by Marty Coleman | Mar 26, 2014 | Illustrated Short Stories |
Prologue
I knew these girls. They were the girls I liked in High School. Not always the smartest, but definitely the smartassiest.
Chapter One
They were way too smart for school. Nonetheless, school they were in. And they weren’t doing very well. Especially in Chemistry. It wasn’t that they couldn’t learn Chemistry, it was that they didn’t care about Chemistry. What did chemicals have to do with anything? I mean, yea, you have ‘chemistry’ with someone, like your boyfriends. And yea, you don’t want to blow yourself or stuff up by accident so you should know how to not do that. But organic and inorganic chemistry as a whole class, a whole YEAR? That was pure torture.
Chapter Two
To save money parents had the option of having a group tutoring session. So now these two girls were at the bookstore sitting with the same tutor. They didn’t know each other, they just knew OF each other. They weren’t in the same clique and didn’t do the same school activities. The girl in blue, Amy, was a jock. The girl in gray, Abby, was in Band. Amy had a reputation for being really funny. Abby had a reputation for being really funny too.
Chapter Three
The tutor was a nice lady who wore a pink wool top and gray skirt. Amy thought the skirt was too short for someone so old. Abby thought the pink top made her look like she was from the 60s, like the President who got killed’s wife, whatever her name was. The tutor had been a full time teacher but had to quit when her mother got sick and needed care. Now she tutored 3 days a week and made almost as much money as she did teaching with nowhere near the hassle.
Chapter Four
The tutor was explaining chemically how gas is formed. This was an unfortunate topic for Abby, who at that very moment was having severe gas pains in her bowels. She was waiting to excuse herself until the tutor finished when it happened. Abby tooted. It wasn’t really loud or really long, but it was loud enough. The tutors eyes went wide. Amy put her hand over her mouth and tried to suppress a laugh. It didn’t work. Amy laughed loud, louder than the toot. Abby blushed, then looked at the tutor and said, “Sorry, may I go to the bathroom please?” The tutor scowled, rolled her eyes and said, “Yes, please do.”
Chapter Five
Amy immediately asked if she could go too and the tutor said yes. When they both got in the bathroom they started laughing hysterically. Abby said, “I don’t know what she was so upset about, that’s chemistry in action, right?” Amy caught her breath and said, “Exactly, that’s the chemistry they should teach in school, everyone would pay attention then!”
Chapter Six
The tutoring session ended a few minutes later with both girls barely able to keep it together. They stayed behind after the tutor left. They did homework, looked at magazines and talked about a million different things for another 2 hours before they both had to go home for dinner.
Epilogue
That day was the day they both met their best friend. Now, 25 years later, they live a mile from each other. They talk every day. Ironically enough, Amy actually did become a Chemical Engineer and Abby became a Science Writer. They have helped each other through college, graduate school, marriages, divorces, babies, moves, jobs, firings, illnesses and everything else. They love to tell the story of how they met.
The End
_____________
Drawing and Story by Marty Coleman ©2014
_____________
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Mar 25, 2014 | Illustrated Short Stories, Sketchbook History Tour |
#1
I’ve gone to the same Starbucks in Tulsa about 3 times in a row now. It is not where I usually travel but I had to get my car serviced a number of times and it’s the coffee spot closest to the dealership. Each time I’ve spent time working and drawing, usually about an hour or so. Each time the same woman was there. The first time I noticed her but I was faced the opposite direction and ended up drawing a couple talking at a window table while it snowed.
___________________________
#2
The second time I drew her on a napkin and showed it to her. I also showed her the sketchbook drawing from my first trip there and the sketchbook drawing I was doing that day, of a woman being interviewed at the end of my table.
I haven’t finished her napkin yet but I did take a photo of her with it, as I always like to do if possible. I emailed her the photograph. While we talked I found out she liked to hang out there before her job at Dillards, a department store at the nearby mall. I also found out she had taught English in Korea for a year and had just got back in the summer of 2013.
____________________________
#3
The third time I sat across from her and drew her in my sketchbook. She told me that she had decided to go back to Korea for at least another year to teach again. I admire the courage it takes to go off to a new part of the world all by yourself. To go back a second time, that really says something about what you discovered about the place, and about yourself, the first time around. I wish I had done that in college or afterwards.
I wish her great fortune in her journey to Korea!
__________________
Drawings and writing by Marty Coleman
__________________
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Mar 23, 2014 | Photographic Sunday |
As I’ve mentioned, I spent almost a week down in Austin, TX at SXSW (South By Southwest) Interactive at the beginning of March. I had my DSLR camera with me but I actually took a lot more photos with my iPhone and iPad mini than I did with my larger camera.
