Of course, this is what it looked like before I started editing out the space cats.

Edge or No Edge?

I started making this picture for Kristina Horner’s things found in space that don’t belong in space contest, but stars take a lot longer to draw than I anticipated. I saw some other people made No Edge jokes, but despite that and the contest being over I still, of course, finished my drawing.

I used black paper and drew an outline in white pencil crayon. The bottom and grid of space are also both done in white pencil crayon. I used slight amounts of other pencil crayon colors to give a bit of a textured look. The majority of the stars were drawn with a silver gel pen, but I also used a variety of colors of triplus gel-liners and metallic markers. The largest silver bits were made with a paint pen.

Anyways, Enjoy!

EDIT: Oh no! I missed a space cat!

I was just finding pictures of snakes

and lizards from Tipi Camp to show Adam who also likes snakes and lizards but it made me miss camp and that type of community and environment. At least I know I really loved it there and appreciated it. I still wish I could do the Young Adults program, but I’ll hit 21 before I’m done school. I don’t keep in great touch with those people, but they are dear to my heart.

P.S. I wish Clara still did her lovely little tumblr of the best drawings ever.

remember me?

authorsarahdessen:

I have been SO off of blogging I wasn’t even sure how to begin this entry. Which is CRAZY, considering how often I used to do it. What, you may ask, HAVE you been doing with all your time? Well, there’s been this little matter of raising my kid. Also a first draft of the next book to try and finish. Plus: husband’s business things, brawling with NC Dept of Revenue (don’t ask, will just say do NOT recommend it) coddling my chickens, helping my parents get ready to move for the first time in over thirty years. Also, a lot of Real Housewives to watch. 

Somehow, however, I have managed to join Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/dessensarah) AND resurrect this Tumblr. So clearly I am still into social networking/procrastination, if not blogging. Look no further than my Twitter (@sarahdessen) which I am on constantly. I’m thinking I may cross post from now on here AND Tumblr, with shorter entries. If I can pull myself away from my chickens and the Housewives.

I am also reading: I swear! Although this week I faced that dilemma of having started a REALLY well reviewed, Literary, Important Book that I just…couldn’t get into. It was nonfiction, a bestseller, with a serious but crucial subject. The kind of book you feel like a moron if you don’t like, because you MUST be shallow. (That’s my internal voice talking: it’s nice, right? Yeah, I don’t really think so either.) Anyway, thanks to support of my Twitter folks, I decided to set it aside anyway, even if it was a failing on my part. It was not the book, it was me. But as my mom is fond of saying, “Life is too short to read books you don’t enjoy.” 

And you know what? I am SO GLAD I did, because I finally had a chance to pick up John Green’s latest, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. Disclaimer: I bought this book back on the day it was published (no joke) but I don’t read YA that much, and not at ALL when I am working on a draft of my own. Too distracting. However, I was finally at a place where I could dive in and I am LOVING it so much. (Please, no spoilers! Please?) I really don’t want to work on my own book at ALL since it is so good (which is kind of unfortunate, as I really do need to knuckle down right now). Seriously, though, I’d been trudging through this serious book, berating myself for not being more into it. Then I picked up TFIOS, read one page, and was sucked under. Night and Day, people. Related: YA rocks. Yeah, I said it.

Sarah Dessen has tumblr now! And thinks TFIOS rocks! (This is just a piece of the post, go to Dessen’s blog for the rest!)

Not alone.

visiblechildren:

I’m not alone in my criticism. Many share my concerns and have their own too, and I am pleased to see an explosion in the amount of ongoing discussion. A brief reading list for anyone who wants to understand what’s going on:

Joseph Kony and Crowdsourced Intervention – Jack McDonald, Kings of War – McDonald, of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, writes about the challenges of cooperation between states in Central Africa, and about what role public opinion should have in conflict management and military affairs.

For Uganda, ‘justice’ is complicated – Salvator Cusimano & Sima Atri, Globe and Mail – My good friends Salvator and Sima write on concrete ways to serve justice in Uganda.

Invisible Children founders posing with guns: an interview with the photographer – Elizabeth Flock, Washington Post – An interview with the woman who took the controversial photo of the founders of IC holding guns with the SPLA. Also quotes IC’s response to this photo.

Joseph Kony is not in Uganda (and other complicated things) – Michael Wilkerson, Foreign Policy – Wilkerson is a PhD candidate who has, importantly, lived and worked in Uganda. He’s concerned about the contents of the KONY 2012 film.

Stop #Kony2012. Invisible Children’s campaign of infamy – Angelo Opi-aiya Izama – Izama is a Ugandan journalist who says that to “call the campaign a misrepresentation is an understatement” and that the campaign is “disempowering” to African voices.

Kony2012; My response to Invisible Children’s campaign – Rosebell Kagumire – Kagumire is an award-winning Ugandan journalist and holds a Masters in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies from the University for Peace. In her video, she says: “The war is much more complex than one man called Joseph Kony.”

Joseph Kony 2012: growing outrage in Uganda over film – Mike Pflanz, The Telegraph – Pflanz sums up the Ugandan concerns about the campaign. He quotes Fred Opolot, spokesman for the Ugandan government, expressing the government’s concerns about the campaign.

