Jeez. Who decided that? Suck all the joy out of my world, why don't you.
Anyway, yeah. I wouldn't blame you for forgetting, but on like page 10 or 11 of this dumb comic, I mentioned Gene lives directly above Ben. And if Ben can hear Gene's guitar practice through the ceiling, he's definitely gonna be getting an earful of... whatever the hell is happening, here.
Did you know that in Benin, mentally deficient and/or deformed children are occasionally pledged to Voudon priests, priestesses and temples for training, since some consider them extra-powerful spiritual conduits? That's not too uncommon, either. Epilepsy was once interpreted as both a signifier of demonic and divine possession, depending on who was doing the interpreting. And then there's the recently deceased Audrey Santo. Left paralyzed, mute, and respirator-dependent by a near-drowning, Audrey's mother insisted that her daughter had "resigned her life to Christ" as a "victim soul," and if prayed to, would relieve believers of their physical suffering. (A concept yet to win Vatican approval, but popular nonetheless).
Interesting.
Also, THE PRE-ORDER PROJECT FOR BOOK TWO HAS BEGUN! With a bigger book and snazzier printing, the goal is a lot higher than it was for book one, but I still think it's do-able. Help get the book to print by pre-ordering! And hey, order the fancy dee-luxe package, and get some original art in the bargain!
Who's excited? I SURE AM.
Will the Book Two preorders come signed like Book One was?
Prepare for whining:
Hooray for book two. May I suggest though, that the type of reader who is most likely interested in the deluxe package with the shirt and art work is exactly the type of person who most likely already owns book one.
Bat: Ooooh, good point.
I will rectify this later tonight! Thank you for whining!
Among the Hmong (a tribe originating from southern China), epilepsy in children is considered a sign that that child will become a great shaman. They believe that a child's soul is not as tightly rooted as an adults and that a seizure is what happens when something (a loud sound or a fall) frightens the soul out of their body. They will often tie small pieces of string around children's wrists and ankles to symbolically tie the soul down.
To anyone interested in learning about other cultures -- particularly not very well known ones -- "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman is a very good read.
And Gene ... he doesn't look very happy about the party or whatever it is. :( At least they didn't cut his hair ... yet.
Hey Spike!
I'm in the awkward position of being about to move (moving mid-June, to be specific). So I was wondering if you have any idea when book 2 will start shipping?
I've already preordered the book through Previews. Will that show in your progress bar ?
Amy: In all likelyhood, late June/early July.
Wood: Previews orders don't count, since the pre-order drive aims to pay for printing, and Diamond pays NET30 after delivery!
There's also Geschwind syndrome, a form of temporal lobe epilepsy which often causes, among other things, excessive verbal or written output, decreased sex drive, heightened emotional responses and hyperreligiosity. Combined with seizures ("visions"), this seems like the perfect disorder for a prophet.
Phineas Rage shirt, ROCK! I already have a copy of book 1, but I need a sketch and a shirt, so some lucky friend of mine is gonna get a free book soon.
yeah... Vodun, eh? Don't be too rose-tinted about that lot. Disabled kids aren't the only ones who get picked up by the priests. There's also trokosi, girls who are put into ritual servitude as payment for the sins of their (male) family members. From as young as five. And then there's the female genital mutilation, the witch-hunting, killing twins...
Interestingly, the worst Vodun practices aren't done by Vodun priests - they're done by Christians, especially in DRC/Cameroon/Congo. Christianity and Vodun fit quite nicely with each other, but in a way that brings out the worst in both (that's what Haitian voodoo is, Catholicism + Vodun). If someone thinks a kid is a witch, for example (in the system, people just ARE witches - they don't choose it, they're born that way) they get taken off to church in Brazzaville or somewhere for exorcism. And that can last for months. The idea is to get the devil out with pain...
Vodun's pretty interesting, tho - all the Gods are related in an inter-tribe structure, they're all each others cousins or whatever from Togo to Senegal. All the wars, allegiances, big events - all lived by the people and the Gods together. You've got to respect that.
OK, that's my schpiel done... everyone needs a topic to obsess about, right?
(Also, voodoo dolls aren't voodoo - they're English, used to be called 'poppets'. When the white folk were booted from HAiti, they brought back stories of witchcraft, but they hadn't been paying attention to what the black folk were doing, and had to rely on their own culture's witching practioves instead. So there you go!)
There's a fantastic comic book by David B. about growing up with an epileptic brother in France in the 1970s. After they've exhausted all the normal medical options his parents start moving outside -- to macrobiotics, Swedenborgian spiritism, spiritualism, the A.M.O.R.C., and on and on. They try an exorcism, baptisms, pretty much anything and everything they can think of. The book's very black -- both in subject matter and in tone. There's a LOT of black ink on the page, to the point where the rare splotches of white are downright shocking.
You KNOW it's good booze when it comes in a jar.