Every day praising an indigenous character —Day 34

Ms. Hunter from Wendell & Wild

Ms. Hunter is a Native American juvenile justice worker who sends Kat Elliot to the "Rust Bank Catholic School for Girls."

She is voiced by Tantoo Cardinal. Tantoo Cardinal is a Canadian actress of Cree and Métis descent. In 2009, she was named a Member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of indigenous performing arts in Canada, The Cree are an indigenous people north of Abya Yala. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the largest First Country nations. In Canada, more than 350,000 Cree people are registered or have Cree ancestry.

Okay, character ask game:

Questions 2-5, 10, 17, 23 (because it's way too funny 😅) and 27

I hope that's okay with you! If they are too many you can choose which ones you want to answer, no pressure😘

Awww thank you for this sweet ask! 🥰 I know you’re not a Star Wars person soul, but I’ll be using these asks to help uplift Jedi that continuously get slandered in light of the anti-Jedi clownery going on in the fandom these days. So for this next ask, I’ll be choosing my lady, the luminous Master Luminara Unduli for this post, so thank you for giving me the freedom to brag about one of my favorite ladies 💚

2- A Canon or Headcanon Hill I Will Die On

That Luminara LOVES Barriss!!! I have made plenty of posts on this topic that disapproves all the nonsense the fandom continues to project, but I’ll say it again. In every single piece of Star Wars that has these two interacting, it is always a loving one and it’s a damn shame we didn’t see more of them in the Clone Wars series. The fact that these two can fight in complete sync with each other proves how in tune they are with each other and I seriously doubt you would be able to do that with someone you did not care about or hated. Also if you take the time to notice Luminara’s body language and voice whenever it comes to the topic of Barriss, you just know that’s a proud Mominara right there and when her girl is in danger, she hurts real bad. It’s also a crime we don’t see Luminara in the bullshit Wrong Jedi arc but I’m sure there would have been massive heartbreak. It event states in one of the canon Star Wars books that after Barriss is arrested for the Temple bombing that Luminara just buried herself in work. Again…you wouldn’t have such a strong reaction if you didn’t love somebody. Luminara loves Barriss and Barriss loves Luminara, end of discussion 💚💙

3- Obscure Headcanon

That Luminara is a thrill junkie and loves a good speeder bike and that she may or may not have a thing for Obi-Wan Kenobi. I mean her interactions with him are so flirty 🤣

4-Favorite Line

There’s a line of hers in the Legends book “The Approaching Storm” that has and continues to stick with me. I feel this quote really captures Luminara’s spirit and shows that underneath her cool exterior that she’s very genuine and grounded.

“Always remember where you’ve hung up your courage Barriss.”

Luminara is saying this to Barriss after her Padawan expresses to her that she feels that her Master never gets scared whenever there’s danger to which Luminara immediately disagrees. She tells Barriss that of course she gets scared when they’re in life threatening situations but as Jedi she has to appear fearless for the sake of the lives she’s protecting. Luminara is teaching Barriss that it’s okay to have these feelings and address said feelings later but when people need her, she needs to be brave and being brave doesn’t mean you have no fear or feelings. Luminara is often seen as “cold” but this along with many of things she says and does that she is very down to earth and has a big heart. She understands and she cares.

5- Best Personality Trait

Her ability to self-reflect which is a trait that is RARE in people. Luminara isn’t perfect as no one is but she’s able to take a step back and take ownership over her mistakes and make amends if need be. The perfect example of this is in the Clone Wars episode “Cloak of Darkness” where Luminara apologizes to Ahsoka for thinking she can take Ventress on her own and dismissing Ahsoka’s offer for help. Not only does Luminara apologize but she offers high praise to Ahsoka which again is not something a lot of people can do. Most people would rather sulk and be bitter and never take ownership for their mistakes, but not Luminara and I absolutely adore her for that 💚

10-Best Moment On Screen (Or In A Book)

By far, Luminara’s sand dance as described in the Legends book “The Approaching Storm”. An indigenous tribe asks Luminara, Barriss, Obi-Wan, and Anakin to entertain them with a talent of theirs; Luminara chose to levitate herself in a sphere of sand (using the Force) and perform a dance. It sounds absolutely beautiful and I’d kill to see this on screen.

17- Quotes, Songs, Poems I Associate Them With

Everytime I listen the tracks “Master Luminara” and “Twin Moons” by Kevin Kiner because they’re such gorgeous and serene tracks that to me is just her. It’s who she is; she’s serene despite the chaos around her and she rises above the tragedy and heartache she faces later in life which is beautiful. As for quotes and poems, I sadly think of her whenever it’s a quote revolving around grief and sad poems because again, she has such a tragic life despite doing her very best.

23- If They Were A Scented Candle, What Would They Smell Like?

Luminara to be is the picture of serenity and calm so I feel that her candle would be a scent that would be equally calming like lavender, mint, sandalwood, etc. Just something that puts you in your calm, happy place after a very rough day.

27- Their Guilty Pleasure

With all the stress she’s under, I feel like Luminara would either be a caffeine junkie, a wine lover, a gambler, a pot head on occasion or a racer. Just anything to take the edge off 🤣

Again thank you so much for letting me rant about my favorite lady 🥰 let me know if y’all have any Luminara headcanons in the comments/reblogs! 💚

I posted 2,275 times in 2022

That's 1,822 more posts than 2021!

360 posts created (16%)

1,915 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@praise-the-lord-im-dead

@elodieunderglass

@magpie-trove

@thebirdandhersong

@lovesodeepandwideandwell

I tagged 1,463 of my posts in 2022

Only 36% of my posts had no tags

#rowena adventures - 164 posts

#art - 92 posts

#dracula daily - 47 posts

#ro writes - 41 posts

#medicine - 37 posts

#animalia - 36 posts

#!!! - 32 posts

#lotr - 26 posts

#underground places - 24 posts

#faith musings - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and i don't know it helped me to understand finally what her vision is actually like but also realise that this idea of really blind people

I sent 6 gifts in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

It's that time of the year again! And no I don't mean Halloween I mean Bird of the Year time! That time of the year when New Zealanders come together to duke it out for the role of Best Bird (te manu rongonui o te tau) and also experience voter fraud and controversy

(last year there was no voter fraud but there WAS controversy that a species of bat was a) allowed to compete and b) won. I eagerly await this year's controversy, it's sure to be good.)

This year I am supporting the tawaki/fiordland crested penguin, because Those Eyebrows. I'm pretty sure you don't have to be in NZ to vote, please join me in supporting him! (ideally in a non-fraudulent manner, but you do you)

47 notes - Posted October 17, 2022

#4

I absolutely loved Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy as a kid and it turns out it has infected me with brain worms, still can't see a roadworks sign without thinking "Road Works Ahead? Sure hope it does!" or see a shop sign without thinking about the dreaded Prices Slashed stalking the corridors

66 notes - Posted August 23, 2022

#3

There’s a GP in NZ who does these amazing embroideries representing medical conditions (also lots of uterus-related embroideries which are amazing) and please look at my favourites!

(images: the first image is an embroidery of a hand skeleton with thistles growing out of it. The second image is also embroidered showing part of a pelvis and upper femur with the interior of the femur replaced by honeycomb.)

These are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis - rheumatoid arthritis is a very painful autoimmune arthritis which usually affects hand joints (as well as other joints in some people); osteoporosis is bone thinning/weakening.

I bought two of her uterus prints (menorrhagia/shark week and menstruation) for my clinic room and please check them out here!

120 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

#2

One of the things I really like about Terry Pratchett is the way he talks about death? Like when I was a kid it was just a joke how Death is in every book (or close to? I’m not sure) but then I became a doctor in my mid-twenties, and was utterly caught by how close to death I walked in my day to day, and how much it was not something I could share with anyone I knew (underneath about age 70). But Terry got it. And that was when I found I pulled out the witches books - and especially Tiffany Aching, and A Hat Full of Sky - and read and reread those passages because somehow he understood what it was like to be the person standing next to the door and holding it open for someone else to pass through

171 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Today we get a brand new public holiday in NZ which is firstly fun because mostly all our holidays are in summer, but also because it's the first holiday that celebrates specifically Māori knowledge - different regions have different stories but in many regions this is the start of the new year

This is a fantastic article about matauranga Māori/indigenous knowledge from the astronomer who has done the most for bringing it back

"From a Māori point of view, there’s no use understanding something in science unless you go on to understand how it’s connected to everything else. A piece of knowledge can be taken out and explored on its own, but, for us, it only has real purpose and meaning when it’s all stitched together in one fabric."

267 notes - Posted June 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Hi, I hope it's OK to ask this, but I've seen the counterargument to "Noland is a white savior", arguing that all the arcs when the Straw Hats save a kingdom by defeating the bad guy would count as "white savior" narratives, since the natives are too weak to defeat the bad guy and during the Wano arc which takes place in a Japanese-coded kingdom Chopper stops a plague by giving people medicine.

I agree with you that there's racism in the writing of the Shandians, but I would love to hear your opinion on this argument

So to start with, the whole thing with Wano completely falls apart when you remember that One Piece is a manga. It's from Japan, written by a Japanese man, and heavily influenced by Japanese culture and society. People in the West seeing the Strawhats as white saviors when they go to a very visibly Japanese place is because in the West, white is the default for aracial characters. That's not true in Japan. These are Japanese characters going to a Japanese place and helping other Japanese people.

With the Shandians specifically, it isn't just about some outsider coming to help, it's specifically about the circumstances around that, the implications of the Shandians needing to be freed from their own ignorance and savagery. Nolan doesn't just "save" the Shandians, he actively attacks a sacred figure in their culture, degrades rituals that he sees as barbaric and unnecessary, and then gets showered in praise and gifts for "saving" them.

It's very much based on historical American beliefs about colonization, beliefs that are WRONG and not based in any actual facts and were spread specifically to justify the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas especially. The idea of European (white) explorers stepping in to save the savage and ignorant natives from their own barbaric cultures is a very prevalent idea in both fiction and in history books, but it's complete bullshit with no basis in reality. It's used to simultaneously demonize indigenous peoples while deifying the colonizers.

(Obligatory mention that the human sacrifice practiced by some cultures was a lot rarer than historians previously believed and that even if it wasn't, even if they were sacrificing people every day, those civilizations still would not have deserved what was done to them. There is no justification for genocide.)

Colonizers weren't giving us a medicine, they were the ones spreading the disease, often on purpose. They weren't "saving" us from pointless sacrifices and rituals, they were killing our spiritual leaders and banning our traditions (and, in the case of the Shandians' Maya influence, demanding to be treated as gods for their whiteness). The disruption of sacred rituals is depicted as necessary and useful in One Piece, but it was a tool of genocide in real life. It's still a tool of genocide. Do you know how many times I've been told that we deserved to be genocided because some indigenous civilizations practiced human sacrifice? Too many.

The presence of the Strawhats in other places doesn't have those historical issues, though you could argue that the Arabasta arc is very reminiscent of the "world powers" interfering in MENA governments and then swooping in to "save" those countries from violence and make them more dependent on foreign powers. I would be open to that discussion, though it still doesn't hold much weight when the end result was Arabasta becoming more independent and less trusting of the World Government instead of more dependent on it.

So yeah. There's my long, rambling thoughts. Sorry, I just woke up and I'm very sleepy.

Visual Reporting in the Viral Case of Covington Boys School

On January 18, 2019, a group of students from the all-male Covington Catholic High School became national news in a matter of hours. Although they simply came to Washington D.C. to attend the annual March for Life rally, they got caught in the middle of an Indigenous Peoples March, were videographed and came back to Kentucky with the whole world paying attention to them. This attention included death threats, doxxing attempts, ridicule and more, but it also included support and praise from a certain group of people and even former President Donald Trump (because many of the students were wearing Make America Great Again hats).

Stories like this occur more often that they should, but this instance in particular is significant because of all of the backlash that came from the way mainstream media covered the situation. Major news outlets such as CNN, the Associated Press, the Washington Post and NBC were quick to write about the Covington boys and their controversial reactions to Omaha tribe elder Nathan Phillips, painting a picture (that included real video footage) of the boys mocking Phillips and chanting inappropriate language to his face. In the days following the incident, one boy from the school, Nick Sandmann, who was front-and-center in the viral videos, defended his actions and released an official statement to the public about his experience at the Lincoln Memorial that day. Sandmann then sued many of the national news publications that wrote about him, perhaps inaccurately, and we are still hearing about whether or not he is winning his lawsuits even after 4 years. 

The mainstream media that Sandmann sued definitely had a few things in common, one being they are all seemingly "politically left-leaning." Of course every publication has the right to write about a huge news story like this one, and a right versus left-leaning news source will portray the Covington kids in a different light. As the Vox article states: "The left, which sees white supremacy as one of its fundamental enemies, was quick — in some cases, too quick — to identify Sandmann and his classmates as villains. The right’s reaction, in turn, revealed several of its core animating assumptions that white Christians are persecuted minorities, that overzealous social justice warriors represent an existential threat to a free society, and that the media is on their enemies’ sides."

Personally, I don't feel comfortable saying I "side" with anyone in this story. From Sandmann's statement, he explained how misconstrued the video was and claims that he and his classmates never did or said anything racist or offensive to Phillips. On the other hand, Phillips states in a video by Reuters that the boys were shouting racist phrases like "build that wall" at him. Even with the video footage, it is hard to determine what's true and what's made up, so I feel like I have no say in deciding the truth about what happened. However, I can firmly say that I support Sandmann's decision to sue for defamation of his character. I'm definitely not saying that I support Sandmann himself, though -- I am just sating that as a journalist, I believe that news stories should always be fact-checked and thoroughly researched, especially if there is visual material (such as a viral video) like in the case of the Covington boys. 

