It's Not the First Time I've Been Called Cold-Hearted

Last night's dream was and intense, and kind of bizarre.  And my husband laughed at me and my arrogance, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because quite frankly I think there's a good story seed at the core of it- I just need to let it compost for a while.

Anyway.

In my dream I was in a large parking lot and came across a guy packing up his truck (big truck, like a moving truck.  It was teal.) after a sort of farmer's market bazaar type thing had come to an end.  He was alone, and asked for help, so even tho' I felt a little weird about it I went ahead and helped him- but I was smart enough to call Nathan and give him a description of the truck I was helping to load before I came home.

Turns out dream-paranoia was all for the best, because I totally ended up being kidnapped, drugged, and put to work in a sort of extremely high-end brothel that catered to the very rich (mostly lawyers, for some reason).  The drugs they kept in our systems removed our emotions, so we didn't feel anything, and certainly didn't care about anything.  Because of this, no one tried to escape because, as mentioned, no one cared.  Except, in my case, they'd underestimated my ability to think without emotion (this is the part where Nathan started laughing, damn him).

See, even tho' I didn't actually care about the situation I was in, I could remember not wanting to be there- so I got all coldly logical about following through on the decision I'd already made, even tho' it didn't have any sort of current emotional meaning for me.  I saw people who knew me, and they were shocked to see me working in that place, but since I wasn't upset they assumed I was okay where I was.  During one part of the dream I managed to find a cell phone and call 911, and calmly tell them what had happened to me- and I was hyper aware of the fact that they weren't likely to believe me, because I was so dispassionate about the whole thing.

Very strange.  But also, I think, a potential story seed.  Also perhaps my subconscious screaming a commentary about something?  Who knows.

Here is a sketch of a winged girl for you:

I just realized she totally doesn't have thumbs.  Crap.  This is why non-sober-doodling is not the BEST of ideas.

Tomorrow is Cooking Baking Day.  That's right, three capitals on that.  Three.  Ponder that, why don't you?

Revisiting Saga Best

Treachery's mother, dressed for walking in the desert:

Her "skirt" is actually a pair of very full pants (better air circulation).  As for the gun, all Faithful are raised to handle weapons of all sorts- one of the better points of their religion, in my opinion.  There are other, less admirable points... but then, aren't there always, in all things?

Knowing Jack

Just a quick doodle, seeing as how it's most assuredly past my bedtime:

Cooler than cool.

Amazing

Soooo.... I finally got around to watching The Amazing Spider Man, and enjoyed it quite a bit, thank you very much (could Andrew Garfield be any cutedoofier?).  Therefore, have a doodle of Gwen Stacy being exasperated:

It hurts her head, it really does.

Lil' Scoobies' Joyful Days

I was feeling full of holiday spirit and nostalgia today.  Thus this:

Yes, I made the joke you think I did up there in the upper right corner.

(For those not as steeped in all things Buffy, I apologize.) (Not really.)

Bella Swan is so a Feminist

Okay, I know there are some people out there who do not give a rat's ass what I might have to say on the subject- they are going to hate Bella Swan, and they are going to hate the whole Twilight franchise, and I'd have a better chance of convincing them that the sun rises in the west than I would of changing their minds.  This entry is not for them.  This entry is for the people who look at me askance and say, "Jenny O, you are an intelligent woman and a reasonably vocal feminist- how could you possibly enjoy the Twilight books and their milquetoast heroine, Bella Swan?"

Well Gentle Readers, I shall tell you.

When I first read Twilight, I enjoyed the hell out of it.  And I enjoyed the hell out of it because it took me back to when I was seventeen, and love was life-or-death dramatic.  I remember when relationships were all-consuming like that, and while I am relieved I'm no longer subject to such (you could not pay me enough to be a teenager again), that doesn't mean I can't enjoy an occasional trip down memory lane.  So in terms of good ol' fashioned entertainment, Twilight did its job.  Good on you, Stephenie Meyer.

Because I'd enjoyed the first book I went ahead and got the second, and the third, and eventually the fourth, when it came out.  Now I had some issues of my own with those books (a different entry entirely), but Bella Swan being anti-feminist was not one of them.  In fact, the first time I encountered that charge, I was baffled- had the person read the books? (answer: probably not)  Because here is the thing about Bella- all she wants is to be equal to her chosen mate.

That's right, Bella just wants equality.  In a world full of monsters and supermen, she does not want to settle for being the fragile little human who must be protected- she wants to be a monstrous superman, too, thereby be able to protect those she loves.  How, exactly, is that anti-feminist?

And then there are the people who rant that Twilight is all anti-choice, because Bella chooses to carry a fetus to term that is killing her.  Wait, let me say that last part again, with some added emphasis: Bella chooses to carry a fetus to term that is killing her.  Please explain to me how that is anti-choice?  A woman making her own decision about her body?  A woman saying to the people around her, "I don't care what you think is best for me, I am making the choice that I think is right."  Too often, I think, people get caught up in this idea that "pro-choice" means, "Making the choice I would make".  Same thing applies to feminism- some people act like, "Feminism is making the choices I would make," and they look down on those women who don't.  Hence we have women who are ashamed to admit that they don't want to "have it all"- they want to be stay-at-home moms and housewives and not go in to an office every day- or at all.

And I cry BS on that.  You shouldn't have to feel like you're not a feminist because what you want doesn't match what certain members of society are telling you should want.

I recently read an article talking about how when they interviewed girls who'd read Twilight and asked them what they admired about Bella Swan, they rattled off a list of positive traits that aren't actually mentioned in the books.  Which says to me that Stephenie Meyer achieved her goal of making a heroine you could put yourself into, up to and including strengths and weaknesses.  So I have to ask, if I read those books and came away believing that Bella Swan is a decided feminist, and other people come away thinking she's not... well, is there any sort of commentary there on what sort of baggage we're bringing to our respective readings?

sNOw

Here is what it does not look like out my window right now: