fire without matches

time and context arrested

with a single breath

I feel a little criminal even doing this here.

I have a facebook account now, I have to admit I prefer the interface, and if you have one too, I'd like you to add me.

Search Erica LeSaint or my real name. I have an orange and white avatar.

See you on the other side.

I would like to offer my copyediting and proofreading services to anyone who desires them, especially those of you in school.

I have long been doing this for my close friends and have testimonials that a thorough proof by me has increased their essay and other assignment scores by a whole letter grade or more. Even if you're a good writer, an outside observer will catch mistakes you miss when evaluating your own writing. In other words, if you can afford it, it's worth it.

Rates are affordable (especially if you're not lazy):

- Basic proofread (spelling, punctuation and basic grammar): $1 per page This is just a given. No matter how intelligent your ideas are, you're gonna look like an idiot if you can't be bothered to spell them right in a paper.
- Basic copyedit (basic proofread plus suggestions for improving awkward sentence structure and word choice): $5 per page This is one step above and ensures simple smooth readability - so there are no "snags" in structure or wording.
- Full copyedit (basic proof and basic copyedit, plus cursory analysis of content + formatting) $10 per page This is useful if you want to go a step beyond cleanup and see how the content of the paper looks to an outsider. Is it continuous and comprehensible? Are there hanging ideas or glaring unanswered questions? This is obviously not an in-depth analysis, especially depending upon the subject matter, but it can catch loose ends that you may have missed. Especially useful if people other than your instructor will see your work. I can offer MLA formatting advice too.
- Full rewrite (full copyedit plus I make the changes for you, i.e., rewrite the sentences and send it back to you finished) $15 per page This requires some faith in me too, as I don't send you the proof markup - I do a full proof and copyedit and just rewrite everything. Then it's up to you to compare it to what you sent me originally, if you care to.

Terms and sad-face disclaimers
- For the first three, I don't do any of the rewriting - I just suggest the changes and send it back.
- For the first two, I don't even look at what the writing actually says - just how it's written.
- If you send me something to be proofed and it doesn't need any work, I'm not gonna charge anything.
- Here's the requisite ugly stuff: I'm not liable if I suggest a change and you adopt it and you regret doing so, if you have me do a full rewrite and you get in trouble because you didn't check what I wrote for you, if you think my help didn't improve your score after all, etc., etc. I'm not a professional, but I do know what I'm doing, and by sending me your stuff you're agreeing that you trust me on that. If you don't trust me, ask my friends. If they don't convince you, then slag off.
- I try for 24-hour turnaround times. But if you have a deadline, it's up to you to let me know.
- Also, I don't write from scratch any more. I just don't. None of that. Everything I proof needs to be completed already. Or my brain will pop.

I'm doing this because I really am passionate about use of language and enjoy copyediting, because I think the world would be a better place if English was less abused, because it would be nice to know I helped someone else do better in school, and yes, okay, because I need the money.

I personally am embroiled in a battle with the Epic of Gilgamesh at the moment, and it overwhelmingly reminds me of how much more I like to help other people write than to write from scratch.

So if you even suspect that your paper could use a second lookover, please send it to me. You'll be doing us both a favor. Thanks.

...at the very least. We have no idea what we're in for, but I'm so ready; even eventual disaster (not that I foresee it) will have been worth the change.
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As I was saying....

I caught myself awaiting the demise of Bush's reign as the end of an era. Satisfying though that was, it was a bitter satisfaction not sweet enough for what we're about to realize as a country.

Feeling optimism, rather than terror and rage, over our government's composition and activities is such a foreign notion for someone who came to political awareness during the past eight years -- so much so that I could end up cogitating over the sensation until it became awkward rather than joyous.

I've expended a lot of energy raging against Bush, and to little avail, and I'm trying to be done with it, lest our current triumph be diluted. In other words, I've decided to let the shoe of hope fit! Then something more appropriate dawned on me: Bush exiting the White House is, rather, the beginning of an era.
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By the way, California, I'm ashamed of you.... the Supreme Court ruled in May 2008 that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, and we, one of the most progressive, diverse, educated and ostensibly tolerant states in the union, cared enough about obstructing gay marriage to bend over backward and invest $35 million dollars on trumping that ruling?

It's appallingly out of character for us. Still, though it's little consolation now, I think it's just a matter of time before equal rights for gays are no more contested than the rights of blacks or of women.

f you're one of those people who suffers from political indifference, please think twice this time around. If apathy about politics and government was ever a bad idea, now is the time.


I don't know if we will see another election in our lifetimes wherein we have such radical control over the future condition of our states and country.


The presidential vote is one thing, and it's a matter of preference. Even if it still boils down to a lesser of evils scenario for you in this election, our two choices are not one in the same. Don't sit down with your grandkids 40 years from now and say "well... I couldn't really be bothered to vote in that one..."

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But Prop 8 is another thing. If you live in California, please, in particular, think twice about this one. It's a matter of civil rights, and it's a matter of human rights. It's not a matter of religion, or preference, or "wholesome" values. It's discrimination against individuals based on a condition which is 1) not a choice on their part and 2) not inherently dangerous to others, and that makes it no different from Jim Crow laws.


Please don't support the people who are willing to bend over backward just to deny other groups of people their happiness, as well as recognition and representation under the law.


Whether gay marriage sounds immoral to you, discrimination against it is unethical.

Smart people do not:

- Put regular dish soap in the dishwasher and "see what happens" (twice, forgetting about the first disaster),

- Put powdered cocoa in with the coffee grounds in the coffee maker.


