Well, that was clumsy of me. Not only did I forget I had another posting scheduled, but of course, right after I get through chastising patronizing over-simplification of complex issues… I do it myself. How embarrassing. ;) A big thank-you to Velvetpage, whose critiques never fail to be both thought-provoking and courteous. With her permission,…
It’s a Sunday morning at about 9:30am as I write this, and I’m at a local mall. I’m helping a friend with writing some papers by being a “writing buddy” with her, the same way two people are exercise buddies to encourage each other to get out and exercise together. I’m writing down my thoughts…
I’ve been working on manifesting change in my life, using my Granddad Bob’s “Law of Higher Potential.” You may be more familiar with him as Robert Collier, who was quoted in the surprise blockbuster movie The Secret — and with his “law” as the “Law of Abundance,” from that movie. One of the things the…
There were a number of very nice “grace notes” in the story which I rather liked. The panel of Butterfly whispering her safeword, “Jamaica,” to the violent (and bad) dominant — after she’d killed him in self defense — was creepily elegant. I was unsurprised to see archaic crosses on his shirt, in fact; it…
Thinking about it, there are a number of religious themes running through Butterfly’s story, as well as some extremely common (and unfortunate) tropes. The narrator is, of course, raped by her father as a child, then years later has a sexual bondage game go badly wrong, with the strong implication that this is why she…
I’ve been told I tend to ramble quite a bit in my book reviews, and that they’re consequently more interesting… so I thought I’d try doing one as pure train of thought. The “book” in question is the comic book titled “Punisher MAX: Butterfly.” Because this work is train of thought, there will be spoilers…
This month’s Firestarter is a (badly needed) review and reflection on How Do We Keep Honesty? I figured since February is traditionally a month for love, this time I’d attempt to achieve love of self, and gently engage in some internal reflection — always a scary proposition. :-) Fair warning: this Firestarter will make the…
Spent most of yesterday in a state of carefully controlled panic. I’ve been desperately working on finishing my late papers for last quarter — thank goodness for being able to “pre-load” WP with my reviews and Bestiaries! So I have a desktop with Word 2007, the latest version, on it… and a nice but very…
Unreliable Truth: On Memoir & Memory by Maureen Murdock I find myself wondering, as I read, what was Murdock’s solution to her loss of faith within the Roman Catholic Church — is it applicable to my situation as well? I am faintly amused at the thought: clearly her efforts to appeal to a universal human…
Unreliable Truth: On Memoir & Memory by Maureen Murdock Murdock muses that she writes in an effort to disentangle her voice from the grip of her mother’s anger. I wonder as I read: would that be how her mother saw the relationship? My reflections are an effort to disentangle myself from the grip of the…