I’ve been following @motherofpurl on Instagram for a few years now, since before I began to knit. They recently put up a new website, and I really like the design. Lauren from Mother of Purl designs patterns, sells art yarn and wool rovings, and holds classes on fibre art. Their website is designed to be a business, and you can see the appeal of their creations right on the home page with curated photos of their collections and hand-dyed or spun fibre.
My favourite part of the website is probably Lauren’s thorough About section. They include their values and a bit of their history and experience with knitting, and the features available through Mother of Purl. I admire the layout as well, they continue to use a few main colours- pale olive, burgundy, and light green- throughout the website and this section, so even though the format of each page is different there is a good flow. Their logo has the same colours, and it cleverly represents the title of the website- a clam shell with a ball of yarn as its pearl.
I like to follow experienced knitters and fibre artists, because I think knitting is one of the many crafts that is passed down through generations, and still retains techniques from many years ago. It’s a unique craft in the amount of time that it takes and its artistic practicality. Lauren, and many knitters, have built their business and art from fibre, and it is good to see that this slow craft can sustain people even in fast-moving times.
I finally feel like the design of this website is coming along, so I’ve been more relaxed. I got some good marks back on assignments from a couple of classes that I was nervous about. I know academic validation can be an unhealthy thing to base confidence on, but it still feels uplifting to get good feedback.
This weekend I’ve been trying to think about my health a little more. Since starting school I’ve succumbed to the daily routine of: wake up late, drink loads of coffee, grab snacks whenever I can, study for hours without much moving around, and go to sleep when it’s already tomorrow. Over the past few days I caught up on doctor’s appointments, cleaned, went running, cooked lunch, and spent more time giving myself breaks. I didn’t do anything about my sleeping schedule- I’m convinced it’s a lost cause. I know every weekend won’t give me the chance to do all of this, but it helped to take a breather.
This week, my goal was to meditate for 10 minutes or more daily.
However, I ultimately failed this week’s challenge as it was mid-term season, and I was super busy at work.
I tried to meditate in the morning but did not have enough time. Then I tried to meditate in the nighttime but always forgot about it because I was so tired.
So I paid my friend $3 and decided that I would try to find another time in my schedule that is better for me to meditate for next week.
Imagining who my audience is for this website, I have to go back to when I first decided on the topic of my blog. It seemed like deciding what i want to write on my blog was easy. However, even after a day or two, there was yet to be a topic I was sure of. Then suddenly, I saw my perfumes unexpectedly and asked myself a question. Do I love perfume? Do I know perfumes well enough to recommend them to others? The answer was yes! There was nothing to hesitate about when the topic was decided.
As it is a blog that explains and recommends perfume, I wanted the blog design to be as minimalistic and white as possible. Why does white come to mind when you think of perfume? If you ask me, I have no choice but to say “just because”.. perfume is like clean white paper to me. Perfume is colourless like white paper; It is colourless and unnoticeable, but perfume leaves a strong impression on people and sometimes makes them reminiscent. Just as a dot on the blank paper changes the mood of the drawing paper, so does the perfume. The smell and atmosphere vary widely depending on what you draw on the clean white paper. People like me who are interested in fragrances and love perfumes will understand why white comes to mind when they think of perfumes.
The readers of my blog are people who are interested in perfumes like me. I tried to express the noble feeling of perfume through the impression of a blog that looked as concise and clean as possible. To talk about the content, there are two main things that people who are interested in perfume want to look for. A realistic review of the perfume they are curious about and a perfume recommendation. I tried to satisfy two things that perfume lovers would be most curious about.
To be honest, I’m very picky and sensitive when it comes to perfumes. The scents that most of the public loves are often just such perfumes for me. I like less well-known, unique and neutral scents that others don’t use much rather than scents that the public will prefer. My writings would be quite interesting for readers who really love perfumes and spend time looking at perfume reviews. My reviews will also be welcome for those who are tired of non-realistic perfume views that include ads. The readers I’ve imagined so far are people like me who love perfumes, are tired of dishonest perfume views, and are looking for unique perfumes as well as recommendations!
This week I challenged myself to take all my vitamins and supplements consistently. I am taking Iron, Calcium & Magnesium +D3, Zinc, Omega-3, and Vitamin B-12. The reason I take so many supplements is that I am a vegetarian (who rarely consumes dairy or eggs), and I have also been diagnosed with iron deficient anemia.