Smart people do not make kitchen appliances go boom.
There's no ironic undertone or philosophical allegory here.

Just don't do these things.

Gathering content for Teen Voices is a suprisingly gruelling process.

As always, if any of you have siblings or friends age 13-19 who like to draw, paint, create computer graphics, write poetry, essays or stories, or if they're an aspiring journalist, we want their work for inclusion in the paper.

Teen Voices is entirely non-profit and participation is free (and anonymous if the teen prefers).

We're also always looking for opinionated teens to contribute their thoughts on whatever sparks them - politics, society and culture, entertainment, any issue local or global.

We collect existing works, new works created specifically for inclusion in the paper, and we work with teens to help formulate and follow-through on pieces in real time (e.g. interviews with community members, etc.)

Basically, anything goes, and I try to never say no, and we can never have too much content.

So please pass the word along to any teen you know who might be interested in the opportunity to be published, seen, and heard. Or you can also pass pieces along to me directly.

If you'd like a free copy of Teen Voices mailed to you (or dropped off if you're in certain areas), drop me a line, of if you just want to know more about the program, feel free to grill me :)

Thank you!

...biological, adoptive, or anyone else who stepped up to the plate... never forget how fortunate you are. Think of everything you have now that would be lost without her in your past. Think of everything that would change if you lost her now. And don't forget to tell her how great she is.

And if you've already lost your mom, remember that you were most assuredly her everything, and remember all the priceless things she gave you while you had each other.

And even if you don't have a great mom... remember that you still have her to thank for life itself.

"...the accusations are such nonsense that I have found it difficult to treat them with the contempt that they deserve."

R.I.P. the very articulate Arthur C. Clarke.

Please pass the word along.

I'm advising the production of a newspaper called Teen Voices, which is part of New Morning Youth and Family Services and is funded by United Way.

The paper is written entirely by El Dorado County teens and is free, nonprofit, and uncensored. We produce four issues a year and distribute copies all over the county.

I am continuously looking for teens to contribute submissions to the paper, and to join our editorial team (which also builds community service hours).


Do any of the teenagers in your life like to write or draw? Do they have a passion they like to share with others? Are they opinionated, stubborn, outspoken? Are they on a crusade for their favorite cause, or are they just doodling graffiti all over their notebooks? Whatever their talents or passions, they have something to offer.

Teen Voices offers exposure, a venue for expression, an opportunity to connect with the community, and an opportunity to be published and be seen by the entire county.

We will publish essays, opinion pieces, new pieces, interviews, poetry, art, photography, photo essays, music, movie and tv reviews, comic strips, advice columns, and all other manner of creative and informative content.

Submissions and inquiries can be sent to me here on myspace, by email at erica.inderlied@yahoo.com, mailed to Teen Voices, c/o New Morning Youth and Family Services, 6765 Green Valley Rd. Placerville, CA, 95667, or dropped off in person to me or at New Morning's Offices.

Thanks in advance to anyone who passes the word along. You're doing a favor for me, New Morning, the community, and the creative youth :)

Read this.

http://ericalesaint.blogspot.com/2008/01/cover-up.html

We're taught growing up (or at least we are in the USA) that red, yellow and blue are the primary colours - that all secondary and tertiary colours can be mixed from them. We're shown a colour wheel, which lays out how everything interacts, and all the colours seem to be there.

Everything seemed in order until one morning a month or two ago, I woke up and wanted to paint a piece with the scheme black, yellow and magenta. I dug around in my box of paints, which is short on fancy colours but has plenty of red, yellow, blue, black and white. I mixed and mixed and mixed and... well, magenta never materialized.

Granted, light and pigment primaries are a yin and yang, but I never gave any real thought to print primaries - inkjet printers and all other four-pass process systems (magazines, product packaging, etc.) use magenta, yellow, cyan and black ink to create all other output colours.

Primary colours, by definition, 1) cannot be mixed from any other colours and 2) can be mixed to create all other colours. Magenta is a pure hue which must be bought, and can then be mixed with yellow to create red. Cyan is a pure hue which can be mixed with magenta to create "primary" blue.

What I'm driving at here is obvious, and I want to know if I'm going crazy or if I just overlooked something that's old news to everyone else. I'm in my twenties and I've only once heard someone else agree that magenta, rather than red, is the primary. As a lifelong artist who is continually experimenting at home and has taken a brazillian art classes (including colour theory), the notion that red is not a primary colour rocks the very foundation of my understanding of colour - the Holy Trinity is not composed of the three entities I thought it was!

This is probably obvious to anyone in the professional printing business, but it should be just as obvious to someone working solely in pigments. If I'm not going crazy here, then I think the red-yellow-blue dogma is a serious misinformation. Colour forms the foundation for so many other disciplines and we're so conclusively taught to start at red, yellow and blue. I don't want more aspiring artists growing up thinking that, too.

Am I mistaken, or going crazy? Or just wasting my time caring?
Either way, for the time being I'm off to buy some magenta pigment....

http://www.colourlovers.com/forums/1,1,599/Primary_Colours.

http://ericalesaint.blogspot.com/2007/11/primary-colours.html

So I basically busted my butt on this post, but it covers three things which are near to my heart: Color/Art, Mark Steven Ritter, and COLOURLovers.

I spent mucho time on this mashup, so if you have a little time of your own, please check it out.

http://ericalesaint.blogspot.com/2007/08/mark-steven-ritter-and-colourlovers-in.html