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arts & culture
KANSAN.COM | THURSDAY. MARCH 10, 2016
Aries ( March 21-April
Self-discipline makes a difference today. Take charge to realize a personal vision. Slow to avoid accidents. A surprising development charges your team. Research options. Put one toe in the water before you jump in.
Taurus ( April 20-May 20)
Shopping could get expensive. Don't waste money on stuff you don't need. Pursue creative avenues. Wait until conditions improve. Emotions guide your decisions. Navigate chasas patiently. Keep your long-term vision in mind. Restrain your fantasies.
Gemini ( May 21-June 20)
A careful, work-related investment may be necessary. Upgrade your communications infrastructure, maybe. Send long-distance messages. Use your powers of persuasion. Talk your way out of a complicated situation. Write down and share the vision.
Cancer ( June 21- July 22)
Verify a rumor before acting.
Don't depend on fantasy.
There's more to the picture than meets the eye. Costs may be higher than expected.
Check numbers meticulously.
Make plans and backup plans
Leo ( July 23-Aug. 22)
Practice a passion with discipline and watch your skills improve. Get physical. Play sports and games, and push for a challenge. Provide leadership. Make sure you understand the rules intimately. Connect with someone
Virgo [ Aug. 23-Sept. 22]
A professional challenge requires your attention.
Something doesn't work as planned. Learn a new trick from old friends. Change could seem abrupt. Don't let it ruffle your domestic tranquility.
Get creative to sidestep an obstacle.
obstacle.
Libra ( Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Update your partner as work rolls in. Make corrections as needed. Unplanned distractions and disruptions abound.
Keep complaints to yourself.
Take a time out. Discover a brilliant but unusual solution.
Get clever ideas onto paper.
Scorpio ( Oct. 23-Nov.
Consider a family investment Research practical options. Change directions intuitively toward more profitable ventures. Pool resources and share tasks with siblings and friends. Plan for contingencies Talk about dreams and visions
Sagittarius ( Nov. 22-
Dec. 21)
Take a pause in your journey.
Plan your itinerary farther forward. Find a quiet spot to consider changes in circumstances. Listen to what others want. Clean up messes. Find treasure hidden among the
garbage.
Capricorn ( Dec. 22-Jan.
10)
Stick to basics, with shifting circumstances. Handle details at work or suffer the consequences. Listen for the hidden elements. Slow down to get it done right the first time. Postpone travel for better
Aquarius ( Jan. 20-Feb.
Friends share a valuable connection. Show up well dressed and on time. Keep your pitch brief and compelling. Conditions are changing in your favor. Track your cash flow. Practice compassion. Speak your gratitudes out loud.
18)
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
In the eye of the storm, let yourself be led. When confusion reigns, act responsibly. Don't fix what isn't broken. Say the magic words for a surprising development. Connect emotionally. Love is your librarian.
your lifeline.
Cathy Joritz turns doodles into animated short film through Hall Center fellowship
ANISSA FRITZ
@anissafritzz
t wasn't until Cathy Oritz, an assistant professor at the University, started doodling a Santa
character while in a faculty meeting that she found the starting point for her newest animated short film, "Film Feast."
That same doodle is what also led her to receive
Missy Mineur/KANSAN Cathy Jortz, an assistant professor at the University, demonstrates how a silhouette animation is made.
Missy Minear/KANSAN
the Creative Work Fellowship from The Hall Center for the Humanities.
Anywhere between three and eight people apply for the fellowship, with projects ranging from writing a novel to jewelry creations, said Victor Bailey, director of the Hall Center for Humanities. The fellowship frees Joritz of teaching responsibilities for one semester and allows her to focus on making her film. It also awards her $1,000 to spend on the production and supplies.
Joritz's original Santa doodle evolved into a woman with over-exaggerated fat rolls and was later given the name "Frau Dunkt." Drawing on her life experiences, "Film Feast" addresses several issues, but the focus is the exploding obsession with computers and phones, said Joritz.
Cathy Joritz teaches animation and effects production courses at the University.
Missu Minear/KANSAN
"After I drew Frau Dunkt I started to think about how much time I sit at a computer and how it has affected my life, and how much I miss going out into nature and miss going out and seeing real life things." Joritz said.
Joritz's office door is covered with postcards of blue sheep or skeleton Jayhawks that she designed. Inside is a wall of shelves covered with books and famous animated characters such as Spongebob Squarepants that portray the child-like enthusiasm Joritz has for drawing.