Iron Deficient Anemia
According to Medical New Today, Iron deficiency anemia can cause fatigue, heart palpitations, pale skin, and breathlessness. So this is the reason why I take Iron supplements. However, you should not take Iron supplements if they are not Iron deficient.
However, I must make a disclaimer and say that many of these vitamins can be found naturally in foods, and many vegans/vegetarians do not need to take as many vitamins as me. I am just a super busy broke college student, so taking supplements is much more convenient.
How did it go?
Well, to put it short, I failed. I took the majority of my pills, but I wasn’t able to take all of them every day. I have a pill box that I use to help me remember what vitamins I need to take. However, throughout the day, I tend to leave my house a lot as I go to work, school, etc. So sometimes, my pill box would be at home, and by the time I got home in the evening, I didn’t have much time to take all the pills I needed.
Effects
Though I failed this challenge, I was a lot more consistent than I usually am with taking my vitamins. Therefore I did notice a few positive effects on my general health and well-being. I felt slightly more energetic, and I also felt like my head didn’t hurt as much as it usually does too.
Strategies for the Future
Set an alarm on my phone to remind me about my pills,
Take a few of them with me in my backpack, so I can take them throughout the day
Get a drinkable version of some of these vitamins so I can just put them in my water bottle and drink them throughout the day.
Hey guys, this is your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman coming to you from Dressing Sustainably! I’m writing this guest post to inform you all about the advantages of creating your own clothing. During my days fighting crime in New York City, way before I was recruited for the Avengers, I would design and sew my own […]
Reflecting on my online self I’ve realized the internal and digitally external growth I’ve had. I think my blog has definitely come a long way ever since I built it in the first few weeks of class. Prior to PUB 101, I had no WordPress experience. I honestly thought it’d be such a difficult platform to build a site out of, but as the weeks went by it grew easier to organize my posts. Initially, I didn’t even know how to add media to my website, but now I’d say I’m proud of what I’ve built knowing that I taught myself all the technical aspects of the platform.
I created The Spotless Mind.com and came up with the name after watching Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind during the first week of classes. It’s one of my favourite movies and the overall message was that the memories that we have, no matter how painful some can be aren’t files that can just be deleted. They’re part of the bigger picture of our lives and ourselves and it got me to reflect on my own experiences. For the past year and a half, I’ve been working through lots of inner development after coming out from a very painful past that I wish I could delete and I found this blog/website a great way to document all the growth I’ve been on.
Watters (2015), notes that when students have their own domains, they have freedom in what they present to the world through their professional, personal and digital identities. He notes that they begin to have a deeper understanding of the technologies that make up the Web and how their own work and information circulates on the internet (Watters, 2015). I think this website has taught me how to organize my thoughts on the internet as well as how to engagingly share my personal stories online. Using analytics has helped me determine which articles received more traffic and what type of content I should be posting about such as on harder topics about love and grief. This whole experience has been healing to my own self being able to openly share my experiences and advice but hearing comments from sources such as peer reviews has been very rewarding for me too. I really appreciate all the feedback I have received and applied them to my website such as adding menus and creating more content overall.
From the bare bones of my website, I really had nothing. For weeks I only had three menus, ‘Welcome’, ‘Contact’ and ‘Blog.’ All of my posts whether that be Process Posts, Mini Assignments, Content Posts were all under the one blog page which to me felt cluttered. It wasn’t until I found inspiration from my peers through their own websites that I created more menus and submenus/categories. So, I created a PUB 101 work menu splitting off into different categories for Process Posts, Peer Reviews, Essays, etc… I also decided to create categories for my actual blog playing off of my tagline into sections on love, lessons, life and ‘Everything in Between’ on more random posts. I also added more SEO words to my titles as Hollingsworth (2021) notes, “SEO is the most viable and cost-effective way to both understand and reach customers in key moments that matter (Para. 1). I think adding keywords such as ‘lessons’, and ‘love’ which are the main subjects of my site makes it clear what my content and intentions are online.
My goal after this class is to eventually grow my online self to what The Rising Woman does. She mainly focuses on Instagram but has a great site with wonderful blogs on self-development and growth that are sometimes researched based and very advisable. She offers lessons and programs where she actually teaches you how to expand your mindset and performs certain meditations as well. While I don’t think I can get to that extent I hope to still be sharing my own advice and share my experiences in hopes to inspire others. I eventually want to rebrand by just using my name for the title as I hope to segway into using YouTube as my first place of content and my website as a more professional portfolio for my work experience and blog writing. I’m solo travelling in Europe after I graduate this semester and plan to start vlogging through YouTube, however, I’m excited to see how my website will change once I start that journey!
References:
Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#closeIn-text citation
Watters, A. (2019, June 25). The Web We Need To Give Students – BRIGHT Magazine. Medium. https://brightthemag.com/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713#.4d7j8rs6x
I am probably one of the most emotional girls you will ever encounter. However, there is a side to me that hates showing emotion and keeps a lot in. I remember in high school, I was probably crying in public once or twice a week. I just could not manage to have any control over my emotions. From high school until basically last year, I would experience extreme mood swings, breakdowns for no reason, and always had so much rage in me. At the same time, I would do my best to keep all that I was feeling inside and guilted myself every time I was emotionally vulnerable to someone in public.
I grew up raised by an ‘Asian tiger mom’, but my mom really exceeded the expectations for this title. I never saw her cry or express any kind of raw emotion. She has always been very cold and rejected anything that came her way that had to do with the ‘feels’. I’ve always been a highly sensitive person as I really do feel everything at such a deep level. A lot of my childhood memories with my mom have been focused on the idea of showing emotion as a sign of weakness.
I didn’t have many friends when I was younger and I always felt out of place being a chubby kid. Whenever I’d come home crying from school, instead of having my emotions being validated, my mom would actually yell at me for feeling sad. She’d always say, “You need to be tough like me, you can’t show them you’re so weak by feeling sad.”
I never had the opportunity to learn about how to deal with my emotions as it was always something that was looked down upon in my upbringing. No one ever told or showed me that it’s okay to feel in general, which is why I still struggle with my emotions. I’m either all over the place, or I’m nowhere at all. I’m really grateful now that I have grown to understand where these feelings of guilt and suppression come from and recognize that a lot of it has just been programmed into me by the way my mom raised me. If you grew up with an Asian tiger mom, or struggle to be in tune with your emotions, I think the best thing that helped me was to understand where this stemmed from.
Oftentimes when I find myself still suppressing any sadness, guilt, or anger I ask myself, “What are you afraid of? What is the worst that can come with letting go?” It is okay to feel all of the emotions we have been gifted as humans, it is normal to experience moments of sadness even when you don’t know the reason for it. Sometimes crying alone in the shower can be the most therapeutic thing in your week! There is no reason to feel guilty for having feelings-it is the very core of our human nature! I ask you, next time you experience a strong wave of emotion to really sit in it. Reflect on why you’re feeling this way, cry, scream, sing, journal, and just release.
1. You are the most important, ever-changing and worthy investment in your life.
I hope that makes sense! Your well-being, health and all that makes up who you are are the most important things that should be prioritized. If we cannot show up for ourselves, we cannot expect to show up for the people we love, our passions and our environment fully. You are ever-changing, and what I mean by that is where you are or who you are right now do not determine who you are as a whole. There are always ways to further take care of ourselves and opportunities for growth and that is so exciting!
2. Do not take education for granted.
Whether that be from school, your job, the current political climate, or education about yourself and your family – being able to educate ourselves on anything really is so powerful and beautiful. Learning is something that I overlook so much, but it helps us be in touch more with our best selves that we can use in the ways we express ourselves through conversation, actions or just the way we choose to output energy into the world.
3. Set boundaries.
Not everything and everyone in your life deserves 100% of your energy and your being. Your time and physical/emotional presence are precious and you do not have to share them in ways that do not make you feel good. Have conversations with the people in your life on what you expect out of them and vice versa and if something doesn’t sit right with you, address it. Set boundaries with the way you work or study – remember you deserve rest too.
