Creature 57

This is my friend Kelly. She’s a minister and a gamer and a camp leader-type-person and an all around Good Person, and when she laughs she often looks just like this.

This picture was taken with my Nikon Coolpix L12 at our friends’ wedding reception. I’m inordinantly fond of it.

I’ve been fairly depressed over the last few months. One really unfortunate side effect has been that my photographic output has dropped sharply - in other words, i’ve taken much fewer pictures since this summer, and i’ve been very critical of the few i’ve taken. I’m working to change that. Part of that is to post more here, and to whip things into shape a bit. So, here we go.

Meet Kelly. She’s one of my favorite people in the whole wide world.

And, hello again.

(As a note: Comments are currently borken. They’ve been annihilated with spam. If you’d like to drop me a line, you can hit me at ursa (dot) 57 [at] gmail (dot) com.)

Von’s comic the road to god knows… is up today at GirlAMatic! I’m so excited to finally get to read it.

Check it out at http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/godknows.php. Read it, bookmark it, add it to your RSS feed. Four pages will update each week.

I’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again: Von’s a talented artist and a great guy, and i’m very excited that the road to god knows… is up for all to see. Go take a look, and leave a comment or email Von to let him know what you think. And check it out again next week for pages 5-8!

(As a note, in viewing the site in Firefox on a Mac, i don’t seem to have a “next” button, but i’m able to just click on each image/page to get to the next one.)

‘the road to god knows…’ at GirlAMatic!

Exciting news!

That’s my friend Von Allan, one of the nicest and most hardworking guys i know. He’s been working to find a home for the road to god knows… for a good long while now, and i’m excited that all of his effort and energy have finally paid off, because Von deserves it.

Von says: “For those who don’t know, the road to god knows… is the story of Marie, a teenage girl coming to grips with her Mom’s schizophrenia. Marie’s youth makes it that much harder for her to cope - as a teenager, she just doesn’t have the life experience to feel confident about her decisions. At the start of the story, we see a scared young girl, uncertain and overwhelmed, but as her Mom collapses into a full nervous breakdown, Marie is forced to examine herself and her life and come to a decision: does she continue to be a child, reacting to what’s happening around her? Or does she take control of her life, come what may?”

Von has three stories featuring some of the folks in the road to god knows… - “Li’l Kids,” “Brawl” and “The Old Crow” - available to read on his website. I encourage you to check them out, and to read TRtGK once it comes out on GirlAMatic.

I know i’m gushing a bit, but Von has not only been very gracious and kind to me (he’s an honorary member of my IT department at this point ;) but he’s also put his heart and soul into this book, and it shows. I’m happy to do what i can to support him in his efforts, and i’m excited to finally get to read it!

Congratulations, Von. (:

I don’t usually get into the holiday spirit until after Thanksgiving, but this is something that is not only near and dear to my heart (in several ways!) but also something i wanted to give you time to consider.

I know several of you are gamers, and several of you like kids, and several of you are just good people, and i’m sure everyone knows someone who’s had the misfortune to be hospitalized at some point. If you fit any of the above criteria, or are looking for a way to help some kids who are in a fairly lame place (even when they have fabulous nurses!), check out Child’s Play. Child’s Play is a charity that donates toys, games, books and money to children’s hospitals. You can donate money directly, or make a purchase through a specific hospital’s wishlist on Amazon, ensuring that you not only know what your money is used for but can ensure that it goes to a hospital of your choice.

One of the hospitals you can donate is Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, which is near and dear to my heart for several reasons. It’s one of the hopsitals where i did my training at, and even more importantly, several of my friends and my friends’ kids have been patients there. Riley takes care of kids from all over the state, from several neighboring states, and even from other countries. They’re one of the best hospitals out there, they do everything they can to make the kids and families that they treat as comfortable as possible, and i’m happy to support them in any way that i can.

Riley’s list can be found here, or you can go to the Child’s Play website and support the childrens’ hospital of your choice or simply donate cash to the organization.

The hospital is rarely a fun place to be if you’re an adult and know what’s going on. It can be even less fun if you’re a kid and don’t quite know what’s up. Having toys and games and things to distract you from being sick and/or in pain can help make that experience better. Please think about it, keep these kids in mind, and if you have the money to donate, please do. There are plenty of kids out there who will thank you.

I still don’t understand who I am: the first human or the last dog in space. - Yuri Gagarin

Today is the 50th anniversary of the day that the first living inhabitant of Earth left the confines of the atmosphere and entered into orbit. Laika was a mutt, a stray and a pioneer, and ultimately she was the first of many sacrifices made to put humans in space and on the moon.

Think of her today.

Aside
Handheld self portrait
August 2007

This picture…

This picture scares the crap out of me, in very strange ways. Every time i look at it, i catch a glimpse of a different member of my family. That’s not normal - i don’t look like anyone in my family. It’s part of my charm. I come from two families full of people who look like each other, and then there’s me.

This is also the first picture i’ve seen of myself where i look like an adult, like a woman. I still don’t think i look all that mature here, but this is not someone you’d mistake for a sixteen year old, even though i had been two weeks before this picture was taken.

And there’s that hair - the traitorous wave from where my barrettes had been, a concession to hair grown longer than i can manage. This is the longest my hair’s been in since the turn of the century, and i still don’t believe it tickles my neck, much less brushes the collar of my shirt. But there it is.

I keep looking at this picture, eyes drawn to the face of a stranger that i recognize as me. And that in and of itself is a strange sensation - the mental picture of myself has started to merge with reality for the first time in my life, which feels like a betrayal of youthly ideal.

I’m fascinated by this picture, drawn and repulsed. I have no idea if it’s a good picture or not, if it captures me or not. But there it is, and there i am, that odd expression on my face, not a smile and not a frown.

This is where i am right now - obscured by myself, looking away. Frustrated, but unable to look up.

Things like this make me wish i’d gotten an ethnomusicology degree. I love this kind of thing.

In 1969, a group called The Winstons released a B-Side to their song “Color Him Father” called “Amen, Brother” that included a six-second, four bar drum break. This break - which has been sampled and reworked hundreds of times in hundreds of songs - is known now as the Amen Break. Nate Harrison has put together an installation/audio documentary of the Amen Break that covers the history, use, and copyright issues involved. A video of the installation can be found here (YouTube link).

This is my friend Erica. Yesterday was her wedding day, and it was fabulous.

I’ve got another picture of her and her husband, but i’ve got an idea for some photo-fu that i’d like to do with it, and that requires some better skillz than i have at the moment. Soon as it’s ready, though, i’ll post it. I’m glad i was able to capture some of the joy and love of yesterday. It was quite the day.

“Why does anybody tell a story?” Ms. L’Engle once asked, even though she knew the answer.

“It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

Madeleine L’Engle has died. Ironically, while the Wrinkle in Time series will always hold a strong place in my heart - as i, too, was Meg - it’s The Summer of the Great-Grandmother that i’ll always be thankful to L’Engle for. It’s a book she wrote about the death and dying of her great-grandmother (who she was named for), which i read during the winter my great-grandmother was dying. Hard to explain, sometimes, those moments so personal. Anyway. Sad.

Sorry for the radio silence. Been thinking a lot, but not actually doing much…which is silly. Hrm. Anyway, i have pictures to go through and post, which means that until i do that i’ve sort of unofficially decided to not take more pictures until then.

Which is silly.

Just wanted to say, still here. Nothing much to say, no pictures to post. But i’m working on that.