RELEASE: Mais Uma Volta: Mandingueira’s One-Year Retrospect Magazine

8 03 2009


Well, it finally happened: at long (long, long, long, long…) last, I’ve completed Mandingueira’s one-year retrospect magazine!

And yes, I do realize that I’d promised to release this by about three months ago.  I apologize once again for having dropped completely off the radar for the past while. And I particularly apologize to all those who have been leaving comments that I haven’t replied to. (Heck, I get annoyed when someone just doesn’t reply on MSN, so I’m sorry for being horrible!!)

This will sound super lame, but pretty much my only excuse here is…Montreal is just way too much fun. That, plus a 1.5-hour commute to/from work (each way), and the rest of the time I’ve been taking  a prep course/studying to take the MCAT in a couple months (the entrance exam for applying to medical schools in North America…please don’t ask, it’s a long story).

I’ve barely even been training, to be honest. I haven’t really been “feministing”, either, if not actually doing the opposite. So I suppose it kind of makes sense that someone taking a semi-hiatus from both capoeira and feminism wouldn’t be posting very much on a feminist capoeira blog!  (Provided I ever find time to post again, this paragraph will be elaborated upon hopefully in the near future.)

At any rate, lest we forget, today is International Women’s Day. And oh god, do we have a long way to go.

So, I figured, what better timing for the release of a commemorative magazine about a feminist capoeira blog?

Just so you know, I haven’t actually been working on this for the past three months straight. In fact, I’d completed all but the table of contents & editor’s note right before leaving for Montreal, and just didn’t manage to return to it until the other day!

Now, there are a couple ways you can view the publication. First, I HIGHLY recommend clicking on the main image link provided below. It leads to an absolutely beautiful set-up by issuu.com, where you can virtually flip through the magazine as if it were on a table in front of you.

Next, I’ve provided two pdf files you may download for (1) easier reading or (2) printing! The first file has the magazine’s spread layouts retained (from which you could print out the centerfold as a poster), and the second splits it up into all single pages.

Finally, you may have noticed a new widget on the sidebar featuring the magazine. This is so it’ll always be available for anyone new or returning to Mandingueira to check it out!  Also, please do make sure to check out the final two pages.

I loved, loved, LOVED putting this magazine together, and think it’s one of the best projects I’ve ever done. I hope you enjoy it!

Um abraço,

Joaninha

Celebrating one year of Mandingueira! (click on image to open)

Downloads:

Mais Uma Volta PDF (spreads)

Mais Uma Volta PDF (single pages)


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Mandingueira’s 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

30 11 2008

Dear reader,

You are cordially invited to the celebration of the
first anniversary of Mandingueira blog.

It will take place
at the locale of http://www.mandingueira.com
on November 30, 2008
at the hour of—NOW!

***

Today is Mandingueira’s One-Year Anniversary.  What with all the well-wishes and facebook posts, I almost felt as if it were my actual birthday! Thank you guys so, so much. 😀

Actually, thank you for EVERYTHING!  This blog would never have kept going if it weren’t for your constant support, encouragement, helpfulness, contributions, and downright awesome participation, comments, and discussions. I think I’ve said this before, but I’ve always felt extremely lucky to have a set of readers like you guys, who add so much to the Mandingueira reading and writing experience.

So, what have we built up together over the past twelve months? As of today, Mandingueira is:

  • 57,400 page views
  • 144 posts (including 4 series)
  • 1 guest post on The Capoeira Blog
  • 4 guest posts on Blue Snake Books Blog
  • 1060 comments(!!!)
  • 16 oz. of goodwill, 1 quart of intelligence, 2 pints of heart, and a whole lot of wicked capoeiristas

In celebration of this blog and everyone on it and everything we’ve accomplished through it, I’ve been working on a secret project that was to be released today in honour of the occasion.  Soooo…I have some good news and bad news.

The good news: a 16-page retrospective magazine commemorating one year of Mandingueira!!!

The bad news: …that will be available later tonight if not tomorrow…or in several days. (UPDATE: Or…in three weeks.  I know you guys are going to hate me, and I’m really sorry!!  The thing is, I’ve STILL been working on this non-stop with a significant way to go (let’s just say formatting and I have some issues to work out in the roda) and it just hit me how much it was actually eating into my study time, which is slightly a concern as my final exams start this week and I have more exams and yet-to-be-started papers due next week!!  Please accept my apologies for the delay…and enjoy the cheerful thought that you’ll receive a great publication just in time to leisurely peruse over the holidays!)