4. Love yourself in the ways you seek love from others.
Something that I’m trying to grow out of and that I continue to struggle with is validating myself and love through other people. I think I have a habit of seeking things I wish for myself through other people which can be extremely toxic and draining when I have the capability of finding all of those things within myself. There is nothing wrong with being ‘alone’ as lonely and being alone do not have to mean the same thing in our lives. We owe it to ourselves to nurture and love ourselves the same way we want our friends, family and our partners to love us. For example, I appreciate words of affirmation in my relationships. Therefore, I make sure to be mindful and loving in the way I talk to myself and about myself as much as I can.
5. You attract what you put out in the world.
I could have easily let this year destroy me and at times I felt as if it did. Something that I value about myself is my ability to create a positive outlook through almost every challenge that I am graced and I think that stems from my overall excitement for life. If you are outputting negativity and hatred into your community, your relationships or yourself, you are only creating a karmic cycle that will in return input that same energy back into your life. You have the power to create and build a life for yourself that is fulfilling and full of light, and this is a continuous process that all begins with the right mindset and finding peace within yourself and the hardships you encounter.
Something that I still struggle with after healing from my first heartbreak and pent-up years of trauma is grieving an old version of my life, identity and mindset that was my reality for half of my adolescent life. I think a lot of the time the reason why people feel the after-effects of a very life-turning event such as a breakup so intensely months or years after thinking they were doing fine is that they weren’t honest with themselves and their healing from the start. Part of this process is understanding, letting go and mourning not only that person but your old life, who you thought you were to them and all the parts of them you intertwined your identity with so closely.
I think I can definitely speak on this open-heartedly as I spent basically all of 2021 grieving. Grieving my old partner, his physical presence as well as his emotional one that played such a dictating role in how I behaved and viewed myself. I grieved the life that we built together with his family which was also my second family, the routine of having him in my life, the meaning that certain days of the week had restaurants near our homes had. I also had to mourn the future that I had imagined with him which was probably the most painful one of it all, mourning something/someone that is tangible and living is one painful thing. Mourning a dream you had, something you centred so much of your ambitions and actions around, a life that you worked so hard for is also another extremely difficult and overlooked process in healing from the departure of a relationship, whether that be romantic or platonic. Through these moments of grief, anger, sadness, the resentment I realized so much of what I was breaking over was this old version of myself I was shedding. A version of myself that was so wide-eyed, naive and childlike when it came to love. Someone that was so trusting and would hold the door open even for the unwanted. I had to let go of my identity as a girlfriend, of a friend to this person, of a future wife, mother – so much uncertainty filled the emptiness that followed me after those years in that relationship.
Oftentimes, when you seek advice for a broken heart one of the first things people tell you is to just move on from that person. But what about moving on from yourself, your old life and who you were with that person? How do you mourn over yourself? I could never answer that question accurately as I am still going through it and it is a lonely but ever-fulfilling journey. I started to embrace change, in fact, I tried to even take control of all these emotional changes in my life and literally build a new identity physically. I dyed my hair colours he will never me pull off, got tattoos he’ll never touch, I even bought new furniture in my room to completely take back everything that was so attached to him and the idea of him and take back my power in solidarity. And yes, physically these things worked but I still felt that deep anger and void. So, what has really helped me is spending time with myself, taking myself out on walks, listening to myself as if I were my own partner when I’m sad. I started hanging out with my parents again, picked up new hobbies in music – doing things that made me feel me. I also started tending to the old version of myself I’ve been letting go of, giving her a proper goodbye by doing certain things now that I should’ve done for myself during that time, such as speaking up about my boundaries, being a good friend and daughter and showing up for myself wholeheartedly no matter how much change is happening around me. It is a lonely journey, but it is so possible once you realize every new version of yourself that you have yet to meet after experiencing something so devastating is waiting to embrace you with open arms and an open heart.
The online comment area should be regarded as the embodiment of freedom and democracy. We can be frank in the comment area, exchange ideas in-depth and understand each other’s views to participate in the topic discussion. However, at the same time, it is also the place where language violence and harm are the most serious. One of the most common critiques of online comments cites a disconnect between the commenter’s identity and what he is saying (Konnikova, 2013). Psychologist John Suler calls this phenomenon the “online disinhibition effect” (Konnikova, 2013). The theory is that when you get rid of your identity, the usual constraints on your behaviour will also disappear (Maria konnikova, 2013). This can be even worse with anonymity.
