You know, I have a vivid memory of my mother telling a child-me that the movie she was watching was the story of a girl born without tear ducts and her family helping her get surgery.

The movie was "Boys Don't Cry."


...

I think I'm still going to giggle over this when I'm her age.

From http://sightergoliant.livejournal.com/14203.html

1) Read my 5 genre-picks
2) Comment with your 5 picks in a new genre, specifically recommended for the initial poster
3) Post 5 picks from that genre on your own journal, tailored to a general audience
4) Special Rule: your "general audience" picks can be the same as specific recommendations, too, nobody's keeping score.

So, I read a lot of graphic novels/ comic books, and I think that you should read the following:

SANDMAN- by Neil Gaiman- This is not my favorite series, but it is by far one of the seminal works in the medium. The protagonist, Dream, is the anthropomorphic embodiment of dreams. The stories run an incredible range, from those based on Greek mythology, to totally original works. One of my favorites is "Midsummer Night's Dream," the "The Dream of 1000 Cats" and "World's End," all of which are metatextual retellings of other stories from other genres.

KABUKI- by David Mack. Kabuki is a lovingly illustrated series with a heavy use of water color and ink, with beautiful gradual transitions from one image to another, all of which are symbolic to the main character. The main character is Kabuki, whose mother was an Ainu comfort woman raped and left pregnant in a coma by the son of the elderly general who protected her and intended to marry her. The daughter grew up trained to be a hired killer after her rapist father returned to carve the word "Kabuki" into her face. She works for as an assassin for a group called "The Noh," but the story tells of her gradual escape from them and the psychological prison in which she lived while working for them. The writing and tone are slow, dream-like explorations and the art is expansive and experimental- Mack works with collage and watercolors, depending on his mood, and the work is enthralling.

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN-Alan Moore- This, this, this is a book for people who enjoy layered reference. The main characters are refugees from 19th century fiction, treated as if they were real people living in a shared world. Moore is incredible dense when it comes to his references- every shop name in London is a reference to something from contemporary literature. Characters include: Mina Harper, Dr Jekyll, Captain Nemo, Alan Quatermain, the Invisible Man, a brief appearance by Sherlock Holmes, and the ancestor of James Bond. The art is not my favorite- overly angular, but it fits with the spikey tone of the story. It's short- two volumes so far, but I think you would like the attitude of the main characters. No one's a hero in this book. No one.

LUCIFER- Mike Carey. This is a technically a spin-off of Sandman, in that the Devil we see Carey writing is introduced by Gaiman, but this series takes the war between God and the Lightbringer to new levels. Carey's depictions of hell is creative and unique, with long running plots that evolve, twist, and resolve into something utterly new before the end. Nothing is predictable, and everything is possible. Including Lucifer's ultimate challenge- a new, godless creation beyond the end of space and time.

ASTRO CITY- Kurt Busiek- This series is an exploration of the superhero mythos without being a deconstruction of it. Each issue is a short story focused on one character from the millions that make up Asro City. The characters are reimaginings of classic comic book tropes, but are incredibly full of life and their own take on classic issues and problems. The art is beautiful, and it's clearly done by someone who loves the superhero genre so famous in American comics but with a clear awareness of its strengths and flaws. A little research shows that most of the place names for the city are variations on the names of famous comic book authors and artists.

I just finished reading a book I bought yesterday, one of those mysteries that actually will not let you stop reading until you get to the final page because you cannot stand the possibility of another second of not knowing.

It's been a while, but I just had my brain totally hijacked by Tana French's IN THE WOODS. And I am thoroughly unsatisfied with the ending, but I also absolutely know that any other ending would probably have left me annoyed and unconvinced- the way it worked out was perfect for the character.

Just as a note, this review contains no spoilers. Safe to read.

So, this novel is about the slow unraveling of Adam Robert Ryan's adult life as a Irish murder detective as he tries, and perhaps fails, to confront his childhood memories of a murder.

In the 1980's, three small kids hitched themselves over the back wall of a yard to go play in the woods. At six thirty that day, one of them missed dinner. By the time the search was over several days later, one child had been recovered. His fingernails were broken off into the bark of the tree he had been clutching for hours. His shoes had been poured full of another child's blood, and then put back on his feet. He remembered nothing about the events, and was shuffled off to boarding school and changed his name.

This is the set-up. This is the hook, but it's far from the whole story. The actual story is about the brokenness of childhood as seen by an adult, and how you can't really ever be the people that your childhood self thought you were going to be when you would one day become a grown-up. This is the story of a man whose future was stolen, who became a detective not to solve his own mystery but because he could not return to the person that he was supposed to be before he lost his childhood and his two best friends, and then proceeds to destroy his present for himself. This story breaks your heart.

And it's a story about a place- a patch of ground covered in trees. As we start the story, the woods are dying- the last days of an archaeological dig are coming to an end before a motorway paves the lot of it flat. But the woods themselves are as much a character in this as the rest of the cast. The woods hide the monsters who killed two little children and never gave them back, but the woods were also the best playground these kids had, the safe place they knew like the back of their hand.

And I've just finished reading it, and spoiled nothing for you, and here's the thing: I still want to keep reading. I want there to be more.

Crap. I think I've got another favorite author.

