Resources: Ask me about...

[makoyi]

I was browsing the Nanowrimo forums today, something I usually do daily so it's not that surprising.  There are some subjects I'm always on the lookout for in the Reference Desk because they're things I know a lot about and like to help writers understand.  I thought I'd post a list here of things people (not just writers) might want more info about that I would be happy to help with.  These are things that I know about through personal experience, academic study, or deep personal interest.  Ask anything on the subjects that you like - if I don't know the answer, I won't BS it, I'll just tell you I don't know and maybe suggest other places to ask or search if I can.  I know my profile page has tags for some of the things I'm interested in but these are the ones I know the most about.

• Anthropology - both social and cultural (though personally, I'm on the social side), especially theory and cross-cultural comparison, also including some ethnographic methods.  You can definitely ask me about anything anthropological or cultural but my main research interests/passions are (in no particular order) history and heritage, anthropology of gender, storytelling and oral tradition, construction of authority and authenticity, power/knowledge and discourse, identity as process and performance, and perspectivism.
• American vs. British life - especially East Coast USA and Scotland, also specifics of Washington, DC or Edinburgh, Scotland
• Sensory Processing Disorder - especially Auditory
• "Selective" Mutism (I really hate that name)
• genealogy research
• dogs - general info, breeds, basic and intermediate training, working in kennels, etc
• music performance - particularly bassoon and practical musicianship (the part of musical theory that goes into playing rather than into composing), also musical instrument repair and working in a repair shop
• quilting and sewing - I've been doing it for practically my whole life so ask away.  I make quilts, clothing, accessories, and costumes, I draft patterns, I make alterations, I'm quite good with fashion history too... really, you can ask just about anything :)
• research (academic, secondary/library) and writing literature reviews - check out my research series first since your questions might be answered there already
• working in a library (I've also worked in a museum, but there's more variance in that based on the type of collection, specific job, and size of museum so I may be less helpful with that depending on what you want to know)

You can also ask about any of the tags from my profile - I'm better in some areas than others since some of those interests are newer and some I've had a long time to learn about. 

Also, if you're an English Language Learner and are looking for a beta who can explain the rules behind any changes I may be willing to beta at least a chapter or two, more if I like the story, so long as real life isn't too crazy for me at the moment.  Please include basic information about your story as well as a summary of the work so I can decide if I'm interested - there are some things I just don't want to read.