Workshop Portraits
I led a 2 1/2 hour workshop on the first day titled ‘The Compelling Image in the Age of Social Media’. A lot of the hands on activities I had the participants do were related to portraiture and to composition using a simple cell phone. I also participated some in taking pics and below are examples of what I was teaching them.
Portrait Model for my Workshop at SXSW
Portrait with Eyebrow at SXSW
A simple front lit portrait is a great way to get a good photo without much work. Including the environment around the model helps identify her in an actual place, filling out her identity and giving a mood or feel to the image.
________________________
Partial Portrait Model for my Workshop at SXSW
Partial Portrait Model for my Workshop at SXSW
Heels and Guitar Shadow at SXSW
Portraits of people with just part of their face, or without any part of their face, showing is one of my favorite ways to emphasize character and style and place. I had them work on that idea of ‘partial portrait’ and also taught them how to take photos of strangers. I practiced what I preached in the middle photo, asking a volunteer at the conference center if I could take a photo of her necklace and earrings.
_____________________
Conference Portraits
Gaming Glasses at SXSW
She was modeling and selling ‘gaming glasses’ at the Gaming Expo of SXSW. I had no idea what they were at first, I thought it was just a sunglass company selling their wares. But she explained that the glasses helped reduce glare, blue light and eye strain for gamers who are at the monitor or TV for hours at a time. That interested me because my daughter Rebekah the Neuroscientist (yes I am bragging) is also a fierce gamer. I took this woman’s pic and messaged it to Beka at the time to show her the glasses.
__________________
Subway Lounge
Woman with One Eye Open at SXSW
I was at the outdoor Subway lounge charging my iPhone and struck up a conversation with one of the Subway hostesses/models. She wasn’t in a costume at the time but she told how she had been earlier and how cool it was. The costume was designed by a hot and upcoming fashion designer in Austin who used nothing but Subway material for the costume. I really wanted to see it but that promotion was done for the day.
The lounge had this very odd plant block with flowers on top in the middle of it and I found myself trying to figure out how to place it in an image. I asked her to model for me with it in the background and she was open to the idea. If you’ve ever seen my photo-collages you know I do a lot of ‘one eye open, one eye closed’ images and I had her pose both ways. I later collaged the two images to get this one.
I went back the next day and lo and behold there were two models in the costume she had mentioned. I asked them if I could take photos of their backs (another part I take a lot of photos of) and after initially wondering ‘uh?’ said ok. I posed them on either side of the bizarre plant block. That combined with the symmetrical trashcans made for a pretty interesting image I thought.
Subway Models at SXSW
___________________
Kat
While I was in Austin I wanted to finally meet a long time Flickr friend, Kat. We have known each other via our photos for 6 years or so but have never met in person. She came and picked me up one morning and took me to a cool coffee spot in Austin not far from the convention center. We then took a short side trip around back where there were some brightly colored building so we could have a mini-shoot.
I took most of the pics with my DSLR camera but I took one with my iPhone so I could use them as a new example in my presentation about the capabilities and power of the camera in your pocket. Here are the pics, can you guess which one is from the cell phone?
Kat #1
Kat #2
Kat #3
Kat #4
Put your guess in the comments and I will let you know in a day or two which one is right.
_______________________
SXSW at Night
At night the conference spilled out onto 6th street, the main entertainment drag in Austin. I wasn’t with anyone so I just wandered around looking for interesting scenes. Here are a few I caught.
Street Scene at SXSW
Robot Love at SXSW
Performers at SXSW
Grumpy Cat at SXSW
_______________________
Rain
Two Reds on a Gray Day at SXSW
Rain dominated the weather for a few days of the conference. As I walked from the bus stop to the convention center early one morning I saw this woman in bright red pants brighten up what was otherwise a completely gray/brown landscape. When I turned after passing her I noticed the red sign in the distance and loved the balance of the two. I originally posted it on Instagram, that’s the reason behind the square format.
__________________
Street Mystery
Composition with Mystery at SXSW
And of course in taking street photos you often don’t know what you are going to get. Here I captured a moment right between two people walking by. I was paying attention to the person all in purple but I caught a sweet spot right between that person and the cape leading the way. It’s an arrow and a mystery.
I really was focused on learning and networking and didn’t take nearly as many interesting photos as I usually do. Next year I will take more!
___________________
© 2021 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
___________________
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Mar 20, 2014 | Marty Coleman, Meh Meh Mediocrity - 2013 |
Today is the appropriate day to talk about Christianity’s love affair with mediocrity.
