Welcome To Spooky Season Recommendations Part 1 Of ?

 It's officially Spooky Season!

Okay - technically fall starts in roughly two week, but pumpkin spice non-sense has hit the shelves and I am eating it up (literally and figuratively).

So far, I've tried the Dunkin Donuts and Goldfish brand mashup of pumpkin spice donut goldfish (they are unsurprisingly addictive) and the Special K pumpkin spice cereal (it's good, has a nice pop of spice). Both are good, but you don't need to go out of your way to pick them up (unlike the amazing pumpkin spice mini ice cream cones from Trader Joe's - those are worth every penny).

Non-pumpkin spice related flavored non-sense, my local giant has a lovely honey crisp flavored seltzer water. I normally don't go for apple flavored things, but this one I do enjoy picking up at this time of year. It's light, not overly artificial apple flavored, and disappears by the end of September.  

Sadly, I have yet to see my favorite baked chips hit the shelves yet this year. These are the ghost baked chips Trader Joe's has between September and October. If you see these, stock up, they also go fast. Trader Joe's also hasn't yet had their pumpkin spice mini ice cream cones yet, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled. 

Other reoccurring fall themed foods that are back on the market and I can recommend are the pumpkin spice coffee blends - though they vary by brand, apple cider (local is best), and apple butter (seriously, shop local, it's so much better than store brand). I'm also fond of the pumpkin spice tea by Harney & Sons Fine Tea. It's an herbal blend with rooibos and pumpkin pie spices (no actual pumpkin included). It's great for cold nights by a roaring fire. 

Alright, I've written enough about the food and drinks that have hit the shelves. What about the media? Are there any good spooky TV shows or movies to enjoy my time? What about books or graphic novels?

Well...

I've recently become obsessed with the recently released Netflix series Dead End: Paranormal Park. Netflix is currently in my bad books for some of their recent choices, but they at least have kept their animation line up (unlike certain other platforms - see my last post for salty details). This series came out in June and takes place in a theme park that might be described as 1 part Dollywood, 2 parts Disneyland on steriods. The main characters consist of a transgender boy named Barney, his talking dog Pugsley (who happens to be voiced by the actor who played Beetlejuice on Broadway), an autistic Pakistani-American girl named Norma, and the demon Courtney. 

This show is amazing - like Gravity Falls levels of amazing. 

The first season only has ten episodes, but we're left on the finale with an open ending that allows for a season 2 (and there had better be a season 2 Netflix). It checks all of my boxes for spooky season animated shows including good comedy, excellent representation, an intriguing mystery, and really well written complex characters. I love it.

Other spooky season animated shows to recommend on Netflix include Hollow (I've only seen the first season though), Castlevania (I've watched through season 2), and Hilda (which is less spooky and more fun adventures with a dash of mythical...and trolls).

Sadly, Disney has yet to put House of Mouse or House of Villains on Disney+, but they have released the trailer for Hocus Pocus 2. No I haven't seen it, I'm in denial that it will exist in a couple of months.

A movie I'm actually excited for (based on the trailer) is The Invitation, which looks like a modern take on "Dracula". Will I see it in theaters? Probably not, but I will stream it when I have the opportunity.

As for books, I'm currently in the middle of "A History of Fear" which will be released in December. I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and am determined to finish and review it soon. I'm about half way through and very confused. Is it spooky? Parts are, but overall it's more confusing. I do plan on ready "The Only Good Indians" and "Mexican Gothic" for the season - which I can recommend through reputation.

As the season goes on, I hope to have a few more recommendations for you guys. I plan on seeing a "Sleepy Hollow" ballet in the middle of October and might have a review in the works (not that I really know much about ballet, but I love Sleepy Hollow). Additionally, I watched Perfect Blue which deserves it's own blog post simply because it is an intense experience. It's not really spooky season themed, but it fits into the season by virtue of it being such a trip.

