text:
Stories That Make You Smile
Addison Albright
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Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan – Giveaway – Exclusive Guest Post & Excerpt
Posted on August 10, 2017 August 9, 2017 by Addison Albright	4 Comments
One encounter with antisocial Xander Fairchild's artwork is enough to turn Skylar Stone's carefully orchestrated one-percenter life upside down, unlacing his secrets and inviting him into a secret anime-soaked world with a new set of friends. But will they be brave enough to embrace their fragile new relationship and let it last beyond the summer?
Release Day: August 8, 2017
Ebook: $5.99 – ISBN: 978-1-945116-09-4
Print: $19.99 – ISBN: 978-1-945116-10-0
Cover art by Natsukoworks
Cover design by Kanaxa Designs
💗 Buy Links
Amazon US ebook | Amazon US paperback
Amazon UK ebook | Amazon UK paperback
Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Scribd | Smashwords
💕 Blurb
A single stroke can change your world.
Xander Fairchild can't stand people in general and frat boys in particular, so when he's forced to spend his summer working on his senior project with Skylar Stone, a silver-tongued Delta Sig with a trust fund who wants to make Xander over into a shiny new image, Xander is determined to resist. He came to idyllic, Japanese culture-soaked Benten College to hide and make manga, not to be transformed into a corporate clone in the eleventh hour.
Skylar's life has been laid out for him since before he was born, but all it takes is one look at Xander's artwork, and the veneer around him begins to crack. Xander himself does plenty of damage too. There's something about the antisocial artist's refusal to yield that forces Skylar to acknowledge how much his own orchestrated future is killing him slowly…as is the truth about his gray-spectrum sexuality, which he hasn't dared to speak aloud, even to himself.
Through a summer of art and friendship, Xander and Skylar learn more about each other, themselves, and their feelings for one another. But as their senior year begins, they must decide if they will part ways and return to the dull futures they had planned, or if they will take a risk and leap into a brightly colored future—together.
💗 Excerpt
The painting, three by four feet and propped on an easel in the center of the room, arrested Skylar Stone, emptying every thought from his head, save one. This piece of art was the most incredible thing he'd ever seen.
He paced a semicircle around the canvas, unconsciously hooking his index finger into his collar to loosen his tie, as if looking at this painting required more room to breathe. It assaulted his senses and made him too dizzy to think. How did it possess so many colors and yet seem kind of purply blue? There was gold in there, somehow, and red, and…God, everything. What was the figure in the foreground? A man? A dog? A boulder? Somehow it was all three. A hulking mass of darkness looking out at…stars. Or perhaps it was someone lying on a blanket. Or it was a gargoyle looking over a city. A city on fire.
Click to Read the Balance of this Long Excerpt
Or maybe it was a city being formed?
It looked like a child had painted it. Or a grand master. It took Skylar's breath away.
"I said, can I help you?"
Blinking, Skylar turned toward the speaker, a mousy, scrawny, hunched male student with a permanent glower stitched on his face. He wore a dark-blue apron stained with paint, several brushes sticking out of the right-side pocket. The plaid shirt the apron protected was frayed at the collar and cuffs, and it fit the man so poorly it looked like he'd dressed in his father's closet. His jeans were equally worn, and his tennis shoes sported soles flopping open at the toes.
The man glared at Skylar with dark-brown eyes peering from a shag of slightly curly, too-long bangs as he waited for Skylar's reply.
Skylar cleared his throat and struggled to find his usual confidence, feeling clearer with the artwork out of a direct line of sight. "Sorry. That painting is so gorgeous it knocked me off my game a little." Digging his smile out of his stupor, he crawled back into what his fraternity brothers called Silver Stone Mode and stuck out his hand. "Skylar Stone. I'm the risk manager for Delta Eta Sigma. I'm looking for Mr. Xander Fairchild. Can you tell me where I might find him?"
The mousy guy didn't accept the handshake, and if anything, his scowl deepened. "What do you mean, the painting is gorgeous?"
Skylar turned back to it, rubbing the smooth line of his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "I mean that the painting is gorgeous. I feel like I could look at it for hours."
"The paint is too thick, and the brushstrokes are a mess."
"That's kind of what I like, though. The thickness. The roughness. It feels almost 3-D. I don't know anything about art, so I wouldn't know a brushstroke if you hit me with it, but I love this painting. Do you know who did it?"
Scowling Guy snorted. "Me."
"Wow. Really? That's fantastic. I can see someday I'll be forking over an arm and a leg for the right to hang your work in my living room."
The artist hunched his shoulders and glared harder. "What do you want?"
Right, no more compliments. Skylar got down to business. "Like I said, I'm here to see Mr. Fairchild. Do you know where I can find him?"
"You already did. Now tell me what you want, so I can tell you no and get back to work."
"You mean—you're Xander Fairchild?"
"Yes. And you're one of the frat boys who spray-painted penises all over my mural."
Here, finally, Skylar found his groove. "No. I'm one of the officers of the fraternity where three members are on probation for vandalizing your work. I'm here to apologize on behalf of Delta Eta Sigma and see what we can do to make amends for our brothers' inappropriate behavior."
"There's not much you can do. It can't be replaced. I'd have to repaint the whole thing, and it'll never be the same as the first time. It'll always be a copy, which means it's going to suck. I told the dean to take it down and forget it. I'll do another mural somewhere with less chance of roving drunken monkeys. Or I won't do it at all. I have my portfolio and BFA project to think about."
That news disillusioned Skylar on multiple levels. He'd assumed he could sentence the freshmen to eons of community service beginning with cleaning, but hearing the mural was ruined meant things were more serious than he'd been led to believe. Also, he'd liked that artwork. It was on the wall of Gama Auditorium, which meant he passed it every time he walked into school, and he walked almost every day. It made sense, he supposed, that he'd liked the mural so well, since it was by the same artist as the painting in front of him. He liked the painting so much better, though. The mural had been stylized, designed to represent Benten College more than being art. It depressed Sky to think it would be removed, not repaired.
He realized he was woolgathering, not focusing on his mission, and he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to hear the mural is ruined. That will change our punishment of the offenders, though I can't imagine that's much recompense for having your work destroyed. At the very least, I'd like to apologize on behalf of Delta Eta Sigma. As someone who enjoyed your mural, I will miss seeing it every day."
Xander turned away and wrestled the lid off a paint can. "Whatever."
Normally Skylar would enjoy the challenge of someone so difficult to smooth over, but he wasn't on his game today. "Are you sure the mural can't be saved? Because believe me, these two have days of community service ahead of them. If that can't be done, maybe there's some particularly grueling work they can do here in the studios?"
"You think I want them in here? Anyway, why are you asking me? I did the mural as a sophomore special project. I don't have any authority over what happens to it. That said, if you try to stick me in a room full of frat boys grousing about their punishment—"
Skylar held up a hand. "Hey—first of all, I'm asking you because you're the artist. Yes, we're in discussion with the head of the art department, and the Interfraternity Council, as well as campus security, but your thoughts on this situation are also important. Second of all, no one will be sticking you with anything. These two are facing all manner of charges and suspensions, and at this point they're doing nothing but groveling. We take this seriously. That's why I'm here, asking how Delta Eta Sigma can make it up to you."
Xander had the lid off the paint can and waved it angrily at Skylar. "Nothing. Thanks for the effort. Talk to the building secretary about donating money for paint or something, but don't let your goons clean any of my brushes. Meanwhile, I need to get back to work." After dunking a fat, wide brush in the can, he wiped it on the rim and aimed it at the canvas.
Skylar frowned at him. "What are you doing?" When he realized the brush was about to slide across the top of that night sky, he didn't think, only knocked it out of Xander's hand, sending it clattering to the floor.
"Christ!" Xander faced down Skylar with his fists clenched. "What the hell is your problem?"
Skylar felt queasy and slightly shaky. "You were going to paint over it."
"Yes. It's a piece of shit, and I need the canvas."
Piece of shit? "It's stunning. If you don't like it, sell it and buy a new canvas."
Xander's nostrils flared. "Like I said, you can leave now."
Skylar should have. He'd done what he'd come to do—he hadn't succeeded, but if he wanted to achieve his goal, he'd need to leave, regroup, and try again another day. But he couldn't leave and let the painting be ruined, so instead of walking out the door, he reached for his wallet. "How much do you want for it?"
This only enraged Xander further. "I said, get out."
Skylar thumbed through his bills. "I only have forty-five on me, but I'll go to the nearest ATM and get the rest of whatever price you name. I want to buy the painting, Mr. Fairchild."
"I'm not letting you take this back to your stupid frat house so you and your brothers can use it for a dartboard."
Skylar lowered his wallet and swallowed the impulse to give in to temper. "I have no such intent. I would never use a piece of art so callously. I gather you don't have a high opinion of Greek life, which I'm sorry to hear." Gears turned, and Silver Stone Mode ground back to life. "You don't seem to have much regard for your own skill, either, if you're so unwilling to sell your work. As far as I'm concerned, you belong in a gallery."
Xander blinked at Skylar. For a moment he looked vulnerable, almost eager, his veneer cracking at last. Just as quickly, however, his owlish demeanor was back. He set his jaw as he picked the brush up from the floor. "This is my painting. I can destroy it if I want to. I can paint over it, use it as a coffee table, chuck it against the wall. It's not going to hang in a gallery. The closest thing to that I'll be seeing anytime soon is my senior art show, and there's no way in hell I'm letting that get laughed down."
"What's to laugh at? I love the painting. The idea of a room full of your work sounds perfect."
"Oh yeah? Tell me why you like my work, then."
Skylar turned to the painting. The power of it hit him every time he looked at it, and he felt self-conscious attempting to articulate why when Xander was so derisive. He considered giving up and leaving. He'd delivered the apology and started trying to engender goodwill. The rest of his work would be done with research and carefully orchestrated gestures. But he really did hate the idea of this painting being covered up.
"I don't know. It gets me, right in the gut. It's so many things at once. It makes me feel aching and lonely but not desolate. This guy who has lost everything and retreated from the world, maybe even hates it, still has hope he can find his niche." He sighed and gestured with his hand. "I don't know anything about brushstrokes or forms or whatever. All I know is I'd hand over a lot of money to take this home with me. I wouldn't use it as a dartboard. I'd hang it in my room, and I'd stare at it while I lie in bed." He rolled his eyes at himself. "Now you'll tell me how off my interpretation was. But it's why I love it."
Xander looked pale, almost trembling, like someone had slapped him in the face. He stared at Skylar with that same vulnerable, aching expression. Then he turned away. "Take it."
Skylar frowned. "Take what?"
Xander made shooing motions at him. "The painting. Take it. Take it and go."
The painting? Skylar pulled out his money again. "Here, let me pay—"
"Just take it." Xander put down the paintbrush, hauled the painting off the easel, and thrust it at Skylar. "It's yours. Go away."
Skylar struggled to accept the painting without dropping his wallet. "I really would pay for it. I want to pay for it." He needed to.
"We don't always get what we want. You have the painting, and you've apologized for the frat. I accept. There, see? Everyone's happy. Go have a kegger or something."
Xander didn't look happy. He looked upset. Skylar was too. It bothered him to pay nothing for the painting. He didn't like that Xander was so dismissive of Delta Sig, as if they were some reboot of Animal House. Though he supposed with the mural incident they looked like it, dammit. Skylar wanted to tell Xander about the two friends who had founded Delta Eta Sigma while caring for the sick, about Delta Sig's connection to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and how much service they did a year. He wanted to talk about how his housemates truly were his brothers, how the social network the Greek life provided was as fundamental if not more so than his own family upbringing.
He would have, but Xander took off his apron and disappeared out of the studio and down a hallway. The door closed behind him with a quiet snick.
Skylar stared at the place where he'd disappeared, letting the quiet ring in his ears. Pulling his business card out of his wallet, he spied a backpack at the foot of the easel and slipped the card into an open flap. Then he tucked his wallet into his pocket, the painting carefully under his arm, and wove his way out of the building and down the hill toward Delta Sig.
The last goddamned thing Xander Fairchild needed was a frat boy interrupting his studio time.
His day had been packed tight as it was, and Pretty Boy's interruption had basically shot everything all to hell. Xander's plan had been to paint over the shit painting, letting it dry while he finished the last panels due for Lucky 7. The chore of recycling the canvas so he could paint tomorrow should have taken him a quick ten minutes, and inking only another forty, leaving him time to get the pages across campus to the magazine offices in Tori Hall on his way home. Instead, he had to stretch a new canvas over a frame, and he was priming it and grumbling under his breath when Sara came looking for him.
"I'm so sorry." He put down the brush and wiped his hands on his apron. "I haven't even started. Something came up, and I'm completely behind."
She waved a hand at him, indicating he should stay where he was. "You have the panels drawn, right? I can do the inking, if you don't mind."
Xander did mind, in fact, but he didn't want to sound like a controlling ass. "I have to tweak a few things. Sorry." He washed his hands briskly in the sink. "It won't take me long. I swear."
"No worries. Oh—and Jacob wanted me to tell you, he's not sure when, but he wants to get the guys together to move the last of the boxes to storage until they give us our new space assignment for the fall. He says make sure you either answer your phone, check your messages, or read your email this time."
Xander's cheeks burned, but he nodded, keeping his gaze on his hands as he washed them. "Got it."
She hiked herself onto a stool at the table where Xander had his manga materials spread out, her actions indicating she intended to watch him finish. He suppressed a sigh, knowing damn well he couldn't ask her to leave on several counts. One, he was the one late with his work. Two—he glanced over his shoulder at Sara's leg braces. He was an asshole, but he wasn't that much of an asshole, to send her away after coming all the way over from the Lucky 7 offices. If it had been Cory, Jacob, or Zelda, he might have.
Which, he suspected, was possibly why they'd sent her. Damn it all.
He dried his hands and took up a stool across from her, opening his folio and his ink supplies. "I'm sorry you had to come all this way to find me."
She shrugged. "I texted you as a formality, but then I started walking."
Pausing with his Zebra G nib in hand, Xander winced. He hadn't even brought his cell phone today. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right. Nice day out." She rested her chin against her wrist, which was also in a brace. "Do you have a lot of screentone to add?"
"A bit, but it doesn't take me long." Less time if he wasn't watched, but there wasn't much helping that now.
Damn that frat boy anyway. Xander would already be on his way home, if not for him.
Xander tried to focus on inking the characters in front of him, but all he could see was the way what's-his-name had stared at his shitty painting.
And called it gorgeous.
"Seriously, I can help, if you want."
Xander snapped out of his stupor and glowered at the paper, hunching deeper over it. "No. I'm fine. Thanks."
He worked diligently after that, giving life to the manga. Lucky 7 had existed as a student magazine since the college was founded in 1899, and The Adventures of Hotay & Moo had been a serialized story since day one, but the format had morphed along with the magazine. The name Lucky 7 was of course a riff on the Japanese seven gods of fortune, though The Adventures of Hotay & Moo were almost entirely based on one of the seven gods, Hotei, and Fudō Myōō, who was a god and one of the five wisdom kings but not one of the gods of fortune.
In the 1940s the short stories had become comics, and in the 1990s a resurgence in the college's Japanese cultural roots had inspired the editorial board to turn the comic into a manga, going so far as to flip the printing order so that the magazine opened to what westerners would consider the back.
Xander was the manga artist for the magazine and had been since his sophomore year, having apprenticed to the senior mangaka his freshman year and been a coartist that first year. Sara had been, theoretically, his apprentice this year, but he had been a shitty mentor. Which he felt bad about, but not bad enough to change his ways.
The characters were a true pleasure to work with, and drawing them had taught Xander more than his actual coursework. They'd done nothing but thrive in the hands of devoted artists over the decades. Xander understood the honor given to him, to have the torch of creating them passed to him, and he did his best to take it seriously.
It helped that at this point the two leads basically wrote themselves. Hotay was jolly and eternally optimistic, always leading the duo into the sun—in one story arc, this was literal—and Moo was sour and pessimistic, skeptical of everyone and everything they encountered, ready to do battle. Hotay could get himself out of a scrape if need be, but if a flaming sword were needed, that was when Moo came into play. There had definitely been artists who favored more battle-themed arcs, but under Xander's charge, the storylines tended toward Hotay and Moo having adventures together, encountering problems, and above all arguing.
Well, Moo argued, and Hotay cheered him up and coaxed him into drinking sake and forgetting his problems. Sometimes The Adventures of Hotay & Moo was guilty of not having enough plot in its storylines. Which was probably why the readership was dying off.
When Xander finished adding the screentones and everything had set, he handed Sara the folio. "Sorry again that you had to come get it."
"No worries. But maybe this summer, since we're both staying in town, I can teach you how to use the digital drawing software, and all of this can go faster."
That, right there, was why Xander had been a shitty mentor. "I have to get home. See you later."
He left before she could start yet another campaign to convince him to convert the manga.
The walk between the art building and Xander's apartment was just over a mile and a half, and with shortcuts and a pass through the local hospital's campus, Xander had the trek between home and studio down to twenty-eight minutes. The day Pretty Boy confiscated his painting, however, the walk took Xander almost an hour.
This was because he went the long way, winding his way through the state park so he could lose himself in the trees and spend some time staring out across the bluff at the top of the ridge. He could have shaved off ten minutes if he'd used the regular path, but he didn't want to run into people walking their dogs, so he took the hiking paths instead. He stood at the bluff for a good twenty minutes, replaying the exchange in the studio over and over again before stalking the rest of the way home, determined to not think anymore.
He worried he'd run into his landlady, but she wasn't home, thankfully. It was common for her to hear him arrive and come out to greet him, roping him into unwanted conversation, but today the gods looked fondly on him and allowed him to stop at his mailbox in peace before hiking up the side stairs to his attic apartment. After letting himself inside and tossing the mail on the kitchen counter, he shut the blinds tight and collapsed in a flop on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
A soft thunk on his legs preceded a plaintive meow and a second, heavier thud against his chest. Xander lifted his head to see both his cats peering intently at him.
With a sigh, Xander ruffled their fur. "Yes. I'll feed you. Let me wallow here a minute."
Hokusai, the leg-thumper, mewed again, but Hiromu focused on purring like a jet engine and rubbing her head along Xander's jaw. Xander continued to pet them as he addressed the ceiling.
"It was a fluke that he saw exactly what I'd meant to paint. Probably he has some ninja people-reading skill and figured it out from my face." When Hiromu head-butted his chin, Xander sighed and dipped his head to nuzzle back. "I shouldn't have given it to him. Better to have it painted over than have it go with them."
The cats, comprehending their human wouldn't be leaping up to feed them, settled into their perches on his thighs and chest to wait.
Xander stroked Hiromu idly, her long, fluffy coat silky beneath his fingers. Despite his vow in the park, he played the exchange with the frat boy over again, trying to show himself where it had been a trap, but mostly, to his shame, the memory of that smile and those twinkling eyes made Xander's heart flutter. He'd already forgotten the guy's name, but it would be a week before he'd stop fantasizing about Mr. Fancy-Talk pressing Xander gently into the wall, nuzzling his nose down Xander's cheek. If only he'd had a little bit of beard, he'd have been perfect.
Groaning, Xander pushed the cats off his body and shuffled to the kitchen, where he drizzled kibble into their bowls. While they ate, he examined his mail. He had all his bills on autopay, so most of it was garbage, but there was one fat full-size envelope tucked inside the local advertising circulars, and when he saw the icon in the return address, his belly did an uncomfortable backflip.
Benten College Department of Art & Art History. When Xander pried the envelope open, it was exactly what he'd expected it to be: the paperwork for his Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition.
He grimaced as he flipped through the pages of the application. If only it were as simple as showing up with a rack of paintings, but no. In addition to requiring their students submit material matching the standards the art department felt represented Benten and the department's vision for postgraduate work, they insisted their BFA students understand the full weight of what they'd be expected to do if they intended to live off their art.
He must package himself and his work. He must advertise his work. He must put forth—he glanced at the official wording—significant good-faith effort to promote his exhibition to the public in the spring or fall of his senior year. When each student's show landed in the calendar was determined by lottery, and lucky Xander was one of the early birds. The application was due May 20, which was just around the corner. This was the third notice, reminding him he still hadn't filled it out.
The only reason Xander hadn't was because of the damn promotion bullshit.
It didn't come out and say he'd be judged on attendance, but Xander knew he would be. And he knew however great he might make his paintings, in this aspect, he would fail. No one would come to his show. His advisor, the handful of undergrads filling their exhibition credits. Possibly his aunt, but he doubted it, since she lived too far away. No one else in the entire state of New York or anywhere in the northeastern region of the United States would give a damn. Xander didn't have friends. He barely had acquaintances. The only people he knew at Benten were the art majors and the staff of the Lucky 7, and they all basically tolerated him.
Well, except for Zelda, but they more tortured him than anything.
Xander's lack of people to drag to his show didn't upset him half as much as the lengths he was supposed to take to advertise, whether or not anyone would come. Social media. The department expected him to promote his work on no less than three social networks. They had a handy little bullet list of different types and what each was good for, which probably most students rolled their eyes at because it was so obvious—except Xander wouldn't understand any of them even with a full-on manual. The hell he was tweeting. He'd never get a single follower, so what was the point? He refused to even think the word Facebook. As for the rest, he didn't know much about them, and he didn't want to learn.
Except he had to learn. Three of them. And make a significant good-faith effort.
Shoving the application to the back of the table, Xander rose to make a pot of coffee. While it brewed, he thumbed through his records, rerouting his brain from anger and fear over the art show and his encounter with the frat boy and nudging it to make a vinyl selection instead.
He was going to paint.
He didn't have a studio in his apartment, but his living space essentially was his studio. He kept the paint and supplies away from the cats, but his easel and canvases took up most of his living room. His apartment had plumbing problems and got too cold in the winter and didn't have AC, but it had high ceilings, great natural light, and a more aesthetically pleasing floor plan than the boxy apartments most students lived in. And because it was so simply arranged, getting ready to work was a matter of opening a cupboard, pouring turpentine, donning an apron, and squirting some color onto a palette. The first song wasn't finished before Xander stood at his easel, staring at the blank space while he mixed paint together. He didn't think about what he would paint, he just let the canvas tell him what was there.
Probably he shouldn't have been surprised he painted the frat boy. Smiling, suited, hard and angular yet beautiful as he beamed knowingly out of the painting. Hands in his pockets, a casual stance. Above him Xander painted pretty swirls that almost sparkled. In fact, as that thought occurred to him, he retreated to the kitchen to pick up some glitter and added it to the paint. After he flipped the record over, Xander painted a shadowy shape behind his subject. Crouching. Reaching. Ugly where the frat boy shone. He added Gamblin Cold Wax Medium to those darker browns and blues, just a hint to turn the paint flat. He used thicker paint there, letting it sit in fat, awkward globs.
He'd forgotten the coffee, but he drank it cold as he switched albums. He rinsed his brushes and splashed pastels in a halo around the two figures. When the record turned off, he kept painting as the echo of the music pulsed inside his head and the paint laced the canvas. After he finished, he poured himself a fresh cup of coffee and sipped it as he sat in the kitchen and stared at what he'd done.
It wasn't awful. He wasn't sure it was great, though a stupid part of him was trying to argue this should go into his BFA show. He shut that down, but after a half hour and quarter cup of coffee which once again had gone cold, he had to admit it was better than average, especially for basically fucking around.
But the muses weren't done with him. Somehow painting the man wasn't enough. Still drunk on creating, Xander stumbled to his desk, turned on his light, and pulled out his markers. Just a quick sketch, he told himself. A little something different. Less abstract. Something to capture that other side. That…that smile…
When he looked up, it was pitch dark, except for his desk light. He'd drawn more than one sketch. It was a full panel, with shading. He'd gotten out his ink and nibs and done the thing up properly. It was some kind of weird cross between Hotay & Moo and something new and strange, and it was…a mess. He left it unfinished, frustrated because it hadn't satisfied him the way he wanted, but it had been a heady rush of creation, and now the beast was spent.
Rising, dizzy and cranky, he glanced at the time and realized he hadn't eaten for about twelve hours. After a poke in his fridge turned up nothing, he put water on and pulled out a packet of ramen. While it cooked, he fished his art history homework out of his backpack.
A business card fell out and drifted gently to the floor.
