I grew up in Milton, Wisconsin, a very white, German-based population. There was some controversy in the high school right around the time my older brother (by six years) was a freshman. A woman named Carol Hand found the high school mascot offensive. Back then, in the 1990’s, the school name was Milton Redmen and the mascot was a hide-wearing Native American doing a war dance while holding a tomahawk up in one hand. Not only did Carol not have any children in the school district, but she claimed that the community harassed her; something my family never experienced in the twelve years we lived there openly as Native Americans.

Feeling that he could make a difference and give the School Board a unique perspective on the matter, my father fought against Carol Hand, insisting that the mascot was not in the least bit offensive to those of Native American heritage. The mascot was simply a representation of Native American culture, something that was considered traditional and seen as a matter of pride amongst individual tribes. This fight went on for a full year and it wasn’t until my older sister (by five years) was a freshman that Carol Hand finally had her way. The mascot was changed to a simple Native American chief headdress.

Having had her victory over the mascot Carol Hand decided to take matters one step further and started going after the school name itself, along with the new mascot. Again my family stood up against her to keep things as they were. We were not alone in this either. Several other members of the community stood beside us while my father argued the overly sensitive insensitivity of people like Carol. He fought Carol and some of the members of the school board for eight years, standing his ground while all three of his own children moved their way through the school district. It wasn’t until the summer after my graduation in 1998 (and his subsequent stepping down on the issue since his children were all graduates) that the School Board brought the matter to a vote and Milton High School went from being the Milton Redmen to the Milton RedHawks. I was part of the last graduating class of Redmen and I am to this day proud to be such, along with all of my friends during my four years there.

As Pratt states in her essay about the Arts of the Contact Zone “autoethnographic works are often addressed to both metropolitan audiences and the speaker’s own community” (488). This is seen both on the level of what happened in the Milton School District, and on a national level. Colleges, schools, athletic teams, have all been challenged by what my father called overly sensitive insensitivity on this same subject of Native American names and mascots. In this case, Carol Hand tried taking her issue beyond the school board to the State of Wisconsin itself. However, the State determined that this was a matter for the local community to decide.

In the end, the summer that the vote was finally made to make the change, according to several members of the community the School Board ignored the proposed referendum and cast their votes independently. The result is what Pratt claims is a “failure to produce an orderly, coherent exchange” where the members of the community felt that their voices were no longer being heard despite the fact that “all participants are engaged in the same game and that the game is the same for all players” (494).

This exchange, the eight year long debate over the matter of the mascot and name, is a wonderful example of the “contact zone” (487). According to Pratt, a contact zone is a “term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power” (487). In this case one woman brought together this concept of clashing cultures and offensive materials. The School Board in the end became the top of the asymmetrical heap, using their power to bypass the wishes of the community to achieve their own desired results.

This issue of community is what Pratt calls “imagined” (493). It is both “limited, by finite, if elastic, boundaries” as well as a “fraternal, a deep, horizontal comradeship” (493). The issue was posed due to the limited nature of the topic and the sensitivity it caused with certain members of the community. On the other hand, it is also made fraternal by those who stood beside each other to fight for what they felt and believed as one, gaining a better understanding of each other and a stronger sense of community. Just as Pratt states in her essay, “along with rage, incomprehension, and pain there were exhilarating moments of wonder and revelation . . . The sufferings and revelations were, at different moments to be sure, experienced by every student” (497). The experience opened my eyes to the concept of what my father called bleeding-heart liberals, people who took offense in the slightest things. I, like everyone else involved, had to learn to adapt to this concept and grow with it. I learned to have a better understanding of transculturation and the overly sensitive insensitivity it could cause. The entire experience left me changed for the better; more open to and understanding of the world around me.

To this day that battle over the name and mascot stand out to me as a strong point of understanding of community and culture. It still saddens me, and I will always be proud to be part of the last graduating class of Milton Redmen.

First we have those who actually have the money to pay the credit card bill when it comes. So they can charge up a storm and pay it off at the next billing cycle. It seems to me that these people don’t really need the million dollar prize to begin with. Seems fair to me…

Then we have the people who can’t afford to pay the bills so they instead charge everything to their card. They may be worthy of winning the big prize, but are much less likely than the first group to use the card enough to have a chance.

Then there are the rest of us. I, like most people in this world, have no extra money for spending, and wouldn’t dare charge a credit card that I can’t pay off on the off chance that I might win a jackpot off astronomical odds. It leaves the average person such as myself at a disadvantge.

