Minte Stara
Bio
Small writer and artist who spends a lot of their time stuck in books, the past, and probably a library.
Currently I'm working on my debut novel What's Normal Here, a historical/fantasy romance.
Stories (68)
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Building Huts Instead of Towers: Planning for Uncertainty
2021 Putting down my exact thoughts to paper is ... a never-ending challenge. It seems like every week, I am faced with new challenges. My end needs weighed against my current needs. Can I sacrifice a current need for a future need, when some great catastrophe may harm my future need?
By Minte Stara8 months ago in Motivation
Peer Review: How to Cheat
The consequences of our actions Let me open today’s blog post with this quote from Haug (2015) from “Peer-review fraud — hacking the scientific publication process” and all that it means: “The problem is the perverse incentive systems in scientific publishing. As long as authors are (mostly) rewarded for publishing many articles and editors are (mostly) rewarded for publishing them rapidly, new ways of gaming the traditional publication models will be invented more quickly than new control measures can be put in place” (p. 2394).
By Minte Stara8 months ago in Education
Peer Review: You Aren't Going to be Paid
Volunteers with no funding or scant recognition There is a two pronged issue with the current funding landscape of peer review – both with the more obvious body of people seeking funding for their article or research and the issue I’ll get into now, which is the issue of getting peer reviewers who are both good and willing to complete a peer review. You may not know this, but a majority of journals who peer review articles have peer reviewers on a volunteer basis. What that means is that there is a growing issue in the peer review landscape to get reviewers who are both skilled enough to do peer review and have the time/energy/desire to do peer review with no sign of reward. Lucky for us, Gropp et al. (2017) has done a lot of the legwork to break down the issues in “Peer review: A system under stress” where they discuss the various issues with peer review (p. 408).
By Minte Stara8 months ago in Education
Sin in Melville's Pierre
The mention of sin is a constant, underlying, and hidden snake in Herman Melville's Pierre. Sin is the idea that Pierre is courting when he sits down with a member of the church to eat. The discussion of sin is not directly addressed, but throughout the dinner ghost of it hangs over the table. Melville uses this ghost to show the reader what to expect from the rest of the novel and what might be lurking within Pierre's subconscious, ready to arise. The scene with the clergyman, Mr. Falsgrove, Pierre's mother, Mr. Glendinning, and Pierre is a way for Melville to show Pierre's silent sin of love toward his half-sister through purity and serpent imagery.
By Minte Stara3 years ago in FYI
Carrot Queen
A strange legacy to leave behind me in Rostock, Germany is that I like carrots. I was invited to my friend's family house when I was making my brief week and a half visit to Germany after my study abroad program in Prague. In this case, I was very politely asked what sort of food I would like and, unable to think of much, I simply answered 'carrots.'
By Minte Stara3 years ago in Wander
Trying when You Expect to Fail
It's almost 11 PM on a constant countdown to June 25th. I've spent the day exposing myself to two languages without much break in between and feel disheartened. On the 25th, I enter a country I have never been to before and start learning a language that frankly scares me. It's the unknown and the fear of difficult situations rolled up into a bundle and that's terrifying.
By Minte Stara4 years ago in Motivation
Hooded Crows are Real and other Discoveries of an American
To say that me and my friend in Germany have been planning what to do while I'm in Potsdam for a week and a half would be a quiet understatement. Instead, she's spent several mornings (my middle of the nights) walking around her neighborhood, with her phone showing the various sights and sounds around her.
By Minte Stara4 years ago in Wander
