T.S. Eliot #2

Oh, campus publications. Student-run anything is always fraught with problems, most of which can likely be blamed on inexperience. Unfortunately, the 10-years-strong publication I joined up with this year is in a financial tailspin due to the fact that last year’s business manager didn’t invoice half of the advertisers… (consequently, half of the advertisers didn’t pay…) and this year we have no business staff.

The solution? Well of course! Make the editorial staff do all of the ad selling. Smart.

Is it any shock that six bookish nerds with no social skills are having trouble selling ads?

I know I’m a good editor. I know I’m a team player and manager. What I’m not, however, is a half-decent salesperson.

So thanks, lovely Head Editor. It’s super cool of you to suggest that I dress like a slut to compensate for my lack of charisma. Very professional. It doesn’t at all seem like sexual harassment, right?

Super great way to motivate me to support the publication you’re running.

James Thurber #2

The hardest part of editorial work is rejecting submissions. While I can be a harsh, nitpicky, severe editor*, as the head of the creative section this year, I do find writing the “thanks, but no thanks” emails the hardest, as it is one of the newer parts of the job.

It seems even harder when there’s not necessarily anything wrong with the submission, but for some reason, you’re just not feeling it. The writing is fine, the content is okay, but the piece just isn’t getting you. These are absolutely the worst ones to do – often, I have little feedback, just a few minor typos or formal errors , and a “thanks, but this isn’t what we’re looking for right now. I encourage you to keep writing and resubmit!” paragraph.  I always feel so useless on those e-mails, because I know if I were on the receiving end, I’d think “Geez, thanks for nothing!”

Do you ever feel that way about your outfit for the day? Not awful, not stellar, just a bit of a comme ci, comme Ça situation? That’s how I feel about this one. I have a serious cardigan+top+jeans+scarf addiction. It’s becoming a uniform.

Scarf: Booth at the Market, Cardigan: Dynamite, Beaded Grey Henley: Old Navy, Bracelet: Tabi, Belt: Can’t remember, Jeans: American Eagle (Not Pictured) Moccasin Flats: Aldo, Brown Puffy Vest: Columbia

*Last year I had a less than 1% total “Yes” votes in editoral board. Between two publications. And almost 300 submissions. I got a bit of a bitchy reputation. I don’t think it’s bitchy, I think it’s discriminating. Potato, Potahto.

Fred Wah # 2

Oh Fred Wah, you’re back! I used a quote of his in my fourth-ever post!

Sometimes I get really, really sick of sitting at my desk, so I spread out a quilt on the floor with all my work for the night and just go for it. Get ready for Mo, Great Expectations! It’s going to be a rumble!*

I also need to start planning some activities for my little sisters at Go Girls!, which is an afterschool program I mentor though Big Brothers/Big Sisters.  This is my third year running a group and I’m hoping it’ll be my best. It’s hard to battle all the negatives, the fat talk, the crazy media images, etc, in seven sessions, especially when even I find myself buying into it every once in awhile, but I think even being able to get a bunch of girls together to talk about it is a step in the right direction. Not to mention, it’s a nice break from my stressful, 21-year-old life to go hang out with some 12-year-olds. Postgrad applications? Internship requirements? Midterms? Pssssht. Please. We’re playing octopus tag and eating string cheese.

When do you get a little dose of child in your life?

(I should add, Big Brothers/Big Sisters is always looking for more mentors. Not all chapters run a Go Girls program, but you can certainly contact your local organization and find out, if you’re interested. It’s so much fun.)

 

*I am known for my dislike of Victorian Literature. However, I have to take a Victorian Prose course, so, here we are.

Arthur C. Clarke

I’ve been in the worst funk the last two weeks, so I’m throwing myself out of it by wearing my oh-so-soft Swell Season T-shirt, to celebrate the greatness that is their new album. (You can stream it on NPR, if you’re curious! The Deluxe edition also comes with a ton of live recordings. Totally worth it. I saw them live last year and was euphoric for days afterwards.)

When I’m in a bad mood, I often am down for days and days at a time. To make myself feel better, I wear lots of skirts and dresses, listen to my favourite music, and tidy up my room! I find when I’m not feeling my best, the area around me tends to reflect it. My entire floor was covered in junk! Ick. Talk about pathetic fallacy!

I’ve been laying out my clothes, and had a brainwave today that perhaps I might photograph it a bit, since so many of you are fashion bloggers! I’m a huge repeater (sorry, Eyeliah!) and I’m a bit of a “uniform”. (As in, I have an animal print cardi for every day of the school-week…oops…). I also have a lot of skirts and dresses I have trouble incorporating into my wardrobe….I’m working on it!!

What do you think? Should Mo-logue attempt some outfit posts?

(Also. I’m a tool. I picked this techie quote for a reason. I’ve been trying to update the OS on my laptop for FOUR DAYS. And it keeps freezing up. My brother told me it would be easy enough for an idiot to do on their own. This may not be the case. Or, I’m an idiot. Both plausible.)

In case anyone was wondering…

T: American Apparel via Swell Season concert, Scarf: Roots, Super-pilly cardi: Jacob Outlet. Not pictured: Brown linen skirt: Gap, Nubby black sweater tights: Mom’s drawers at Thanksgiving, Badass buckle boots: Rocketdog. )

Mo is on Twitter!

(Awesome paper sculpture work, as seen at Samuel Johnson’s House in London this summer. Regrettably, no idea who the artist is.)

So, I caved and joined twitter for all the little notes of whimsy I can’t add to the blog for various reasons. If you’re interested in taking a peek at how mundane my life really is, feel free to come check me out!

 

Rawi Hage

Sometimes, my favourite part about a trip to visit my parents isn’t so much the visit, but the train ride.

Which isn’t to say I don’t love my parents. I do.

But there’s something about that six hour trek, with no internet, no cell service, a slowly-dying iPod battery, all that countryside and industrial wasteland rushing past the windows, and all the interesting people to watch, that I just love.  It’s the quiet contemplation, I think.  I always think of new things to write on the train, or I blaze through novels, highlighting passages and making notations, folding corners on parts to revisit later. I get so much work done – on my own projects as well as schoolwork.

If it were more financially viable, I’d spend entire Saturdays on the train, just watching the world rush by. Unfortunately, Via Rail prices aren’t budget-friendly for a weekly foray into productivity. Consequently, blogging has fallen by the wayside in the wake of midterm essays, seminar presentations, and all that other “life” stuff that comes along with being 21 and approaching a heinous, terrifying life crossroad.

What’s your favourite way to travel? Air, Sea, Car, Train, Bus? When you travel, how do you pass the time?

Vincent Libretti

Not all of my quotes come from intellectuals, writers, poets, etc.  This one comes from a few-seasons-ago designer on Project Runway. I thought it was so funny, and at the same time, really described an interesting person. I used this as the basis for one of my anthology pieces last year.  Sometimes, a quote really creates a character, sometimes a place, and sometimes, just a feeling. As a rabid quote-saver, I guess it’s odd that of all the great quotes I’ve kept, this is the only one (so far) I’ve written around.

I thought I’d share a snippet about Ryan with you, the character I sucked out of this little nutbag of a quote:

I’d always heard Ryan Baum was the kind of guy who would jump off a bridge to discover things on the way down. I never thought he’d actually do it. I wondered what he’d learned this time.

His skin was pocked and always blemished. He wore the same jeans all winter, and he mended the fraying hems with cloth tape until the summer. Then he cut them off into shorts, and in the fall he started over again with a new pair. You could always tell what kind of year he’d had, looking at those jeans. Mistakes and reckless experiments were woven into the denim.

Have you ever read a quote that suggested a sort of person you were really curious to know?

Stephen Kaggwa

Yes. I did almost peel open the cupcake and devour it before I took the picture. Self restraint isn’t really my thing.

I’ve had bad luck with baking the past while. I often fault the fact that the oven at my shanty student house doesn’t have much in the way of heat control, and seems to be better at making charred lumps of coal than anything else. (Santa, if you need help filling the coal quota for the naughty list this year, give me a call!)

My parents just got a new oven at their place, so I decided to take advantage and make some pink cupcakes. Partially because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month so there’s pink everywhere,  and partially because my friend’s roommate gave me the most spectacular recipe for pink cupcakes that seemed absolutely foolproof. (Make regular white cake batter. Dump in as many berries as you can. Mix until no longer lumpy, and bake!) Mine turned out more purple than anticipated, but I couldn’t resist throwing in some blueberries too!

Given that of the 30 cupcakes I baked yesterday, only 13 remain, I would consider this my first successful baking project in ages!

Now, if only my oven-fixing skills were as promising…

Do you like to bake/cook? What are your favourite recipes?

Henry Ward Beecher

“A person without a sense of humour is like a wagon without springs – it’s jolted by every pebble in the road” – Henry Ward Beecher

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!

I’m visiting my parents this weekend and (as is often the case) picked up a cold which decided to wait until the very second I arrived to cause a ruckus in my person. Lucky me!

Regardless, I’ve had a lovely time so far shopping with my mom and hanging out with the family and friends. There’s nothing like relaxing a bit! I also need to dig out some old halloween costumes and see what I can find. I know there’s a great dinosaur costume in the basement somewhere I might want!

What are you doing this weekend? Are any of you dressing up for Halloween? If so, as what?

**PS- I’ve decided to start using Fictionpress to post some of my silly assignment-based works that aren’t part of my larger writing projects. If any of you are interested, I have a few super-short stories posted on my page. Thanks!

Colin Mochrie #2

I don’t think my body* can handle University life. Go to bed at 2am, wake up at 6…

Thank goodness I’m going home this weekend. Home cooked food is the only cure!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

What are your weekend plans?

*particularly my poor liver.