If you have any Spooky Season suggestions, please feel free to let me know. I enjoy this season and I hope you guys do to.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Creative Platform Loss

In the early to mid-2000s there was an amazing TV show called Teen Titans based on the comic books by the same name. It had a distinct anime style, though it was an American production, and the theme song was performed in English and Japanese by Puffy Ami Umi. The show ran from 2003 to 2006 and spawned the annoying spin off Teen Titans Go (which I will continue to be salty about since that's the show my little cousin watches [descent into incoherent ranting]). 

Anyway back to the original Teen Titans TV show. 

It lasted for five seasons and concluded with a show down against the Brotherhood of Evil. Much of season focused on the comic relief character Beast Boy and the recruitment of new Titans to fight the bad guys. This culminated in a two part finale that was absolutely amazing. 

Except those weren't the final episodes. 

The actual final episode was "Things Change" and featured the five main characters returning to their home city to clean up and regroup. While assessing the damage, Beast Boy spots a former love interest and character who was presumed dead a few seasons prior. The person Beast Boy sees insists he has the wrong person and asks to be left along. The episode ends on a bit of
a downer cliff hanger with a ton of questions left unanswered. 

And that's because it wasn't supposed to be the last episode of Season 5. It was supposed to be the first episode of Season 6 - which was axed by the studio. Since the episode was already finished, they still aired it - leaving many a young fan confused and left wanting. 

Teen Titans Go did not fill that gap. Nor did the spin off move where the Titans went to Japan.

I was 100% one of those kids. I was frustrated by the lack of conclusion, upset that one of my favorite series was over, and left wanting so much more. 

At least there were DVDs, and later streaming services, available for me to reexperience the series and share it with the next generation. I can also turn to Fanfiction to fill in the gaps (not that it makes up for a lack of an official Season 6).

That's something the current generation is not as lucky to be guaranteed.

If you guys haven't heard the news, HBOMax recently merged with Discovery+ and the new CEO has been making one infuriating decision after the next. 

Yes, I am incredibly salty that I won't get to see Brendan Frasier play a villain in the canceled Bat Woman film - which was nearly complete. 

However, that's small potatoes to the absolute devastation happening to the fans of animation and children's programming that had been available to directly stream on HBOMax. A whole slew of TV shows very suddenly got the ax - with some of their creators finding out via social media. Whole seasons that were completed won't be released and their back catalogues wiped from existence. 

Fans don't even have the ability to rewatch these series via DVD or BluRay because they were streaming exclusives. Creators have seen their hard work vanish without any proof it ever existed except in screen shots and fan pages. 

Tons of work gone because an executive wanted to make some money and not pay creatives for their work.

Animation already struggles to have a presence and be taken seriously (which is another issue to touch upon later), but this is like rubbing salt in a wound and then wrapping it with a band aid made from the butt of a skunk. 

Will this work be considered lost media? Some are predicting it will be. There are people who are keeping track of modern lost media. Most cinephiles are aware that roughly 90% of movies made before the 1930s are considered lost due to poor storage conditions and melting the film down to use for other products. Is the same thing about to happen to the media that only goes on streaming platforms without a physical copy to store?

Some might say that we don't need all the physical media. Its really just junk waiting to collect dust. They have a point, but not everyone agrees. 

Some people equate the loss of this media - these works of art - to the burning of the Library of Alexandria. The loss of the art stalled progress and much would have remained lost, except for the hard work of preservationists in the Middle East. Some of the movies that did manage to survive from before the 1930s have done so in bits and pieces. Some were found in attics and basements - in poor condition, but in tact. 

Where will art historians go to find the media deleted off of streaming services? Is our only hope that someone backed everything up on a USB or Laptop that was outside the reach of the cooperate overlords? There's a story that Toy Story 2 was nearly lost due to a glitch in the studio's computers and was only saved because someone had put the entire movie on a USB to work on at home.

I think we take a lot of the art we consume for granted. We assume it will be there and available for us to always consume. But the reality is that someone looking to make a lot of money in the short term can make a decision that is horribly detrimental to the consumer and absolutely devastating to the artist. 

Barnes and Nobel recently announced a new policy that they would only carry recently released books that were the top 1 or 2 of any publisher. This means that a lot of debut writers, books in every niche genres, and lesser known works weren't going to be published. 