Konnikova said that of the 900 randomly selected user comments on articles about immigration, 53% of anonymous commentators were uncivilized, while 29% of registered non-anonymous commentators were uncivilized (2013). Therefore, Konnikova concluded that anonymity encouraged rude behaviour (2013). How should we deal with such physical behaviour? Becky Gardiner et al. said it was simple: “do not read comments,” or turn them off completely (2016). Many people have done this by permanently disabling their comment threads because they become too laborious to disturb (Becky Gardiner et al., 2016). However, simply deleting comments is not a perfect solution. Konnikova said that deleting comments will affect the reading experience (2013). It may take away the motivation to participate more deeply in a topic and share it with a broader audience.
My attitude towards my comment area is to welcome everyone to express any opinions in the comment area since I found this blog. I encourage everyone to participate and create an atmosphere of shared learning and discussion. I have not received any comments so far, not to mention malicious or offensive comments. However, through this week’s reading, I really should consider the concern of comments, so I may create an online community guide in the future to maintain a friendly, open-minded, and respectful discussion area. For example, I might make the first rule that any derogatory comments of any race, religion, gender, age, or ability are unacceptable.
Moreover, I will make it clear in the community guide that such comments will be reviewed and may be deleted. I hope all discussions will focus on topics of common interest rather than offensive comments about others. At the same time, based on my desire to create a shared learning environment, my community guide will make this point clear again. For example, I would advise people to post valuable and relevant content to help others. Furthermore, expect users to submit content based on their own honest opinions and experiences.
This is my current idea for community guidelines, and I will create a dedicated community guidelines page in the future. Starting from the mission and value of my website, I will list out clear key points and rules that create a safe space for my entire audience to connect and interact with each other.
Gardiner, B., Mansfield, M., Anderson, I., Holder, J., Louter, D., & Ulmanu, M. (2016, April 12). The Dark Side of Guardian comments. The Guardian. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments
Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The psychology of online comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments
My understanding of multimedia is that it is a complex combination of many things that can present information, exchange ideas and express emotions. It can display information, exchange ideas and express emotions. It allows us to see, hear and understand other people’s thoughts. In short, it is a way of communication.
Bryce J Renninger said that the concept of multimedia aims to define the new environment with a surge in communication opportunities and its impact on interpersonal communication (2015). In other words, he believes that in a multimedia environment, media ideology helps people decide where to exchange certain types of ideas (Renninger, 2015). This reminds me of the current media environment. When we pay attention to a celebrity, we no longer only know it through newspaper news but pay attention to his / her Instagram, YouTube and/or other channels
At the same time, because of the current social network environment, the online community is growing day by day. Therefore, when developing my blog in this media background, I need to consider the construction of different channels to strengthen each other. The first participatory media I created were social media such as Instagram and Twitter. By sharing the post related to the weekly blog post on IG. Moreover, mention my blog link on the IG post to increase the audience’s access to my blog. At the same time, hashtag on social media helps me effectively contact potential audiences interested in specific topics.
Rapid advances in technology are opening new frontiers in the possibilities of interactive storytelling, bringing us closer to realizing this dream. The lines between story and experience, physical and digital, real and virtual, are blurring. The audience is elevated to the role of active participant and co-creator. The audience’s increasingly active role in creating story experiences is at the heart of all this. Audiences will have more and more power to create their own experiences. Therefore, I started this blog by making it clear to my audience through my “About” that I created a shared learning relationship with them. I would love for my audience to interact with me in the comments section or on social media and share their colour combinations or favourite fashion items.
Although my blog content focuses on fashion and colour matching, I don’t want to limit my audience to every post I write. So, I created the Colour Palette. In this section, I don’t talk too much about clothing or the fashion world but rather give readers a different perspective by sharing movie colours that match the tone of my weekly tweets. In the future, I may also integrate video-sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok into my online publications because I want my sharing to reach a wider audience not only through graphics but also through visuals and audio.