It was cream with gray stripes, and they were glossed, so when Xander tipped the paper toward the light, the stripes shimmered. SKYLAR STONE, the card read in classy, conservative DeSoto font in small caps. An email and phone number were listed below, and when Xander flipped the card over the stripes were repeated, but in a small square below a list of titles. Risk Manager, Delta Eta Sigma. Executive Vice President of American Marketing Association, Benten College Chapter. Vice President of Public Relations for Students in Advertising.
Skylar. That was the guy from the studio. The one who had taken Xander's painting. The frat boy. How had his card gotten into Xander's bag?
Pursing his lips, Xander tossed it at the mini trash can beside the table, put his ramen in a bowl, and did his homework. When that was done, he heated up the last of his coffee in the microwave and poured over the BFA paperwork again.
Halfway through, he set aside the coffee and got out a beer.
Skylar Stone's business card burned in his head like a mocking brand as Xander took in the full depth of what he was expected to do in addition to painting a show's worth of material. Probably this kind of marketing crap had been Frat Boy's freshman first semester. Probably he could do it in his sleep.
Well, Xander couldn't do it sober with a gun to his head. His advisor would be no help. He could maybe ask Sara. Though she'd want to talk about making Hotay & Moo digital while they were at it. No thanks.
There was always Zelda, of course. But asking Zelda to help him with a social media campaign was like asking a nuclear weapon to help you clear out a brush pile. Another hard pass. Ditto Jacob and Cory. They'd just complain because they were overworked as it was, and why couldn't he figure his shit out like everyone else?
Well, that was officially everyone he knew, except for his landlady, who had more trouble accessing the internet than he did.
Xander washed out the coffeepot, his mug, beer bottle, and his bowl, and fed the cats their evening treat of wet food. On his way to the bathroom he passed the garbage can and saw Skylar Stone's business card gleaming on the carpet beside it.
You could ask him. That could be his payment for the painting.
Hope flared, tangled with yearning. Across the room the frat boy painting beamed at Xander, bright and shining Technicolor.
On the desk, the four panels lay in silent black and white, harking to a past Xander didn't let himself forget. Unfinished, reminding him of his shortcomings and the roadblocks to his future.
Nostrils flaring, jaw set, Xander picked up the card, ripped it into tiny pieces, and flushed it down the toilet.
[collapse]
💕 Guest Post & Exclusive Excerpt
Antisocial is a new adult gay and asexual romance set in a fictional college in upstate New York between a one-percenter fraternity boy and a highly antisocial artist. One encounter with Xander Fairchild's artwork is enough to turn Skylar Stone's carefully orchestrated life upside down, unlacing his secrets and inviting him into a secret anime-soaked world with a new set of friends.
And it truly is a large set of friends. The community hub in Antisocial is the old Victorian house owned by Xander's landlord, where she has a studio for her folk art projects and space enough to house the Lucky 7 office space when the occasion calls for it—and living space for almost the entire staff. The kitchen and living room of the Palace of the Sun (the name Pamela, Xander's landlord, gave her home) becomes the hearth and gathering place for all the characters. They make meals, share joys and sorrows, drink, laugh, and make grand plans.
Many romance novels and series are known for their rich senses of community; no wonder, since as vehicles of hope, romances want to create safe spaces where readers can feel the characters—and by extension they themselves—are happy and nested. As humans we all want connection, we all want somewhere to belong. We love seeing other people connect, fictional and nonfictional, and we love having our own communal spaces. But there's something about reading those senses of community that warms the heart.
I think it's because no matter how well an author describes the community and the members, the places they inhabit, we must imagine what they look like and where they live. We provide that last element of the tale—we author the last spark. What the Palace of the Sun looks like to me will be different than what it looks like to you, and that's perfectly okay. Wonderful, even. Because that simply means each one of us gets our own space, our own place to call ours inside our hearts. We each get our own way to belong.
I hope when you read Antisocial you feel the community can belong to you too—and that your Palace of the Sun is as rich and wonderful as you need it to be.
Right now, though, Xander's dreams extended no further than getting a shower, but when he arrived at home, a note from his landlady was on his front door.
Hey, kiddo. Need some help with an order for a shop. Could I borrow you for the evening? Will pay your usual rate plus a meal and conversation. — P
Pamela Stolarz had been a professor and celebrated modern artist back in the day, and she'd been married to one of Benten's most famous Japanese literature and language professors, Takahiro Oshiro. She'd bought the convoluted old Victorian house she lived in with her husband's life insurance money when he passed, and named it the Palace of the Sun because she said it had the best view of the sunrise in town. The fact that it sounded Japanese and reminded her of her recently departed and beloved spouse didn't hurt anything, either.
But Pamela was lonely in her huge, ramshackle house, and though she made a brisk business selling her folk art at events and collecting commissions through area shops, she had difficulty keeping up because of arthritis in her hips and shoulder. So when she found out Xander's scholarships didn't quite cover all his costs and he needed a more economical place to live and a part-time job, she offered him a deal he couldn't refuse. She dictated to Xander what she wanted set up, he did the heavy prep work and even some of the base painting, and then she did the artwork she loved to do. In return he got to live in her attic apartment with a steal of a deal on his rent and utilities.
She was already there waiting for him when he arrived in the garage, standing in the middle of a stack of cement slabs. She smiled as she heard him enter. "Good afternoon, honey. How are you?"
"I'm well."
She didn't look up from her work, but she nodded at a large box sitting on the bench beside her. "Another package came for you from your mom. It said perishable, so I brought it out of the sun. I assume it's cookies again."
Xander saw the familiar red-and-white label and sighed. "She just sent a box two weeks ago." He took in the sight before him, assessing. There had to be at least fifty six-by-twelve two-inch-thick cement slabs stacked on wooden pallets. "Do you want to paint them yet, or are you still thinking about what you want to do?"
"Still thinking. I don't think I have enough time to do anything with them for the June show, but we could make some nice hay with them for the fall festival, and of course Christmas."
Pamela—and by his turn, Xander—made bank on folk art at Christmas. "You're the boss. Tell me what you want done, and I'm your guy Friday."
"That you are." She patted his shoulder. "All righty. Let's start with the fence pieces you brushed down yesterday. If you could give them a nice white patina—not too much, just enough to give me a surface, that ought to be enough to keep you busy."
It did at that—her instructions were vague, but Xander had both enough experience with what Pamela wanted and enough artistic sensibility to understand what she meant by a "nice white patina"—she wanted that distressed look that would make it seem as if the fence pieces had been once painted white and then left out in the rain to peel away over time. In fact, what he ended up doing was using a thin layer of white house paint and sometimes scraping away bits with the edge of a trowel—this was all work she could do herself, but why should she, when she could pay him to do it for her?
When it was time for dinner, Pamela had a bowl of soup ready for him, and a sandwich, which he ate on a stool while he watched her work on some smaller boards he'd prepped for her the week before. Her artistic style was markedly different than his, and her folk art style wasn't the same as some of her oil paintings he'd seen in the house, but folk art paid the tax man and kept her in trinkets. "Plus it keeps me social," she was fond of saying.
Xander curled his lip over the rim of his spoon just thinking about being social at a folk art show. She'd tried, many times, to get him to help her sell her wares, offering him more of a cut if he came along, but he'd always declined. Not his cup of tea, he told her. Over and over.
"So." She smiled at him as she paused mid-brushstroke. "My day has been full of exciting blood work and doctor's appointments. What have you been up to today?"
He finished chewing before he replied. "Helping the editor of Lucky 7 pack up our supplies. We have to move out of Tori Hall." He frowned. "Blood work? Is everything okay?"
"Just routine checkup stuff. Nothing to worry about. I forgot they were renovating Tori Hall this summer." She waggled her eyebrows. "Maybe they'll find a shrine."
"Have you ever seen one?" She'd worked at Benten for twenty-five years. She might have.
"Takahiro and I looked, but we never found anything. We used to take Lucky 7 staff on hunts, back in our day—he was their academic advisor, you know. But we never got anywhere."
Xander didn't even know who their academic advisor was now. "Do you honestly think the shrines exist?"
"I want to believe they do, so yes. Belief is powerful and important. Without it, we're nothing but ants crawling across the dirt." Her face took on a faraway, sad look as she continued to paint. "Takahiro always used to say that. I'd roll my eyes at him when he did, and now here I am, saying it for him."
Pamela talked about her late husband a lot. Xander didn't mind, except that he hated how lonely Pamela sounded when she did. "I wish I could have met him."
"Oh, you've met him. We were soul mates, he and I. He's with me every day. He's just invisible now. Nagging me to stop being such a sad mouse and enjoy the life I have left." Her lips pursed, and she painted with a touch more terseness. "To which I tell him I'd like him to try being the one left behind and see how he handles things." She rolled her eyes. "Though he'd only wave his hand at me and tell me I'm doing fine. Takahiro was type A, like you. Maddeningly calm."
Pamela believed in the Asian blood type personality system and referred to it often. Xander, not so much. "I'm not calm."
"You are, though. You're calm and you avoid confrontation, as much as I, a type B, seek it out. And look, I knew I could erase that scowl, at least for a second. You were plenty cross when you came in here. Did they threaten to make your manga digital again?" When that brought his scowl back, she laughed. "Oh, there I go, ruining my own work."
Xander swirled his spoon in his soup. "I understand it would be easier for everyone else, and cheaper. But it changes my work in ways I don't like. Mostly I want them to wait one more year to switch so I don't have to deal with it."
"Unfortunately life likes to hand us challenges on its timetable, not ours." She glanced at him over the top of her glasses. "Not to get your back up, but wouldn't it be a good skill set, to learn how to use the digital software?"
"I already know how to draw digitally. I'm getting my BFA. I've had four digital drawing courses, and I own a drawing tablet of my own. It's not that I don't know how to do it. It's that I don't like it. It's not the same feel as marker or pencils, and I don't like that I have to look at the screen while my hand moves on the pad."
"Fair enough. Well, I wish you luck in your campaign of resistance."
Xander hmpfed and picked up his bowl to drink the remainder of his broth. He had a feeling he was going to need all the luck he could get.
💗 About the Author
Heidi Cullinan has always enjoyed a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. Proud to be from the first Midwestern state with full marriage equality, Heidi is a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. She writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there's no such thing as too much happy ever after. When Heidi isn't writing, she enjoys playing with new recipes, reading romance and manga, playing with her cats, and watching too much anime. Find out more about Heidi at heidicullinan.com.
Praise for Heidi Cullinan:
Heartwarming and achingly beautiful —USA Today
Emotionally heartwrenching…with self-deprecating humor. — Romantic Times
Cullinan balances … love-conquers-all romance in a context full of real contemporary challenges. — Publisher's Weekly
I fell in love with the sheer beauty of the writing. — Dear Author
Cullinan reached inside and pulled out ALL the feelings: fear, guilt, sadness, anticipation, happiness, love, lust, bitterness, loneliness, togetherness, and coming of age. — The Book Pushers
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Fever Pitch – Finalist, RITA® Award, Romance Writers of America • RT Reviews Top Pick • Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Best Book Nomination
Dance With Me – Winner, Rainbow Awards, 3rd Place Contemporary • Nominee, Cupid & Psyche Awards, Contemporary • Golden Blush Award from Literary Nymphs • Best Romance of 2011 from Joyfully Reviewed • To-The-Pain Top Pick
Double Blind – Dear Author, Best of 2010 • DABWAHA Finalist 2011
Family Man – Recommended for libraries by Library Journal • Smart Bitches Trashy Books Sizzling Book Pick for April 2013
💕 Giveaway
Paperback copy of Antisocial, 11×17 cover art poster, 7 gods phone strap
Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/bc7416c231/
asexual graysexual demisexual new adult New York Artist Manga Painting Anime Gay romance Japan College-set romance Seven gods of fortune Community Self-discovery contemporary romance misanthrope no graphic sexual content slow-burn romance swooning romance snuggly romance difficult parents highly romantic
Posted in Book Blitz, Excerpt, Giveaway, Guest Post, Promo
Tagged Antisocial, Book Blitz, Excerpt, Giveaway, Guest Post, Heidi Cullinan, Promo, Rafflecopter
Book Blast! My Hero by Max Vos #Excerpt #Giveaway
#FlashFictionFriday Aug 11, 2017 – To Love and To Cherish Bonus Scene
4 thoughts on "Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan – Giveaway – Exclusive Guest Post & Excerpt"
A. Drew (a daydreamer, a reviewer and a writer) says:
I love Heidi Cullinan's stories
Addison Albright says:
I don't blame you! They're wonderful. 💕
James Escol says:
I loved Pamela & their painting sessions SLASH helping-Pam sessions. They're two great artists who I wish I could meet in real life. ^_^
"charming" "hilarious"
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text:
Q: How do I print out all the people in my person object constructor? function person(a,b,c) {
 this.firstName = a;
 this.lastName = b;
 this.age = c;
};