This primarily effects minority and non-white writers. 

I found out about this policy change from the writers I follow on social media. Many wonderful books featuring less traditional narratives and characters are going to be buried because one of the top physical book stores has decided not to carry or promote them. This puts a lot of pressure on new writers and writers with a lot less resources to promote their work. 

I have a lot of feelings as to the loss going on. It's hard to put into words exactly what I am experiencing from an outsider's vantagepoint. Very little of this actually affects me in a direct way.

On the one hand, I understand that nothing in this world is permanent and there are many things that have been lost over time.

On the other, I am an artist and writer who gets very attached to their work. Though some of my pieces have been lost to me (either because I gave them away or they became destroyed for one reason or another). I would be positively devastated if I saw in real time my life's work vanish in a desolation of pixels. 

From an intellectual point of view, we're also losing our creative history. Some of the animated shows lost by HBOMax's purge were critically acclaimed and will likely inspire other works. Media analysis will have gaps. Historians might have debates about the content - like they do about those lost early movies. 

Again, I'm not directly involved with what is happening. It's not my art. It's not my work. 

However, I still feel a sense of loss and melancholy - as if someone had ripped a chunk of my spirit away and I no longer fill every inch of my body. It's an abstract loss, a frustrating state of being that isn't physical.

I'll never get the official conclusion to the questions posed in that last episode of Teen Titans. I can only read the plans for what was to happen and fan theories. More creative work will come from what is lost, but at least I can relive what is available. 

That's not always possible.

Artist have always faced barriers to exploring and showing their work. In the modern age, it feels like we should be making greater efforts to alleviate those barriers rather than constructing more. 

In conclusion: support your local artists, watch some animated movies (Perfect Blue recently broke me guys), and buy your books from small presses and local book stores. Creativity takes work and should be appreciated... and compensated appropriately. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please, like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Shark Week Facts

Last week was the annual celebrations of sharks on Discovery Channel. This year marks the 34th year of Shark Week - the first one airing in1988. Though I don't currently have cable, I am able to still celebrate through a few apps and other ocean created content. Currently, I'm typing up this blog post while watching the first blockbuster summer movie Jaws. 

I found this pattern on Pinterest. 

Jaws is a fun summer adventure movie - I don't personally consider it a horror movie. However, it is one of the major reasons humans began going after sharks for sport. After the movie's release in 1975, people went out on shark hunting sprees. In doing so, they decimated one of the oldest species still roaming the planet, harming ecosystems, and further throwing ocean life out of balance. 

Sharks can be dangerous, however we humans are entering their space when we go to frolic in the ocean. Sharks are unlikely to kill a person (you're more likely to be killed in a car accident than by a shark) and typically avoid humans. But if you enter their living room, expect them to be curious about your.

Discovery Channel's shark week originally meant to educate viewers on sharks. In recent years, however, it's been more interested in the entertainment side of educational programing. I remember when they started doing their fake mocumentaries on the Megalodon - an ancient shark that's been extinct for over three million years. These mocumentaries made it seem plausible that the Meg (it's "playful" nickname) might still be alive. It's not. Its extinct. 

Other sensationalist programing made great white sharks seems a lot more dangerous than they actually are. True white sharks have the highest number of human fatalities (which is still a small number), but it's the temperamental bull shark that has the most unprovoked attacks against humans. That's primarily because they like to have their babies near estuaries and are known to be difficult to spot in muddy water. They also hang out off the coast of Florida, which is a popular beach spot. 

Sharks are cool and there are a lot of them. There are over 500 species of shark from the famous great white to the lesser known ghost shark. Some sharks are fairly standard looking like the blue shark or the tiger shark, while others look a little odd like the infamous hammer head shark, and then there are the absolutely nightmarish looking sharks like the cookie cutter shark or the goblin shark. Sharks can be tiny like the dwarf lanternshark - only getting to about 7.4 inches long - while the biggest sharks, whale sharks - getting up to 33 feet - eat the smallest ocean life.

Sharks haven't always been thought of as scary creatures of the deep. This is a much more recent development as more people spend time in the oceans. 