Renninger, B. J. (2015). “Where I can be myself … where I can speak my mind” : Networked counterpublics in a polymedia environment. New Media & Society, 17(9), 1513–1529. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814530095
Album Thoughts is a weekly album review blog that appears to focus on popular music and hip-hop/r&b. Upon first landing on the page, it is very clear that the website is focused on music. It is a clean and simple layout, which makes everything really easy to read and the website isn’t too busy which I think is appealing to its audience. I’m assuming they are targeting a younger crowd of all genders, therefore its neutral and minimalist aesthetic and overall vibe makes it marketable to its audience. I think the overall concept of the website, reviewing r&b/hip-hop top albums, both old and new also is a great selling point as this is the music that teenagers and young adults are listening to, which is who I am assuming Album Thoughts is targeting as their demographic. I like how there is a sidebar of recent posts as well as archives by month, it definitely intrigues readers to navigate towards the articles. Consumers also are always wanting the fastest most convenient way to access the information or products they’re consuming, so easy navigation tools such as this are always a great tool for a site and I appreciate the site author is doing so. Overall as a first impression, I think it is a good site and the concept behind it would make great marketable value for a younger audience.
After reading a few posts, I’d like to shout out a review that I think deserves recognition! (Although, I could be biased because this is one of my favourite albums.) Again, however, the music that Album Thoughts is writing about, and how they are the albums Noah most likely knows his age group loves makes it a great selling point as readers are going to want to hear what others say about their favourite music.
Frank Ocean’s Blonde album review was such a great read. I genuinely enjoyed this post and I think what makes this post have great marketable potential is how it’s more of just a review. It’s a very emotional analysis and informative piece on the album. Noah gives some context to the artist, their history and lead-up to the album and you can tell how passionate of a writer he is, which comes off as very genuine and appealing to readers. I love the little analyses of certain songs and lyrics within the album, I think this is what audiences are looking for with reviews. In the bit about Pink + White, I did not even know the song was about Hurricane Katrina and the loss of a loved one, I always just listened to it as a classic heartbreak song, which was super interesting and a great fun fact selling point. At the bottom of the post, he also adds a ranking list of the album, which I think is a great addition and gets audiences thinking about their own ranking list too. This can be a call to action for readers to listen to the album again, therefore they’re gaining a little activity out of reading this post as well. Overall, this was such a fun read that I thoroughly enjoy it and am currently reading his other reviews (such as Kid Cudi’s first Man on the Moon album – another favourite!)
Some points of critique I’d add are very small – probably just more images throughout the website such as adding featured images to your blog posts just to add more visually pleasing elements to the site. I think also creating a drop-down menu for the posiel menu would be beneficial as well. However, I genuinely enjoy this website and really wish Noah continues it after classes end.
Above & Byonkers — a splendid name — is a stylish blog. As promised in her branding canvas, thus far, Bianca has promoted local resources in the Vancouver area that are book-related. Upon first impression, I was excited about the different reads that Bianca had posted about on her page. Bianca seems to make a concerted effort to feature diverse authors and bookstores, as in the case with her post about Moon of the Crusted Snow and the newly opened Vancouver Black Library in February. She states in her branding canvas that she is interested in her page’s capacity to educate and provide free resources, targeting “bookworms that are looking for resources.”
In that sense, I think Bianca has done well by highlighting, for example, the free workshops that people can attend in the Vancouver Public Library. When she reviews books, she is emphatic and intriguing. Reading her Moon of the Crusted Snow post, for example, Bianca writes, “Rice forces the reader to confront the dark truths of starvation and lack of resources. Moon of the Crusted Snow is a dark but eloquent and necessary read.” Bianca uses evocative language that teases at the major themes of the books that she reads. Her reviews seem largely spoiler-free, which could be a plus for people just looking for books to check out. However, I would personally like to see her review some of the books’ powerful moments, or even some of their weaker moments. I think this would make her reviews more personable. I really liked when Bianca related reading Moon of the Crusted Snow to meeting the author, for example. It makes the review feel more unique to her experiences, and since this is from her perspective, that’s really good to see. One way to add some depth is adding particularly interesting quotes or chapters. It could be added as a pullquote, which would draw readers’ eyes in, and then Bianca would have the opportunity to discuss the quote’s significance if she wishes!
Designwise, Above & Byonkers is intended to attract a community. I think Bianca has done great in engaging with the writer/reader community. Her latest blog post, an interview with the owner of Iron Dog Books, is a great example of this. Hilary is a big name in Vancouver’s reading community in particular, and I loved hearing about her experiences. Bianca asked great questions for people like her audience, targeting people who are interested in entering the publishing industry. I also enjoyed that the bright white font is large and easy to read against the dark background.
