Page 18 of Hereville is up. (Two weeks in a row – will miracles never cease?)
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I’ve had a very busy week – my day job has been busy, I drew Santa Claus for some newspaper ad, I did a Hereville page and – oh yeah – we’re having dinner for 21 here tomorrow. Unfortunately, this all adds up to very little time to post on “Alas,” as y’all have probably noticed. I’m hoping to post more next week.
Meanwhile, of course, y’all have kept the comments section hopping.
It’s probably wrong on some level to celebrate Thanksgiving, given the history, but I’m willing to be a hypocrite in exchange for the meal and the company. (Of course, in Hereville, Mirka’s family does this every week!) I hope that those “Alas” readers who don’t boycott Thanksgiving have a wonderful tme tomorrow. (And those who do, you’re a better person than me!)
Yeesh, who let Rick Santorum in?
Anyway, good one again. I like how this is, by my recollection, the first real hint that Hereville takes place in a moreorless contemporary setting.
“It’s probably wrong on some level to celebrate Thanksgiving, given the history, but I’m willing to be a hypocrite in exchange for the meal and the company.”
I totally believe that it’s OK to hijack questionable holidays and infuse them with your own meaning. For obvious reasons, we African-Americans generally do not have the same kind of affection for the founding fathers that others do, so in my community Thanksgiving has never been about the pilgrims. We just focus on the spiritual principle of gratitude and family fellowship and sweet potato pie.
Now the holiday that I really want to see returned to its original meaning is Mother’s Day. For anyone who is unfamiliar, check out
http://www.peace.ca/mothersdayproclamation.htm
for the history of Mother’s Day in the U. S.
I think that we can celebrate the ideals expressed by the Thanksgiving myth — harmony between races and welcoming immigrants — without denying how rarely those ideals were implemented in real history.
Hijacking holidays and infusing them with your own meaning has been done throughout history–how many holidays are there that celebrate battles won or lost that are now days to be with family and friends?
Yeah, it’s like Christmasish. Being Jews, we don’t celebrate Christmas, and Chanukah was never really about gift giving until corporate America realized they could make Jews into insane consumers too, so we just exchange gifts when we damn well feel like it. Dammit.
Re: “Herevile”
Hey, I’ve been there! (…rummaging furiously to find my house-key-ingeniously-disguised-as-lapel-pin…)
Second to Stentor. Have a great Thanksgiving, Amp, and keep up the good work on the blog and the art.
Well, I’m not a yank, even though I am living here at the moment, and I have to admit, I enjoy thanksgiving. Though not for the reasons you might think.
I turn it into a “Pamper-Sarah” day … normally I have participated in a number of potluck variations on thanksgiving meals before the actual day turns up, but then on thanksgiving itself because I have no family in the country I grab a whole big bunch of food, great DVD’s I have been wanting to see (finally got hold of a lesbian short film starring Lucy Lawless prior to Xena fame called Peach – she plays this soft-butch tow-truck driver … DAMN she’s HOT) … it’s just really fun as I have the apartment to myself.
So, I just think of all my friends suffering through their families, and smile and enjoy my day *grin*
As to appropriating holidays, well, there is a LONG tradition of this. All the christian holidays were stolen from the pagan and native beliefs in pre-christian europe, so hey, I figure it’s us being traditional ;)
Sarah
for the new page:
now I’m all confused.
I was under the impression aherville was a turn of the century schtettel, and as such, wouldn’t have electric lighting.
not getting fussy. still awesome (and my favorite fantasy settings are the ones that blend the historical with the modern)
so here I am, reevaluating whether Aherville is historical fiction or a more pure fantasy thing.
quite fun, amp. bravo
It’s easy to get that impression, because the town is just that isolated – everyone wears somewhat old-fashioned clothing, there’s no pop music or movies, etc.. But there HAVE been indications before this page; the scenes in the kitchen have included a modern stove and refrigerator in the background, and when they were preparing for shabbot there was a panel showing Mirka vacuuming.
The story takes place in the late 20th century, in the United States. Over time, more details about the town of Aherville, how it was created and how it relates to the modern world will be shown.
What Stentor said. The fact that we haven’t exactly lived up to the ideas of the first Thanksgiving is beside the point. We’re celebrating what should have been, and what can be.
i agree with stentor and mythago, and posted a response on my blog (much more wordy than the succinct comments :).
oh, and sorry for the 5 trackbacks!… just figured out that every time I edit it sends a trackback… oops.
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