Be Happy, Be Smile

A few months back I started up a Tumblr in hopes of exploring the angsty, curious teenage girl inside of me (j/k). In truth, I have no idea what the teenage girl inside of me is like, we don't talk very much, sina gof ekpe gui' lao ti siguru yu', hassan na kumuentos ham. Actually I did think about getting a Tumblr long ago, but it was precisely the abundance of angsty, curious pre-teen and teenage girls on there which made me shy away. Would getting a Tumblr mark me in a social-virutal way that I wasn't expecting? I don't know how cool or uncool Blogger is, but I'm certain that having a Tumblr is cooler, but would it be the right kind of cool? Esta meggai na blogs-hu siha, lao ti mangcool siha. Ya mungga yu' mama'tinas nuebu ya para bai hu makase' ta'lo.

I asked my younger sister Alina who is a living, breathing angsty teenage girl what she thought about Tumblr and her response was, "What's that?" So that's when I decided it was ok to get one.

For the past few months I've been posting on there, i fina'tinas-hu siha or in English, "the things I've created." This means that I've mainly been pasting images of my paintings or drawings. But in addition to this I've pasted images of knives that I've made while apprenticing for my grandfather, the first Famoksaiyan conference that I helped orgainze in 2006, and even a photo of the handwritten first draft of my 9th Chapter for my dissertation. Meggai fina'tinas-hu esta, ya guaha na biahi hinasso-ku na maolekna na bei deskana na'ya.

Although I am an artist, I don't think I'm a very good one in any way. I don't get to make as much art as I want to. I don't take as seriously the conventions of being a good, contientious artist. I would even argue I don't have much natural talent for painting or drawing.

My brother Jack on the other hand has a great deal of talent. Me and him used to compete in drawing when we were younger, and stopped the moment he, despite being four years younger than me, was already proving to be far better than I at drawing Marvel superheroes. Jack recently graduated from CSU Northridge with a degree in Graphic Arts, and me and Sumahi were fortunate enough to be there as he walked.

As part of entering this new phase of his life Jack decided to start a Tumblr as well. The name of it is Be Happy, Be Smile. He hasn't put much up yet, but I encourage people to follow him. Here below is one of my favorite pieces of his that he's done recently.

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