I think the black and hot pink theme is really attractive and fun, but doesn’t necessarily communicate what the blog is. Although the latest posts are prominently displayed on the top, the reader only has the small icon in the browser to visually indicate what kind of blog they are on. I believe some warmer colours (like maybe if the pink were a burgundy, or if the pink were paired with a less contrasting shade of colour) or some icons of books on the homepage would help better convey that this is a reading/writing blog. I do like that this theme includes a reading length, though, it reminds me of the writing website Medium.
A (little bit scuffed) screenshot of Bianca’s post next to the Medium writing post
Overall, I adore Bianca’s content so far. I think it’s really good to have a reading/writing website that uniquely focuses on resources people can find in Vancouver. I think that the website has potential to attract reading groups and communities, and as seen with Bianca’s interview with Hilary, opportunities to speak with authors and other writing professionals. Bianca could definitely receive sponsors one day to review books, or even book subscription packages. I am excited to see where her blog goes.
This week’s theme: SEO is relevant to the big data I discussed last week. Before this week’s lecture, I did not have a deep understanding of SEO. Using the definition in the lecture, SEO is simply a way to make Google notice “you” (Lecture 10, 2022).
I further understood my audience through this week’s study and modified the website according to the obtained data.
Sam Hollingsworth said that SEO could help us understand macro market changes to understand consumer intentions in detail. I found that my user participation was meagre when I reviewed my analytics report. Before that, I tried to write a call to action sentence such as “post your views in the comment area below” or “do you have any ideas? Share them with me in the comment area” under each post. However, from the analysis results, it does not have much effect. However, after consulting my analytics report, another helpful information I got was the active time of my audience. This information includes a summary of nearly three months since I published my first blog. This makes me understand that the publishing time of the blog should be modified to the most active time of the target audience to promote participation. At the same time, I also noticed that many users use desktops as their browsing devices. This makes me pay more attention to the typesetting design in line with audiences’ web browsing habits.
Finally, I also learned from the 15 reasons why a business absolutely needs SEO that the article title is the most prominent and direct part of the optimization process. Therefore, the optimized keywords should appear in the title. I modified and adjusted some titles in my blog according to this situation. For example, try to limit the number of words in the title to 20 assignments, prioritize users’ search habits, and consider how to summarize the post’s content when writing the title.
Sam Hollingsworth. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs seo. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close
One of the most challenging things I’ve done is recognizing when a relationship isn’t working and knowing when to leave. I want to talk about some of the experiences I’ve had when I know that a relationship is bad for me, and how I came to that conclusion.
Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of conversations about bad friendships or relationships and what they would look like. The idea I had of any toxic relationships was very black and white: the other person would appear to be an obvious villain, and I would just know when to leave. In reality, my relationships have been much more nuanced. The longer I’ve known someone, the more I can justify their presence in my life. Of course, when a person has hurt me or hurt my boundaries, the justification applied nonetheless.
This was the case with a friend in high school. I remember back then, I had very little sense of how to set my emotional boundaries. I would let them unabashedly tell me their feelings and their traumas at any time. I thought this was a good thing, but increasingly, these feelings held a lot of weight. I was proud that they trusted me so much to let me see them as their most vulnerable self. But I also felt solely responsible for their well-being. I would place their mental health before mine. I would lose sleep over wondering if they would hurt themselves.
Gradually, I began to feel like I needed space and would tell them this. I would say I was taking a break from social media while checking my messages to see if they hadn’t dropped massive texts venting to me. Although they would give me space, they would make me feel guilty about needing it. And more importantly, they didn’t listen to me. When I would try to tell them about my feelings and how one-sided our relationship was, they would make me feel like they understood by writing me grand letters of appreciation. I stayed because I knew their feelings were genuine.
I wish I could tell myself then that you could care about someone and still hurt them.
I saw these posts about gaslighting on Tumblr and I began to scroll through them. I remember thinking that I didn’t want to relate to them because my relationship was surely not that bad. But this person had consistently undermined my feelings and made me feel as though I had misremembered an interaction, which are key signs of gaslighting. Their apologies were empty. Emotionally, I felt like I had a lot of highs and lows with them. I realized that I was dreading every interaction with this person.
I knew it was time to end it.