The ‘Inappropriate’ Outfit
A friend of mine who has modeled for our photography group here in Tulsa attends a fashion design college. She was called out in front of her classmates recently for her ‘extremely inappropriate’ choice of clothing by her teacher. She said it was inappropriate because the college was a ‘christian college’.
She was quite upset by the confrontation because she takes great pride in her fashion choices and styles. It was embarrassing and humiliating for her. The outfit consisted of a typical black tank top and black long pants along with a black leather jacket. I have seen a photo of her outfit and it is well within acceptable bounds for a young woman in America, especially at a fashion design school. It seems to me that it was an act of public shaming on the part of the teacher that isn’t easy to explain.
Slut Shaming?
It made me start thinking about Christianity’s obsession with ‘appropriateness’. Why did this teacher think the outfit was inappropriate? Were there men ogling the student? Were women whispering behind her back? Were her private parts showing? Maybe the teacher herself was unable to concentrate because she was so distracted by the outfit? Did the teacher think my friend was in danger of appearing too ‘loose’ or ‘slutty’ and would get sexually assaulted as a result?
Reputation and Judgment
I actually don’t think the teacher thought any of those things. I think the teacher’s reputation was threatened. I think she, and many Christians, wants a world where no one can question their appropriateness. And to do that they have to make sure no one thinks they approve of others who are supposedly inappropriate. Not just other people, but whole arenas of activity and effort in the creative world; fashion, art, music, dance, film. They are quick to judge because they themselves are worried about being seen as insufficiently righteous if they don’t.
Christian Mediocrity
What is the result of that mindset? The result is mediocrity. They are firmly planted in the safe middle with safe music, safe art, safe fashion, safe film. They don’t have to consider new creative ideas and images because they have already have a handy pre-judgment at hand that declares those ideas and images as inappropriate. And something judged to be inappropriate, even without good reasons behind the judgment, can be dismissed without consideration.
And mediocrity thrives when new ideas aren’t allowed to be considered.
___________________
Drawing, quote and commentary by Marty Coleman
___________________
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Mar 19, 2014 | Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts - 2012-2013, Marty Coleman |
Last we saw them, the bodyless Ghirl Ghosts were having a Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts Weekend. Meanwhile, their Ghost babies were being baby sat back home.
Ghost Babies
Wait… you didn’t know ghosts had baby ghosts? Yep, they can. If the ghosts have bodies they have babies the normal ghost way, through their ghost private parts. But if they are bodyless Ghirl Ghosts like the ghosts in our story, they can’t do it that way since they don’t have ghost private parts. So, they give birth to their baby bodyless ghosts through their mouths. Yes, Once they have ghost sex (which for bodyless ghosts is just making out) they pop them out like bubbles from their ghost mouth. Hard to believe, but it’s true.
Ghost Ghoos
So, while their ghost moms were off having their little holiday, the baby ghirl ghosts were being baby sat. Another cool thing about being a ghost is you don’t need other ghosts to babysit. All you need is Ghost Ghoo. Ghost Ghoo is something all ghosts can release, sort of like ghost poop, but it’s not gross. It is a part of the ghost who let’s it out that stays behind. The ghost gives it instructions and it follows them. It’s like a ghost rhobot. So, in this case the ghost ghoos was instructed to take care of the baby ghosts. They fed them, got them to take naps, let them play safely, took them on field trips and more.
Causing Trouble for the Ghoos
But on this day there was trouble. The baby ghosts being taken care of by the red ghost ghoo got very rambunctious and wouldn’t obey the Red Ghost Ghoo. They fought, tried to run away and played practical jokes on the Red Ghost Ghoo. It got so bad that the Red Ghost Ghoo broke apart into pieces, which is what ghost ghoos do when they get really flustered. The biggest piece collapsed on the floor into a ghoo pile and started to cry.
The other Ghost Ghoos; Orange, Blue, Green and Pink, did their best to round up all the baby ghosts that the Red Ghost Ghoo had been taking care of. It took them a long time and they were none too happy about it. They gave a stern lecture to the baby ghosts about obeying authority and made them apologize to the Red Ghost Ghoo.
Horror Movie
As punishment and as a lesson about what happens when they don’t obey they made them watch a very scary horror movie about evil people trying to destroy them called Ghostbusters.
The End
To see and read the whole Ghirl Ghost series of short stories, click on the ‘series’ drop down menu to the right and go to ‘Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts‘.
_________________
Drawing and story by Marty Coleman
_________________
Like this:
Like Loading...
