Fantastical histories for modern feminists
As always, we threw a tea party for my birthday and this year, went a little goth with black skull china and such. So I made a playlist to listen to at the party. Since most of you weren’t at the party, here’s the music. Brew up your fave tea blend and enjoy.
For most of my young life, I HATED my middle name. It seemed so boring. So Plain. It even rhymes with plain. Plain Jane. I mean, yuk, right? That was young me. I appreciate it a bit more now. But back then, Belinda Jane just struck me as a terrible combination. It was my grandad’s idea. Apparently, there were a couple of newspaper comics during WWII that he was fond of. He told me when I was little that he named me after the characters, Belinda and Jane.
Let’s unpack that for just a moment, Grandad. So One: my parents let you name their firstborn? Okay, I guess they were young? And Two: you decided to name me after a couple of comic strip characters? WTH?
It gets better. I finally looked up these comic strips and they were not exactly as described to me by my dearest grandfather. He said they were a couple of cute blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls, just like me. Not that I was particularly blonde but okay…
So here’s Belinda. Uh huh. Cute little blond-haired girl. I can see that my grandad would’ve seen his baby granddaughter here.
But back to the topic of this post, my middle name, Jane. Apparently not everyone thought that Jane was Plain. Here’s the inspiration for my middle name, Jane from the Misadventures of Jane.
Well. Grandad. Weren’t you the lad?
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
I have an irrational hatred for the word “utilize” for REASONS.
Okay maybe just one. It means practically the same thing as “use” but sounds more, I don’t know, fancy? Educated? And people just drop it in here and there for no good reason. Just say use, folks! Really. You don’t sound more intelligent when you say utilize.
I dug around looking to see when it’s the right word. Basically, if you’re using something for an unintended purpose. So if you are hammering something with your shoe, you are utilizing your shoe. You can still say use and it’s correct though.
That’s it. So I am in favor of banning “utilize.” Please?
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
It’s my FAVORITE season of the year, Autumn, and my favorite indie musician Unwoman has just released a new album, Desire Paths! You can listen to it on Bandcamp now: https://unwoman.bandcamp.com/album/desire-paths
Enjoy this extremely lovely and hot image from the album’s promo materials. Desire Paths indeed!
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
The Covid-19 pandemic: weird times to be sure. I am still not sure that it’s over for me mentally. I spent so many months glued to the statistics, stuck at home, and only seeing people through a screen. It’s hard to get out of that mindset of fear.
I thought I would have loads of extra time to write, edits, publish stories. After all, I didn’t have to commute to work, there were few opportunities to socialize and I was home ALL THE TIME.
Did I write? Nope. Edit? Nope. I survived. No room in my head or heart for creating. Now that we are in the tail end, I have finally regained my creativity.
I still work from home and our social life is minimal so there is more time to be creative. I published a book, the first in seven years. I am close to final edits on another. That pandemic reset worked well for me.
How about you, dear reader? What has changed for you?
I think it would be fun to have a star (as in an astronomical body) named after me. There are milliona and millions of visible stars so I don’t think it would make me stand out in any way. Not like naming an arena after me. I’m not much for notoriety, so that would be fine by me. But what name would I choose? First name? Full name? Pen name?
How about you, dear reader? What would you have named after you?
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
It usually is asked in a professional setting, like in a job interview and it makes my skin crawl and my stomach clench: where do you see yourself in five years? I don’t know the answer to that question. Am I supposed to come up with some lofty ambition? And if I do, does that then make the questioner feel threatened? Or say something humble so they want me around? Ugh!!! And who even knows what their life or the world will look like in five years? I detest that question so much. So very much. Ugh.
BJ Sikes, author 