It bears remembering that we are just haunted atoms. Or more biologically, small mammals with programmed instincts. I used to find this thought disturbing. Now it seems more comforting. How can we expect to do all and be all and fix all and understand all the things? We have an imperative to try, to some…
musicals
Under the surface… worthless without purpose? Or dancing donkeys?
Down below you are seemingly endless depths. First, your own body, below the first inch of which is too appalling to consider visually. Then dirt, filled with insects, mud, grime, and a fiery core. Below that? An inhospitable vacuum. That’s above you, too. There are depths that aren’t physical, as well. The astounding degree to…
Freeing a hell of a bird
A soul could be a bird. In “The Girl who Fell Beneath the Sea” by Axie Oh, the main character’s soul is a magpie, and I feel like mine could be some avian variety as well. I can feel it now, in fact. Fluttering madly in my chest, the ribs like cage bars. Such is…
“I am Moana!” : Naming yourself so others can’t
I’ve written before about identity – and in particular, the forces (or “modules”) in our mind and how we can organize them. I’ve also written about making sure no one else hijacks your mental A/I – our interface between those forces and the world. But what if someone can hijack your modules? Not an ad…
Who will we be after going “into the woods” in COVID quarantine?
We’re in a bit of an in-between time. There are good words for where we are: penumbra, for instance, is the area between total light and total shadow. Or we could try alluvian, a more geographic term describing the wettish area between land and sea. In musical theater terms, we have gone “into the woods.”…
Props to Red Maples in February
I’d just like to say thanks to the red maples out there. And the silver maples, too, for that matter. And the snowdrops and the odd bold forsythias. In the beginning of February things have been gray and brown for a long time. So long you almost can’t quite picture things being any other way….
How to Cope, by 2019’s Fandoms
It’s a heck of a time. Our institutions have largely failed us and we all are quivering like the dog in the meme in the burning house. “This is fine,” we also say, although our twitchy eyes say otherwise. Fortunately, we have also had some fabulous popular art to help us through. Here are some…
The Top Plants of Fandom
Plants are such a happy little weird phenomenon – especially plants in pots. They are like little green alien visitors that we hardly understand from another, better, more beautiful world – except that it’s our own world too. (Except for Audrey II, which is super cool but but is none of those things except alien….
Exorcising Your Modern-day Demons
What demons are haunting YOU? You certainly have some. They may not look like the red devil below, but then again, the red devil below wasn’t actually a devil, it was Captain Picard messing with holographic projectors to prove an important legal point, as you do: A demon, broadly interpreted, can be any force in…
You, twisted: Getting to Know your Nemesis
Who’s your perfect nemesis? Or conversely, whose perfect nemesis are you? It’s a question we might do well to ponder on both personal and an artistic levels – to understand ourselves as well as to understand what makes for great, relatable narrative. Our perfect nemeses aren’t necessarily the Big Bads in our lives – the…