var friend = new person("John", "Doe", 25);
var friend2 = new person ("Java", "Script", 20);
var friend3 = new person ("Mike", "Johnson", 26);

Essentially what I want to do is to create a database where a user enters their first name, last name, and age. Then I want to print out each user's information on the screen. How do I print out all their information? I tried:  for(var prop in person) {document.write(person[prop]); }; but that didn't seem to work. Please help, extreme newbie here. Thank you.

A: You could have your person objects in a users list like so:
var users = [];
users.push(friend, code);
users.forEach(function(pers) {
    for(var prop in pers) {
        console.log(pers[prop]);
    };
 });

A: // create an array to contain all the people
var people = [];

// push new people into the array
people.push(new person("John", "Doe", 25));
people.push(new person("Java", "Script", 20));

// create an array to contain our html
var html = [];

// loop over the array of people and add each person's
// information to the html you want to output
for (var i = 0, l = people.length; i < l; i++) {
    var person = people[i];
    for (var p in person) {
        html.push(person[p], '
');
    }
    html.push('
');
}

// Add the completed html (using join) to the page
document.getElementById('output').innerHTML = html.join('');

DEMO

A: function person(a,b,c) {
 this.firstName = a;
 this.lastName = b;
 this.age = c;

 this.print = function()
 {
    document.write(this.firstName);
    document.write(this.lastName);
    document.write(this.age);
  }
};

var friend = new person("John", "Doe", 25);
 friend.print();