Frozen 2:The Impression of Accountability, Iduna and Agnar Characterization Analysis

Warning: LONG POST, Anti-Frozen, spoilers for Frozen 2, swearing, talking about racism and mentions child abuse. If I get anything wrong on the issue of accountability, please don’t hesitate to correct me. 

Summary: Examining the inconsistencies between Frozen 2′s depiction of the behavior of Iduna and Agnarr and how this affects the overall themes of Frozen.

Introduction 

I’ve let myself sit on Frozen 2 and how I feel about it for a couple of months now. I’ve mostly focused on the meta-aspects of the film, from it’s character design to the early spoilers, but nothing too in depth until recently. 

And I’ve come to this conclusion that Frozen 2 is almost accountable, but backs away from any true accountability on the part of Arendelle and, most controversially from the response from my posts, Elsa and Anna’s parents. 

Arendelle: The Spirits Hate Them But Not Really

Frozen 2 is often praised for it’s handling of holding Arendelle accountable for it’s crimes. The spirits are angry with Arendelle for the previous king, Agnarr’s father Runeard for killing the leader of Northuldra. It is up to Anna and Elsa to right the wrongs of the past and destroy the damn that brought only grief to the Northuldra and the spirits of the Enchanted forest. 

So, I have a question. If the spirits were so angry with Arendelle, then why trap the Northuldra and allow Agnarr to leave to rule Arendelle without any real repercussions? Sure, King Runeard is killed in battle, an immediate consequence for his actions but that was ultimately a good thing because he sucked. Only a few soldiers were left behind as well. And King Runeard was later succeeded by king Agnarr, his son, who sucked slightly less than him. 

Arendelle was allowed to prosper with a better king, and Iduna is rewarded for saving his life by the spirits by having her child be gifted with magic. 

For saving the son of the man who murdered the Northuldra leader. 

Because that is something to reward...?? 

I’m starting to think that the concept of accountability is kind of twisted in Frozen 2. Arendelle is explicitly in the wrong, and yet, they are rewarded constantly for no reason. 

The entire Northuldra community, who have a good relationship with the spirits and were merely acting in self defense, were collectively punished and forcibly kept in a magic barrier for 34 years. That doesn’t sound very fair to me.  

Arendelle is Rewarded Rather Than Truly Punished

Yeah, Arendelle is wrong, but they get more benefits than punishments in long run. In fact, you could argue they were exponentially REWARDED for their heinous actions because as a result of the battle they have:

A super powerful monarch who wields magic (which no one else has because Elsa is special)

A better king than the one who died in battle to succeed him (King Agnarr) and who is married to the woman who is the favored child of the spirits

Citizens allowed to go anywhere they want and do trade with other countries to their benefit

Any consequence of said powerful monarchs magical actions (eternal winter) maybe only lasted three days, TOPS. After that she is immediately accepted for her powers and now Arendelle is essentially bulletproof because they have a magic ice queen to defend them.

Allowed to get a warning before the flood of Arendelle, but the Northuldra didn’t get any. 

Allowed Elsa to stop the flood to spare Arendelle, because for some reason the spirits are super cool with Arendelle now?

Like, how fucking crazy would it have been if the spirits woke up and immediately destroyed the dam while everyone in Arendelle was sleeping? THAT would’ve been a life or death conflict. 

But the movie is determined to deal with accountability with kid gloves, or weasel out at the last minute. 

Part 2: Iduna and Agnarr

Now, the aspect I want to talk about is the way that the story frames Iduna and Agnarr and how this contrasts with what we know about them up until the most recent movie. 

This is an examination of the theatrical installments of Frozen because they are the most canonical. Extra stories in books or supplemental material that wasn’t widely released or accessible don’t really count. And not to mention, the consistency between the theatrically released movies and shorts are mostly made by the same team. Therefore, have most canonical elements to them.

Iduna and Agnarr’s Relationship with their Children

Up until Frozen 2, the general consensus was that Iduna and Agnarr’s parents was...misguided. 

Misguided being a very soft term in my opinion because I truly feel that what they did was completely out of line and extreme, crossing the border of abuse. But that’s my personal opinion and it’s not how they are framed in the movie. 

Control vs. Love Theme

Iduna and Agnarr love Elsa and Anna. That much is true. However, Frozen, like a lot white disney princess movies believes that good intentions means benevolent actions. (Please note: I’m going to refer to Elsa and Anna as white coded, because that appears to be the most appropriate given that they are canonically white passing Indigenous characters. Yet, all the white disney princess tropes definitely apply to how they are framed and their characterization in the first film). 

However, this is not true whatsoever in reality, but most importantly, it’s not consistent with what is shown as a result of their desire to control Elsa. 

And yes, their desire to control and contain her meant that their “love” for Elsa-- least the impression they gave her and never made her feel otherwise--was conditional love. It means that as long as she controlled her powers they approved of her and gave positive reinforcement.

Iduna and Agnarr’s Love Had Conditions, Anna’s Didn’t

Their approach love can be compared to Prince Hans, because he is another extreme: He wouldn’t be interested in Anna if she didn’t have the power he desired. Many characters in Frozen are compared in whether their love comes with conditions, or is unconditional. 

Iduna and Agnarr, unwittingly, proved to Elsa that their love for her was conditional. Yes, they loved her, but they didn’t love every part of her. And that, in of itself, is placing conditions on their love. 

If we go by the narrative context of Anna’s love in comparison, hers comes without condition. Elsa’s powers are at their most controlled when she is given love without strings. Which is why the solution was (admittedly very cheesy and somewhat out of place) “love.” 

The more specific kind is the love Anna has for her sister. She never stops loving Elsa, even after she is hurt by her. She might be angry, frustrated, but in the end loves Elsa the right way.  

Frozen Fever

Subsequent installments drive home this point even further. In Frozen Fever, more is revealed in implications about their parents without directly referring to them by name. 

Iduna and Agnarr don’t celebrate Anna’s birthday after the incident. Elsa cannot recognize when she is sick and in need of medical attention. She feels like she needs to go overboard in celebrating Anna’s birthday, is highly self critical, because their parents never allowed either of them to celebrate it. 

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure goes even further into the theme that Anna and Elsa are moving away from their parents traditions and expectations. 

Elsa laments not having a Christmas tradition, because her parents only rung the bell in front of the citizens as a superficial way to signal “everything’s just fine,” when it wasn’t. When all the mandated bell ringing was done, they went back to separating the sisters. 

At the end, Elsa and Anna make their own unique traditions, and that ringing the bell doesn’t matter anymore. Their bond is what makes Christmas special for them. This is narrative cue that they are moving away from their parents and looking toward the future. 

Frozen 2: Iduna and Agnarr’s Love is Depicted as Unconditional

And then we get to Frozen 2. 

I have problems with the way they portray Iduna and Agnarr as parents in Frozen 2. It started when the film opened with Elsa and Anna playing with Elsa’s magic while their parents look on smiling. 

That’s confusing, and a little out of character. I didn’t get the impression in the first movie or shorts that Iduna nor Agnarr particularly cared for Elsa’s powers, and I also didn’t think they would be so cool with her using them so blatantly. 

Elsa’s ice powers were the bond that kept Anna and her together. That’s why they had to go and play in secret. Because Elsa’s powers were supposed to be something that couldn’t be played with out in front of their parents. That was the first cue that something was very different about this Iduna and Agnarr. 

And Frozen 2 is telling it’s audience that the parents would be supportive? Then why would Elsa feel so anxious about using them and locking herself away for so long after her parents explicitly made changes to the staff, the access to the outside, and refusing to tell Anna about Elsa’s powers? Her actions didn’t come from nowhere. Their negative reaction to Elsa’s powers was a common occurrence. 

In fact, that very same night where he looks on lovingly at Elsa’s ice magic, we hear Agnarr immediately placing blame on Elsa for an accident and exacerbating her trauma. This is a reprimanding that has been done before. Her ice powers were something to be hidden.

Agnarr: “Elsa, what have you done? This is getting out of hand.” 

Elsa “It was an accident, (to Anna) I’m sorry Anna.”

Iduna: “She’s ice cold.”

Agnarr: “I know where we have to go.”

Does this sound like the same man and woman who, just hours earlier looked on with happiness at his child using her ice powers to play pretend with her sister? It really doesn’t. 

King Agnarr and Queen Iduna specifically decide to “Lock the gates, reduce the staff, and limit her [Elsa’s] contact with people. Keep her powers hidden from everyone...including Anna.” 

The filmmakers really pulled out all the stops in the sequel to make sure that all the pain and suffering Elsa went through was actually totally just her own decisions, and the not the decisions that her parents made for a young child. 

I’m not going to lie, I get why they made so many changes. They wanted to expand on Iduna’s heritage and explain Agnarr’s view of magic without complicating the story too much. 

But these morally gray elements to their characters and the revelations on their backstories didn’t need to be mutually exclusive. If the filmmakers held Agnarr and Iduna accountable, we could’ve had a very unique set of parents in disney canon. 

Personally, I think that portraying them without the morally gray areas of their actions and having with an unambiguously supportive relationship with their children in Frozen 2 conflicts with their earlier actions. It makes the story flow a little bit better in the sequel to uncomplicate their relationship, but I think the way they set them up would’ve been interesting too. 

Olaf’s Recap Removes the Parent’s Decision to Lock Elsa Away

I was also tipped off that the whole framing of the parents was being twisted when I saw Olaf’s recap in Frozen 2.

Olaf: [As Elsa] Anna, no too high! Blast! [a Anna] Ohhh! [as Elsa] Mama Papa Help! Slam, doors shutting everywhere, sisters torn apart. Well, at least they have their parents. [beat] Their parents are dead. 

The way he describes the situation is bizzare to say the least. He doesn’t mention “conceal, don’t feel” even once. He mentions the parents positively, stripping their role in Elsa and Anna’s separation and only leaving it between the lines. I think this is because if they remind the audience about the things the parents did, the audience would have a harder time accepting their sudden support for Elsa’s powers. 

If the parents actions weren’t controversial, then I think that they wouldn’t have this problem. But it’s like they went out of their way to make it appear that it was actually all Elsa’s decision to lock herself away instead of her parents expecting her to do so without protest. 

It Was Iduna and Agnarr’s Decision to Isolate Elsa, Not Elsa Herself

When we really look into the specifics of Elsa’s isolation, we can’t ignore Iduna and Agnarr’s role. The only reason why Elsa became so secretive is because she was conditioned to do so by her parents. 

How many times did Anna go to her parents and ask what was wrong with Elsa, only to be turned away to the point where she doesn’t bother anymore? 

How could they look at this situation for more than a week, and just allow this to happen? Easily, because it was a solution that worked for them. It honestly looks like they got used to the situation after years of Elsa’s isolation.

Just look at the body language of Elsa’s farewell to her parents, Elsa is NOT happy. Unlike Anna, she remains a good distance away from them. She is nervous and sad without her parents to direct her. 

This is reaction they are most likely expecting. Her parents smile on, almost as if to say “she’ll be ok for a couple of weeks, then we’ll be right back to normal and keep her in check.” It’s a reassuring smile, that things will go back to the way they were once they come back. And they don’t.  

Elsa Hiding Things is Learned

Look man, I feel like Elsa should be held accountable for a lot of things. Abandoning her people, twice, in the middle of a storm she created. Not getting help for Anna when she was injured and kicking her out of the ice castle instead. All things she should get shit for. 

However, I also think that her parents shouldn’t be let off the hook. 

My other problem comes from Frozen 2′s emphasis on Elsa hiding things from Anna. The constant references to Elsa shutting Anna out, making decisions without her, would definitely lead a more casual viewer under the impression that it was all Elsa’s decision to lock herself away for years at a time when this simply wasn’t true. 

On a meta note, I’ve seen people place all the blame on Elsa to lock herself away to in order to prop up her parents and give them the benefit of the doubt. That they were trying their best in a situation they didn’t have any knowledge of. However, this is an extremely inappropriate reaction to a character who is depicted as a child under the care of her parents. 

I think that there is an intrinsic desire for people to believe the framing of movies, and that good intent creates good results. But the text of Frozen shows this isn’t true either. Iduna and Agnarr should be able to be morally gray characters who made decisions that aren’t always beneficial, even with the best intentions. 

Elsa and Anna, like most siblings, have wildly different feelings toward them. For example, Anna insists to Elsa after finding out the truth about their death that she is not responsible for their decisions when Elsa blames herself. 

On one hand, this seems to be an acceptance by the story that they were not perfect people and that Elsa needs to take into consideration that she is not responsible for their actions. 

However, the way that this conversation is framed shows that this is a different conversation altogether. Anna means that they gave their lives to HELP Elsa, and that she is a gift for Iduna saving Agnarr. It martyrs their sacrifice, something that most fictional parents, who are portrayed as ultimately good, would be. They died to help her, because they were good parents who made good decisions.

They are Flawed Characters

But...they didn’t make good decisions. They were very flawed individuals. Once something is portrayed as flawed, it can’t be flawless. You can’t just dump their decisions on how they grew up, or say it’s all Elsa’s fault they treated her that way because mature writing means that you accept that your characters need to be held accountable for their decisions. 

No matter how many sad looks they give to convey their sympathetic nature in Frozen, the reason Agnarr and Iduna used the gloves and kept Elsa in a constant state of fear so much was because it was working. It wasn’t a good long term plan, nor ideal for them, but it was the one they went along with because it kept Elsa’s powers in check.