So what does this really mean? It means that someone who doesn’t even need this jackpot will be the one to win. And tell me something, of all the times you have seen this contest run through Visa, MC, Discover, or Amex when was the last time you heard of someone winning?

Just a rant about the “fairness of life” in general.

With Mommy.
With big brother Brynden.

My step son was of course hamming it up for the camera. Incidentally, this is also the same place my husband and I were married.

A couple of weeks later we got the cribset and mattress and this is what our end result was:

Much to my dismay I have had nothing but problems with this. I can look at comments, posts, stats, but when it comes to actually making a post forget it! I wrote up a beautiful long post yesterday while sitting at coffee all about my frustrations with car shopping. (I will still post this later when I’m not as irritated) I typed the whole thing up on my Blackberry and clicked “Send”.

GPS not available…… What? I don’t even know what that means. Now, I could try and troubleshoot this on my phone with others who have had the same problem but why should I have to? I have allowed everything the application needs to run properly. Shouldn’t that just be enough?

WordPress, you need to figure this out and fix it. I highly doubt there is any small number of us that have had this problem with wordpress mobile.

First of all, an agent knows the ins and outs of the business. They know what publishing houses are looking for in quality. They are familiar with contracts from the companies. They even know certain editors by name, personally, and know how to approach them and what sort of book the editor is looking for. Basically, an agent cuts the hassel out of the publishing process for both the publisher and the agent.

Unagented authors really have no idea how to approach a publisher. This makes it less likely that someone without an agent will get to a contract than someone with an agent. That’s not to say that unagented authors won’t get them. It does happen! Don’t let it discourage you. However, if you are going to approach without an agent make sure you do your homework. Know that publisher, that editor, backward and forward.

So you want to improve your chances by finding an agent. Great! Now you have to undertake the task of finding agents looking for your work. In this, the internet is your best friend. There are several good resources out there. The Guide to Literary Agents is a great place to start. They list new agents, agents starting their own business, and much more. All of the agents listed are reputable ones, members of the AAR (Association of Author Representatives) which is highly important. That means these agents are not scam artists!

Writers Market is an invaluable resource. This does require a membership if you look online. Otherwise, try your local library and seek out the latest edition of Writers Market books. Obviously the online resource will be more up to date than the book, but if money is an issue, the book is a good place to start a list. Then go back to the internet and look up each of the agents you are interested in to find out what they are looking for, if they are open to submissions, and how they want you to submit.

I can’t stress this enough. Go back to the internet and look up each individual agents requirements and wants. It will do you no good to submit to an agent that doesn’t look at your particular style of fantasy. Check out a couple of books they have represented to get a feel for what they are interested in.

The idea is a simple one. You take a bit of your text, copy and paste it into the provided box, and it spits out your answer for you. Imagine my delight when I saw that I was compared to a classic fiction (partly fantasy) author, Jonathan Swift. Yes, the author of Gulliver’s Travels. Huh. Interesting.

Now I have to admit that I have never actually read anything by this author before, but I know that his writing is considered classic. So I guess I can handle being compared to him.

Now, what’s interesting is that if I remove all the dialogue from the chapter (which is pretty much the second half of the chapter) it says my writing is like Dan Brown. Wow… Now there’s a huge difference!

Interested in taking the test to see for yourself? Here’s the link: http://iwl.me/

The simple answer to this question is research. Check out books about writing a query letter from the library, making sure they are current and not ten-year old books. Dig online to find out what other publishers and agents suggest.

No one wants to spend as much time working on this one sheet of paper as they did writing the entire novel, but the truth is that this is your resume. Without a stellar query letter your months of labor over your book were worthless.

Here is a list of what every publisher and agent tells you to include in your query letter:

What none of them are clear on is how to put all these elements together to write a winning query letter. Everyone says something different. Why?

Because every publisher and agents has different tastes. You will not be able to write one query letter for all submissions you make. Each one has to be personal. Each one has to be written in the fashion that the person you are seeking representation from will relate to. It sucks, but it’s the truth.

Here are three good resources for writing a query letter. Just a little something to help you get started:

• SFWA Query Help
• Query Letter Mad Lib
• Query Writing 101

As always, before submitting, do your homework. See what sort of fiction the agent/editor has done before. Find out how that specific person wants you to submit. Make it personal!

And of course, best of luck!

The crib bedding set:

The crib:

In that color as well. And since you can’t see the hutch combo in this picture here it is in matching color to the crib: