Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 143

cookie or manhole cover?

This knock-off Oreo looks like a manhole cover:



See?



(As you probably know, if you want really fabulous manhole covers, you should go to Japan)

Guest Post: Sarah Francis on women in nontraditional jobs in Timor-Leste

I get emails from the East Timor Action Network, and today a really wonderful story came down the line, a story that, at present, doesn't have an online home. The author gave me permission to share it here: it's a story of women embracing nontraditional jobs in Timor-Leste. Having experienced firsthand how intermittent the water supply can be in Ainaro, I was moved and impressed that Diolinda wants to be in a position to help secure the water supply in her community.

The course she's taking is...

fictional role models

osprey_archer answered my question about fictional role models (who hers were, if she had them), and it's excellent reading.

How about you guys? Who are your fictional role models?

more lovely art

This time by browngirl herself, who draws winsome, sensual figures, graceful dancers, Minoan ladies, and, sometimes, fairies and merfolk.

She drew this one for me. I love it ♥ ♥



And she sent me another, beautifully colored--only now my scanner is somehow disconnected and I'm too impatient to figure out how to reconnect it at the moment, so I am linking to the same image, with slightly different coloring, from browngirl 's own files.

… but I am putting it behind a cut, because she...

Promised Land, by Glenn Alan Cheney

Brazil’s 1968 constitution promises that government-owned (Union) land will be distributed to landless farmers—but much of that land is currently occupied by powerful ranchers: megawealthy, megapowerful squatters who oppose redistribution. Landless farmers set up camp on the edge of a piece of Union land and begin the long process of trying to gain title, but with the ranchers and corrupt law enforcement against them, the odds are slim and the threat of death high.

Glenn Alan Cheney spent time...

dramatic and beautiful

the sky this evening was full of emotion and drama, molten gold spilling from the lip of the mountain--makes it hard to drive when you see this out your window!



and in small things, today was very beautiful, too--here is a circle made of shadow and withered wildflower:

The angel with the silver scissors

As children we were told that somewhere up there is an angel, snipping away at the darkness with silver scissors, cutting out small slices of night and letting in pinpricks of light.

We know this to be true--we've seen those pinpricks.

"But sometimes," our elders would say, with intent to terrify, "the angel snips more--and more--and more! Gashes and slashes of light!"


wakanomori's photo

And though we dreaded to hear it, we knew that this, too, was true. Some of us had damaged eyes or scarred ski...

My problem is usually margins

Malki (of Wondermark fame) was remarking on Charles Schultz's cartooning ability some weeks ago, and he photographed a particular strip that had this final frame:



Aren't margins often the problem! Not talking about formatting your pages, either. . .

I thought this was perfect for Pen Pal--seeing as it's a story from the margins.

the heros work for a powerful secret organization….

(or is it even secret? I don't know. I should get my facts straight)

So, Agents of SHIELD. I tried watching this because I wanted a little light entertainment, but something big gets in the way. The big thing is the agency, SHIELD.

I've only seen [parts of] two random episodes (tuned in late, both times), but here's what I've observed:

In one of the episodes, the two handsome-male-characters go into some kind of enemy territory (Russia? Eastern Europe? A secret criminal base? I'm not sure). And...

Strength

osprey_archer wrote a wonderful statement just now. She wrote it about the book The Far Side of Evil, which she reviews here, but I think the statement is worth pondering in a more general sense:

Strength rests in honesty and compassion

So much food for thought! For example, I find myself thinking, strength doesn't only rest in honesty and compassion. And certainly I can think of terrible sorts of strength that trample on honesty and compassion. But I like the bold reminder that honesty and com...