A: You are using "person" as a class here. It (person) doesn't has reference of all the object instance created using it. You need to store reference of these instances somewhere to print a list of it. Below is a rough example of how you can do that.
function person(a,b,c) {
 person.list = person.list || [];
 person.list.push(this)
 this.firstName = a;
 this.lastName = b;
 this.age = c;
};

var friend = new person("John", "Doe", 25);
var code = new person ("Java", "Script", 20);

for(i in person.list){
    var per = person.list[i];
    document.write("first name: "+per.firstname+" last name: "+per.lastname+
       " age: "+per.age);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
> MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly > Wheelhouse Weekly – November 13, 2003
Wheelhouse Weekly – November 06, 2003Wheelhouse Weekly – November 20, 2003
Wheelhouse Weekly – November 13, 2003
November 13th 2003 MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly IOMMP
THE MASTERS, MATES & PILOTS'
WHEELHOUSE WEEKLY
Volume 7 . . . . . Number 46 . . . . November 13, 2003
MM&P Hosts International Officers Forum in San Francisco
House Passes Conference Report on National Defense Act
Summary of MSP Reauthorization Legislation
Analysis of MSP Reauthorization Legislation
MM&P-Contracted Horizon Lines Head Receives AOTOS Award
Special AOTOS Award Honors Contribution of Merchant Mariners
MM&P-Contracted Matson MOKIHANA Receives Mariners' Plaque
Important Notice for all LDOs on STCW-95 Certification
San Francisco Bay Area Job Opportunities
MITAGS and PMI Discounts Cost for Advanced Mariner Licenses
Pfeiffer Memorial Fund Established at Cal Maritime
MM&P Members at Sea can now save on Ship-to-Shore Calls
WWII Registry Website Open to All Who Served
MM&P Federal Credit Union Info & Updates
Health & Benefit Plan Changes Effective April 1, 2003
2003 Health & Benefit Plan Office Update
Dental Benefit Administered through Delta Dental
MM&P hosted the first International Officers' Forum (IOF) at the MM&P-affiliated San Francisco Bar Pilots HQ on November 10. West Coast Offshore VP Don Marcus, Pilot VP George Quick and Mike Rodriguez, Executive Assistant to MM&P President Tim Brown, represented MM&P at the meeting that included representatives from 18 officers' unions in 14 countries with a combined membership of nearly 250,000.
The meeting was a follow on to two previous meetings in which the officers' unions identified their collective interests and the need for a united voice within the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and at the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Topics of discussion included professional issues such as the world-wide shortage of officers; criminalization of officers; piracy; and the training of ratings.
Don Marcus pledged his effort in support of a steering group that will collect ideas from the officers unions and present them at ITF, IMO and ILO meetings. Among those working with him in this effort will be George Quick and Mike Rodriguez.
Key to making the forum a success was the leadership of Capt. Kip Carlson from the San Francisco Bar Pilots and Capt. Peter McIsaac, president of the SFO Bar Pilots. Many thanks to them and also to Fran Black from the Bar Pilots' office for handling the extensive details and tasks necessary; and thanks also to Beverly Gutmann from MM&P headquarters for her work on logistics arrangements and for having banners made.
MM&P is pleased to have presented special welcome gifts to all participants, and to have covered transportation for delegates between the host hotel and the meetings. Thanks also to the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association for hosting an evening reception at their Union hall following the conclusion of the forum.
Last week, the House voted 362-40 to pass the Conference Report on H.R. 1588, the Defense Authorization Act of 2003. This week, the Senate passed the Conference Report by a vote of 95-3. President Bush's signature is expected soon.
Among other things, the measure provides for the reauthorization of the Maritime Security Program, effective upon expiration of the current MSP in 2005.
The new Maritime Security Act of 2003, as agreed to by the conferees will increase the number of participants from 47 ships to 60 ships; provide financial assistance to construct 5 newly built tankers in the US at are capable of carrying military petroleum products during a war; and extend the current program for ten additional years.
The articles below contain a detailed summary and analysis of the new MSP reauthorization legislation.
LATE-BREAKING NEWS…
MM&P learned early on Friday morning, November 14, that the last Congressional hurdle for the Maritime Security Program has been cleared. The Senate has passed the defense authorization conference report which contains the MSP reauthorization package. The defense bill, complete with the Maritime Security Program, is now cleared for the President.
SUMMARY OF MSP REAUTHORIZATION LEGISLATION AS APPROVED
Ten year program, beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2015.
Authorizes payments to up to 60 privately-owned, militarily-useful US-flag commercial vessels operating in the foreign commerce.
Directs the Secretary of Transportation to accept applications beginning no later November 1, 2004, and to act on each application within 90 days of its receipt.
Reserves the first five operating agreements for section 2 owned and operated tank vessels built in the US after the date of enactment (or to a foreign built tank vessel to be replaced by a US-built tank vessel).
Eliminates the existing citizenship-based priority system for the award of operating agreements to the 47 vessels participating in the Maritime Security Program as of December 31, 2004.
Directs that all remaining operating agreements should be awarded first to section 2 owned and operated vessels or to documentation citizen-owned/section 2 operated vessels before awarded to other vessels. The Secretary is to consider the applicants' records of owning and operating vessels.
Authorizes an annual per vessel payment of $2.6 million in each of the first three fiscal years of the new program: fiscal years 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Authorizes an annual per vessel payment of $2.9 million in each of the next three fiscal years: fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Authorizes an annual per vessel payment of $3.1 million in each of the last four fiscal years of the new program: fiscal years 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Allows foreign built vessels that meet American Bureau of Shipping standards to qualify for documentation under the US-flag. Considers telecommunications equipment on reflagged vessels to be in compliance with FCC requirements.
Exempts vessels operating under an MSP operating agreement from the three-year rule for purposes of the cargo preference program. Directs GAO to undertake a study to determine if the existing 7,500 bulk cargo limitation should be changed and/or applied to bagged preference cargo.
ANALYSIS OF MSP REAUTHORIZATION LEGISLATION AS APPROVED
As approved by the House-Senate conferees on the defense authorization bill, the Maritime Security Program (MSP) reauthorization legislation contains the following key provisions on the establishment of Maritime Security Fleet:
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS for a vessel to be eligible for enrollment in the Maritime Security Fleet include:
The ship must be operated in foreign commerce, determined by the Secretary of Defense to be suitable for national defense or military purposes, determined by the Secretary of Transportation to be commercially viable, and a US-documented vessel or a vessel that will be US-documented if it is included in the Fleet.
In addition to meeting all the above criteria, a vessel must also be either:
a roll-on, roll-off vessel with a capacity of at least 80,000 square feet and that is 15 years of age or less when included in the Fleet; or
A tank vessel constructed in the United States after the date of enactment; or
a tank vessel 10 years of age or less when included in the Fleet; or
a LASH vessel 25 years of age or less when included in the Fleet; or
any other type of vessel 15 years of age or less when included in the Fleet.
The vessel, during the time it is covered by the MSP operating agreement, must be either:
owned and operated by section 2 US citizens; or
owned by a section 2 US citizen and chartered to a documentation citizen whose chairman of its board, chief executive officer and a majority of its directors are US citizens who are appointed and subject to removal only with the approval of the Secretary of Transportation.
The documentation citizen must also certify that there are no treaties, statutes, regulations or other laws that would prohibit the contractor from performing its obligations under the MSP operating agreement. The Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Defense must both notify the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that they agree with this certification.
Finally, if the vessel is chartered to a person owned or controlled by a person who is not a section 2 US citizen, the non-section 2 person must enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Transportation not to influence the operation of the vessel in a manner that will adversely affect US interests.
VESSEL STANDARDS:
A vessel that is not a US-flag vessel on the date of enactment of this legislation but which meets the above criteria for eligibility for inclusion in the Maritime Security Fleet shall be eligible for documentation under the laws ofthe United States if the Secretary of Transportation determines that the vessel is classed by and designed in accordance with the American Bureau of Shipping or other accepted society, and the vessel complies with applicable international agreements and associated guidelines.
VESSEL AGE WAIVER:
The Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the Secretary of Transportation, may waive the vessel age requirement if the Secretaries jointly determine that the waiver is in the national interest, is appropriate to allow the maintenance of the economic viability of the vessel, and is necessary due to the lack of available vessels and operators that comply with the age requirement.
CHAIRMAN OF MM&P-CREWED HORIZON LINES RECEIVES AOTOS AWARD
Charles Raymond, chairman, president and chief executive of MM&P-contracted Horizon Lines, received the Admiral of the Ocean Sea award November 7 along with the US Military Traffic Management Command, which was recognized for its role in supporting US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In his acceptance speech, Raymond cited the role of the US merchant marine in national security. "As a nation, we have discovered we cannot depend on 'traditional allies' in time of war," he said. He said industry, labor and government must find ways to renew the US-flag fleet and reverse a shrinkage in the number of US merchant mariners.
Raymond began his 35-year maritime career as a midshipman at the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY. He later served as a deck officer for MM&P-contracted Sea-Land Service, then went on to hold numerous management positions within the company.
He was an executive of CSX Corp. from its acquisition of Sea-Land in 1988 until 1999, when he was named president and CEO of MM&P-contracted CSX Lines, the US domestic unit of Sea-Land. When the carrier became part of the Carlyle Group, its name was changed to Horizon Lines, with Raymond remaining as CEO.
The AOTOS award is presented annually at an industry dinner in New York benefiting the United Seamen's Service, a non-profit organization that provides community services for the Merchant Marine, the American Armed Forces and world seafarers. MM&P President Capt. Tim Brown was recognized as an AOTOS award recipient last year.
The MM&P was among a number of maritime unions that received a special AOTOS plaque during the award ceremonies. The inscription reads:
On behalf of the maritime industry, the AOTOS National Committee and the United Seaman's Service honors the US civilian merchant mariners and American longshoremen who have maintained the critical flow of supplies to US forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom. This award commemorates extraordinary services in support of America's defense efforts.
The officers and crew of the MM&P-contracted Matson Navigation's M/V MOKIHANA received an AOTOS Mariners' Plaque for their rescue of the six crewmembers of the Japanese fishing vessel KATSUURA MARU #28 off Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean on July 19, 2002.
The rescue began when USCG Honolulu contacted the MOKIHANA at 2300 local time on July 19, requesting that the ship divert course to aid vessel in distress at approximate position 15-00 N and 165-30 E.
In a report following the rescue, Capt. Katharine Sweeney, Master of the MOKIHANA submitted the following:
"We had already altered course to avoid Super Typhoon Feng Shen, and were already on a course to pass due south of Wake Island, en route to Guam, quite a bit south of our standard route from Oakland to Guam," said the vessel's Master, Capt. Katharine Sweeney. She reported that, "We altered course another 20 degrees, and were only 220 nautical miles away, about 10 hours steaming time after we got the first call to divert.
"The psychic ability award goes to our Second Mate Robert Carlson, who when in discussing current vessel storm avoidance route that afternoon at 1600, felt we should alter course even farther to the south, to Position 15-00N and 165-00E to increase the distance the vessel was from the Typhoon. I had decided to wait out another 12 hours before altering course farther to the south, however, a call from Search and Rescue Honolulu made this course change happen a little sooner."
Other MM&P members on board were John Bloomingdale, Chief Mate and Aaron Moore, 3rd Mate. En route to the location, the MOKIHANA received numerous satellite calls from USCG Honolulu which had sent a plane to the fishing vessel's location to drop a life raft and emergency supplies.
The MOKIHANA was on scene shortly after 0930, Saturday July 20 and was quickly able to spot the life raft at around 1000 hours. After several attempts, in 20-25 knot winds and 12-foot seas, with cooperation from all hands and a great show of seamanship from the ship's crew, all six people from the sunken vessel were safely aboard at 1220 hours.
"Getting the ship in the correct position to drift down towards the life raft was a tricky, and the sea anchor on the life raft made it very difficult to heave the life raft alongside the vessel. The Japanese crew spoke no English, and did not know to cut loose the sea anchor once we had a line to the raft which hampered rescue efforts," Capt. Sweeney stated.
The AOTOS plaque, which was accepted by Capt. Sweeney at the awards banquet, states that "The crew of the MOKIHANA continued one of the finest traditions of the sea by being part of a rescue of individuals in distress."
IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR ALL LDO'S ON STCW-95 CERTIFICATION
All Licensed Deck Officers who possess STCW-95 certificates containing Basic Safety Training (BST) completion dates close to or more than five years old need to carry copies of their USCG discharges with them so they can prove that they have the required sea service necessary to extend their BST qualification. For questions or further info, contact Mike Rodriguez at 410-850-8700 ext.23 or Email: mrodriguez@bridgedeck.org.
Class Openings
Between now and the end of 2003, seats are available in the following courses:
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
BST — Basic Safety Training: 11/3, 12/8
CMM = Chief Mate and Master Courses
CMM-MPP — Marine Propulsion Plants: 12/1
CMM-SHMGT-I — Ship Management-Week I: 12/8
CMM-SHMGT-II — Ship Management-Week II: 12/15
CMM-SHS-ADV II — Shiphandling Advanced-Week II: 12/8
COMP-ABSS — American Bureau of Ship Management Software: 12/1
CONT-PLNG — Contingency Planning Workshop: 12/4, 12/11
GMDSS — Global Marine Distress & Safety Systems: 12/8
HAZ — Hazardous Materials: 11/17
MED-DOT-DA — Dept.of Trans Drug/Alco Testing: 11/15, 12/6
MEDIA-RSP — Media Response: 11/21, 12/5, 12/12
MED-PIC — Medical Person In Charge: 12/1
MED-PRO — Medical Care Provider: 12/1
MSC = Military Sealift Command Courses
MSC-CBRD-1 — Chemical Biological Radiological Defense Training Orientation: 12/19
MSC-COMMS — Strategic Sealift Communications: 12/8
MSC-DC — Damage Control: 12/9
ROP-5 — Radar Observer Unlimited: 11/17
ROR-1 — Radar Observer Renewal: 11/15, 12/1, 12/8
SEC-OFF PCS — Security Officer-Port, Company, Ship: 12/1, 12/8
T-PIC — Tankship/Barge Dangerous Liquids Person In Charge: 12/1
Check the MITAGS website for up-to-date course descriptions associated with the course title abbreviations, and for schedule revisions.
Attendance Verification & Cancellation is Vital
