Lit City Blues

I have not read the entirety of The Sandman series, but I've read the first volume and the first season of the show is an excellent adaptation of that volume. I know the show has been renewed for a second season (and I guess there was some question about whether or not it would be, but Netflix gave it another go) so beyond that, I don't know what to expect from the source material. (I know there are many, many people out there who absolutely adore this comic and take it very seriously, the way fandoms are wont to do. I know there are Neil Gaiman superfans out there that attempted to pick this apart at a micro level and from what I've seen Mr. Gaiman was spectacularly unbothered by all of it. Personally, I've enjoyed everything I've ever read by Gaiman, but I too, am not going to let an obsessive love of any given source material ruin an adaptation.) So, The Sandman : In the late 19th Century (I want to say 1896 or so) the King of Dreams, also known as Morpheus (Tom...

They're trying to reform the wrong thing. Don't get me wrong: this voucher nonsense seems like absolute dog shit that will not give me, as a parent, anything remotely resembling 'choice.' If your kiddo has an IEP or any other special needs, guess what? You don't get a choice. Private schools don't have to take those kids and most, it seems, don't. So while there might not be a lot of us, we're stuck with public schools. We don't get a choice. Also, it seems like these vouchers come with strings attached. If I'm understanding it right, families can get 'em to pull kids from public school to send to private school, but what if I want to invest in my public school? Doesn't appear like I can do that.  So the idea that 'we should fund students and not systems' is bullshit. You're funding some students and some systems and you're going to impact the quality of my kid's education to do so. Had Kimmie and company come out wi...

N.K. Jemisin has been one of those authors that I've seen around for years now, but I've never actually gotten around to reading any of her stuff. After what seemed like an extended stretch of reading a lot of Brandon Sanderson, I wanted to cleanse my palate a bit and start reading a bit more widely, so as part of a general push to read books I've got but haven't read yet as well as read more authors that I haven't read yet, I snagged The Fifth Season on Kindle and gave it a go. The world of The Fifth Season takes place on a single supercontinent called the Stillness. Every few centuries, the inhabitants go through what's called a 'Fifth Season' where the climate changes, usually in varying levels of catastrophe. The society on the continent is highly stratified with different castes occupying places in society. (Strongbacks are laborers, Resistants tend to care for the sick, Breeders are self-explanatory, Innovators are engineers, doctors, and other ...

A new rotation around the sun begins and once more, I will lay down some resolutions for the year ahead. I know that people think that resolutions are 'lame' and don't like the 'new year, new me' routine that always seems to sweep through the various social media platforms at this time of year. These past couple of months, I've been writing down to-do lists at work to try and keep track of everything I need to get done and there's nothing quite like getting through a work-week and seeing a fully crossed off list looking back up at me from the legal pad I keep in my drawer. I like setting goals. I like making resolutions. It's a way to think about the year ahead and what I'd like to try and get accomplished. The interminable length of January aside, life usually quickly intervenes and I forget about half of these until about October or so and then realize just how mixed my success has been. Yesterday's post tallies last year's resolutions-- I ...