In some cultures, sharks prominent members of their folk lore, mythology, and religion. In Hawaii, there are sharks that are gods who are said to be the guardians of the ocean. Some cultures even think of sharks as the embodiment of their ancestors. 

As Shark Week 2022 comes to and end, remember that sharks aren't as scary as movies or dramatized TV shows make them out to be. They're pretty cool, mostly avoid humans, and are revered in some cultures. They are not mindless eating machines, but powerhouse examples of evolutionary specializations. 

And the Megalodon is not hiding out anywhere in our oceans.

I hope you can take some time to appreciate sharks. With climate change happening and human interference, shark populations are still in danger. The world's oceans need sharks and we should respect their awesomeness. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like to hear from me.

Welcome to a Queer USA

I mentioned in a pervious blog post (Welcome to Pride Month Book Recommendations), that I had been reading a book called Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Leigh Allen. Though it took me a little longer than I'd hoped, I finally finished reading it today (July 24th 2022) - roughly five years after the road trip that is described in the book took place. 

Published in 2019, Allen's retelling of her road trip across the United States with her friend Billy is a recount of their visits to queer spaces in "red" states the first summer under the Trump administration. Many people might have considered this trip extremely dangerous for the duo as both Billy and Samantha Allen are transgender. However, Allen was motivated to take this trip as she had found many queer havens in places that people might not suspect, such as Atlanta, Georgia, which is where she began her transition. 

Red states, as this book defines, are traditionally conservative states run by Republicans, voted for Trump in the 2016 election, and are known to be hostile to members of the LGBTQIA+ community. However, in each state Allen visit's, she connects with the community in deep and meaningful ways. She and Billy join protests in Texas, go clubbing at queer bars in Jackson Mississippi and Bloomington Indiana, hang out at a non-profit's headquarters in Utah, and takes a second to chill with friends in a small Tennessee city.

Each place is unique to the culture that birthed it. Texas is big and loud with state shaped waffles, while hiking is all the rage in Utah. Allen takes the time to give the local flavor and frame it through the lens of the queer people that live there - and why they choose to stay in potentially hostile places. 

Most people are familiar with the queer neighborhoods and famous bars in San Francisco and New York City. There are plenty of places to pick from in those cities as well as Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, Chicago Illinois, and even Atlanta Georgia. But there are a lot less places to go to when you're young and queer and in the middle of a state that is openly hostile to your existence (Atlanta technically falls into this category too). 

So where do you go?

Allen tells us that there's usually one or two queer locations to go to. Rarely are these places specialized to one of the letters in the LGBTQIA+ acronym and some even allow people over the age of 18 in, instead of the exclusionary 21 and up. Anyone who identifies as queer ends up gravitating to these spaces and are able to connect in a way that is limited by the magnitude of availability in areas that are well known for their queer culture. These places are as diverse as the queer community and work to be welcoming to everyone.

This community then spreads into the surrounding area and found families are formed. 

Allen notes that the leaders in these communities and found families genuinely love their home and want to make it welcoming for queer people and an all around better place to live. A few of Allen's interviewees had left their home to try their hand in cities like Washington DC or moved to their new home from a "blue" state. They chose the "red" state for a variety of reasons that all included loving the community they had built. 

These are stories of hope and perseverance. It was the early days of the Trump administration and things felt bleak for queer people. However, there's always a positive feeling in Allen's words, even when protesting outside the Texas capitol building. She shows that queer people are not going to give up and move out of these states, but keep showing their love by working to make it better. 

It's 2022 right now and we're in our third year of COVID in a post Roe v. Wade world with gay marriage on the chopping block. Things again feel bleak. 

But reading about Allen's trip and the people she meets along the way give me hope.

I checked into a couple of the places Allen mentions in her book. Unfortunately, one of the bars in Jackson Mississippi did close - possibly due to the pandemic. However, another bar in Bloomington Indiana is still going strong and the non-profit, Encircle is still making an impact in Utah.

It seems like every time progress is made, something comes along to smack it back. However, it's hard to let go of that progress once it's been experienced. The stories and experiences in Real Queer America are proof that even in the toughest of times and places, people will continue to make the world a better place for everyone.

