Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/791658
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2017 40 This Week GRAPHIC Novels Library Malta (GNLM) in collabora- tion with the Central Public Library (CPL) is organising two comics-related courses open to the general public. After receiving an over- whelming demand and rec- ommendation for courses from library patrons and comic book enthusiasts, GNLM will be organizing a 'Creating Comics' course and an 'Understanding Comics' course. Creating Comics If you have an idea for a graphic novel or short comic, you like to draw or you are sim- ply interested in the work involved in cre- ating a graphic novel; the Creating Comics course will give you the building blocks to perfect your skills and help you develop in the world of com- ics. The course is be- ing taught by Peter Magro (S.T.E.A.M) who will bring all his expertise and share it with all the participants in order to teach students the basics of comics book mak- ing. Students applying for this course will receive a free copy of iDraw Comics and iDraw Manga, which will be used as guide and also serve as a tool to practice on while creating comics. Understanding Comics If you like reading com- ics and like to analyse them in detail, then this is the course for you. Taught by Dean Fenech (Apocalypse Rocked), the Understand- ing Comics course will cen- tre on dissecting the comic book medium and explore all the different styles by looking at the evolution of comics through the ages and learning from leg- endary artists and writers who have impacted the medium throughout their careers. A free copy of the phenomenal book Understanding Comics by Scott Mc- Cloud will be given to all participants. This book will be used as a textbook for the course. By following the struc- ture of the book, participants will gain a solid un- derstanding of the comic book medi- um and they will be able to analytically look at comics and graphic novels in a unique way. Creating comic books at the Central Public Library Our countryside is presently being invaded by soldiers, but luckily not the human variety but the bug variety. For most people "bug" is a convenient term that refers to all creepy crawlies. Entomologists (= insect specialists) too use the word but rather less generically. Bugs are a large group of insects, with over 80,000 species (so far) known, of which over 200 are (so far) recorded in Malta. One typical species is the soldier bug (M: suldat), a smart- looking character with a neat red-and-black pattern on its flat, shield-shaped body. As the cold snap gradually thaws, bugs start hatching or leaving their winter quarters, so you start finding them scurrying along the ground, flying too if they must. For all the military overtones soldier bugs are harmless, drinking mostly plant sap, which they suck with their pointed mouthparts. Plant sap is by far the most popular food among bugs, and the soldier bug is no exception. GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 449 CAT LITTER: Place sheets of newspaper in the bottom of your cat's box, under the litter. You'll save on litter, and any odours and wetness will be absorbed. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text Victor Falzon Photo Aron Tanti Today, more than 90 % of cocoa is still grown and harvested on small family run farms with an average size of 4.8 hectare or less. Cocoa is the primary source of income for 5.5 million smallholder farmers worldwide. Cocoa cultivation is highly dependent on intensive manual labour. Not all cocoa pods ripen at the same time, making it necessary to continuously monitor, care for and harvest them. A single tree simultaneously carries flowers and pods at different stages of maturity. In addition, cocoa trees are very susceptible to disease, which can spread rapidly in dense rows of trees. Hence, maintenance costs in cocoa cultivation are very high. Once the cocoa pods are ripe and have been cut from the trees by hand, the beans undergo a process of fermentation, drying, cleaning and packing. These first crucial steps of processing are all done on the farms. They are critical in determining the quality of the beans and, ergo, the resulting chocolate. Farmers sell the sacks of dried beans to intermediaries who resell them to exporters. Unprocessed cocoa is then transported to chocolate producing countries in the Global North for roasting, crushing and grinding. Bittersweet Chocolate Cultivating Cacao 546. SOLDIER BUG All of the courses will take place at the Central Public Library in Floriana over 14 weeks and will run from 10:00 to 12:00 every Saturday from the beginning of March. The cost for each of the two courses is €30. More information: gnlmalta@gmail.com