by Kevin Wolf In the Afterword (1982) to My Picture Diary—covering most of 1981—Fujiwara Maki, the author, wrote, “The first half of this book is sunny, while the second half is dark—which seems a little wrong to me, though I know it reflects reality. [184]” Tsuge Yoshiharu, her husband and manga artist, suffers from “anxiety neurosis … it’s when worrying too much becomes pathological. … not only was I in no position to help my husband, I joined him on his downward descent into depression. [185]” She thought their son, Shōsuke might like My Picture Diary later. Takano Shinzō, a… Read More
Starling
awaiting review
I Wish I Could Say, “Thank You”
awaiting review
Why Don’t you Love Me?
By Prof. Annemarie Jutel Parallel realities are a narrative trope of our time. Confusion about who and where we are features prominently in many forms of storytelling. From Bones and All (Guadagnino, 2022) to Acting Class (Drnaso, 2022) and The Book of Niall (Jones, 2022), the idea that there might be alternate threads of reality, to which we have intermittent or elective access, and which run alongside the one in which we are situated, is a common story telling device. Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul Rainey–a compilation of strips created over many years and released on social media… Read More
Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings
Book Review by Kevin Wolf “I love you more when you fail, because that’s when you need love more, [page 132]” Will’s mom, Elizabeth or ‘Mumin,’ tells them (Will’s pronoun) at age 15 at junior varsity hockey. A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings—in blue and orange—is Will Betke-Brunswick’s memoir. Pros and Cons provides stories back and forth in time from childhood to early (college) adulthood when their mother’s aggressive colon cancer was treated. Chapter breaks occur from an opening song, then delineated by months from March through December in Mumin’s last year from diagnosis to shortly beyond… Read More