Thank you for reading this book review. I hope you enjoyed it and pick up a copy of the book. Order it from your local book store, request it from your local library, or download a copy.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome Local and State Parks

I know I’ve mentioned the National Parks quite a bit in this blog, but in my area there are also a lot of local, regional, and state parks that are wonderful to spend time at. Earlier today, I met up with a college friend and her family to hike around Leesylvania State Park. 

It was a lot of fun seeing my friend and meet her daughter and husband. I hadn’t seen this friend in about ten years, but we’d been keeping in touch through letter writing and social media. We met up at Leesylvania because my friend’s family is trying to go to all 41 Virginia state parks before their daughter turns five. With Leesylvania, they passed the 25% mark.

Leesylvania holds a special place in my heart. It’s the state park I spent the most time at growing up. I had Junior Ranger camp there (a day camp associated with the National Wildlife Federation), many Girl Scout and church event, friend’s birthday parties, and general days spent outside in that park. Going back today was a lovely nostalgic trip and I was glad to share the park with my friends.

Leesylvania State Park was packed today, with it reaching capacity well before noon. We’re pretty sure there was a big church event in one area of the park and we could occasionally hear music while on the trails. However, the train we were on was deserted and, with how lush the growth was, felt like we were in a world of our own. We sadly didn’t see many animals (though we did spot a snake skin that had been recently shed). I think I spotted a heron and there were a few butterflies. By the pond we heard some very noisy frogs that as I child I would have tried to catch.

There’s also old ruins along one of the trails with the foundations of a few houses still standing and an overgrown graveyard that’s mostly covered in poison ivy. A ruined Confederate fort is also on one of the outlooks. The trail we took includes plaques with information on each historic site, which is good because the map is incredibly unhelpful.

Leesylvania is now about an hour away from where I currently live. There aren’t too many State Parks close to my current home, but there are a lot of regional parks and one National Park. Some of these parks do cost money to go into (Leesylvania just raised their rates to $10 per car), some have seasonal costs and are free in the off season, and a few are free year round. The best resource for the northern Virginia area is the NoVa Parks website.

State parks, like National Parks, typically have an annual pass you can invest in. At least they do in Virginia Though there is one Virginia state park on the Virginia/Kentucky boarder that isn’t park of the pass system. That one is Breaks Interstate Park and it’s way off in the foot of Virginia (the southwestern most point near Tennessee).

And new State Parks continue to be added all the time in Virginia. Leesylvania was established in 1989, which isn’t that long ago. And our newest State Park, Seven Bends, opened over the last couple of years. 

Regional parks depend on the counties that encompass the area. NoVa Parks is run with help from Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria, and Loudon Counties. Their parks are typically marked with a brown fence board with yellow gold letters. They also maintain a few water parks, golf courses, tennis courts, and botanical gardens.

My specific city also has local parks and wildlife trials that are clearly marked and provide safe places for people to spend time outside. These parks and trails are maintained by the city. They also connect different parts of the city without worrying about major roads and highways for pedestrians and cyclists. 

Parks are an important part of our society. They provide a safe area with access to nature and help preserve the environment. While at Leesylvania, my friend’s husband pointed out and identified many of the native plant species that keep the ecosystem there healthy. While walking around my city’s trains, I often see foxes, deer, and other wild animals.

We need parks for recreation and as communal spaces to meet up and spend time with each other. Keeping them clean is also a priority to maintain them for future generations. National Parks are some of America’s most amazing examples of wilderness, but state, regional, and local parks are just as important. Some might have historical sites, others are  habitats for animals, while all have areas for people to spend time.

Parks are important. If you don’t have any in your area or you don’t feel yours is safe, contact your local governments. If there’s a green space you’d like to protect, see if you can make it a priory for your community. Protecting these spaces is good for the environment and our mental health and creates jobs. 