Questions We Can Ask About Kony 2012 – Meg Nanson – I’m trying to keep my links to major publications, well-known journalists, and blogs written by those with expertise in the issues, but I feel that this is worth reading. Nanson is the founder of an NGO, and although her work is not linked to Africa, this post lists important questions that I’d encourage you to consider.

I’ll end with a long-ish quote from an interview Polly Curtis of the Guardian did with Arthur Larok, Action Aid’s director in Uganda:

“Many NGOs and the government, especially local government in the north, are about rebuilding and securing lives for children, in education, sanitation, health and livelihoods. International campaigning that doesn’t support this agenda is not so useful at this point. We have moved beyond that.

“There are conflicts in the north – several small conflicts over natural resources. Land is the major issue: after many years of displacement, there is quite a bit of land-related conflict.

“But many organisations and governments are focusing on this. We need to secure social stability, health and education. These are the priorities. This is what we’re trying to focus on. Poverty is high compared to the rest of the country. That’s the practical issue that needs to be addressed.

“I don’t think this is the best way. It might be an appeal that makes sense in America. But there are more fundamental challenges. Kony has been around for 25 years and over. I don’t think in the north at the moment that is really what is most important. It might be best on the internet and the like but, at the end of the day, there are more pressing things to deal with. If the Americans had wanted to arrest him, they would have done that a long time ago.
[…]
“At the moment I think the work of Invisible Children is about appealing to people’s emotions. I think that time has passed. Their reputation in the country is something that can be debatable. There is a strong argument generally about NGOs and their work in the north.
[…]
“The video would have been appealing in the last decade. Now we just need support for the recovery rather than all this international attention on this one point. Getting the facts right is most important for the international media. That would help the situation as it is.”

A bunch more articles to check out! Some of them were also in the last post I wrote.

My problems with the KONY 2012 Campaign Sumarized


I think action is a lot more important than awareness.


I don’t really believe that a single sentance can some up all the complications of war and profit and intention and emotion that surround the KONY 2012 campaign. So I have written two more in depth articles.

This one focuses on gathering together many of the problems and concerns associated with the KONY 2012 Campaign and Invisible Children, in addition to encouraging people to research organizations before they donate.

This one questions the value of awareness, and the ‘something’ is better than ‘nothing philosophy that is being perpetuated.

Most of all, I encourage you all to do your own research, and help in whichever way you feel best after concluding that research.

Some of the articles I read and found useful:

A collection of articles, convininetly gathered in one place, including ‘visible children’ and several of the others that were widly circulated. Many significant articles are not in my list because they’re already in this list.

Philolzophy’s brief explination to keep people in the loop.

The Daily What’s Concern

The Washington Post: Invisible Children responds to criticism about ‘Stop Kony’ campaign

Neil Gaiman reblogs captainjhwatson’s list of links and statistics

Invisible Children’s response to critique of their KONY 2012 Campaign

Invisible Children Financials: I found their financial statments to be more informantive than the pretty report they released, in particular.

Foreign Affairs: Obama Takes on the LRA (About previous attempt of millitary intervention)

The Charity Navigator page for Invisible Children

Hank and John Green’s opinions on Kony

An article that brings attention to the pro war stance of Invisible Children (very well sourced)

Alternative Press article focusing on IC’s policies and monetary distribution

Of coures, there are many, many other opinions and sources out there. These are just some I found useful.

I fail to see…

How sharing the KONY 2012 video or putting up posters and wearing wrist bands will have any positive, lasting effect on the situation in Uganada.

First of all, I don’t think raising awareness in the west is as meaningful, or directly effects, improving the situation in Uganda. As I have said several times before, I don’t think awareness is very usefull unless it’s accompanied by positive action, and the actions the IC is encouraging don’t cut it to me.

Second of all, a large portion of the profits from the sales and donations received by IC go back towards makeing more videos and raising more awareness, although I admit, some goes directly into groundwork, not nearly as much as I would like.

Third of all, I think it is dangerous to perpetuate the idea that North Americans charity is the only way that the situation in Uganada will improve. Although I support non-profits and charities, I think they are only a part of the solution, and a video that portrays white men as coming in and promising to fix everything, seems damaging to me in some ways. In the same way, I think spreading a picture of how Uganada was 4 years ago, in some ways dissvalues the people and organizations, both foreign and Ugandan, which have been working hard to improve the situation there. I know that having a primarily negative video is more motivating for people, but I don’t like being emotionally manipulated, and I would like to see more Ugandan voices and Ugandan’s being empowered, isntead of being conveyed primarily as victims.

Just to be clear, since I’ve recieved this comment a lot, I DO support improving the situation in Uganada through various charities and non-profits. However I DO NOT suppport Invisible Children, because I don’t like the way they divide their funding, I DO NOT support sending more US troops in to Uganda, and I am concerned that their video perpetuates damaging stereotypes and gives a fairly one dimensional representation of the situation, that leads people to believe that the situation is much simpler then it actually is. However, for those of you who have researched and do agree with IC’s policies, and want to help fund them, I think that is great. I am more interested in encouraging people to research the charities they donate to and making their minds up for themselves then I am in changing their minds about the charities they have researched thoroughly already.

I DO support action. I just support, pausing and thinking critically and researching before diving in.