I personally don’t like how the filmmakers made them the idea of parents. Iduna is the idea of a mother and Agnarr, the idea of a father. We are supposed to put fond memories of good parents into their characterization because they rely on audiences not really remembering them in the first movie. The biggest scene with them is their death in the original movie. 

If they simply were just parents who died, then the characterization is Frozen 2 would be a welcome expansion of underdeveloped characters with little screen time.And within the vaccum of the sequel, their unconditional love for their daughters makes sense. If we place the generic idea of a mother into Iduna’s role, we get to know the mother who always loved her daughter finally reconnecting with her after her tragic death. With Agnarr we get a loving father who only wanted what was best for his daughters, who was misguided on the truth of the past. 

But Iduna’s big duet with Elsa, “Show Yourself” only highlights the parents role in her involvement with making Elsa suppress her powers with “conceal, don’t feel” since it’s a direct response. 

Agnarr’s misremembering of the past is used to highlight the truth that needed to be revealed. It’s portrayed as tragic, since we can assume he never learns the truth. And their treatment of Elsa’s powers is never brought up in detail, just glossed over. 

Even Parents With the Best Intentions Can Hurt Their Children

The problem is that we could’ve really examined how Iduna, forced with suppressing her identity, made mistakes in trying to protect her daughter. Sometimes people from marginalized groups who have no choice but to assimilate force their children to hide their identity to protect them from harm.

Agnarr’s upbringing is often pointed to as the source of his extreme views on magic, and that he inherited it from his father. But ultimately he is responsible for his actions, and he hurt his daughters. Sometimes people who seek to do better than their parents end up making the same mistakes.  

Maybe Iduna regrets hurting Elsa but felt it was a better alternative than being killed for who she is, or Agnarr so focused on protecting her he never realizes it was doing her more harm than good because it was controlling her and giving him the results he wanted. 

This could’ve been parallel with his lack of critical thinking when recounting the enchanted forest story. He doesn’t question why the conflict started, even though he has the pieces to put it together himself. He told it in a way that benefited him the most, without considering the people around him. 

Both parents could still be held accountable for the pain they caused Elsa and they would also be characters who inspire different feelings from both daughters. This could also be a turning point in Frozen 2′s theme that the sisters are on different paths. 

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I understand why the filmmakers of Frozen 2 decided to tone down the harsher implications of the parents actions. And maybe in the end, people really prefer this version of Iduna and Agnarr. But I can’t really ignore what they’ve done because their actions permeate the very themes of Frozen’s views on love and control. 

However, these are personal feelings toward this subject and I think it could’ve been handled a little better. 

Best of SXSW 2021.

From properly good Covid comedies to an epic folk-horror doc and an Indigenous feminist Western, the Letterboxd Festiville team reveals their ten best of SXSW Online.

We dug out old lanyards to wear around the house, and imagined ourselves queuing up the block from The Ritz (RIP). We dialled into screenings and panels, and did our level best to channel that manic “South By” energy from our living rooms.

The SXSW festival atmosphere was muted, and that’s to be expected. But the films themselves? Gems, so many gems, whether shot in a fortnight on the smell of an oily stimulus check, or painstakingly rotoscoped over seven years.

When we asked SXSW Film director Janet Pierson what she and her team were looking for this year, she told us: “We’re always looking for films that do a lot with little, that are ingenious, and pure talent, and discovery, and being surprised. We’re just looking for really good stories with good emotional resonance.” If there was one common denominator we noticed across this year’s SXSW picks, it was a smart, tender injection of comedy into stories about trauma, grief, unwanted pregnancy, chronic health conditions, homelessness, homophobia and, yes, Covid.

It’s hard to pick favorites, but here are the ten SXSW features and two short films we haven’t stopped thinking about, in no particular order.

Recovery Directed by Mallory Everton and Stephen Meek, written by Everton and Whitney Call

“Covid 19 is in charge now” might be the most hauntingly funny line in a SXSW film. In Recovery, two sisters set out on a haywire road trip to rescue their grandmother from her nursing home in the wake of a severe Covid 19 outbreak. There’s no random villain or threat, because isn’t being forced to exist during a pandemic enough of a threat in itself? If ever we were worried about “Covid comedies”, SXSW managed to flush out the good ones. (Read about the Festiville team’s other favorite Covid-inflected comedies, including an interview with the directors of I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking).)

Alex Marzona praises the “off-the-charts chemistry” between leads Mallory Everton and Whitney Call. Best friends since they were nine, the pair also wrote the film, with Everton co-directing with Stephen Meek. Every laugh comes from your gut and feels like something only the cast and crew would usually be privy to. “You can tell a lot of the content is improvised, which just attests to their talent,” writes Emma. Recovery doesn’t make you laugh awkwardly about how awful the last year has been—rather, it reminds you that even in such times there are still laughs to be had, trips to be taken, family worth uprooting everything for. Just make sure you’ve packed enough wet wipes for the road, and think long and hard about who should babysit your mice. —EK

The Spine of Night Written and directed by Morgan Galen King and Philip Gelatt

Don’t get too attached to any characters from its star-studded cast—nobody is safe (or fully-clothed) in The Spine of Night’s raw, ultra-violent and cynical world. Conjured over the last seven years, directors Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King’s rotoscoped epic recaptures the dazzling imagination and scope of their influences Ralph Bakshi and Heavy Metal. Approaching an anthology-style structure to explore how ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’—a proverb more potent now than when Gelatt and King began their project—the film packs a franchise’s worth of ideas in its 90-minute runtime. Though the storytelling justifiably proves itself overly dense for some, it will find the audience it’s after, as other Letterboxd members have declared it “a rare treat” and “a breath of fresh air in the feature-length animation scene”. For sure, The Spine of Night can join Sundance premieres Flee and Cryptozoo in what’s already a compelling year for unique two-dimensional animation. —JM

Kambole Campbell caught up with Gelatt and King (who are also Letterboxd members!) during SXSW to talk about animation inspirations and rotoscoping techniques.

The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson Written and directed by Leah Purcell

Snakes, steers and scoundrels beware! Writer-director-star Leah Purcell ably repurposes the Western genre for Aboriginal and female voices in The Drover’s Wife. Molly Johnson is a crack-shot anti-heroine for the ages, in this decolonized reimagining of a classic 1892 short story by Henry Lawson. And by reimagining, we mean a seismic shift in the narrative: Purcell has fleshed out a full story of a mother-of-four, pregnant with her fifth, a missing husband, predatory neighbors, a mysterious runaway and a young English couple on different paths to progress in this remote Southern land. Purcell first adapted this story for the stage, then as published fiction; she rightly takes the leading role in the screen version, too.

As a debut feature director, Purcell (Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri) already has a firm grip on the macabre and the menacing, not shying away from violence, but making very careful decisions about what needs to be depicted, given all that Molly Johnson and her family are subjected to. She also sneaks in mystic touches, and a hint of romance (local heartthrob Rob Collins can take us on a walk to where the Snowy widens to see blooming wildflowers anytime). Judging by early Letterboxd reviews, it’s not for everyone, but this is Australian colonization through an Indigenous feminist’s eyes, with a fierce, intersectional pay-off. “Extremely similar to a vast majority of the issues and themes explored in The Nightingale,” writes Claira. “I’m slowly realizing that my favorite type of Westerns are Australian.” —LK, GG

Swan Song Written and directed by Todd Stephens

Udo Kier is often the bridesmaid, rarely the bride. Now, after a lifetime of supporting roles ranging from vampires and villains to art-house muse, he finally gets to shine center-stage in Swan Song. Kier dazzles as a coiffure soothsayer in this lyrical pageant to the passage of queer times in backwater Sandusky, Ohio. “He is absolutely wonderful here,” writes Adrianna, “digging deep and pulling out a mesmerizing, deeply affecting and emotionally textured performance, proving that he’s an actor with much more range than people give him credit for.”

A strong supporting cast all have melancholy moments to shine, with Linda Evans (Dynasty), Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) and Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde) along for the stroll. Surreal camp touches add joy (that chandelier, the needle drop!) but by the end, the tears roll (both of joy and sadness). Writer-director Todd Stephens ties up his Sandusky trilogy in this hometown homage, a career peak for both him and Kier. Robert Daniels puts it well, writing that Swan Song is “campy as hell, but it’s also a heartfelt LGBTQ story about lost lovers and friends, vibrant memories and the final passage of a colorful life.” —LK

Leo Koziol spoke with Todd Stephens and Udo Kier during SXSW about Grace Jones, David Bowie and dancing with yourself.

Islands Written and directed by Martin Edralin

Islands is a Mike Leigh-esque story that presents a Canadian Filipino immigrant family full of quirk and character, centered around Joshua, a reticent 50-year-old homebody son. The story drifts in and out of a deep well of sadness. Moments of lightness and familial love make the journey worthwhile. “A film so Filipino a main plot device is line-dancing,” writes Karl. “Islands is an incredibly empathetic film about what it’s like to feel unmoored from comfort. It’s distinctly Filipino and deals with the psychology of Asian culture in a way that feels both profound and oddly comforting.” In a year in which we’ve all been forced to physically slow down, Islands “shows us how slow life can be,” writes Justin, “and how important it is to be okay with that.” Rogelio Balagtas’s performance as Joshua—a first-time leading role—won him the SXSW Grand Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance. —LK

Ninjababy Directed by Yngvild Sve Flikke, written by Flikke with Johan Fasting and Inga H. Sætre

Ninjababy is as ridiculous as its title. When 23-year-old Rakel finds herself accidentally pregnant, scheduling an abortion is a no-brainer. But she’s way too far along, she’s informed, so she’s going to have to have the baby. The ensuing meltdown might have been heartbreaking if the film wasn’t so damn funny. Ninjababy draws on the comforting and familiar (“Lizzie McGuire if she was a pregnant young adult,” writes Nick), while mixing shock with originality (Erica Richards notices “a few aggressive and vulgar moments [but] somehow none of it seemed misplaced”).

An animated fetus in the style of Rakel’s own drawings appears to beg and shame Rakel into motherhood while she fights to hold onto her confidence that not wanting to be a mother doesn’t make her a bad person. Ninjababy’s greatest feat is its willingness to delve into that complication: yes, it’s righteous and feminist and 21st-century to claim your own body and life, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to turn away from something growing inside of you. It’s a comedy about shame, art, finding care in unlikely places—and there’s something in it for the gents, too. The titular ninjababy wouldn’t leave Rakel alone, and it’s unlikely to leave you either. Winner of the SXSW Global Audience Award. —SH

The Fallout Written and directed by Megan Park

Canadian actress Megan Park brought the youthful wisdom of her days on the teen drama series The Secret Life of the American Teenager to her first project behind the camera, and it paid off. Following the scattered after-effects of a school shooting, The Fallout may be the most acute, empathetic depiction of childhood trauma on screen in recent memory. “It sneaks up on you with its honesty and how it spends time with its lead, carried so beautifully by Jenna Ortega. Even the more conventional moments are poignant because of context,” writes Kevin L. Lee. Much of that “sneaky” honesty emerges as humor—despite the heavy premise, moments of hilarity hang on the edges of almost every scene. And Ortega’s portrayal of sweet-but-angsty Vada brings self-awareness to that humor, like when Vada’s avoidant, inappropriate jokes with her therapist reveal her desperation, but they garner genuine laughs nonetheless.

In this debut, Park shows an unmatched understanding of non-linear ways that young people process their pain. Sometimes kids try drugs! Sometimes they scream at their parents! But more often than not, they really do know what they want, who loves them, and how much time they need to grieve (see also: Jessie Barr’s Sophie Jones, starring her cousin Jessica Barr, out now on VOD and in theaters). The Fallout forsakes melodrama to embrace confusion, ambiguity and joy. Winner of both the SXSW Grand Jury and Audience Narrative Feature Awards, and the Brightcove Illumination Award. —SH

Ludi Directed by Edson Jean, written by Jean and Joshua Jean-Baptiste

When Ludi begins, it’s quiet and dreamy. The film’s opening moments conjure the simple pleasures of the titular character’s Haitian heritage: the music, the colors, the people. Ludi (Shein Monpremier) smiles to herself as she starts her morning with a tape recording her cousin mailed from Haiti to Miami, and listens as her family members laugh through their troubles before recording an upbeat tape of her own. But that’s where the dreaminess ends—Ludi is an overworked, underpaid nurse picking up every shift she possibly can in order to send money home. Writer-director Edson Jean fixates on the pains and consequences of Ludi’s relentless determination, which comes to a head when she moonlights as a private nurse for an old man who doesn’t want her there.

Ashton Kinley notes how the film “doesn’t overly dramatize or pull at false emotional strings to make its weight felt. The second half of the feature really allows all of that to shine, as the film becomes a tender and empathetic two-hander.” George’s (Alan Myles Heyman) resentment of his own aging body steps in as Ludi’s antagonist. Jean throws together jarring contrasts: George throwing Ludi out of the bathroom, followed by Ludi’s memories of home, followed by another lashing out, followed by a shared prayer. The tension is unsustainable. By interspersing the back-breaking predicament of a working-class immigrant with the sights and sounds of the Caribbean, Ludi elegantly, painfully reveals what the cost of a dream can be. —SH

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror Written and directed by Kier-La Janisse

Building on the folk horror resurgence of films like The Witch and Midsommar, Kier-La Janisse’s 193-minute documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is a colossal, staggering undertaking that should school even the most seasoned of horror buffs. “Thorough is an understatement,” says Claira.

