Vanessa Raney

Hi! I want to hear from you. E-mail me so we can start a conversation.

07/08/10 - I saw The Last Airbender, and it's an awesome movie! Can't wait for the sequel to come out. You've got to watch it! :)

03/19/10 - I saw Repo Men today and was very happy! This is a great movie that delivers what it promises. I haven't felt as excited about an action movie for ages! lol :)

01/08/10 - I used my free Regal ticket to see *The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus* - and then I had to see it two more times! (And I want to see it again!) If you've forgotten how fantasy and story mix, you've got to see it! Solid all around, and made for all audiences (literary and general). It's just fantabulous! :):):)

12/26/09 - My song project is moving forward! 6 songs & they've all been translated into Turkish thanks to Özgür Tetik. The next step is to sing them in English and Turkish! :)

12/22/09 - I joined Twitter! You can see my 'Profile' at http://www.twitter.com/VanessaRaney.

12/11/09 - I used basic HTML scripting (courtesy University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) to set up my online art gallery for my face paint project; see http://vanessa-raney6gallery.blogspot.com.

11/24/09 - I started my Master's of Arts in Education/Adult Education and Training at University of Phoenix.

09/28/09 - I'll be reading the preface to a novel I hope to finish next year. If you're in the area, you're welcome to stop by and listen. The open mic event will take place at Vllage Books at 7p.

09/18/09 - I watched *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs* in 3D four times today! It has great artwork and a decent script! I think, possibly, it's the best movie of the year so far! :):):)

08/03/09 - I've officially moved again! I also survived my summer classes with a 3.00 GPA.

04/26/09 - I'm still holding on to my program with a 3.00 GPA! (I just got the results for my ENV 643 class; I had to drop ENV 647.)

04/02/09 - The preliminary schedule for the WEAI Conference was posted; go here to find my info.: http://www.weainternational.org/Prelim%20Schedule-5-18-09-www.pdf. :)

02/06/09 - I was accepted to present a paper at the Western Economic Association International Conference, to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, June 29-July 3, 2009.

01/29/09 - I watched My Bloody Valentine 3D - my first ever 3D movie! If you haven't seen it, I recommend it! It's greatly entertaining and cool. :)

Dec. '08 - My Facebook friend Zeinab Helmy and I will be collaborating on songwriting this winter break. These songs will be written in honor of the baby I miscarried in California. I'll be writing 5-6 songs in English, while Zeinab will be translating them into French. The goal is for me to sing them in French with some digital piano playing in the background; this is primarily to carry the mood along with sound. Once the videos are completed, I'll be uploading them to You Tube, on my online journal, etc., along with audio tracks on MySpace.

12/14/08 - After two semesters at the University of Maryland University College, I'm still holding on to a 3.00 GPA! :)

06/13/08 - I've been accepted to present at the 78th Annual Southern Economic Association (SEA) Conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., 20-23 Nov. 2008! My paper title is, 'Marrying Science with Economics: Hedonic Property Analysis as a Measure of Site Specificity.' I started the research in Spring 2008, and will be formalizing my findings in Fall 2008. [Note: I didn't attend due to health issues arising from the non-stop bleeding.]

05/07/08 - My mom told me about the fire at the main campus of my alma mater, Our Lady of the Lake University, last night. Fortunately, no one was hurt. My heart goes out to everyone there.

11/23/07 - I'm now reworking my online comic, "The Politics of Fat." If you want to read it, here's the direct URL: https://vanessa-raney0.tripod.com/thepoliticsoffat/.

Spring 2008 - I was an MS student in Environmental Management at the University of Maryland University College (current) and an AA student in Economics at Frederick Community College (left in the middle of the Fall 2008 semester).

09/21/07 - I received a refund check for the tuition paid against HUM 501, which I was withdrawn from this Summer 2007.

08/13/07 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best Harry Potter movie to date. Both artistic and action-oriented, it does what it hasn't achieved yet: a quality image sound piece of extraordinary artistic merit and awesome visual escapism. It's the only movie I've seen in theatres thus far since 2004, but I think it's earned the right to take home Best Picture for 2007. Seriously, if I'd paid $20 to watch this movie, it'd be worth it; $100 even - it's that good.

04/02/07 - I officially entered the world of deejaying on Hood College's Blazer Radio. :) [This ended after the Fall 2007 semester.]

11/24/06 - I knew I smelled Christmas the other night, and tonight the real Santa came through for me! (I can still believe in Santa, right? lol) The title below will now be the most expensive book I've ever bought; I won't tell you about the first. :) Thank you, Santa!

11/19/06 - I know what I want for Christmas: Murray Krieger's Ekphrasis: The Illusion of the Natural Sign (1991).

11/07/06 - I modelled in the nude today for studio art classes at Michigan State University. [Note: I only did it three times.]

05/16/06 - Ozan Sula e-mailed me (at 2:29a, according to the time on his e-mail) to threaten me because I talk about him in my journal. Like I said in my journal entry (see http://vanessa-raney3journal.blogspot.com/2006/06/ozan-sula-e-mailed-me-day-before-i-was.html), I consider what he did a bullying tactic. [It should be noted again that as soon as I started talking about the miscarriage of our baby, he responded with a new tactic.]

I'm currently editing a book collection on Superheroes and Trauma. Confirmed contributors are Des O'Brien (Independent Scholar), Gregory Bray (State University of New York New Paltz), Joshua R. Pangborn (Fordham University), Hassan El Menyawi (Davidson College), Jeff Geers (Bowling Green State University), and Greg Wright (Kalamazoo College). My major contribution will take up the second half of the book. I'm excited because we're going to be ready to rock by the end of summer 2008! :):):)

Vanessa Raney. Mixed Media, 2002.

Original (lower left) given to Dr. Maribel Larraga, Our Lady of the Lake University.

my art for "If We Could But Know" (Vanessa Raney)

http://asstudents.unco.edu/students/AE-Extra/2007/9/Raney.html

Some notes about me:

Since Fall 2009: MA student in Education/Adult Education and Training at University of Phoenix.

I created an online art gallery for my face paint project:

My first published contribution to comics scholarship, a book review on Charles Burns' 12-vol. serial Black Hole (Fantagraphics Books, 1995-2005), appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of ImageText: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies.

Here are other sources for info.:

I also have a profile on Facebook.

And on MySpace! So visit me!

Here's my Newsvine.com Page:

Folow me on Twitter:

What I like: Nothing in particular, all things alike.

What I hunger for: An answer to an unconscious question expressed in my disarticulations. [1]

What I don't like: Specific things.

What I'd do if I could: Float on water and journey across every ocean without being eaten, maimed or burned.

Guaranteed headaches: Moving.

Time commitments: Classes. :)

For a lot of the time:

I read and research.

For some of the time:

I watch movies and sing.

For squeezed in moments:

I do campus activities.

For what time I have left:

[1] I wrote this as part of a long e-mail I sent another student in response to her arrogance. I take learning seriously, and so I wasn't surprised to discover that she's just talk.

It's not what she said that mattered; it's how she said it that irked me. She basically made herself out to be better than the other students in the class - and it wasn't the first time.

Prior to that, she said she'd chosen a specific topic because she assumed everyone else would've selected the most obvious of the ones assigned to us. Like I said, the first time you do something, I ignore it. Do it again, however, and I will respond.

Not only did I suggest how full of it she was by attaching a partial list of 30 books I found on the Anyang site (compared to the 2 or so she said were hard enough to find), but I also shared with her what I believe learning involves: It doesn't end with a class; any serious researcher gets invested in what he or she does. For me, learning isn't a toy to play with; it's an opportunity to engage and commit.

Either you get that or you don't; it depends on how much you set grades as a definition of who you are. I only worry about them to the extent that I'm supposed to be making 3.00s at this level of the game. Don't forget, however, that not all of us came packaged with the same opportunities and advantages. I may not do consistently well on paper yet, but that says nothing about my intellectual growth. Also: Try not to be so quick about dismissing other people because of the effort a conversation requires.

my art for "Spoils Among the Foils" (V. Raney)

http://asstudents.unco.edu/students/AE-Extra/2007/10/Raney.html

"Mutts" - Patrick McDonnell

"Zits" - Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

"Get Fuzzy" - Darby Conley

"Opus" - Berkeley Breathed

"Mr. Boffo" - Joe Martin

"Pearls Before Swine" - Stephen Pastis

"Cleats" - Bill Hinds

"Heart of the City" - Mark Tatulli

- Dating, Sex, Marriage or Kids

- Weird things in my food

- Seeing bugs of any kind

Let me know what's on your mind and what you think of my site.