For me, this meant cutting all contact and writing a long letter to them explaining fully why they had hurt me and why I was leaving. I felt like I had to justify my feelings to them because of how close we had been. I didn’t give them any way to respond. Afterward, I spoke with some friends about what happened. I felt so immensely guilty about doing this that I physically felt sick. My friends supported me, and listened to me. Their support comparably cemented my thoughts that I hadn’t been listened to.
What I’ve learned from this experience and similar experiences is this: all involved parties in a relationship should feel, relatively, like they are sharing the same emotional weight with each other, and that they can rely on each other. One person shouldn’t be relying on another person to put out their fires exclusively, though there may be times when they’ll need more support. In my relationships, my factors for when to leave have been these two things: are they willing to recognize when they’ve hurt me? Are they trying to change? I’ve asked myself if I’ve just stayed in a relationship because it was easier to not rock my social circle with ending the relationship than to leave. If your justification is more about other people than your ability to enjoy your relationship, leaving may be long overdue.
Your factors for leaving a relationship may look different. Learning your boundaries and when you need a break from emotionally tough moments is about intuition. I had, and still have, so much difficulty articulating when I need space because I feel so guilty when I do. What’s important is that you and the other person are both respectful of these moments. If a person consistently disrespects these moments and boundaries, and you feel like leaving, leave.
If you’re doubting yourself, I would strongly consider talking to another person you trust. Sometimes having a conversation about your doubts with another person can make you realize how harmful your situation really is. I find that I downplay a lot of my experiences, so having another perspective is helpful.
If that’s not possible, I would suggest either writing down your feelings or recording yourself as though you were speaking to the person that has hurt you. This has always helped me put my thoughts in order, and to get through the haze of guilt I feel about leaving a relationship.
There are no 1:1 experiences when it comes to knowing when a relationship isn’t serving you. It may take years to realize that you’ve been hurt. Just know that your feelings are never wrong. You should always be able to communicate your doubts and work through them.
As I enter the final few weeks of my undergrad I am making it a goal to finish off strong. I’ve been working from home since the spring of last year so I’d like to say with almost a year’s worth of remote work experience, I have somewhat mastered staying productive at home. Of course, it’’s not easy to be on top of your game 24/7 – after all, we are literally living through major historical events with what looks like every week now. Here are some of the ways I stay on track while studying and working remotely.
1. Use a Planner
I can’t stress this enough. Using a planner and scheduling out my weeks and my day every morning has been a lifesaver of mine since high school. A close friend gifted me this beautiful planner that not only helps me track my tasks/goals for the day but is also centred around mental well-being. I highly recommend using a planner, at least list small goals you would like to accomplish daily!
2. Set a Morning Routine for Yourself
I can’t lie I’m still working on this one. However, when I do have those days where I have somewhat of a routine going for myself before classes or work start, I kid you not those days are the highlight of my weeks. Your morning routine could be as small as waking up 30 minutes earlier and dancing around your room to your favourite playlist (here’s mine that I like to jam out to). Anything that can set a good intention for the rest of the day can make a huge significance.
3. Have a Designated Work/Study Space That You Love
My desk space!
Maybe it’s just me but I love home organization so I really tried to make my desk space one that I love and feel safe in. I think it gives it that ‘office vibe’ that I am missing right now and it makes me excited to get out of bed to ‘go-to’ work. Also, make sure your area is clean! I’ve realized that when my space is cluttered it interferes with my stress level and thinking.
4. Schedule in Breaks and Actually Take Them
Whether you’re working from home, in classes or doing both sometimes it’s so easy to just be at your desk for hours on end. Set reminders to take actual breaks for 15 minutes, half an hour or even an hour. Your body and mind need time to reset and unwind especially after staring at a screen for God knows how long. Go for a walk, call a friend or do a workout – anything to get you off your computer for a while!
5. Be Gentle with Yourself
This one’s kind of cheesy but it’s so important to remind yourself that you are simply doing the best while living through such a crazy time. It’s okay to have off days, it’s okay to not get any work done sometimes. Just remember to try your best to pick yourself up and tell yourself whatever stress, anxiety and distress you are facing at this moment does not define you or the rest of your days to come. Remember, a bad day does not equal a bad life. If you’re reading this I’m proud of you – you are doing the best you can and that is more than enough!