Combining a historian’s studied, holistic patience with a cinephile’s rabid, insatiable thirst, the film, through the course of six chapters, broadens textbook British definitions, draws trenchant socio-political and thematic connections, debunks myths and transports viewers to far-flung parts of the globe in a way that almost feels anthropological. As Jordan writes, “Three hours later and my mind is racing between philosophical questions about the state of hauntology we generationally entrap ourselves in, wanting to buy every single one of the 100+ films referenced here, and being just a bit in awe of Janisse’s truly breathless work.” An encyclopedic forest worth losing yourself in—get ready for those watchlists to balloon. Winner of the SXSW Midnighters Audience Award. —AY

Introducing, Selma Blair Directed by Rachel Fleit

There’ll likely be some level of hype when this intimate collaboration between actress Selma Blair and filmmaker Rachel Fleit comes out later in the year on Discovery+, and that’s okay, because that is Blair’s intention in sharing the details of her stem-cell transplant for multiple sclerosis. There’d be little point in going there if you are not prepared to really go there, and Introducing, Selma Blair is a tics-and-all journey not just into what life is like with a chronic condition, a young son, and a career that relies on one’s ability to keep a straight face. It’s also an examination of the scar tissue of childhood, the things we are told by our parents, the ideas we come to believe about ourselves. “I almost felt like I shouldn’t have such intimate access to some of the footage in this documentary,” writes Andy Yen. “Bravo to Selma for allowing the filmmakers to show some truly raw and soul-bearing videos about her battle with multiple sclerosis that make us feel as if we are as close to her as family.” —GG

Femme Directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping

I May Destroy You fans, rejoice: Paapa Essiedu, who played Arabella’s fascinating best friend Kwame, takes center stage in Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s intoxicating short film Femme. It’s a simple premise—Jordan, a femme gay man, follows his drug dealer (Harris Dickinson, mastering the sexually repressed brusque young man like no one else) home to pick up some goods on a night out. Except, of course, it’s not that simple. The co-directors build a world of danger, tension and electricity, with lusciously lensed scenes that lose focus as the threat rises. Frankie calls it “hypnotizing and brutal and gorgeous” and we couldn’t agree more. A crime thriller wrestling with hyper-masculinity seen through the eyes of an LGBTQ+ character, with a sucker-punch ending to boot, the world needs more than twenty minutes of this story. —EK

Play It Safe Directed by Mitch Kalisa

If you (unwisely) thought that the vulnerable, progressive environment of drama school would be a safe space for Black students, Play It Safe confirms that even a liberal bunch of actors (and their teacher) are capable of being blind to their own egregiously racist microagressions. Mitch Kalisa’s excellent short film explores structural prejudice head-on, in an electric acting exercise that rests on where the kinetic, gritty 16mm camera is pointing at every pivotal turn. At first, we’re with Black drama student Jonathan Ajayi as he receives the assignment; then we are with the rest of the class, exactly where we need to be. “Literally in your face and absolutely breathtaking,” writes Nia. A deserving winner of the SXSW Grand Jury and Audience narrative shorts prizes. —GG

Follow the Festiville team on Letterboxd

Love Fast Los Angeles Read-Through: Preface

This book has 42 chapters + a preface, so I've decided to make each post 6 chapters and then do the preface separately. I want to start with just the preface because it is eight pages long but so much happens, it's like getting whiplash every five seconds. Let's do it.

First of all, it's a prologue, Davey, not a preface, a preface is more of an introduction while this is like, things that happen before the real story starts, or really just an explanation for why Star isn't around and why Alvin goes to LA.

Anyway, we open with Alvin doing a photoshoot on the beach and if I could summarize the first page of this book in a single image it would be this:

We've got narration like "Whatevs. It's cool. I've already got a memory stick full of sick shit" and nobody talks like that!

I'm not 100% clear at this point how much time has passed between Pop Kids and this book (iirc it might be more specific later but I don't remember right now) but Alvin and Star, the grown-ass woman who straight up groomed him when he was 15 and nobody cared, are still together and living in San Francisco in an old Victorian, aka my dream life. But then, in the second paragraph of this entire book, he comes home to find her cheating on him, he hits the guy with his motorcycle helmet knocking out a tooth (which he takes???) and she kicks him out.

There's some nice references in this bit, like that Star is a masseuse and the room in the house where she works is known as the Zen Room (ayyyyy!), and as he's packing his clothes to leave he sprays them with her Rose 31 perfume. This book, having come out in 2017, makes sense to have been written during the writing of the Dreamcar record and I appreciate that little nod.

So Al leaves, and we're still only 4 pages into this book and we've changed location again, going to the "Tranny Shack" where he also works shooting the drag shows. And I am truly, wildly uncomfortable with this paragraph:

"A Nubian goddess enters her spotlight. Draped in the pelts of plush animals, Lucky Day caresses her luminous microphone. The audience hushes. She begins to sing "Circle of Life" and I lose it. Spotting me weeping behind my lens, the queen of the jungle steps from the stage through the crowd and in her soothing Song of The South voice, says, "This is your favorite number. Why ya cryin' sugar?" (11)

Look I'm willing to give Davey the benefit of the doubt and suggest that Lucky Day may be based on an actual drag queen he knows and this is all harmless, but is it weird! The use of "Nubian," while a valid name of an indigenous group in Africa, is also used by weird fetishists who think black women are ~exotic. Having your black drag queen character sing a song from the Lion King dressed in fake fur? And probably worst of all, the deeply stereotypical speech pattern and comparing her voice to Song of the South. Couldn't just say she had a southern accent, you had to go with probably the most obscure Disney movie, which is obscure because it's so racist even Disney won't re-release it. Song of the South has a weird cult following of racists who praise it and claim to love it as pushback against what they feel is Disney being too woke by like... having a single black princess or acknowledging that maybe a gay person might have existed in the periphery of one of their main characters. That's not Davey's fault of course, but the association is there and also it is really super weird to use that movie as a comparison! Hardly anyone has seen it! I'm uncomfy.

So anyway, Al ends up staying with Lucky Day for literal weeks. We're five pages in and there's a time jump. In the space of a paragraph on page 12 (the preface started on page 8) Al moves in, becomes depressed enough that he sleeps all day, doesn't shower and loses his job, and starts chain-smoking until Lucky can't take it anymore, Febrezes him while he's asleep, makes him shower and eat breakfast.

She makes him grits for breakfast and I don't think Davey knows what grits are, except that people from the South like them because he describes them being cooked in an iron pan which I'm like 90% sure is not how you make grits? Idk I'm not southern and also I find grits disgusting. But you don't make them in a frying pan!

In the space of another paragraph starting on page 13, Al gets a tattoo, starts working out, feels better about himself and gets a new job, so... a second time jump in two pages and we're not even 10 pages into the book. The pacing here is insane.

Lucky flies down to SoCal to hook up with an online fling and then comes back, having been assaulted. It turns out her online fling is a famous pop star, Jamie Shannon (let's take bets who he's based on!), and Al vows to wreck him. So he's off to LA, and this absolutely batshit insane preface comes to an end.

As I was writing this recap my cat came and closed the book on me and then stood on it so I think that's a good place to stop this first entry. I expect the pace to chill the fuck out when we get into the actual story so maybe I won't be writing so much about eight pages. EIGHT.

Aren't we glad we're all on this journey together.

Black Swan bookgasm review #2: Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun (1917)

It is not uncommon for a writer to become more known for his reputation than actual work. Not that the work isn’t of quality, just that it is easier for the public to fixate on their extreme political beliefs or their tragic life than for the very work that writer should be known. Sylvia Plath is a perfect example, since many non-readers of poetry are aware of her taking her own life by sticking her head in an oven, yet are unfamiliar with her great poetry - the very thing for which she is deservedly celebrated. Such is the same fate of the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun who was well known in his day, for he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920 after having published Growth of the Soil in 1917. 

In the same way the French have come to wrestle with acknowledging the literary greatness Louis Ferdinand Celine’s in tension with Celine’s Nazi sympathies during World War Two - so Norway has had its own ‘Celine’ problem with Knut Hamsun. Hamsun was well known for having been a Nazi sympathiser, and upon winning the Nobel, he apparently mailed his medal to one of Hitler’s closest associates, Joseph Goebbels. Then, after Hitler’s death, sources claim that he made some sorrowful eulogy, lamenting over the dictator’s life and death. As result, readers have adopted ambivalent feelings for the write - hating him for his politics yet loving him for his work. It should be also noted that Hamsun was in ‘mental decline’ after the war, so one can’t be sure what he would have believed in a healthier state of mind. But all this should be no matter, for what counts is the work, and Growth of the Soil is a work worth the read.

Hamsun had his admirers in the literary world including H.G. Wells who wrote, “I do not know how to express the admiration I feel for this wonderful book without seeming to be extravagant. I am not usually lavish with my praise, but indeed the book impresses me as among the very greatest novels I have ever read. It is wholly beautiful; it is saturated with wisdom and humour and tenderness."

Though the novel’s setting is in rural Norway, civilisation and its discontents are never far off. There are telegraphs and newspapers. People read. It's not as though this is a bucolic idyll in a sheltered Eden. It is a novel full of contrasts - most obviously between the remote, traditional agrarian life and the rapidly encroaching modern world. This is a very typical Norwegian subject—and typical for many small countries that have gone through such dramatic changes in just a generation or three. Nostalgia looms large.

The book tells the story of Isak and Inger, a married couple seeking to make a living off land that many believe to be a bad business move. We begin with Isak's first steps to create a home in the Norwegian wilds: 'The wilderness was inhabited and unrecognisable, a blessing had come upon it, life had arisen there from a long dream, human creatures lived there, children played about the houses. And the forest stretched away, big and kindly, right up to the blue heights.' He finds a woman, Inger, initially a simple soul, whom life gradually makes more complex. Inger is physically disfigured, but Isak is devoted to her, and the couple works to raise a family and make a life off their land, furrow by furrow, ax blow by ax blow, grows a life. He is the first, the trailblazer.

Gradually other settlers move in  - the idle, the industrious, the promiscuous - creating over decades a community of sorts. This includes the self-seeking Oline, “Never in life would she give in and never her match for turning and twisting heaven and earth to a medley of seeming kindness and malice, poison and senseless words.” One of the most enigmatic characters is Geissler, originally introduced as a decent official with whom Isak has dealings; he helps him at other times and made me wonder if Hamsun was equating him to some Viking deity, “I’m something, I'm the fog as it were, here and there, floating around, sometimes coming like rain on dry ground... There's my son, the lightening.” Years later, men come for the stringing of telegraph wires, the mining of ore in the adjacent mountains. Hamsun presents the incursion of man into nature, the imposition of will on a pristine Nordic first world.

There's a ‘worldly’ balance to the drama, yet Isak's simple virtues prevail - although he's constantly challenged by events, some beyond his control. There, to a degree, he's protected by his guardian angel of a friend, Geissler, a man as complex and mysterious as Isak is simple - but a man equally as virtuous.

Hamsun’s lovely prose pulls the reader into this pioneer ethic where you rejoice which the construction of a new hay loft and dismiss with contempt the inept farmer who sees to his own comfort before that of his stock. On more than one occasion our protagonists easily reject the offer of a few days’ work for ready cash to tend to the more pressing business of hay that needs cutting or timber that needs hauling, much to the puzzlement of the befuddled capitalists in search of local labour.

Many a Scandinavian will recognise Isak’s inscrutable personality, his lack of expression, his need for time to consider a change. And while Isak plods on in life, prospering by the virtues of hard, unceasing labour, those gathered around him demonstrate every other variation of humanity. There’s the flighty and the money-grabbing, the gossip and the fearful… all stand in contrast to his unerring purpose. By the end of the tale our lone walker has become a wealthy and well-respected margrave, patriarch of the richest farm at the heart of a growing agricultural community, whilst the more speculative endeavours of mining and commerce have boomed and busted around him.

The novel is full of biblical motifs from the Old Testament but it’s not a religious themed story. Rather the book is somewhat critical of city life and culture, especially when it threatens the preservation of land and family values. Hamsun’s far right roots poke through at times with his attitude toward the indigenous Lapps, “maggots”, and fairly non-stop jabs at the less than intellectual bent of the otherwise admirable peasantry.

Hamsun convincingly writes of a beautiful celebration of the rural life: “Nothing growing there? All things growing there; men and beasts and fruit of the soil. Isak sowing his corn. The evening sunlight falls on the corn that flashes out in an arc from his hand and falls like a dropping of gold to the ground. Here comes Sivert to the harrowing...Forest and field look on. All is majesty and power - a sequence and purpose of things.” One of the most fascinating aspects of the story was the prevalence of infanticide in Norwegian rural culture (the extent of which is truly shocking as much as it is known by Norwegians today).  

Although Hamsun is never preachy, the lure of the city is something that recurs throughout the tale, and although the city itself is not something shown to be evil, it is more or less, just like the rough parts of nature: indifferent to human happiness and fulfilment. And in some sense, the imposition it can cause is inescapable. Though when asked which will outlast, land will always live without the need for humans, for the city is nothing more than peopled wilderness, or: “the wilderness was peopled country now.” Without the people, the wilderness will always return.

Growth of the Soil becomes the growth of generations - the passage of time and the growth of land that makes its way within the creases of one’s face and hands. The people become their land, and by the end of the novel, Isak is balding, and what the narrator calls “a stump of a man.” He is older and not as physically strong as he once was, but he is not beaten. He continues sowing his grain. “Growth of the soil was something different, a thing to be procured at any cost; the only source, the origin of all.” Later this point is expounded further: “’Tis not all that are so, but you are so; needful of earth. ‘Tis you that maintain life. Generation to generation, breeding ever anew; and when you die, the new stock goes on. That’s the meaning of eternal life.”

