So, I finished the pair I started yesterday. Here's what they look like.
I actually like delicas better than seed beads to work with, I'm finding. The holes are larger, and they are more uniform, so the whole project takes less times and effort.
There are drawbacks, of course - for instance, I broke two beading needles on that one pair, because delicas have rather sharp edges compared to seed beads. But overall, the effect is not a bad one, I think.
Oh, I also made these yesterday. I'm going to try and teach them to my class!
-------------------
Now for the dilemma.
This year, I'm finally writing the rough draft of my first novel, which I've been working on for two years.
Here's my problem: Obama is in it.
He wasn't originally going to be in it. He snuck in during the Democratic primaries, when my brain-time was split evenly between politics and novelling.
The novel is set in 2001 and takes place at the University of Chicago. My two protagonists are college freshmen. A lot of the supporting cast - Obama included - are professors.
By the end, the character based on Obama gets quite a bit of page-time. And I'm not sure this is entirely kosher. Even though I've changed his name, the nationality of his father, a lot of biographical aspects, it's still very much him.
For one thing, he is a minor Illinois politician at the start of the novel and President by its end.
The premise of the novel is superheroes, only everyone is very small-time. The superheroes have plausible, scientifically explainable powers, and their hunters are small-time, too - a UFO-hunter desperate to find aliens, an aging CIA agent seeking to gain some clout, etc.
Obama's character also has powers, and he is also fending off attempts by various organizations to adopt him, buy him, or neutralize him.
His powers aren't discussed in detail. There are broad hints that they have to do with hypnosis, persuasion, and to some extent pheromones - i.e., various aspects of charisma. He switches them on and off at will. His world is thus divided into people who think he's totally boring and people who are completely enthralled by him.
I guess you can think of it as satire on him.
So the question is - do the novel's rather fantastic setting and the changes made to Obama's character make it okay to write about him? Even if he's still very obviously himself and gets elected President in 2008?