I hope you can spend some time at your local parks this summer. I know I will.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this list (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Pride Month Book Recommendations

 As we approach the final few days of Pride Month, I wanted to share a few book recommendations that feature LGBTQIA+ writers, topics, and themes. It's been a tough month from many of us this year. Some of these books may be an escape for you, others a hope for a better future, and a few might inspire you to action. These books are different genres - fiction and non-fiction. Some teach us a history that has long been squashed in the name of "propriety". 

Starting out in non-fiction...and what I'm currently reading, I'd like to recommend Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Leigh Allen. Allen is a transgender woman who grew up Mormon, went to BYU, and eventually found her true self in Atlanta Georgia.

Though I haven't yet finished this book, it's been a mood lifter. There's a temptation for coastal liberals and LBGTQIA+ people to write off the the southern and midwestern parts of United States - not that their politics make a good case for them. However, Allen emphasizes that Queer people are all over the United States, they are not afraid to fight for their rights, and they don't want to (or can't) leave their homes. 

The book was written during the early days of the Trump administration and chronical Allen's trip across the United States with her friend who is a transgender man. They learn and recount about the problems and issues faced by the queer people in red states and deeply conservative areas. Though things continue to become more difficult, this book shines a light of hope for places that seem the most aggressive to LGBTQIA+ people.

Following up with some historical non-fiction is Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement by Wendy L. Rouse. 

This book is more for the academically inclined readers. That doesn't mean it's not a good book, it's just a bit of a dense read. It's packed full of information around the Queer history of women during the Suffrage Movement - much of which had been suppressed, ignored, or erased. The Suffrage Movements had many distinct periods from its inception up to when the 19th Amendment was passed in the United States. The LGBTQIA+ community was there for all of it.

It also doesn't just cover the middle to upper middle class white queer community, but includes stories and information on the contributions of Black, Indigenous, Asian, and other minority communities. 

My final non-fiction recommendation is a little different from the above works. The graphic novel Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing starts as a small project to define what it means to be a woman and turns into a self reflective, soul search piece that leads Ewing to realize they are non-binary. 

The graphic novel isn't told in a linear fashion, instead recounting interviews Ewing had with many different people as it applies to their own journey to discovering their identity. The drawings are fantastic with Ewing depicting their interviewees' stories with beautiful detail. 

Like Real Queer America, Fine focuses on gender identity in the midwestern United States. This is primarily because this is where Ewing is from. The interviews start in 2012 and go to 2019 with flashbacks to interviewees and Ewing's own pasts. 

Moving to fiction, but continuing with journey of self discovery, I'd like to recommend the poetic YA novel The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom by Nikita Gill. 

I've made it no secret that Nikita Gill is my favorite poet (as of writing this). I've been collecting her work for a few years now. What makes The Girl and the Goddess different from her typical work, is that there is an overarching narrative that links each poem and story. There's a lot of magical realism mixed with Gill's Indian background. If you love poetry, Hindu goddesses, and Queer main characters, definitely check out The Girl and the Goddess.

Another YA Novel that's perfect for the upcoming spooky season (I know Halloween and fall are a few months off, but go with me here) is Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Thomas is a non-binary Latinx author and Cemetery Boys is their debut novel.

I loved this book. It's perfect for someone looking for a spooky paranormal mystery with a splash of romance. The main character, Yadriel, is a Mexican American transgender boy trying to prove to his family of brujos that he too is a brujo...not a bruja. 

Yadriel thankfully does have a fairly good support system, despite not being fully understood by his family. However, this novel does have some violence, mentions child abuse, and features homeless children - some of whom lost their family to deportation or jail. It doesn't shy away from the realities of being Latinx, Black, Queer, and/or transgender in the United States (the book takes place in Los Angeles). 

My next recommendation is a straight up horror novel. Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester is unapologetically feminist.

Taking place in the American south, with most of the action set in the great city of New Orleans, Such a Pretty Smile radiates the heat and humidity that accompanies the novel's uncomfortable atmosphere. One of the main characters is a young girl coming of age and dealing with her crush on her not so nice best friend. The other main character is the girl's mother, still haunted a past she can't fully remember.

I did find the message and themes of the book to be a little on the nose at times, but that doesn't take away from the horrific imagery or monstrous actions happening with little explanation. Make no mistake, this isn't a creature feature in the traditional sense. This book won't chill you to the bone, but sit in your gut like a stomach bug.