In many ways, reading Growth of the Soil is like reading a preview for the later great writers, for one can see American writers like John Steinbeck and Thomas Wolfe have picked amid the themes in this work and made them their own. Yet there are moments when Growth of the Soil can feel a bit verbose for the impatient reader. Yet Hamsun is worth reading because there is no way around him. In the same way what Louis Ferdinand Celine did for French literature, Hamsun tore apart both the grammar and the lexicon of our Norwegian language, mixed high and low, dialect and aristocratic speech, and put all the pieces beautifully together again - in the totally new fashion we call contemporary Norwegian literature. As every Russian writer is rolled out of Gogol’s coat, every Norwegian one is an offspring of Hamsun, admittedly or otherwise.

One can wonder how the story of Norwegian peasants in the 19th century can be relevant today? But as we live so far removed from nature, are so surrounded by words and noise (mostly meaningless) and spend so much time worrying about our psyches, "Growth of the Soil" provides the exact antithesis of our world. It provides a perspective of what is really necessary for life and contentment and what needs to be let go of and what needs to be retained. It is a simple story of simple people, but it is far from shallow. The writing is beautiful and conveys so well the nuances of relationships and the impact of nature on humanity. In all, this is a a very Scandinavian work. Like an iconic Viking ship which combines beauty and simplicity with function, and is capable of navigating both rough seas and shallow rivers, Hamsun's writing has a biblical simplicity that narrates elegantly both life's small and meaningful events as well as its epic arc.

05/16/2020 DAB Transcript

1 Samuel 18:5-19:24, John 8:31-59, Psalms 112:1-10, Proverbs 15:12-14

Today is the 16th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today. It is a joy as we close down another of our weeks together to take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And I was saying it yesterday, what a week it's been, because…especially in the Old Testament, through the book of first Samuel just all of…all of the drama of a monarchy coming to Israel, a new era in Israel and just kind of learning about the first King, Saul and seeing him…ourselves in him in so many ways and then this emergence of David, who has killed a giant named Goliath. That was in yesterday's reading and that's kind of where we left things. So, we’re about to begin to see the repercussions of that as we move forward through today. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week, which is today. First Samuel chapter 18 verse 5 through 19 verse 24.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into and through the center of another month marked day by day by day with the counsel of Your word in our lives. We thank You for that. We thank You for each other. We thank You for community when communities been a lot more difficult to achieve in the last little spell of our lives here on earth. We thank You God for allowing us to just continue forward being together around the Global Campfire. We are grateful and You continue to speak into our lives through Your word. No matter what's going on in the world You are still speaking and transforming us, and we are grateful. And we ask that You continue this work of sanctification, setting us apart, making us holy and our part in that is to continually be in an attitude of repentance, one in which we are willing to change our minds and moving in a new direction and we thank You for the ability to do that. So, come Holy Spirit as we end another week, we invite You completely into every aspect of our lives. We surrender our rights. We surrender our wrongs to You. Come Jesus we pray in Your mighty name, we ask. Amen.

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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, this is Vickie from Arizona and I am calling because I listened to the podcast earlier and I heard Running Desperately to Jesus and she now has custody of her 13-year-old grandson and she’s finding it challenging. And my prayer is that God would just completely overshadow you, overtake you and that you would not be overwhelmed but you would be overjoyed, and you would see that there’s an opportunity. And I know that it can be really, really tough. She…you had said that you’ve been living alone but I just know that God has intervened in this boy’s life and you are his hope and you are a chance. And I pray that God would just give you the grace and the strength that you need to make a difference and whatever time you have with him that you would just…just stay prayed up and know that God has given you this as a gift and that you’re leaving a legacy and I just pray that God would just completely just show you what to do on a day-to-day minute by minute basis. So, I just want you to know that you’ve been on my heart and I’m believing for a miracle with your name on it and your grandson’s name on it. And I pray for all of us that have to go through things that are not fun and not comfortable. I’ve been without my son and my husband for over two years. Actually, Friday will be the two-year mark for my husband’s passing and I’m actually coveting your prayers on May 15th. Just, you know, a day of remembering. And that I am praying for God to bring more people in my life. He said he puts the lonely in friends and that us what I’m praying for, that God would put me in a family and I wouldn’t be lonely in Jesus’ name I’m praying and I ask you to agree with me for that prayer request. Thank you all, I love you, God bless you, have a great day.

Hello this is Terry from Toledo and I was just listening to the May 12th podcast and I heard the lady whose husband is in hospice. My heart goes out to you. When my father was dying, they gave us a little book from hospice and the first part of it said, “dying is the sacred rite of passage.” That has stuck with me through the whole thing. He died in 2013 and it still sticks with me. It’s a sacred rite of passage. And we are…we have the privilege and honor of helping them transition from this life to the next. So, I hope that helps you. And for the other lady that called today about her son, Father God we just pray right now for the children. We ask right now Lord that You just come and touch them in a special way today. Help them know Your presence, help them know that You love them and that You care for them. And help us moms and grandmom’s, the prayer warriors of the family not give up hope. Keep pressing in and keep believing that You will work all things together for good and that if we train up a child in the way that he should go he will not depart from it. Thank You, Lord in Jesus’ name we pray. Bless you Brian, Jill. Bless you China and Ben and bless you all Daily Audio Bible. I love you. Bye.

Bonjour this is Cindy the flute player. Pray with me please. Dear Father thank You for a praying community and thank You Father for those that prayed specifically for me. Thank You for a community that loves You word, that loves people. We’re willing to stand in the gap for each other. Thank You that even though my own church doesn’t know me, thank You that Daily Audio Bible really knows me. Thank You for Your kindness to each of us. Thank You for every blessing. Thank You for the woodshed experience. Father whatever it is that You want to cleanse so badly, do it, take out what grieves You but in the process will You strengthen my heart, my resolve to live well, my desire to keep reaching out, will You hear my heart that in all that I have ever wanted is for people to love You, to be reconciled to each other, that the things that have been stolen will be returned, that the people that had been stolen will be returned. I submit my emotions to You, and I commit to seeing life through Your eyes, Your eternal eyes. I thank You that we can depend on Your word, Your heart, Your character. Thank You for the prayers of the lady from DAB that asked for someone to step up in the gap, stand in the gap for me. Thank You for Dawn, thank You for the interview on the phone yesterday. Thank You for Your word that says there’s repentance that can lead unto righteousness. Father by Your grace, by Your spirit, bring true repentance over my reservation, over my family, over my country. It seems Father that You’re leading me to another spot on the earth to be with indigenous people that love You with all their heart. Thank You for the Father. Open that door if it is Your perfect and most pleasing will. I don’t want second-best or just good enough. So, I want to say one of my favorite parts about DAB, I love you…oops…this is Cindy I love you and I’ll meet you here tomorrow.

I know you’re probably feeling broken right now and hurting but I want to stop and give you some perspective. Clear your mind and picture yourself sitting in this moment in the darkness and in the pain, but someone comes up beside you, kneels on the floor to you and whispers in your ear, “beloved I hear your cries of your heart, I know the things that you are longing for, the things that you’re hoping for, the things that you have been seeking before. Trust me. I have a perfect plan. My timing may be different than what you are expecting but know that I am never late. Keep on seeking me and I will provide for you.” God is with you in this moment. Let Him into your brokenness and just seek Him. I love this community and I just want to know…or I just want to let you guys know that I am I’m praying for you. So, thank you.

Hello, DABbers this is Elisa Marie from Dinuba California today is May 13th and I’m calling on behalf of a sister that called in yesterday May 12th for her father who the doctors had given up on him and he’s dying. She’s in Mexico and waiting to fly to Korea to be with her father. I don’t think she gave her name, but my heart went out to her. So, I’m gonna say a prayer. But first of all, the Scripture that came to mind was Isaiah 38:4,5…38:4,5, and 6 where Hezekiah was given a word from the Lord that he was to…he was going to be dying soon from the illness that he had and then he turned his face to the wall and cried out to God for mercy and God granted him 15 more years. So, we’re gonna pray that God will grant your father 15 more years to live. Father I come to You Father God on behalf of my sister and in agreement with my sister and all who are playing for her that You would have mercy Father God, that You would send forth Your word and heal her Father from this illness that’s bringing destruction to his body. Your word says that You send forth Your word and You healed him, and You delivered his body from all destruction. So, we ask that by in Jesus’ stripes he is healed. We ask You for mercy Father God. We ask You to send someone to his bedside to deliver to him the word of salvation, the word of hope. And we ask for peace and comfort for the whole family Lord. Get our sister to Korea safe and sound Father God where she will be able to speak with her dad Father God. We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you, father. Love you DABbers. Have a great day.

Well good morning Daily Audio Bible family. I was listening to May the 12th as I’m catching up and our Korean sister was praying for her dad as he is losing his grasp and his grip on life. And they’ve been encouraged to say their goodbyes. This is Sandra from Centennial Colorado and I am just wanting to pray for you my sister. Heavenly father you can see both this dear woman and her father at the same time right now and I pray that in the name of Jesus you place your hand over both of them and allow nothing that is apart from your plan to enter into their experience. Oh, heavenly Father we need You so desperately. Thank You so much for coming to this place, for invading this world of pain. Thank You so much for taking things that were intended to be evil for us and turning them into things that bring glory to You and relief to us. I pray that, as Victoria Soldier says in the name of Jesus, I can’t say it as well as she does Lord but You know how much we both love it, in the name of Jesus You be with this dear sister and with her dear Father. Grant him years if it is Your will that he may serve You longer. Grant her courage to face whatever it is that You allow her to walk through with You at her side and we will be careful to thank You for it is in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.

Every day praising an indigenous character —Day 36

Kahhori from What If…?

Kahhori is a young Mohawk who discovered that the Tesseract turned a lake in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy into a portal to the stars, leading her on a quest to discover its power. She will appear in the second season of What If…?

There is still no official information on who will voice the character, but since the beginning of the year there has been talk of Kiawentiio's name to lend the voice to the original character. The actress will play the live action version of Katara in Netflix's new Avatar series.

Revisiting Journey and Abzu, I Found Myself More Depressed About Our World’s Future

This is from the September edition of Play Underground’s monthly digest. In that edition, we focused on walking simulators! This edition is available for our patrons starting at $5 a month. If you aren’t a patron, $6 via Ko-fi will get you a copy.

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As the days go by, it’s become easier and easier to lose hope. I don’t want to sound like a fatalist, but it’s true. Scientists say that climate change will be irreversible in 11 years. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it seems that human civilization will crumble by 2050. Every day the world seems to be shrieking in anguish. It has become harder and harder to ignore her cries, or to know how to help. 

It’s also become more common in my present day to revisit old pieces of art and media only to find that their exaggerated, absurd, or apocalyptic scenarios are simply regular, everyday life for us now in these turbulent times. My most recent experience of this was when I revisited 2 of my favorite games, Journey and Abzu. As I returned to these games with the intent of figuring out what I wanted to write about, I found myself often struck by the distinct scenarios one finds themself in when playing these games, and how much they feel like premonitions.

Journey and Abzu were released in 2012 and 2016, respectively. While neither are old games by any means, they both were released just before the moment we are currently in where we all collectively feel that nothing could possibly get worse, and then it does. Climate change has been talked about for decades now, but the painting of an apocalyptic future scientists have warned us about has been getting less and less impressionistic since 2016. Both of these games were developed and out in the world well before this moment of maximum capacity. The conversation these games have with our current culture should theoretically be over, yet upon revisiting them, I found a representation more accurate than ever before. 

Let me begin with Journey, the older sibling of the two, a game praised for its music, emotional impact, and finding power in simplicity. In this game, a player controls a robed figure in a massive desert, with the goal of traveling towards a mountain in the distance. As you travel through the desert, you find relics from a once thriving civilization. Art covers the walls of ancient buildings that depict the rise and fall of the civilization that your character belongs to, which also parallels the journey of the character. The main enemies of the game that you must avoid are massive flying automatons that are left over from a war that ended the civilization.

As I finished yet another playthrough of the game, I found myself once again moved to tears. This time however, it was for very different reasons. I could not have predicted before booting up this game again in 2019 that I would be hit with such an impact upon realizing just how much this game is a potential self portrait of humanity’s future. The desert setting certainly isn’t far off from what a world ravaged by climate catastrophe might look like. What hit home for me the most was the fact that the automatons are the last thing remaining in this world after ending the civilization. The idea of military technology being our downfall doesn’t seem so fictional when the United States military is Earth’s biggest polluter. After feeling emotionally ruined in my playthrough, I went on to replay Abzu, and then fell into another emotional sinkhole. I did not know that the rug could be pulled out from under me again. 

The game Abzu follows the journey of a female diver in a vast ocean. As you play the game, you explore various underwater environments, interact with sea life, and reanimate the ocean using magical springs. The story and design of the game take inspiration from Sumerian mythology and Middle Eastern culture. In the game, there are pyramid shaped devices that are harvesting energy from the ocean. It is clear that these devices are what are upsetting the ecosystem and are what caused the destruction of this game’s civilization. As you progress through the game, it is revealed that the diver is a mechanical being whose existence actually comes from the pyramid like structures that are destroying the ocean. The diver ends up teaming up with a great white shark to bring life back to the oceans, and revitalizes the world. 

While the water based setting of Abzu is in stark contrast to the desert of Journey, they both seem equally accurate as potential apocalyptic futures. As the temperatures rise and the ice caps melt, it seems like we will all be living underwater very soon. Once again like in Journey, the downfall of Abzu’s civilization is due to the machinery that was created. All that’s left of the cultures in both games are the evil machines they fashioned, mindlessly continuing the uncaring and violent mechanisms they were made for. 

