Elayne Riggs' Journal (for Leah)

Friday, June 06, 2003

Diversions

Am I the only one who wonders if the Belmont Stakes and the Tonys are always on the same weekend? Or is it just that I'm the only one who'll probably catch glimpses of both? Although truth to tell, I'll only tune in for the actual horse race, not the hour-long build-up. The only thing that I feel justifies a build-up where nothing actually happens except anticipation is - nope, not even New Year's Eve. I'm a child of the '60s, I'll still watch rocket launches. (Although they're hardly ever shown any more; I really had to go out of my way to catch any coverage of the April 26 launch of the Soyuz craft to the International Space Station. I guess it hardly merited America's notice since It Didn't Happen Here, even though crew member Ed Lu is Hawai'ian.) And I know it doesn't make sense, why sit through an hour of fairly still pictures of a rocket and a control room just to see the payoff of the launch, and not sit through an hour of fluff about horsies and drunken spectators leading up to a three-minute race? I'm so speciest, caring more about stretching the boundaries of human endeavor than of equine glory! Honestly, sometimes I disgust myself.

And speaking of diversions, my Actual Social Life continues, at least for tonight. After Robin drops off the rest of the Justice League Adventures #24 pages (or, as I like to call them, "thank goodness the check came early so he could buy his new monitor!") up at DC Comics, we're heading here - hey, it's tradition - and then to the premiere party for Broad Appeal, the Friends of Lulu/New York-produced anthology book which had its origins at least a half dozen years ago. I remember 'cause I was the one who thought up the name - intended as a pun, of course, on "comics stories which will appeal to broads." I've always liked the word "broad" (and I'm not alone); to me it conjures up brassiness and take-no-bullshit outspokenness and... what is the female equivalent of "ballsiness"? "Ovariness" doesn't sound right. Anyway, I don't think I've ever been a chick or a bird or had dangerous curves or anything, but damned if I'm not a broad. So even though I hardly did any work on this antho as it dragged from editor to editor through the years (Dave Roman's the one who actually finally got it together), I feel a special affinity towards the title, as well as towards many contributors. And Robin and I have a story in it that we did together a long time ago, which is sort of my tribute to Marie Severin and Ramona Fradon and all the Women Who Came Before, and which he drew, colored and lettered entirely on computer. (The version in the book is in b&w but he printed out colored versions to hang on MoCCA's walls for the party.) Considering how old the story is and the strides Rob's computer art has made in the ensuing years (while my fiction writing has, alas, kind of stagnated due to my day-job workload and other extenuating excuses circumstances), I think "Sheagle Rising" holds up pretty well.

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