - a number of mistakes with the piece (eg. I was messing around a lot and lost a bunch of colour pigments in parts), I am still happy with how it is going, and am proud of myself for starting this adventure.

 

Always fun to come home to...

Today, I was planning on writing a nice, cute post about the gift I made for my anniversary.

I came home, took some nice pictures, then opened up my laptop to start writing.

But, sadly, I then discover that I have no Internet. Which probably explains the shaw bill in my mail box.

I often wish I had the money to move out and pay for my own bills.

But being an unemployed, 18-year-old student, that's not quite plausible for me yet.


For now, I'll just be thankful I have my phone.