None of this sounds hopeful, but reality never seems to be either. I do think however it would be a disservice to both of these beautiful games if I tried to argue that the main message at their cores was pessimism towards our future. Both of these games, while dystopian in nature, carry the seeds of hope within them. Journey and Abzu are both stories of sacrifice and perseverance. In Journey, you are on an emotional ride that borders on religious experience. Your character is willing to sacrifice their life for their people, their mission, and their beliefs. One of the major points of gameplay in Journey is that you can play with another player online anonymously. While this may seem like a random or inconsequential gimmick, it actually adds a comforting reality to the story: you are not alone. You are not the last of your people. There are others, and you can help one another to bring about a better future for the both of you. Your existence in the game brings a beautiful red color back to cloth based beings that help you progress through your journey as you interact with them. There is still a future and each being in the game can help you towards a good one, anonymous or not. While all of us may feel powerless in the current state of the world, none of us have to suffer in it by ourselves. By the time you reach that mountain, you are no longer the person you once were. You and your character have been reborn, for the better. 

While Journey focuses mostly on what is needed for an individual, Abzu is a great companion in that the center is much more about the collective and the environment. The sacrifice your character makes in Abzu is for the greater good of the world itself. After the diver realizes that they themselves are a member of the very civilization that is responsible for the destruction of the ocean, they forego their connection to that history for the sake of a better collective future. Your character acknowledges their sins, and decides to make right with the world rather than continue down the path history laid out for them. There is a beautiful twist that occurs as you progress through the game. At first, it seems that the great white shark is one of your major enemies. You quickly realize however that the machinery you are a part of is the actual enemy, while the shark and the other natural creatures of the ocean are your true allies and friends. As you finish the game and the credits roll, you can control the diver in a pristine and beautiful ocean while swimming alongside the great white shark. The cycle of violence is broken, and the ocean is clean and teeming with life once again. I wanted to weep at the thought of a future like that, a world without something like the Great Pacific garbage patch. 

It is clear to me now that the future of our planet depends on our willingness to forego everything we once knew. In both Journey and Abzu, a hopeful and utopian future only came after the destruction of a flawed present, and the depressing period thereafter. The downfall of entire civilizations in these games also meant the ending of the violent systems that had been pushing towards calamity. We must be willing to acknowledge our wrongdoings, both as individuals and as a collective. The characters you play as are all fundamentally changed by the end of the story in these 2 games. We will all have to make sacrifices, whether they be personal, political, technological, or otherwise, and learn from our past and the cultures within it. Much of the inspiration for Journey and Abzu come from non-white, non-western, and indigenous cultures, whose practices and histories are inextricable from environmental justice and liberation. War and colonialism are massive factors of climate catastrophe both in these games and in real life. 

It appears to me now that we must all go on our respective journeys, to find ourselves and what our relationship to the world and one another must be. None of us will be able to come out of it clean, for none of us live in a world that is. The end of human civilization as we currently know it might just be the only option ahead of us. Perhaps though, there is a much needed future in collapse, and glory in rebirth. I pray that we all find it, if not for our own sake then for the world that comes after we are all gone. 

Author Spotlight: Aida Salazar

What are your literary influences?

My literary influences come from disparate sources. I studied a wide variety of theory in college and graduate school — everyone from Roland Barthes to Judith Butler to Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga to Bell Hooks to Mikail Baktin to Subcomandante Marcos. I also read poetry voraciously including everyone from Waslowa Simbroska to Lorna Dee Cervantes, Audre Lorde, Rumi, Wole Soyinka, Juan Felipe Herrera. I was marveled by the fiction of Milan Kundera, Arundati Roy, Elena Poniatowska and all of the Latin American magical realists – Asturias, Garcia Marquez, Allende, Esquivel. But also, American writers such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Helena Maria Viramontes, Ana Castillo, Julia Alvarez and Christina Garcia. I was drawn to authors from the margin almost exclusively. In a sense, I created my own canon in this way.

It wasn’t until I became a mother that I truly started reading children’s literature. My children and I found an oasis in our weekly visits to the library. In Oakland, we are fortunate to have a comprehensive Spanish language collection at the Cesar Chavez Library and we often checked out the forty-book limit! However, many of the books were authored by non Latinx writers and were translated into Spanish. While these books served to reinforce the Spanish language in our family, I saw the huge lack of writings from Latinx creators. I wanted to be a part of filling that gap. I wanted for my children to not only see their language reflected in books but their cultures and their sensibilities. That is why I always praise the work of those Latinx authors who forged the way so that new Latinx kidlit authors could have a seat at the table. We stand on the shoulders of giants and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention their work. Authors such as Pura Belpre, Gary Soto, Sandra Cisneros, Alma Flor Ada, Pat Mora, Carmen Lomas Garza, Francisco X. Alarcon, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Victor Martinez really set the stage for us to be able to tell our stories to young audiences too.

What was the first book you read where you identified with one of the characters?

As a young child, I didn’t understand that I was missing in the narratives of books that I read. I loved Judy Blume. I loved Shell Silverstein. I loved Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventure books. I connected to those books by default, in a similar way that I connected to mass media that also didn’t include me in their blond-haired blue-eyed middle-class, English-only narratives. There was no other option. It wasn’t until I was eighteen and in college that I enrolled in a Latino (we called it that back then) literature course that I saw myself reflected in a book. I remember reading the short story “My Lucy Friend That Smells Like Corn,” in Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and feeling a moment that I can only describe as grace. I realized that I had been missing in almost everything I had read up until that point. My experiences were alive and validated in that story. It was exhilarating.

Did that experience lead you to want to write books for readers with diverse backgrounds?

I was so inspired by reading all of the books in that Latino literature class. It was an awakening not only to the world of Latinx literature but to the possibility that I too could be a writer. I had been writing poetry and stories since I was a young teenager but those writings remained in my notebooks and journals. After reading their work, I began to take myself seriously and began to understand the writing that lived in my heart could be something I could aspire to do as a living someday. However, my awakening is one that should have not taken eighteen years and I want to be part of making sure that doesn’t happen to other children.  

Your characters in The Moon Within have interesting intersections. Could you speak to why this was important to build into your book?

I did this intentionally. My children are multi-racial and bi-cultural like two of the characters, Celi and Iván. It is not uncommon to see many different mixed children in the San Francisco Bay Area where we live. I find it beautiful how they navigate multiple cultures – sometimes with a sense of wonder and pride and sometimes with neglect or shame and every feeling in between. It’s complicated and certainly isn’t always seamless given so much discussion over racial and cultural purity that is happening today. Through those characters, I wanted to show this negotiation, how they deal with these fusions. I wanted to show readers what it might look like for someone to celebrate and embrace all of who they are. Similarly, I wanted to show with the gender fluid character, Marco, the intersectionality of his identity as a gender fluid Mexican that happens to be in love with playing bomba (a Afro-Puertorican form of music). It was important to show readers that we could be queer and Mexican, Black Puerto Rican Mexican, and Black and Mexican. The range of identities are part of the beauty of who they are, and serve to strengthen and not weaken them. 

Music infuses the whole world of The Moon Within …can you speak a little on that, a little on what role music plays in your own life?

Ironically, I am not a musician though I have a good ear and I love to dance. I am married to a musician and there has not been one day in the eighteen years since we’ve been together when we did not engage in some way with music – listening, playing, singing, dancing or just being in a house filled with instruments and an extraordinary recorded music collection. Our children were naturally born into this environment and took to music right away. I realized that this was a unique experience and that it could be a wonderful world to explore in this book. I wanted to normalize music and the arts as a way of life but also, wanted to inspire readers to seek out the arts as a way to find agency as the children in the book did through traditional music and dance. These are superpowers that unfortunately, with the cutting of the arts for decades now, we don’t have access to as much.

I made a playlist on Spotify that includes all of the styles of music that inspired The Moon Within – bomba, indigenous Mexican music, Caribbean music, and lots of moon related songs in Spanish and in English. It can be found here: https://spoti.fi/2FSnZgM . I hope that you enjoy it!

This Author Spotlight appeared in the April 2019 issue of the CBC Diversity Newsletter. To sign up for our monthly Diversity newsletter click here. 

Aida Salazar is a writer, arts advocate, and home-schooling mother who grew up in South East LA. She received an MFA in Writing from the California Institute of the Arts, and her writings have appeared in publications such as the Huffington Post, Women and Performance: Journal of Feminist Theory, and Huizache Magazine. Her short story, By the Light of the Moon, was adapted into a ballet by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history. Aida lives with her family of artists in a teal house in Oakland, CA.

REVIEW OF GOOD OMENS (SPOILERS)

Having feverishly consumed both the entire book and then the entire TV show in the last three or so days (for the first time!), here’s my thoughts.

 (Yeah, yeah, I know, the book’s been out for ages & I’m probably not the first person to say any of this. But I’m new to it, eh?)

I. AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY

Brilliant. Really fucking brilliant. Even more brilliant in the show than the book, I think, because their relationship really has room to spread its wings (so to speak). The cold open in episode three was possibly the best part of the entire show (and also a FUCKING POWER MOVE).

Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s acting and chemistry was incredible-- I have basically no complaints about the two of them. Although I do have a lot of gushing praise and also a lot of feelings. I loved the extra dialogue between them that was added in in the show, and the acting really did add something to the characters and relationship that already existed in the book.

Well, well done.

<3

II. HEAVEN AND HELL

Adding in Heaven and Hell was a cool touch! It was interesting to get to see them outside of the commentary we get from Aziraphale and Crowley about them.

Gabriel was fun, too, good addition.

The Voice of God was an interesting way to adapt Pratchett’s everpresent Voice of the Narrator, and was a touching nod (I thought) to the author’s style of writing.

III. THE THEM

I was a bit disappointed at finding the children not-very-compelling in the show. They’re just not very convincin characters, I dunno-- I didn’t fall in love with them. Also, I think there’s some narrative weakness in the book in terms of Things Sorting Themselves Out Too Quickly that 1) makes it feel like time is moving really fast and things aren’t getting the weight they deserve and 2) the resolutions of problems aren’t deserved, because they weren’t set up far enough in advance to be believable, and there wasn’t enough hard work to get to them. This problem persisted in the TV show.

IV. ANATHEMA AND NEWT

I actually quite liked Anathema and Newt in the show, although I wish they were developed a little more. Unlike the Them, I found them to be more compelling, well-developed characters... it just felt like we didn’t spend enough time with them.

V. SHADWELL AND MADAME TRACY

Shadwell and Madame Tracy are fun characters, but I found them a little tedious in the amount of time that both the show and the book takes up. I simply didn’t find them interesting enough to spend so much time with, and it was a little grating to continually see Shadwell being so disrespectful... just got annoying after a while. Same to Madame Tracy’s massive crush on him despite his numerous character flaws... as this article points out, it seemed odd that they’d end up together.

VI. BITS THAT WERE CUT OUT

I think I’ve already gone over most of the bits that were added (which I really liked, on the whole!). Here’s my opinions on some of the cut-out bits:

1. Minor Racist Elements

Good riddance! These made me super uncomfortable in the book, and include:

-Aziraphale’s body-hopping between various (mostly Indigenous) people performing religious ceremonies

-Shadwell’s minor racism (I’m pretty sure he calls his landlord a “darkie,” yikes)

-Madame Tracy’s made-up Native American “spirit guide”

2. The biker gang

I thought they were kind of funny, actually, although somewhat unneccessary. I’m not mad that they’re gone, but that bit is worth reading if you haven’t read the book

3. Various narrative explanations

There was some stuff happening in the TV show that wasn’t as well-explained as it was in the book; for example, the fact that every tape put into Crowley’s car eventually becomes a Queen tape, which isn’t mentioned at all and is quite hilarious. Having read the book, I still understood why various things were happening but I don’t know if any of it would’ve been more confusing if I had not.

4. Minor details

I’m pretty sure one of the aliens is supposed to look like a Dalek, and that’s just funny. Especially since BBC co-produced it, seems like copyright wouldn’t be an issue, but oh well.

5. Running jokes

I get that there isn’t that much time on a TV series, but there were so many running jokes in the book that barely appeared once in the actual show that I was a bit sad. (Another Pratchett-ism lost, I think). The sigil, Des Moines, the Queen tapes, ineffability... I think the only ones that were really kept in were Dick Turpin and the Great Southern Pansy line.

VII. ADDED DIVERSITY

I appreciated that the show added in more women and people of color (many of the characters are gender- or race- changed from their presentation in the books, including Pollution, Famine, Beelzebub, Pepper, Adam/Eve, Ligur, Michael, and God, though the latter two are more of a show-invention).

On the other hand, I don’t know if all the episodes passed the Bechdel test, so it still could’ve done better. I think there’s also been a post going around about POC characters that probably talks more in-depth about their general lack of protagonistness.

VIII. OTHER BITS

Overall, I really like the sort of chaotic fun and loving relationships of Good Omens. I think the problems that I had with it (both show and book) were related to the problems I’ve found when reading Pratchett’s material before (I must confess I haven’t read much of Gaiman’s stuff); i.e., while his tangents and asides are fun (and such things can be well-done! See: the Bartimaeus trilogy, which I think Crowley would get a kick out of), I get a bit annoyed when the author’s fancy creates dead ends. I like it when the “why” of magic is explained, and there never seem to be quite consistent rules in Pratchett’s universes. Additionally, the mass of characters makes for some good fun jumping around (I never ended up in an “oh no, we’re with the awful, boring characters now” moment, although sometimes I wished scenes would hurry up so we could get back to Crowley/Aziraphale scenes), there were almost too many to care about-- lots of the minor-er characters didn’t pop up often enough in the book for me to connect all the dots about their stories. The Horsemen, for example, I would’ve liked to have seen more details about in the show, especially.