Favorite quote from yesterday:
Scene: I am sitting on the couch downstairs while The Boy finishes up the last bit of his homework before bed. The olympics are on- women's speed skating. The Boy's Roommate's girlfriend sits down nearby.

She: So what was all that yelling we heard? We heard The Boy yelling from downstairs. Did something happen in the games?
Me: Um. We were watching figure skating.


So, I finished the Boy's present, which was lovely mint brownies cut into heart shapes. Which, BTW, is a bitch to do.

Sunday-
Church, where I was a lector and fudged a line, and was on chalice, and then headed over to get picked up by the Boy and our friend with the car, and went to see a free performance at the Chicago Cultural Center by Third Coast Percussion.

After that, me and Boy went back to Hyde Park by bus and we made dinner, which was great. Most of the menu was from various Alton Brown recipes. but it was very cute. And then there was figure skating watching, and other things, and a good time was had by all.

In what can only be called a baffling mystery, I have someone to buy presents for on Valentine's Day. That's new.

Today!

-I have made the Boy's V-Day gift. Shhhh, it's a secret.

-Written two cover letters today for the Beatitude Society Fellowship. Go me!

-Did laundry. Go me! I smell fantastic!

Now much go and purchase wine to bring to party so that I am not a bad guest.

Deeply sleepy still and posting random rambly thoughts on a variety of topics:

1. Watching TV and reading doesn't work for me. The last few times I have tried it didn't work, and it still doesn't work for me. However, it works pretty fine for researching things online like grants, and that is kind of nice.

2. I hate throwing up in the morning- I have issues with nausea in the mornings most of my life, particularly when I am under a lot of stress. Add antibiotics that tend to upset my stomach, and that leads to this morning: trying to hold down a breakfast burrito made by my awesome boy, only to have it come back to visit me half an hour later- not sexy. I have a really excellent boy, though, and it was all handled with a minimum of fuss. Now I'm pale and hungry and trying to do some reading before work.

3. Tuesday, I went to my first Beatitude Society meeting- it was a highly information presentation on the structure of the Chicago political system. A lot of it went over my head- the person delivering it was a Masters of Public Policy, so he was just a lot more fluent with the whole situation than we are.

4. HOLY WOW BY SCHEDULE EXPLODED. Tuesday I had like four meetings, which is kind of a lot for me. I just feel like I'm doing a lot of running around. It's just a lot.

Snow if falling outside, and it is beautiful.

I, on the other hand, am inside and making soup for dinner

My mother calls and it makes me panicked for the rest of the day when she does not leave a message or answer her damned phone.

I am virtuous, and I work, and I will soon have dinner and then read things and go to the Beatitudes Society meeting, and then read more and then sleep.

I am a hamster in a wheel. Mmmm. Wheel.

Things that have happened today:

11- meeting with the coordinator of the field eduation program- this is the program by which M.Div’s go out into the world, find a parish, and work there as a intern. I like my present parish, but in some ways it’s not ideal- the pastor is new, and I would kind of like to have a female pastor to work under. There’s also the issue of outside ministry- I would like to do something at a church where they were active in the community beyond the parish. All churches do this, but some make it a real active part of who they are.
This meeting unexpectedly lasted an hour, and gave me lots of information about churches to go and talk to. It revealed that one female pastor whose name sounded familiar to me, was in fact someone I had seen speak at a church in my MA. Her church sounds really interesting and active in her community, they have a really good Latino outreach program to the area, so she would be a great resource for me, but the church is still an hour and fifteen minutes away on a good day. That’s a lot of time. The dean of Saint James Cathedral is also kind of an interesting figure to me, so that would be someone to look at.

1pm
I met with a professor, who was terribly late coming from another meeting, about using his class for a kind of constructive theological paper- instead of just research, the paper is supposed to end by looking at your own view of something in that theologian’s work and then criticizing and suggesting another reading of it.

(This whole academic program has made understand that reading really is an active process of interpretation- there are books out there that are just readings of one writer putting them in context with another writer- it all seems totally derivative, but it’s really astonishingly creative.)

1.30-2.50- Class with the same professor as above. He’s a total sweetie- we are reading Tillich, and I am behind, but it’s kind of okay because we still have several days left and I had that presentation yesterday that left me kind of unable to get anything done.

6pm- The MA banquet- this was a lovely meal that I ate and said goodbye to my last days of being an MA. Life is good. The boy was there so that I could snuggle when I wanted and had an excuse to discipline myself to go and do work rather than go to the pub afterwards like I would have let myself do.

I got The Boy a replacement teapot. It is much cuter than either of his previous teapots. May it live long and boil well.

These are the goings on in my life.

1) I have switched from the Masters of Arts in Divinity (MA) program to the Masters of Divinity (M.Div.). What does this mean? I will spend another year in school, for a total of three. I have to play a little catch-up on getting the requirements for the degree. I will have to do some practical work in a parish. I am okay with really all of this.

2) My doctor has AGAIN called to reschedule the same appointment. This is more than a little obnoxious.

3) I have a ten dollar gift certificate for Starbucks coming to me for using my debit card more. This makes me a happy girl, as it means I get free coffee.

4) My roomie broke our coffee maker's pot, which will cost roughly as a much as the device itself to replace. It was her pot, so I am not really annoyed, but it means I am seeing more of Starbucks these days.

5) The Boy broke his replacement teapot. This is a sad state of affairs.