[Reblog] "Time" (xkcd)

Original post: Creator of xkcd Reveals Secret Backstory of His Epic 3,099-Panel Comic, Wired.

I'm endlessly fascinated by the new possibilities that the Internet opens in storytelling. The coherent crowd-sourced mythology of SCP. The memetic hypertextuality of Homestuck.

Still from Time, xkcd. Retrieved from Wired.

I wasn't really following Randall Munroe's Time, but the nature in which the story was told is fascinating in much the same way. Its 'serial' nature invites, maybe even necessitates, frame-by-frame analysis.

And of course, on top of that, there's the attention to detail and stylistic elegance of Munroe's best xkcd work.

[Reblog] Dignity, not disciplining

From child trauma support and resource site Aces Too High comes this article: Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tries new approach to school discipline — suspensions drop 85%.

In short: zero tolerance approaches to misbehaviour may be counterproductive, causing additional stress for the students who are acting out and causing them more trouble in the long run.

Punishing misbehavior just doesn’t work. You’re simply adding trauma to an already traumatized kid.

Jane Stevens, Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tries new approach to school discipline[...]. Aces Too High.

Indeed, once the external factors that lead to misbehaviour have arisen, that misbehaviour is practically a fait accompli, the completion of a cycle.

Severe and chronic trauma (such as living with an alcoholic parent, or watching in terror as your mom gets beat up) causes toxic stress in kids. Toxic stress damages kid’s brains. When trauma launches kids into flight, fight or fright mode, they cannot learn. It is physiologically impossible.

Ibid.

Depending on your view of education and developmental psychology, the message here may be either paradigm-shifting or completely unsurprising. There's a lot more inside the article; check it out here.

[Reblog] "All Hail the Queen?"

Illustration by Irana Douer for Bitch Media

Shout out to Tamara Winfrey Harris (writing for Bitch Magazine) for an excellent essay on feminism, race and dangerously high standards: All Hail the Queen? — What do our perceptions of Beyonce's feminism say about us?.

Being a feminist in the public eye should not require remaining aloof about relationships... We don’t require this of men... President Barack Obama made a very similar claim about his spouse post-2008 election: I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years...Michelle Obama.

Tamara Winfrey Harris, All Hail the Queen?. Bitch Magazine, Issue 59.