And that’s it, for now! Thanks for reading :)

PSA: Nima and Other OCs

So, this is an announcement I’ve needed to make for a while.

Nothing is concrete, but I think it’s important to give people a heads up. First off:

I need to express my deep gratitude to those of you who read Sea of Chains, to those of you who have actually become fans of my characters, especially Nima. The fact that there are those of you out there who really love Nima as a character not just as a Kainora fanchild, but as an actual character of her own right. She’s really grown since I created her around Septempter 2014. Nearly 4 whole years ago. Nima’s really special to me because she helped me love me. And really helped me come to a place where I think being brown is beautiful. Before her, my characters were so often white and it was due to a deeper issue of the beauty standards I held in relation to myself. She was a gateway to helping me love POC self. Through her, so many of my other characters came to be who I now love and cherish with all my heart.

The fact that there are those of you who love her, too, and love her enough to care about her journey and who she is really I can never describe the things that does to my heart. It gives me hope. It gives me confidence.

Because of this, I want Nima, and all the characters I’ve created to be my future. I want to take these characters into an original world of my own making. This original world is, essentially, an indigenous fantasy where the primary setting will be inspired largely by indigenous and non-western cultures. It’s not going to be an Avatar clone, no. Anybody who knows me knows I am meticulous about my worldbuilding and I already have a foundation I’m building.

Does this mean you’re going to stop writing fanfiction?

Currently? No. One day I would love to take this new world into professional heights, but we are even close not that. Sea of Chains will still be written, their sequels and all the other fan projects I want to do. As far as fan works go it’s business as usual. But most creators have this natural shift where they leave a fandom and start doing other things on their own or in other fandoms. I don’t know when that shift will be for me, but it’s not anytime soon.

What’s the plan?

The plan is this: Over the next year I’ll probably be brewing on it, developing the world and the story, etc. I’m hoping to get into the BFA program for my major and when I do, there’s a major project that we have to do to display our skills that can be on anything we want. My project, I know, will be to introduce this world.

Things will probably shift naturally when it’s time comes. The Korra fandom has largely quieted, too. While I would love to work on more Korra stuff in the future, I know that eventually the time will probably come when we part ways. At least with canon.

Will we lose any characters that are around right now?

Only in the sense that I’ll have to divorce Nima (and other characters that are lok fan  children) from Kai and JInora at some point. I know, it’s painful for me too to think about, but that’s why I’m doing it slowly. Eventually, when lok becomes less interesting to me at my core over the years, it’ll subside on it’s own as I develop Nima’s parents in her own world. To some extent, she’ll always be Kai and Jinora’s daughter? This AU, on some level, will always exist depending on where I go with it. Change is good, I suppose, even if it’s strange and the transition hurts. But the characters will be rehashed. But this AU will always exist on some level. Right now it exists in it’s entirety. I don’t even know what medium I’ll want this new world to be in. But I feel like this Kainora AU will Nima will always exist to me. It’s a special place both in and out of the world.

I’ll leave it behind as much as I have to (esp for legal reason), but I doubt I’ll leave it behind entirely. It’ll always be alive is what I’m saying. Even when I run out of anchor stories I wanna tell. @thethiefandtheairbender has created an amazing world here. It has grown staggeringly beyond what either of us expected and it’s delivered so much. I don’t think I’ll ever be quite as grateful, not in the same way, for an AU than this one. What she’s done by creating this AU has, bar none, changed my life. And she deserves every iota of credit and praise for it.

Concerning my project, again, none of this is even close to getting off the ground. I want to develop it properly, let my love for it grow, etc. Give it time. Let it have it’s own life in my head. Nima is still Kai and Jinora’s daughter and the fact of the matter is that’s where she was born from. But it’s a unique situation because yes it started in a fan situation but she’s still my character. I created her. I can put her in any world I wish. Same goes for my other ocs.

Nobody needs to stop thinking of Nima as Kai and Jinora’s daughter at all or anytime soon. I know I’m not. Who knows where my life will lead? Feel free to ask me any questions you guys have! As an FYI I don’t mind questions at all, tbh. I love them, in fact. I just need some patience and please be nice about them (though please be honest). Nothing is happening overnight. This is just an announcement that those things are in development. I want Nima and all the characters I created to be my future of some kind and that’s ultimately my goal here.

Thank you for reading all of this!

Highlights Of Japan

Starting in Kushiro on the east coast, you’ll journey north, heading into the winter wilderness of Akan-Mashu National Park. Visit UNESCO World Heritage nature reserves, expertise spectacular snow-covered landscapes, and spot uncommon wildlife distinctive to Hokkaido earlier than ending your adventure on the magnificent Shiretoko Peninsula. This 16-day adventure tour is specifically designed for nature lovers, the place you may visit distant locations rarely seen by vacationers, go on stunning hikes with beautiful scenery, and visit islands brimming with life. Leave the hustle and bustle of Tokyo behind as you traverse the well-worn paths of the mountain mystics, and luxuriate in a ship journey down Takachiho Gorge. Experience the tranquil magic of a Japanese winter during this immersive 8-day itinerary. Japan’s bustling capital metropolis is doubtless certainly one of the world’s most original locations to go to, offering a range of activities and points of interest which would possibly be second to none. If you are a first time customer, it could possibly all be somewhat daunting trying to determine what to see and what to leave out. Many of our excursions from cruise ports uniquely embody experiences that are totally different from large cruise lines’ excursions. Enjoy a tour overlooking our web site, choose your favorite shore excursions, contact us, and ready for unforgettable experiences. Shore Excursions Asia tailor-makes distinctive day excursions, sightseeing adventures and activities to assist vacationers discover Asia on their way. We are a passionate group of 100 avid travelers who love to share our experiences of Asia with those looking for a extra authentic journey experience. Tokyo can be the apparent starting point of a visit to Japan with its visions of the future located aspect by side with glimpses of old Japan. To obtain an thought of the size of the town, head to any one of the three building’s viewing platforms affording superb panoramic views – the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the World Trade Centre. San Joaquin County Parks & Recreation > Parks > Micke Grove Regional Park > Japanese Backyard After the collapse of Tokugawa rule in 1868 many of these gardens reverted to government ownership and after World War II all of them had been steadily taken over by Tokyo metropolitan authorities. Tottori Prefectural Flower Park offers different faces of seasonal magnificence all 12 months round, and with totally lined walkways for enjoyment in any weather. Free shuttle bus from Yonago Station and free parking for drivers. Taking a stroll on this garden would be an incredible expertise and it’s relaxing as properly. Tourists should head over to this stunning traditional Japanese landscape garden every time they go to Hama Rikyu Garden and other fascinating landmarks in Minato ward such as Tokyo Tower, and Roppongi Hills. This massive panorama backyard can be present in central Tokyo, near Tokyo Bay. You can see many seawater ponds that change with the tides, as well as tea-house that sits on an island. This backyard has a long history, serving as a feudal lord’s residence to an imperial strolling backyard. If you visit, get pleasure from strolling across the peaceful landscape and remember to visit the tea house. In the spring, this is among the greatest locations on the planet to view cherry blossoms, whereas in autumn, it provides great views of the changing leaves. The gardens on the Adachi Museum of Art near Matsue in Shimane Prefecture in western Japan are often voted the most effective within the nation and praise the art of Yokoyama Taikan and different artists inside the museum. The six-part gardens have been laid out by famed designer Kinsaku Nakane and the totally different styles embody the Dry Landscape Garden, The White Gravel & Pine Garden, the Moss Garden and the Pond Garden. Finally, in the Kagawa Prefecture, very near Okayama,Ritsurin Koen in Takamatsu is probably considered one of the most beautiful strolling gardens in southern Japan. Ponds, teahouses, and walking paths may be discovered in this leisure garden of the old native lords. A few hours from Kyoto, you presumably can view the gardens surrounding the Adachi Museum of Art. 8 Most Breathtaking Temples & Shrines In Tokyo, Japan In the only terms, temples are Buddhist, whereas shrines are Shinto. In Japan, you'll find Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in each metropolis, town, or village, and even in remote mountain areas. Christianity isn’t very common, but Buddhism and Shintoism have been practiced in Japan for tons of of years. Many Japanese folks establish with both and there aren't any restrictions of doing so. Or simply take off your footwear and place them neatly in front of the wooden platform at the steps. Also often known as the Pure Water Temple, Kiyomizudera is among the country’s most celebrated temples. It is finest known for its wooden stage with a spectacular view of gorgeous maple and cherry bushes within the fall. The primary hall is ringed by a large veranda that juts out onto the hillside and presents majestic views of town. This grand temple had a nine-story pagoda which was constructed at the beginnings of Buddhism in Japan. Such famous temples as Kiyomizu-dera, Enryaku-ji and Kōtoku-in are temples which use the described naming sample. Superb Sizzling Springs In Japan As you might anticipate, these are available varying degrees of legitimacy — particularly, beware any place promoting "esthe", "well being", or "soap" — but most are surprisingly first rate. Onsen, or hot spring baths, are a staple of Japanese tradition. While Japan sits at a precarious place on the Pacific Ring of Fire , its tectonic luck has resulted in the formation of 1000's of pure sizzling springs, many with time-honored therapeutic qualities. This tasteful and trendy public bath takes one of the best components from the traditional appreciation of onsen bathing and brings them into the up to date day. Located not far from Narita airport it’s easy to entry from basically wherever in the metropolis. The powder-covered park claims to be the only place on the earth where you possibly can watch monkeys bathing in scorching springs — though we’re sorry to report that you can’t take part on the enjoyable. The oceanfront handle provides a combination of Western- and Japanese-style bedrooms, every featuring its own terrace and romantic open-air tub. Enjoy the native waters with a trip all the means down to the seashore, where a communal scorching spring sits within toes of the waves. While you’re within the area, you could wish to visit a customary group onsen. A quick drive will take you into the ancient temple town of Shuzenji, the place you’ll discover Tokko No Yu — one of many oldest and most celebrated hot springs in Japan. Dogo, in Shikoku island, is the oldest onsen in Japan, boasting three,000 years of history. It options a large, castle-like bathhouse and quite a few ryokan. This bathhouse, the Honkan, inspired parts of the Studio Ghibli movie Spirited Away. Alternatively, the Limited Express Kusatsu connects Ueno Station and Naganohara-Kusatsuguchi immediately and is also covered by the Japan Rail Pass. The bus runs solely twice within the weekdays and once on weekends, so please examine the timetables through Hyperdia or in a JR Office. 2.Public baths are normally the principle attraction of ryokans, with a great deal of efforts put in. Most ryokans offer you a giant towel to dry off with and a small towel to clean your self with. Some locations present facilities similar to hair dryers, rest areas, merchandising machines, and make-up tables. After that you just go to the bathe area to wash yourself, earlier than you may be ready to go inside the bathtub. Once you finish showering please ensure you clean every little thing round you, together with the faucet, and put the stool back the way in which it was earlier than, and so on. First and foremost, please go to the proper baths, usually marked with blue for males and purple for females. Then go to the changing space the place you want to take off your clothes and go naked, with solely a small towel in your hand. A favourite destination for vacationers in Japan is the stress killingonsen, 100% pure happiness. The Development Of Japanese Museums And Artwork Galleries Upcoming exhibitions embrace one on what it means to be human, exploring AI, robotics and our future lives (19 Nov – 29 March). Upopoy Ainu National MuseumThe foremost place in Japan to study Ainu culture, Upopoy opened in 2020 as the first national museum devoted to the history and tradition of the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan. It is surrounded by a lakeside park that features some reconstructed, conventional Ainu homes and various other facilities to expertise Ainu culture. Some of its well-known exhibitions embody exhibits featuring Van Gogh, Munch, and Klimt. Along with housing a rigorously curated assortment of work, this museum additionally provides academic insight into the history and ideals of the inventive masters featured. Within a 10-minute walk from Roppongi Station sits one of the largest exhibition areas in Japan. The National Art Center is an intricately designed museum, that includes temporary exhibitions, together with world-famous artists like Monet and Magritte. While located in an area that’s well-known for buying and nightlife, this museum is a small oasis of gorgeous grounds away from the busy streets. The museum displays the historical past and techniques of animation, and it has a small theater which exhibits short motion pictures by Studio Ghibli which are exclusive to the museum. Many of the studio's hottest characters could be found at the museum in varieties corresponding to life-sized statues and huge plush toys. SCMAGLEV and Railway ParkThe SCMAGLEV and Railway Park informs about the advances in high pace rail in Japan. It shows numerous precise trains together with historic steam locomotives, world report setting experimental shinkansen and the newest magnetic levitating trains . The museum additionally has simulators where visitors can strive driving a practice or experience the duties of a prepare conductor in management of opening and shutting the doors. The Railway MuseumThe Railway Museum showcases an impressive assortment of previously used train cars together with steam and diesel locomotives, as properly as retired shinkansen , passenger and freight vehicles. The museum recounts the historical past of railway in Japan, teaches prepare operation using interesting simulators, and explains railway know-how as it evolved over time. 420 Cool And Weird Things To Do In Japan As a end result, in order to forestall travellers from dashing, this trip is broken up into 2 days. This will make certain that you get to enjoy the entirety of the mountaineering expertise. The climb begins on the Murodo Bus Terminal where climbers will make the brief journey to the Tsurumi peak. Considered a difficult climb, it is important that participants are in good bodily condition and have the proper tools. Glamping strives to provide facilities usually absent from commonplace tenting, whereas at the similar time providing all the benefits that camping brings with itself. Glamping has moved into the center of attention as it caters to the needs of individuals who want to enjoy nature with out its hardships, and as a method of stress aid for high-end workers. Visitors can also enjoy cross-country snowboarding and snowshoeing to walk around on the snow in the vicinity of the slopes. This field of snow will fulfill skiers of all levels, from beginners to consultants, as nicely as those that don’t ski. As dad and mom and educators, we imagine that studying about cultures helps children respect variety and cultivate a eager interest in the world at giant. Here, we convey you a combine of Japanese cultural activities, from trendy studying, Japanese crafts to traditional games that you can explore along with your children at residence. "Our primary purpose is to not educate participants adventure skills however to assist them grow as individuals through nature actions," says Mamoru Hirose, deputy basic of the college. "We encourage members to push themselves beyond their perceived limits and achieve greater than they believe they can." Prime 20 Festivals In Tokyo, Japan Japan Deluxe Tours is very happy to arrange a customized Japan tour to partake in Tohoku's best summer festivals. Hatsumode – the primary go to to a temple or shrine for the model new 12 months. This is a huge event for Japanese folks and there are often huge lines for major temples and shinto shrines. The Seattle Cherry Blossom and Japanese Culture Festival, April 24-26, is a free event that’s open to the public, celebrating both Japanese and Japanese-American tradition. The authentic purpose of this festival was to strengthen cultural bonds between Japan and the United States, and it is timed with the blossoming of the sakura in Seattle, Washington. The festival celebrates Japanese style, artwork, and music, with performances of taiko drumming and martial arts. This is widely known with picnics within the park, particular celebrations and quite a few festivals right throughout Japan. Famous areas embody Ueno Park in Tokyo, the grounds of Himeji Castle, Mount Yoshino and Fuji Five Lakes. If you’re serious about travelling to Japan throughout cherry blossom season, we’ve put together a vital information to Visiting Japan to View The Sakura in 2020. Most festivals are held yearly and celebrate seasonal holidays, historic events, or a shrine's deity. On the final day of the festival, some of the floats are placed on boats and displayed across the bay earlier than a two-hour-long firework present ends the celebrations. Bonfires formed as Chinese characters are lit on the mountains, creating a novel nighttime spectacle. While there are numerous incredibly lovely festivals that happen in Japan, we have listed the ones we think vacationers will enjoy the most below. You can expertise this at theKawazu cherry tree pageant,or at Ueno Park or Hirosaki park and have your very hanami get together. Originally, the word matsuri is a generic name for all Japanese Shinto ceremonies. Japan has maybe more distinctive festivals than another country in the world, and taking in a matsuri is an unforgettable expertise. The date of his birthday is widely known yearly as a national holiday in Japan. The Emperor’s Birthday was established as an official vacation in 1948 and has drawn a large crowd to the palace since. Japan's excessive season for tourism sometimes begins proper after the Golden Week festivals clear up and enterprise will get back to normal. Even if you aren't moving around, parks, shrines, and places you most likely wish to see will be inundated with people. Much like Chinese New Year, special food is ready and cash is given to children in small envelopes. The basic sentiment is about new beginnings and setting the stage for prosperity. Thirteen Souvenirs From Japan You Can't Return Home With Out It is an costly gift, a present for that particular individual that you realize, that may appreciate such a precious object. And if you decide to buy til you drop, as they say, you can see plenty of eating places where to grab a scrumptious bite. There are tons of old-fashioned shops the place you probably can purchase pottery, souvenirs and delicacies. The city of Imabari, southwest of Tokyo on Shikoku island, is named the mecca of Japanese towel making. The local weather of the world, combined with the extremely pure waters of the river that runs by way of it, is claimed to bring out the softness of the cotton grown there. In case you don’t know, towels are a reasonably vital facet of Japanese hospitality culture. From the oshibori, the hand towel used earlier than eating, to the sento, a typical bathhouse towel, you’ll see these impeccable cotton rectangles everywhere you go. Since most chopstick sets aren’t too expensive, you ought to purchase a couple of extras as items for folks you might forget to purchase something for particularly. Japan is a purchasing destination and we promise, you'll find so many cool things to purchase. Our recommendation is to travel with an empty bag as that will get stuffed, actually rapidly whilst discovering Japan. Japanese Restaurant Business Names Many eating places in Japan focus on a foreign delicacies similar to Korean, Chinese and Italian cooking. It is a refined multi-course cooking style which emphasizes seasonality, simplicity and class. It can be loved at particular kaiseki ryori eating places or at ryotei, expensive and exclusive Japanese eating places. Shokudo are casual restaurants, similar to family restaurants, but tend to be small, independently owned and have largely Japanese-style food such as soba, udon, donburi and curry. Family restaurants , similar to Gusto, Royal Host, Saizeria and Joyful, are casual dining restaurants that typically belong to a nationwide chain and offer a wide selection of Western, Chinese and Japanese dishes. Mumford hasn’t been open all that long, however since day one, their craft lineup has been excellent. You can’t go incorrect with any of their IPA’s, and so they have a Black Coffee Mamba you’re going to want to involved in. Their Little Tokyo/Arts District border location is an ideal spot for a night out on the town, and when you get hungry, you'll find a way to order outdoors food proper to the faucet room. One of Little Tokyo’s many allures is its relative affordability considering the realm. Although these restaurants do not specify in a selected dish/type of dish, they are good place to get a delicious overview of Japanese delicacies. The units at these places are the issues to go for here, as you get an insane quantity of high-quality, delicious meals for fairly decent costs.