I still have a few things to complete on it as I’ve been working feverishly to get it done since Friday, only some parts have taken WAAAYYY longer than I expected them to.  However, I can’t wait until you guys get to see it!!  It will contain a collection of select posts from the blog as well several pages of all-new content.

To make up for the actual publication not being available yet, here’s a sneak preview of the new articles in it 😀 :

  • 5 Lessons from Writing a Feminist Capoeira Blog
  • If You Only Learn One Thing (“Mandingueira’s Ultimate Post”)
  • Anatomy of a Capoeirista
  • “Open Love Letter to Commenters”

Aaaaaand…here’s the cover! As you can see, I’ve titled the retrospect Mais Uma Volta (the symbolic interpretation is up to you, this time!): Mais Uma Volta

So, I hope that that’s enough proof that this thing DOES exist and WILL come out very soon!  I stayed up all night last night trying to get it done—resulting in 2 hours of sleep and consequently catching a martelo to the head in today’s roda for my efforts. XD

Once again, thank you so much, and congratulations from Mandingueira on making it through a whole year—to all of us!

Muito axé e um abraço,
Joaninha


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Mandingueira’s ONE-YEAR Anniversary Coming Up!!!

16 11 2008

Mandingueiras one-year anniversary coming up!

So, after two design themes, countless debates, several hiatuses, many interesting viewpoints, several pages added, awesome people met, dissents, compliments, arguments, and sentiments, and more all-nighters than I care to count up…we’ve made it!

November 30, 2008, will mark Mandingueira‘s

ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!

I am super excited about this, because to celebrate, I am releasing something BIG.  It’s a huge project that I just thought of two days ago and I can already tell it’s going to take over my life for the next two weeks, but it will be worth it, and I hope you will think so, too!!  So, I’m giving you early warning:

November 30!  Mandingueira’s one-year anniversary!  Special surprise!
Be there! 🙂

-Joaninha


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Sheepish Apology/Comeback #1001: Back-to-School (Er, Midterm) Edition

21 10 2008

Hey, guys.  Remember when there was this person (_______), who used to write this blog (________), about this Brazilian martial art (_________)?  If you were able to fill in all the missing blanks there, please give yourself a pat on the back, a gold star, and um abraço from me!

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know it must be getting very, very old by now, considering practically every post since late spring has been a “sorry for not posting” post, but I am very much hoping that THIS post will serve as indication that Mandingueira has indeed survived (albeit somewhat scathed) the busiest and most jam-packed summer [and first half-semester, oops] I’ve ever had—especially with the blog’s 1-year anniversary (!!!!!) coming up!  Thank you so, so much for waiting it out, for continuing to check in and comment, and for coming back again!

As for excuses, I’m guessing “my dog ate my computer” won’t cut it, so I can only plead work, training, volunteering, the firm maintenance of a non-capoeira social life ( 😛 ) and, as you may have guessed, the start of my new school year.  And since I’m back in Canada, this means I no longer have the luxury of homework-free courses, a 4-day weekend, and two random classes cancelled every week, à la France.  So, I’ve also been experimenting with this new thing my friend suggested, called “time-management”, aka “not doing everything last-minute”, aka “certified all-nighter prevention strategy” (edit: which turned out to be not-so-certified, but that’s beside the point).

Now that things have settled down a bit (hah! read: now that I have more work than ever to procrastinate)(okay, really, more like I miss writing and I miss talking with all of you), I’m hoping to get back into a steady posting routine before the end of this month.  As a compromise between a perfect world and my sanity, I’ll be aiming for a modest rate of one post per week instead of my former one post per day (which, looking back now, I have no freaking idea how I EVER kept up!!!).

The upshot of this is that not once have I not posted because of lack of topics or ideas, so I’m hoping we can look forward to an ideas-building-up-pressure-into-a-giant-explosion-of-mind-blowing-prose sort of phenomenon here.  Thanks again for your unending (saintly, really) patience and…yes, loyalty (*please remove all capoeira grupo-cult connotations of word at your own discretion*), and I look forward to hearing lots from you as we work up even deeper levels and wider ranges of discussion on this blog!

Um GRANDE abraço,
Joaninha

p.s. Just so you know I’m serious, I’ve already written up a real post to follow this one, so come back in a few days to check it out! 😀


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