If you are scheduled for a course, call, write, or Email admissions to advise whether or not you will attend. Many classes are in demand and maintain a Standby List. "No Shows" are missed training opportunities for other members.
Schedules, Course Info & Registration
Courses are subject to change. Always check the MITAGS website for updated course availability. You can also check future schedules, review detailed course descriptions and register on-line or contact Admissions at admissions@mitags.org or by calling toll-free, 1-866-656-5568.
11/17-21:Marine Propulsion Plants
11/17-21: Tankerman PIC
12/1-5: Basic-Adv. Firefighting
12/1-5: Basic Meteorology
12/1-5: Advanced Stability
12/8-12: Basic Safety Training
12/8-19: Ship Management and Business Law
12/8-12: ARPA
12/8: Radar Recert
12/8-12: Medical Care Provider
12/8-19: Medical PIC
12/8-10: Ship Security Officer
Contact DeeDee Lazik at 206-441-2880 or 888-893-7829 (toll free) for registration.
MM&P MARKET WATCH AS OF 11-12 CLOSE
D O W
N A S D A Q
+ 10.00 for the week
Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX)
Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund (VEXMX)
Vanguard International Growth Fund (VWIGX)
Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund (VMRGX)
Vanguard Windsor II Fund (VWNFX)
Vanguard GNMA Fund (VFIIX)
Vanguard High Yield Corporate Fund (VWEHX):
Vanguard Total Bond Index (VBMFX)
Chase Growth Fund (CHASX)
Fidelity Asset Manager (FASMX)
Fidelity Growth and Income (FGRIX)
Fidelity Magellan Fund (FAGX)
Spartan US Equity Index Fund (FUSEX)
JOB OPENINGS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
A MM&P Pacific Maritime Region-contracted company with operations in the San Francisco Bay area is seeking to add up to six tug captains to their employee roster. The jobs are located in the Bay area.
Tractor Tug and Conventional Tug experience is highly desired.
MM&P members from any Membership Group are encouraged to apply.
Living within commuting distance is a necessity.
Relocation assistance may be available.
For additional info or to indicate interest, contact John Schaeffner, PMR's Portland Branch Agent, by Email to jschaeffner@bridgedeck.org or by phone to 503-283-0518.
Resumes may be sent to him by Email, faxed to 503-283-0518, or delivered to the PMR Portland Hall:
John Schaeffner, Branch Agent Pacific Maritime Region – IOMM&P 2225 N. Lombard St. #206 Portland, OR 97217
MITAGS Executive Director Glen Paine announced that MITAGS and PMI have implemented an innovative program, with reduced tuition and hotel costs, to assist professional mariners seeking license advancement to Chief Mate/Master (CMM).
The Institutes now offer one of the fastest, most versatile, and cost-effective routes for mariners to obtain their CMM licenses. The MITAGS/PMI program, which covers all USCG requirements, is only 12 weeks in duration.
Forty-one of the 53 required assessments may be completed during these courses. To flexibly meet their schedule, students can take the required courses at the PMI campus in Seattle, Washington and/or at the MITAGS campus in Baltimore, Maryland.
The MITAGS/PMI program can be completed in 60 days for under $14,000. Other programs take up to 71 days and charge $19,000 to complete the CMM requirements. Students taking ALL of the CMM courses at MITAGS and/or PMI will receive a 15 percent tuition discount from the normal pricing, which brings the total CMM tuition down to $13,303.
In addition to this cost reduction, those students taking ALL of the CMM courses at MITAGS/PMI will receive a substantial reduction in the room and board rates. If needed, MITAGS and PMI will also provide a convenient and flexible payment plan.
For more info regarding the CMM License Advancement, or any other course programs offered by MITAGS or PMI, please contact Capt. Craig Thomas (MITAGS) toll free at 866-656-5569 or via Email at cthomas@mitags.org. You may also contact Gregg Trunnell at PMI in Seattle at 206-239-9965 or via Email at gtrunnell@mates.org.
The Robert J. Pfeiffer Memorial Fund has been established at California Maritime Academy Foundation with the input and guidance from Brad Mulholland, Jeff Hull, and Capt. Lynn Korwatch.
It is anticipated that many seagoing personnel as well as Matson employees will wish to donate to this fund in honor of Mr. Pfeiffer. Donations may be sent to:
California Maritime Foundation Attn: Robert Pfeiffer Memorial Fund 200 Maritime Academy Dr. Vallejo, CA 94590
or contact Mr. Chris Walker at 707-654-1245 or Email at CWalker@csum.edu.
All donations are tax deductible and all contributors will receive a letter of thanks acknowledging their donation. Names and donation amounts will also be passed on to the Pfeiffer family.
Through a special arrangement with ShipCom, MM&P members at sea will now receive a significant discount on personal ship-to-shore radiotelephone calls. The rate is $2.50 per minute to any phone number in the US. This is a significant discount from the usual rate of $3.99 per minute. Calls may be placed collect, or billed to any major credit card.
To take advantage of this offer or for more info contact Station WLO on HF SSB channels 405, 607, 824, 1212, 16401, 1807, or 2237 or on HF radio telex channels (selcall 1090) 406, 606, 806, 810, 815, 1205, 1211, 1605, 1615, 1810 or 2215.
MM&P members must identify themselves as an MM&P member and provide the operator with the last 4 digits of their MM&P book number in order to get the discounted rate.
Any vessel equipped with HF radio telex may send and receive Internet email via the telex terminal. For more info contact WLO radio via telex or HF SSB voice.
WWII REGISTRY SITE OPEN TO ALL WHO SERVED IN ANY CAPACITY
The National WWII Memorial has a site on its webpage for individuals who served in any capacity during WWII to register to be included in the Memorial's Registry. The main site is www.wwiimemorial.com.
If the individual clicks on WWII Registry, he/she can find out if he/she is already included as a result of one of the WWII databases and, if not, can follow the directions to register. Any American who contributed to the war effort is eligible for the Registry.
CREDIT UNION MEMBERS: PAY YOURSELF FIRST WITH DIRECT DEPOSIT
Do you want an easy way to grow your savings?
Do you want an easier way to make deposits to your Masters, Mates & Pilots Federal Credit Union account?
Consider establishing payroll or pension direct deposit.
Many employers allow you to directly deposit your pay into several different financial institutions. Trinity Management, Strong America and Moran Towing of Florida are among the MM&P-contracted companies that already provide for employees to deposit funds directly into the MM&P Federal Credit Union.
MM&P Health & Benefit Plans Pensioners and A&G Region Pensioners may have deductions made directly from their pension check to their Credit Union account. In addition, employees of MM&P, Plans, MITAGS and MIRAID are also eligible for payroll deduction directly into their Credit Union account.
Add to your savings by paying yourself first! Contact your payroll office to establish Credit Union direct deposit or to find out if this is available for you.
Who Can Be a Member?
MM&P Federal Credit Union membership is open to all MM&P members, to all MM&P, MITAGS, MIRAID and Plans staff, and to their immediate families.
For additional details or to get answers to your questions on all MM&P Federal Credit Union programs, contact Kathy Klisavage, Credit Union Manager, toll-free at 1-800-382-7777 or by Email at mmpfcu@bridgedeck.org.
The following Health and Benefit Plan changes went into effect on April 1, 2003.
INPATIENT HOSPITAL DEDUCTIBLE
All inpatient hospitalizations (both PPO and non-PPO) will be subject to the Annual Major Medical Deductible ($250 individual/$500 family) and an additional inpatient deductible of $150 per admission. Both the Annual Deductible and the $150 inpatient deductible count towards the individual out of pocket maximum of $3,000.
REIMBURSEMENT FOR INPATIENT HOSPITAL EXPENSE
The Plan will pay 90% for all PPO hospitals after satisfying Major Medical deductible and $150 per admission inpatient deductible. The Plan will pay 70% for all non-PPO hospitals after satisfying the Annual Major Medical deductible and $150 per admission deductible.
IN-NETWORK (PPO) PHYSICIAN VISITS
For Primary Care Physician visits, after satisfying the annual Major Medical deductible, the participant pays a $15 co-pay per visit and the Plan pays the balance of the contracted amount. For specialty visits, after satisfying the annual Major Medical deductible, the participant pays a $25 co-pay and the Plan pays the balance of the contracted amount. The co-pay amount does not count towards the $3,000 annual out of pocket maximum.
OUT-OF-NETWORK PHYSICIANS
Once the participant satisfies the annual Major Medical deductible and an additional $150 annual out of network physician deductible, the Plan will pay 90% of the UCR. For specialists, once the participant satisfies the Major Medical deductible, the Plan will pay 70% of the UCR.
OUTPATIENT FACILITY – IN NETWORK (PPO)
After the participant satisfies the annual Major Medical deductible, the Plan pays 90% of the contracted charges.
OUTPATIENT FACILITY – OUT-OF-NETWORK
After the participants satisfies the annual Major Medical deductible, the Plan will pay 70% of the UCR charges.
As always, please feel free to contact the Plan Benefit Advisors with any questions at 877-667-5522.
HEALTH & BENEFIT PLAN CHANGES
The Board of Trustees, based on recommendations by the Cost Containment Committee, adopted changes to the Health & Benefit Plan. The following changes became effective January 1, 2003:
Annual Deductible
The current annual deductible of $150/$300 will be raised to $250/$500.
Out-of-Pocket Maximum
The current out of pocket maximum of $2,000 will be raised to $3,000.
Dental Reimbursement Levels
The Plan payment to in-network dental providers will go from 90% to 80%.
The Plan payment for out-of-network providers will go from 80% of UCR to 70% of UCR.
New contract with Delta Dental replaces Aetna/US Healthcare (Prudential Dental) agreement. See below for additional information
Prescription Drug Program
Mail order drugs will be subject to a 20% co-pay for all single source brand name and generic drugs with a maximum out of pocket, per prescription, of $75.
For brand name drugs where the generic equivalent is available, the member will be responsible for paying the total cost of the difference between the brand name and the generic drug. The Plan will then pay 80% of the cost of the generic and the member will be responsible for the 20% up to a per prescription maximum of $75.
The Plan has also removed the mandatory mail order provision. This means that any prescription, regardless of the number of refills, can be obtained at a retail level but will be limited to a 30-day supply. However, obtaining maintenance medications through the mail order program may still be less expensive to you.
A synopsis of these changes and additional changes effective April 1, 2003 appears in the November-December 2002 issue of the MM&P's Master, Mate & Pilot newspaper. The Plan Office has also mailed a summary of all changes, with examples, to Health & Benefit Plan participants.
Remember to notify the Plan office whenever you move or have a change of address. There are a number of important mailings scheduled for the next few months and we would like to keep all members well informed. You can fax your address changes to the Plan Office at 410-850-8655 or you can email them to the Plan Office at mmpplans@aol.com.
NEW DENTAL PROGRAM WITH DELTA DENTAL
This is a reminder that effective October 1, 2002, the MM&P Plan's contract with Prudential Dental expired. Prudential was purchased by Aetna/US HealthCare in 2001 and could no longer offer the Plan the same type of fee-for-service arrangement as before.
In order to continue to offer Plan Participants an in-network dental benefit option, the Plan reviewed proposals from organizations that provide network dental services. After review, the Trustees approved a contract with Delta Dental, the largest provider of dental services in the US.
The Delta Dental Claims Processing Center in Mechanicsburg, PA, will handle claims administration for all MM&P eligible participants and dependents. This includes claims submitted by out of network dentists as well as those who are Delta Dental providers.
Plan participants who choose to go to a contracted provider will pay 10 percent of the contracted amount and the Plan will pay 90 percent. Participants will have access to all Delta providers in the Delta Premier Network option that includes over 133,000 dentists nationwide.
~ Where Does My Dentist Submit My Claims?
Effective October 1, 2002, all dental claims with dates of service on or after October 1, 2002, from both in and out-of-network providers, should be sent directly to: Delta Dental, One Delta Drive, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-6999. Participants will receive a claim form in the mailing sent out by the Plan Office on August 11. Your dentist can copy this form and use it to submit all dental claims incurred on or after October 1, 2002.
~ How Do I Find A Delta Dentist?
You can locate participating dentists in your area in two ways. You can call 1-800-932-0783 from 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time, Monday-Friday, or you can sign on to the Delta website at www.MidAtlanticDeltaDental.com. Once you have signed on to the website, key on the bar marked "Pennsylvania". (MM&P Plan members are enrolled in the Delta Premier Option through Delta Dental of Penn.) Next enter the search criteria to find participating Delta dentists in your area or enter your own dentist's name to find out if he/she participates with the Premier network.
Delta Dental will coordinate with the Plan Office to transition all billing for "work in process". This means that all root canals, orthodontia work and other staged procedures that are not completed under the old arrangement will be carried over and the remaining balance billing, for work performed on or after October 1, 2002 will be processed by Delta Dental.
It is important to remember that all work that has been pre-determined by Prudential/Aetna must be completed and billed with a billing date on or prior to September 30, 2002, in order to assure that your co-pay will remain the same as quoted in the initial pre-determination.
Any work started under the old Plan but billed for date of service on or after October 1, 2002 will be reimbursed according to whether the dentist is participating in the Delta Dental network. If your dentist is not a participating dentist, the balance billing will be paid at the out-of-network rate of 80 percent of the Plan's UCR schedules.
CLAIMS QUESTIONS
All questions about any dental claims incurred on or after October 1, 2002, including claims submitted by out-of-network providers, should be directed to Delta Dental at 1-800-932-0783. You have been provided with a Delta claim form to forward to your dentist, however, your dentist may submit any standard dental billing form as long as the bill is sent directly to Delta at the above listed address.
Participants have been sent a brochure that includes a perforated generic identification card. This card lists the telephone number and the billing address for Delta. You are not required to carry an identification card because your social security number and birth date will identify you as an eligible participant in the Delta Dental Network.
It is important to remember that MM&P claims will be processed by Delta Dental of Pennsylvania. You or your dentist can access your eligibility by calling either the Plan Office or Delta Dental at 1-800-932-0783.
If you or your dentist have any questions, you can contact Delta Dental at 1-800-932-0783 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
Plan members are identified by social security number and the Group Plan number for MM&P which is 7117.
Billing for both in and out of network claims should be submitted on standard dental billing forms and sent directly to Delta at
Delta Dental of Pennsylvania One Delta Drive Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
You can locate participating providers on-line at www.MidAtlanticDeltaDental.com. Masters, Mates and Pilots members have access to providers in all of theDelta networks.
The MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly is the official electronic newsletter of the International Organization of Masters, Mates, and Pilots, ILA, AFL-CIO, 700 Maritime Blvd., Linthicum Heights, MD 21090-1941. Phone: 410-850-8700; Fax: 410-850-0973; Email: iommp@bridgedeck.org. For further info or to subscribe contact John Peige at jpeige@bridgedeck.org. The Wheelhouse Weekly is sent via Email to MM&P-contracted vessels at sea, broadcast worldwide via FEC marine telex and is posted on our web page.
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Wheelhouse Weekly – October 19, 2009
Wheelhouse Weekly – June 12th, 2018