And my final recommendation is: 

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor as the illustrator. I had the opportunity to meet Axelrod a few years ago as she was one of my Writer's Group's presenters. I've been following her on Twitter for years and was so excited when she announced her superhero comic Galaxy: The Pretties Star. 

I was even more excited when DC Comics picked it up to part of it's superhero universe. 

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star doesn't start out with it's main character, Taylor fighting any supervillains. She's just your average high schooler playing basketball and hiding out as a human boy in her small town. You see, Taylor is actually a princess from another planet. Her Earth family are comprised of the survivors of a an attack on their home world. Taylor is forced to assume the identity of a human boy as an added layer of protection, but she's not a boy.

Unfortunately, their an accident with the device that keeps Taylor's identity a secret and her real form is revealed - much to the annoyance, hate, and hostility of her community. All Taylor wants to do is live her most authentic life and go to the homecoming dance with her girlfriend, Kat. But the school administration don't want her anywhere near the school. 

The art is fantastic and so colorful. The story is great and you're rooting for Taylor the whole way through. Also there's a corgi sidekick named Argus who is just the best!

So there are my recommendations for Pride Month reading. The list may be coming out at the end of the month, but the books here will keep you occupied throughout the whole year.

Let me know if you've read any of these books and if you have any to recommend for me.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Long Time Friends

I admit, I've been a bit busy lately. Which is primarily why I haven't written anything in a few weeks. As time marches on, I've found that my free time is sucked up faster and faster. It can be hard to take a moment to write a blog post, let alone have a social life. 

I mentioned a few weeks (or maybe months) ago that I'd joined an art group. They meet every other week at one of the nearby libraries. It's nice and, though I'm starting to get to know the regulars, new people come each week. These are still fairly surface level acquaintances. Maybe one day, I'll have a solid group like the writer's groups I attended in New Jersey, but for now I'm content.

It's a little repetitive of me to say that making friends as an adult is hard. When I was in school, I was forced into social situations. Work is now the only full day equivalent, but there's a barrier there that didn't exist before I graduated. Schools have a defined structure between students and teachers, a structure that becomes blurred once entering the workforce. 

That doesn't mean one can't have friends at work. It just means that it's usually good to have some distance in your relationships with people at work. 

Friendships can be made or broken by distance - both physical and emotional. 

Friendship before social media.

Mostly it's the physical distance that dulls the emotional connection. I had a great group of high school friends (some of whom I do still keep in touch with), but as we all moved away from home, we stopped talking regularly. Without the constant communication, I now feel emotionally distant from them and am uncertain if my memory of them matches who they are now (and vice versa). 

Then there are the friends I have who seem to always be my friend no matter the physical distance. I have a couple of friends I might not see for years and only shoot the occasional text to, but put me in a room with them and it's like we haven't been a apart for a day.

Then again, this could be a perception only from my end. It does take two people to maintain a relationship. 

Not too long ago, my family lost one of our long time friends. My dad met this friend in the early 80s (it might have been the 70s, but I can't be certain). This was well into their adult lives. This family friend was close enough, that he became an honorary uncle when I came around about 20 years later and was my sibling's godparent. 

My dad and his friend were from two different generations (my dad is a Boomer, while this friend was from the Silent Generation). I was friends with his grandkids rather than his kids. This friendship lasted over four decades, multiple states, and a couple of different countries. They even did become work colleagues for a bit.

My honorary uncle taught me how to ride a bike, cut down a Christmas tree, and drive a standard stick shift convertible. He even let me borrow that convertible for a summer while I was a nanny. There was no air conditioning, I sometimes had to pump air in the tires using a bike pump, and the gas gage would start to swivel at the 1/2 tank mark. My friends called that car Butch. It's one of my fondest memories of my uncle. 

Sometimes friendships withstand the test of time and distance. I have a few I hope last that long (hopefully longer). 

I miss my uncle. In some childish way, I thought he'd be around forever.

But I'm happy for the long time friendship he had with my family. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.