Bridgette Goes to College

            I tend to not think things through before doing them. Which, if you’ve met me, sounds like an untrue statement, because I also think about things way too much, and I like planning. I don’t like planning so much as I like doing, apparently. Planning takes too long, and by the time I’m done planning I’ve changed my mind half a dozen times. Sometimes this is good. With writing and designing, the first ideas aren’t always the best, and you have to go through 8 or 10 drafts before you get to something that’s really solid. I clearly don’t have a problem planning out a story and editing it, and editing it, and editing it, and editing it, until it’s virtually unrecognizable from its original inception. At the same time, I tend to latch on to an idea too quickly and get myself in trouble (hence why I keep referencing the Great Crisis of Last Month when I couldn’t execute all the brilliant ideas I was having). This is the same me that went “It’s time ...

I’m not quite sure what to blog about this week, so I think I’ll just ramble a bit about the current class I’m taking and see where it leads.               This class is Web Programming, and while it might not be “programming” or “coding” as one might think of it, we are working with HTML and CSS and building multi-page websites in text editors and Dreamweaver.               I think I’m neutral about it. I don’t have any strong feelings one way or another. I don’t have a whole lot of passion or excitement for the projects, but I’m not dreading them, or filled with anxiety, or going into a crisis every 5 minutes because I don’t have the skillset for my ambition. It also seems like a weird class to end on, as far as my Graphic Design degree goes, but I think I’ll get into that next week.            ...

             I came across an article the other day, that was discussing a book written by type designer Marie Boulanger, called XX, XY: Sex, Letters and Stereotypes . It gives a brief overview of what’s in the book and some of Boulanger’s thought processes behind writing it. Here is a link so you can check it out for yourself: Marie Boulanger explores how typography perpetuates gender stereotypes.               I was absolutely going to get this book, but it’s apparently only in French at the moment. I can’t read French. Despite this, I wanted to talk about the book, and some of the ideas that are in it.               Essentially, it comes down to this: typefaces have been gendered (whether intentionally or unintentionally) and over time we’ve come to associate strong, bold typefaces with masculinity, and decorative, sc...

  It’s time for another book cover analysis! I’ve already done two, but I like talking about book covers, ok? If I keep up with this blog this may be the only thing I blog about in the future. I may even transfer my blogs over to a different site and only keep these ones and leave the rest behind. Today’s choice is The Left Hand of Darkness, which I read last year at the start of the pandemic. It was a birthday gift from my friend. They had to read it in their gender studies class, and she was like “Oh, you know who would enjoy hot takes on gender with an extra helping of sci-fi worldbuilding? Bridgette!” And she was right. Can I tell you anything about the plot? No, but I came for the worldbuilding and I stayed for the worldbuilding. Doesn’t mean the plot wasn’t interesting! Let’s get on with it, shall we? This is the first cover we’re going to look at.                 I’ve seen a couple variations of this where the text is pi...