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Staff Picks for February 28, 2018 – The Beef, Pizzeria Kamikaze, The Wilds, Juniper Jupiter and More!
It's nearly Wednesday, and you know what that means: a fresh load of comics and graphic novels! With so many publications hitting your local comics store, comics events or digital storefront, the BF team are here to lead you through the woods with our weekly staff picks. Satisfaction guaranteed!
The Beef #1
The Shaky Kane Renaissance has been a remarkable thing to behold over the last few years as the work of this great unsung genius of British comics has been reappraised and introduced to new audiences. Particularly welcome last year was Breakdown Press's collection Good News Bible: The Complete Deadline Strips of Shaky Kane which was nominated in our 2017 Broken Frontier Awards.
This week sees the latest Image Comics book to sport Kane's ever striking pop culture-inspired visuals when miniseries The Beef hits shelves. Richard Starkings and Tyler Shainline's tale focuses on meat factory worker Chuck's love for strawberry picker Mary Lynn, and the turn their lives take when the comic's antagonists the Vodino Brothers enter the picture. Expect something far more offbeat than that brief synopsis promises though. The Shaky Kane/John Roshell cover should give you a pretty good idea of what you're going to get from this brilliantly bizarre "biochemical romance"…
Richard Starkings and Tyler Shainline (W), Shaky Kane (A) • Image Comics, $3.99
Rick Veitch's The One #1
The Pop Arty optical illusion of the cover to this book is unusual enough to pique my interest without already knowing a thing – it looks like a box of washing powder. While the appeal of such retro iconography is arguably timeless, tales of cold war era nuclear conflict are understandably enjoying a period of renaissance and much as the recently re-kindled Watchmen universe is namechecked in the blurb here, Veitch's take on the subject is arguably more radical, whimsically comical, and international in its outlook.
When a power mad billionaire triggers World War III, a lot of the outcomes are unexpected, such as the mysterious disappearance of both the US and USSR's nuclear arsenals, the majority of humanity falling into an unexplained sleep, and the appearance of The One. If you've got love for radical worldviews that were born in the Eighties, check this out for your own wry enjoyment.
Rick Veitch (W/A) • IDW Publishing, $4.99
– Jenny Robins
Motor Girl Omnibus
Writer and artist Terry Moore is a master of creating female lead characters possessed of compassionate humanity, searing wit, and shrewd grace under pressure–and he outdid his own high standards with Samantha in Motor Girl. A Marine veteran currently turning wrenches in a desert junkyard, Sam's life changes when a UFO crashes nearby. She repairs the ship to the delight of its diminutive alien occupants and sends them on their way. Unfortunately, an industrialist wants to buy the property and install an anti-UFO weapon–and he's not taking no for an answer.
Sam and her buddy Mike, a 600-lb. gorilla, are determined to defend the aliens. But Sam's already wrestling with her PTSD and the shrapnel in her head that now threatens her life. Sometimes we need to be reminded that the most important relationship we have is with ourselves. With Mike's help, Sam will courageously face her most difficult battle–reality.
The Motor Girl Omnibus collects all ten issues of Terry Moore's unforgettable story and will be available in softcover or hardcover editions. Of course, it includes a gallery of sketch pages and other extras, so even if you have the individual issues, you'll still enjoy the features in the collection. If you didn't get in on ordering the limited edition directly from Moore (mine arrived last week, thanks Terry!) your local comics shop will have it this week. Enjoy!
Terry Moore (W/A) • Abstract Studios, $39.99
– Karen O'Brien
The Wilds #1
After a cataclysmic plague bonds humans with wild vegetation, those unaffected by the disease huddle together behind closed-off communities. It's a Runner's job to ferry items and people between the settlements as well as forage through the ruins to find usable goods and avoiding contact with the Abominations.
Daisy Walker is the best Runner the Compound has. Dedicated to the job, she always completes her route on time. That is until her lover, another Runner named Heather, goes missing. Desperate to find her, Daisy can no longer speed through the outer territories. She must spend some time searching the wild.
Vita Ayala (W) Emily Pearson (A) Marissa Louise (C) • Black Mask Comics $3.99
Pizzeria Kamikaze
Another relaunch of a cult classic comic, this new full colour hardcover edition of Pizzeria Kamikaze may breath fresh life (pun intended) into the tale of post-suicidal screw ups in a purgatory especially for people that ended their own lives. Israeli writer Etgar Keret (The Seven Good Years) first explored the concept in short story form in 2001, and later as a longer written book.
This inspired both Asaf Hanuka (Eisner winner, The Realist) to adapt the story in his shared series Bipolar with his twin brother Tomer, and also a film inspired by the same story in 2006: Wristcutters: A Love Story starring Patrick Fugit out of Almost Famous. The subject matter could easily be either insensitive or maudlin, but if the reviews are to be believed, and in the best black comedy vein, this book manages to be both offbeat cynical and upliftingly life-affirming
Etgar Keret (W), Asaf Hanuka (A) • BOOM! Studios, $24.99
Juniper Jupiter
We've been big fans of Lizzy Stewart's slice-of-life comics here at Broken Frontier over the years, including her examination of long summer adolescent days in Dog Walk and the interlocking vignettes of It's Not What You Thought It Would Be. Stewart is probably better known, though, for her children's work with her award-winning There's a Tiger in the Garden receiving much acclaim a couple of years back.
This week sees the debut of her new kids book Juniper Jupiter which tells the story of a young super-hero in search of the one thing missing from her crime-fighting lifestyle – a reliable sidekick! Those wanting to get a signed copy of the book can do so from Lizzy herself this Friday March 2nd at the book's official launch night at Gosh! Comics.
Lizzy Stewart (W/A) Frances Lincoln Children's Books, £11.99
Tags: black maskboom! studiosemily pearsonidw publishingjuniper jupiterlizzy stewartpizzeria kamikazeShaky Kanestaff picksthe beefThe wildsvita ayala
Broken Frontier Staff Picks for July 15, 2015 – Island, An Entity Observes All Things, Dörfler and More
Staff Picks for March 27, 2019 – Rad Erwank/Conspiracy Dog, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Femme Magnifique and More!
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1
Kid Lobotomy #1 – IDW's New Black Crown Line is off to a Splendidly Weird Start with Milligan and Fowler's Off-Centre Offering


