Make it a Pear!: Recent Episodes

Marlena Compton

The Appear Works Podcast covers the cross section of art, technology and community.

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The tale of an artist finding her he(art) in San Francisco. TH3RE'S A VIDEO...In case you start listening and want to see what I'm talking about. https://youtu.be/OrO8YO1XrMQ. AND A PLAYLIST on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48h6T7vQ5yFPb7quiELaGFA few other links:More about the Coit Tower Frescos More about David Hockney's A Bigger ExhibitionSketchnote School

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In this episode, I begin sharing a project I've been working on for the past few months. Hear my thoughts about the social decade and how my inner visual artist has been playing with it.

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Today I'll be talking about my journey with my body, how that was impacted by living in San Francisco and where I am today.Big trigger warning: I'll talking about weight, body image, eating, and all of that. This episode was inspired by Jennette McCurdy -- "I'm Glad My Mom Died"

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Let's rant about the VC finance machine in general and the Silicon Valley Bank in particular.

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Twitter is back in the headlines as the shiny object of Elon Musk must have in his possession.

It is also one of anchors if not “the” anchor of the San Francisco tech scene in the 2010’s. 

This week, I'll explain why I think Elon Musk has a 50/50 chance of being Twitter's "great savior," and why his purchase of Twitter is really about an "edit" button.

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Have you ever struggled to feel like you belong? Most everyone does, but it's worth examining the moments we get, and most of us do have these moments when you feel like you've arrived. If we think back, they might be small, they might not be noticeable to anyone but you, but they do happen. And this type of moment doesn't just happen for us. When does a city arrive? When does a decade arrive?

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Tech is known to have  many different types of overwork traps. This week I talk about some of them, and how I avoid them.

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Hear what it’s like to fly to San Francisco for an interview at a cool tech company.

Want to hear what I was listening to at the time? Here's a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LqPo085gOln18qG3m6M0S?si=951bdddd5a03424f

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Join me for Season 3 of "Make it a Pear!" Hear about what's in store for this upcoming season and a little life update about where I am today.

If you want pics, follow me on Instagram. 

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Click here to buy your Wavelength Ticket or Donate a Ticket today!

https://wavelengthconf.com/shop/

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Click here to find out more about the Wavelength Zine Exchange & Tech Conference.

Zines that are not just for kids:

Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore

I couldn't afford therapy so I made this zine by Lawrence Lindell

Bubblesort Zines by Amy Wibowo (aka SailorHG)

For more cool zines, click to check out appearworks.shop.

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This is the first of a three part series that goes behind the scenes of the Wavelength Zine Exchange & Conference. 

What happens when you realize the the roadmap you have no longer shows the road in front of you?

Click here to find out more about the Wavelength Zine Exchange & Conference.

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This week, it's all about how to get started making a zine. 

If you'd like to join a free, online workshop to get started, I'm running 3 of them in the month of July. 

Click here to get more info and sign up. 

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You really are enough, you know.

Click here to sign up for Wavelength conference announcements.

Interested in what else is happening and where you can follow me? Click here.

Photo credit to María Noel Rabuñal Cantero on Unsplash.

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For patrons, Click here to link to the post I mention in the podcast. 

Art by Wilson Ye. Thanks for capturing Furnace Creek better than I ever could.

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Sign up here to be notified when tickets go on sale. 

What's Let's Sketch Tech? Click here to find out more.

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It's time to get your creative process together. In this episode we talk about the three basic pieces of creative practice according to Beth Pickens, author of "Your Art Will Save Your Live" and, more recently, "Make Your Art No Matter What."

Even though the context for these is artists making art, we explain the solid connection with building for tech and what that means for you.

The Writing Salon -- Where I worked on a novel that will never see the light of day, lol.

Exercism.io -- Level up your coding skills through mentoring, feedback and revisions.

Appear Works affiliate links for (support our work with a purchase):

Your Art Will Save Your Life

Make Your Art No Matter What

Photo credit. Amjith S.

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Let's dive into the artistic process of producing and play and how it's connected to what you do everyday at a software job.

Are you ready to bring more art into the tech you build?

Join me next Tuesday, May 11. Click here to find out more.

What's all this about and who are you?

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So what happens after everything burns?

Hear the backstory of the talk I did at Agile Deliver and why it's blowing up on twitter.

Are you a new follower? This episode is a great introduction to what I'm about.

Twitter thread

My Totally Unwelcome and Utterly Fantastic Agile Deliver Keynote Talk

Support me and my community building.

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This month, Let's Sketch Tech! is taking a deep-dive into the world of color and what that means for tech. Today, we hear about two color origin stories that couldn't be more different. We begin at the Imperial Palace in Beijing and then traipse over to the West Coast and learn about the origin stories of color in CSS.

Join the meetup on May 11, 2021.

Explore "Let's Sketch Tech!".

Imperial Yellow: A Costume Colour at the Top of the Social Hierarchy

Portrait Dowager Empress Cixi by Katherine Carl.

A lecture by Jung Chang about "Empress Dowager Cixi."

What's in a name: Exploring the origins of CSS Color Names

Where did CSS Named Colors Come From?

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Content warning: workplace abuse

Chani Nicholas/Astrology app (not paid, I just like it) -- https://chaninicholas.com/chani-app/ 

btw, as of this post, they are looking for mobile developers.

Join our meetup tomorrow (Tuesday, April 6) -- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/145167719557

What's all this about? -- https://appearworks.com/link-tree/

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Click to join us next week! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/145167719557

Beth Pickens: https://www.bethpickens.com/

What is Let's Sketch Tech? -- https://appearworks.com/link-tree/

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How to do the 3 day challenge:

  1. Spend 3 minutes massaging, moisturizing and caring for your hands.

  2. Give them some gentle stretching.

  3. Use your hands to write your name, and slow it way down.

Click here to check out our next meetup.

Click here to find out what "Let's Sketch Tech!" is all about.

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Here's all you need to know... https://appearworks.com/link-tree/

The 3 question survey I talk about is here: https://forms.gle/eR3n2PGpcRGvW3qj7

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Content warning. In this episode I share some parts of my journey with depression/anxiety. Also, I'm not a doctor or therapist. I'm speaking about my own personal journey, and if you know someone who needs to hear this, I hope you'll share it.

If you are a Patron or received the Let's Sketch Tech survey, please fill out.

Want to know about the Patreon? Click here. Or signup for the free Let's Sketch Tech! newsletter. 

Click to join our zine meetup tonight. (March 9)

Or to find out about our lettering meetup next month (April 6)

Keep sketching!!!

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In this episode, we talk about why it's so important to find your story and how the free-form format of zines can help.

Explore the world of zines and make a small business-owner's day by purchasing some zines to check them out. Not sure what you want? Call up and ask for a $20 random assortment. Here are links to some of our favorite zine stores. These aren't affiliate links, we just think they're great.

Silver Sprocket

Books with Pictures

Floating World

Microcosm

Links from the episode:

Sign up for the Let's Sketch Tech! newsletter. (It's free!)

Join us next Tuesday (March 9, 2021) for our zine workshop.

Click to check out our Patreon

Buy a zine from the Appear Works shop -- We are the creators of the podcast.

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A little bit of news and lots of fun.

Learn how to sketch cute computers and robots the easy way!

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Plans are happening for 2021. Find out what's in store and how we're tailoring it just for you!

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In this episode we go through an exercise of talking about what we wish we knew last year, and what we'd like to know about the coming year.

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We're 3 days into February. How can we even process January?

I talk about this and what a vision board of January could look like.