"My first memories of drawing were when I was 6 years old," Joritz said. "That's when I can remember little kids standing in line at my desk waiting for me to draw a picture of a horse. They would tell me what kind of horse they wanted, and I would draw it."
Years later, Jonitz went from drawing horses to an Oscar nomination for her 1991 "Give AIDS the Freeze."Another animation, 1985's "Negative Man," was exhibited in
the prestigious Museum of Fine Arts Bern in Switzerland.
"Being able to draw is like being born with a magic wand." Joritz said.
Joritz sees a problem with cell phone use throughout society: people driving while on their phones, being bored and on their phones at airports and even being on their phones when gathering with other people. Joritz plans to address this problem in a creative and animated way.
"Cell phone towers have this sort of tree-like form," she said. "So where you first see pine trees in Frau Dunkt's background you'll see cellphone towers springing and popping up around her."
Joritz said she hopes her film will not only address the problem of cell phone and Internet overuse but also the dangers to human health and the ill effects on wildlife caused by electromagnetic radiation and frequencies.
The end of the film hasn't been worked out yet, but Joritz said she's excited to commit real time to drawing instead of drawing during "stolen" moments, like she did during that faculty meeting.
- Edited by Madi Schulz
Assistant professor Kij Johnson approaches science fiction from a female perspective
MINSEON KIM
@adropofsunny
As a child in Harlan, Iowa, Kij Johnson was always excited about reading things that couldn't happen, which inspired her to become a science fiction writer. Years later, with dozens of published material under her belt, Johnson has recently begun writing her new book "The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe," which is set to release in August.
Despite always having an interest in science fiction, Johnson, an assistant professor in the department of English, didn't start writing her first story until she was 25. As she started to write simple stories, she said she became a better writer and started to ask deeper questions like "what else could happen?"
"It has capabilities that what you might call mainstream fiction doesn't."
While Johnson said it is hard to get an exact description of situations as a science fiction writer, she takes real life experiences and applies the relevant parts to her writing.
Johnson said. "With science fiction, you can push the envelope and ask different and harder questions."
"The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe" is based on a novella "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" written by H.P. Lovecraft. The original book has no women; Johnson flips the script and inserts a woman into the world Lovecraft created.
"While I've never been on a rocket ship, I know exactly what it is like to live in a very small space with a bunch of people for an extended period," Johnson said.
"That's the kind of thing I do a lot," Johnson said. "I say, 'So given this world,
whatever world I am making, what's different if I am a woman? What has to be different if I am a woman? What doesn't have to be different and why do I make the decisions I do about what a woman can or can't do in this world?"
While Johnson writes different kinds of stories, she has topics that she comes back to again and again, including cultural assumptions of what is expected of women. Other topics including gender, fitting into an environment and love are in her interests as well.
Johnson's books are often printed overseas but she said she gets excited every time it happens. Her work is printed in Turkey, Japan, Poland and other countries. Johnson said it is a tremendous honor to know that her work is good enough to be read by people with different traditions of science fiction in each country.
"I feel strongly about the international nature of science fiction and also it's really gratifying to see world science fiction." Johnson said. "And now I am part of world science fiction."
Johnson is also the associate director at the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction and teaches various seminars including a summer science fiction novel workshop for beginning novel writers.
Chris McKitterick, the director of the Gunn Center, who has worked with Johnson for 22 years, said he has a huge respect for her writing.
"She has an uncanny ability to evoke powerful emotions in the reader, which I find astounding in that she can use the same words most of us write, but under her direction, they
James Gunn, the founding director of the Gunn Center, said Johnson has a confident grasp of craft, language and character.
"She has that indispensable quality in a writer of seeing the world in her own unique fashion," said Gunn.
Johnson described herself as a nontraditional professor because she didn't start graduate school until she was 50. She said she hopes to teach her students how to enjoy writing.
"We feel like you can't write for fun, you can only write to be a professional," Johnson said. "And part of what I want is to be able to show as many people as I can, how to have a good time writing."
- Edited by G.J. Melia and Deanna Ambrose
I say, 'So given this world, whatever world I am making, what's different if I am a woman? What has to be different if I am a woman? What doesn't have to be different and why do I make the decisions I do about what a woman can or can't do in this world?'
Kij Johnson
Kij Johnson is an assistant professor in the department of English. She focuses on science fiction writing and one of her books is currently being recognized internationally.
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