Studying for finals..

...sort of :) Did you know that most cases of ashpyxiophilia involve males? Neither did I. Or how about this one: Since 1980, youngsters aged 12 and under committed over 600 murders? How creepy is that? Those are from my Criminology class; my modern history, I am glad to say is over and done with (I got an A!). I actually got to build a web module for the class, which was a lot of fun; if you want to see it, it's here. I still have to finish up Psychology, and MATH--ugh. And there's no break for me this summer, oh no, I'm taking Art History and World Religion. Although, I have no one to blame for that but myself, and my dadblasted intrinsic motivation(see, I do remember what I learn in school). Haha, academically yours,

--Lyra

What I know for sure

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." --Albert Einstein

That, I believe, is why we know so little for certain. Oh, we may THINK we know things with absolute certainty, but, if you think about it, do we really? You may know that someone loves you--but how do you for sure? I just know, you might say. You think that the sun will rise tommorrow, but how do you know? It always has, why should it stop now, you say. Fine; believe in what you need to, because I do it too; we all do. It's how humanity exists, how it survives, how it thrives. But, as they say, you can never really know but one thing for sure--someday, death will happen. And that's it. Everything else is speculation, hope, faith, trust, and pixie dust; things so important but nevertheless not concrete. This is my version of Oprah's monthly "What I know for sure" column. Except, since I am obviously not Oprah (my constant lack of money is a testimony to that ), I can only say what I think I know, what I sort of know, and maybe you'll agree, maybe you'll disagree, but you are reading this and having an opinion on it, and that's all I care about. So what do I sort of know for sure? I know that we are able to imagine, to create, to think to help us deal with the all the things we cannot know. And for this month at least, that's enough for me. Yours as ever,

--Lyra

Perspective

"When I was eight years old, someone brought me to this... theatre. Full of lots of other children. We were supposed to be watching a production of "Peter Pan." And I remember that something seemed terribly wrong with the whole production. Odd things kept happening. For instance, when the children would fly, the ropes they were on would just keep breaking ... and the actors would come thumping to the ground and they had to be carried off by stagehands. And there seemed to be an unlimited supply of understudies, to take their places, and then they'd just fall to the ground. And then the crocodile that chases Captain Hook, seemed to be a real crocodile, it wasn't an actor. And at one point it fell off the stage and crushed a couple of kids in the front row. And then some of the understudies came and took their places in the audience. And from scene to scene, Wendy just seemed to get fatter and fatter until finally by the end of act one she was completely immobile and they had to move her off stage with a cart.
You remember how in the second act Tinkerbell drinks some poison that peter is about to drink in order to save him? And then Peter turns to the audience and he says that "Tinkerbell is going to die because not enough people believe in fairies. But if all of you clap your hands real hard to show that you do believe in fairies, maybe she won't die." So, we all started to clap. I clapped so long and so hard that my palms hurt and they even started to bleed I clapped so hard. Then suddenly the actress playing peter pan turned to the audience and she said, "That wasn't enough. You did not clap hard enough. Tinkerbell is dead." And then we all started to cry. The actress stomped off stage and refused to continue with the production. They finally had to lower the curtain. The ushers had to come help us out of the aisles and into the street. I don't think that any of us were ever the same after that experience. It certainly turned me against theatre. And even more damagingly, I think it's warped my total sense of life. I mean nothing seems worth trying if Tinkerbell is just going to die. "

- Christopher Durang

Support your local wizard

"Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written."

What's on my mind today?

--Local authors: I'm reading this book called A Cup of Kindness, by a Mr. John Conlee, who is a professor at my local college, William & Mary (ten points if you can guess where I am). It is an arthurian tale, told from a very unique viewpoint, that of Arthur's dog, Cabal. Now, as cheesy as that sounds, the book is actually really good, and brings up some interesting twists to the legend; like, Merlin and Taliesin are not one and the same, as they are in most books. The point is, you should read this! Support your local authors! He's also written a companion to this, which I forget the name of, but the publisher is also local:Pale Horse Productions. Why do people always assume that local authors are somehow insignificant, that they are not as good as nationally published authors? Perhaps they chose to keep their books published locally; there ARE some people in this world that care about things besides money. Take the author of the Ghosts of Williamsburg books--he has been writing those books for who knows how many years, and he has gained a large following, despite the fact that these books are not widely published. They are interesting and well written, and that's all that matters, right? No? You want to see a shiny cover with a catchy title and a big name imprint? Fine, but you'll be missing out. Just try it, try reading the work of a local author; if you don't know any, ask a librarian--I know, I know, they scare me too with those glasses hanging off their noses and solemn faces but really, they would know. If you do read something, let me know, whether it's good or bad or so-so, or even if you didn't read something and just want to talk, write me!

--Lyra