Exploring Night Markets In Japan The Sunday Market (Nichiyo-ichi) in Kochi has a history of over 300 years and is held in the city heart about ten minutes on foot from the JR Kochi Station. Locally grown produce and dried seafood, kitchen and family goods can be discovered at the sunday market and avenue distributors also promote all kinds of prepared made delicacies, drawing locals and vacationers every week. Nishiki MarketNishiki Market , also referred to as "Kyoto's Kitchen", is a slim five block lengthy purchasing avenue with over 400 years of history lined by multiple hundred retailers and eating places in Kyoto. Most shops focus on a specific sort of food and almost every thing sold out there is domestically produced and procured, making Nishiki Market a great place to seek out Kyoto specialties such as Japanese sweets, pickles and dried seafood. Shiogama Fish MarketThe Shiogama Fish Market is a wholesale seafood market open to the general public. Here in Japan, farmer's markets have been canceled since April 2020 or so, and I'm avoiding travel as much as attainable till I'm absolutely vaccinated. So, I thought it could be useful to put together an inventory of these farms in a single place so folks could peruse as they wished and find what they needed. One ingredient not listed within the Kansha recipe is the nukamisokarashi in the small inexperienced bag within the picture. The combination incorporates quite lots of gadgets such as eggshells, karashi , dried citrus peel, togarashi , and sanshou . We’ve found so most of the store owners extremely welcoming and very open to sharing their story and some tasters should you take the time to stop and work through the language barrier. These tiny shops that make up the markets are individually owned and they provide the local trade and households in the space offering an genuine culinary experience. We love a good market, especially a foodie market and Japan has some great hidden treasures for you to uncover. They are a perfect place to immerse yourself in native life, observe the tradition and have a great culinary experience at the same time. These meals markets are part of the fabric of consuming in Japan and lots of have been round for hundreds of years. They preserve strategies, household brands and recipes that have been handed down via multiple generations. Tsukiji Outer MarketTsukiji's wholesale market closed in autumn 2018; however, the adjacent Tsukiji Outer Market continues to cater to shoppers and diners with recent seafood and produce along its slim lanes. Omotesando, in Harajuku, is an avenue lined with high-end shops that lure Tokyo trend buyers. Broad and tree-lined, and to be discovered south of Takeshita-dōri, it is recognized as Tokyo’s Champs-Elysées. Granted, we’re not speaking standard-issue market stalls here, however this is a great place to go shopping. Many of the high-end worldwide shops sprang up after the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, and rich customers love the well-known cafés, boutiques and restaurants. Don’t miss the multi-storeyed Kiddy Land – a wonderland of only-in-Japan souvenirs, themed around popular anime cartoon characters. Gwen Stefani made Harajuku a family name with her controversial hit Harajuku Girls and subsequent clothes ranges, however the birthplace of this playful trend centres on a purchasing avenue within the heart of the neighbourhood. [newline]Takeshita-dori runs past Harajuku Station and thru Meiji-dori, and is a crossroads for street-style tradition. Household Holidays To Japan Board the high-speed bullet practice to Kyoto, the previous capital of Japan and the traditional epicentre of Japanese tradition. After whizzing via the nation, you’ll meet the locals at a conventional ryokan and learn about traditional Japanese customs, then discover the Gion District and glittering Kinkakuji Temple, the image of Kyoto. There are countless tales of individuals leaving a phone, camera or bag someplace after which returning to search out their objects precisely the place they left them. Visit the Temple of the Silver Pavilion, and maybe take a stroll with older children along the mile-long Philosopher’s Path that begins there. KiyomizuKiyomizu,positively the most interesting temple in Kyoto. You’ll see many visitors wearing kimono and the scenery is gorgeous. Pair with a stroll along the cute sannen and ninen zaka lanes lined with souvenir shops. You could spend the morning in a tranquil temple, and in the afternoon go to essentially the most superior humanoid robotic in the world, ASIMO, within the Honda Welcome Plaza. But most families are also thinking about some high-quality structured activities, where their youngsters will get pleasure from themselves, be engaged, and are available away with a useful memorable expertise. If you wish to lengthen your rail cross we are able to do that for you nevertheless please notice it can only be used AFTER the trip not prior. This morning you may get pleasure from a boat cruise down the scenic Hozu River within the Arashiyama space within the hills west of Kyoto. Look along the banks for Japanese maples in autumn or plum or cherry blossoms at springtime. We have used an agent to organise our travel, partially because the numbers involved with the big groups concerned charters every so often. Our local agent in flip used three completely different Japanese travel teams to organise the trips in nice element. You don’t have to use an agent, for an uncomplicated itinerary a minimum of. Introducing 外遇 In Style Culture The lesson plan is written for center college college students, but ideas for adapting it to elementary and highschool college students are included. Of course, Japan is the only nation to have skilled atomic bombing, and the atomic bombing experiments which prompted later Japanese in style cultural developments, corresponding to Godzilla, had been largely American. Contact us and follow us on social media for the newest updates and insights into life as a KCP International scholar. Japanese companies might not dominate the Global 500 listings fairly like they used to however they aren't out for the rely, both. Japan's high electronics brands, similar to Sony and Panasonic, proceed to dominate the world. The almost insatiable demand for model spanking new devices in Japan signifies that new products come out on nearly a weekly foundation and a few of them by no means make it to foreign markets. A Big Bang within the monetary business has brought on main upheaval and some ground-breaking modifications in the way Japan does business. As a outcome, greater than being a time capsule of influential tendencies, this guide teaches enduring classes about how well-liked tradition reflects the societies that produce and devour it. Payne says he's seen a definite improve in demand for Japanese products recently, due largely to the flexibility for fans to entry Japanese media, trends and tradition on the Internet. This is one place the place the amount diverges from the Treat and Martinez volumes. Martinez provides an introduction that clearly introduces and supplies references for relevant work on mass culture and to the nation-state in anthropology and Japanese research. Treat's offers deep reflection on the role of in style culture in Japan and Japanese research. Craig little question took a much less academic method so as to make the guide more accessible, but as a result, the introduction fails to provide any tools to college students using it as a textbook. Despite a growing literature on Japanese gentle power and public diplomacy, little research quantifies its results or orients it in policy discussions. This paper investigates the relationship of consumption of Japanese in style tradition and opinions of Japan amongst mainland Chinese and South Koreans. But more usually than not, when audiences exterior Japan have become followers of a particular manga, anime, clothes line, or no matter else, it’s because they’ve found it or heard about it by way of word-of-mouth. In 2019, about 6.8 million copies of different manga titles sold in the US, a 26% rise over the previous 12 months, in accordance with research firm NPD Group. Titles corresponding to My Hero Academia made it one of many fastest-growing types of comedian guide and graphic fiction in the nation. Japanese Nightlife! Japanese Aesthetics For friends staying in the Sunshine City Hotel, there’s a huge vary of nightlife actions to explore across the vast metropolis. Whether you’re in the mood for stylish cocktails in a trendy bar, a enjoyable evening of karaoke, or one thing altogether a little completely different, you’ll discover in Japan for sure. Karaoke – Japanese karaoke establishments are composed of several private rooms outfitted with microphones and karaoke gamers, which include a protracted listing of Japanese, English, and different songs. They also serve food and drinks and typically rent out their rooms by the hour. Arty Farty is a great place to stumble into after a few boozy drinks within the Shinjuku Ni-chōme space, Tokyo’s LGBTQ hub. The in style dance membership always has a fun and welcoming crowd, and allows you to come and leave as you please, that means you'll be able to hop backwards and forwards to the club from nearby bars. We live and breathe Japan, and need you to experience the Japan we know and love. If you’re as obsessive about the small print as we're, likelihood is we will be a good fit. Many izakaya also supply nomihōdai (飲み放題 — “all you'll have the ability to drink”) deals for a set time period corresponding to one or two hours and these is usually a good way to economize too. Other types of night time entertainment embody sport centers, cinemas and karaoke. Game centers can be found in many areas of the town, however they're most numerous within the Akihabara district. Movie theaters could be found in many major districts such as Shibuya and Shinjuku.