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Henry Louis Gates Jr. Awarded the 2018 Creativity Laureate Prize
Janell Hazelwood April 24, 2018 April 24, 2018 316
(Wikimedia Commons)
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, was recently honored with the Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Prize, an esteemed award for the world's most talented creatives and thought leaders. The award was presented by the Creativity Collaboration, a joint program of Smithsonian Associates and the Creativity Foundation, and the ceremony was held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in New York April 13.
"Henry Louis Gates Jr. was chosen for the award for his important work in the areas of arts and criticism, humanities and historical research, genetic science, documentary film, and public service," Smithsonian Associates indicated in a statement. "He exemplifies the spirit that inspired the Creativity Laureate Award—the multidisciplinary creativity of Benjamin Franklin."
The awards night included a discussion between Gates and Harvard African American studies scholar Brandon M. Terry, where the honoree reportedly talked about his career and passions.
Gates, who is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, and journalist, has been a trailblazer in using media to ensure the narratives of black history are not forgotten. His successful PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, and his show, Finding Your Roots, where guests have included entertainment, media, and business industry heavy-hitters including Oprah Winfrey, Nas, Donna Brazile, and Soledad O'Brien, have both continued the legacy of exploring the human connection and how heritage and history play vital roles in self-identity. He has also penned or co-written more than two dozen books and created many documentary films exploring black history and intellectualism, as well as furthering the commemoration of the African American experience.
Gates is also the winner of a Peabody Award, Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award, and an NAACP Image Award for his television work, and he's written for media powerhouses including The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Time. He helmed the creation of the Oxford African American Studies Center, now more than 10 years old and one of the most comprehensive and innovative online resources for information on the history of blacks in the U.S. He has also received grant funding to develop a Finding Your Roots curriculum at Harvard, where students will learn the correlations between science and genealogy. He has held teaching posts at institutions including Duke University, Cornell University, and Yale University. The West Virginia native is a graduate of Yale University and holds a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England.
He joins a prestigious list of former honorees including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, entrepreneur Ted Turner, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Pulitzer Prize cartoonist Jules Feiffer, anthropologist and museum director Dr. Johnnetta Cole, social entrepreneur Bill Drayton, and social activist Tim Robbins.
Harvard UniversityHenry Louis Gates Jr.
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Janell Hazelwood
Janell Hazelwood is a digital media journalist, speaker, editor, and consultant who has worked for media powerhouses including The New York Times, Black Enterprise, and Conde Nast. The Hampton University graduate's work and insights have appeared on The Huffington Post, E!Online, Ebony.com, CBS News and Brazen Careerist. She's fluent in women's issues, career advancement, guilty (TV) pleasures and Trini patois.


In this paper, I discuss digital slow motion videography as a method of recording rapidly occurring phenomena that are similar to past dynamic processes. Slow motion videography has already seen use in documenting archaeological experiments. In the past, this required expensive equipment and film. Only very recently has this type of imaging become possible with consumer grade digital cameras therefore allowing it to be utilized by archaeologists much more often, for example to improve our understanding of stone tool making gestures. Until recently, slow motion recordings were primarily used to demonstrate or facilitate an adequate, reflective perception of experiment. However, today, digital media enables more varied footage- based research through multiple recordings, video enhancement and integration of data into computer databases and sharing and learning networks.