Baby animals: Pictures, gifs, videos… It doesn’t matter! Kittens and big cat cubs are a given for me, especially pictures of my own little (not so much anymore – see below) guy, but the carefree innocence of baby animals playing is a sure way to get my mood back to good. Some of my faves are baby elephants, foxes, pandas, and goats (in pajamas!)
When I was trying to think of a topic to write about for Month of Joy, I considered several options: Pokémon, cooking, the Robins. All of these things do make me happy, but for various reasons (mostly of the “life got bonkers” variety), I never got around to writing about them. Then I sat down to watch the second season of Marvel’s Runaways, saw Nico Minoru in all her gay goth girl glory, and felt my heart swell with joy and recognition. So I busted out my laptop, and here I am, writing about why Nico is one of the most important characters of 2018 for me.
So this is soppy, but something that brings me great joy year after year is sharing favourite pop culture, new and old, with my kids. I now have a 9-year-old and a nearly 14-year-old, and sharing stories or music or TV shows is one of the things that keeps us talking, spending time together, giving us something in common. It makes me happy. You can’t put a price on actually understanding what it is your teenager is flailing about, whether it be something you both hate-watched for pure rage (Paramount Heathers, I’m looking at you) or a beloved classic of modern television that has sparked some seriously intense conversations about relationships, mental illness and musical tastes (Crazy-Ex Girlfriend, we will miss you when you’re gone). While I’ve never quite managed to read enough of the web comic Gunnerkrigg Court to understand my teen’s ongoing love for the series, at least we have a mutual appreciation for Check! Please.
Gender diverse pronouns bring me joy. What are gender diverse pronouns? In short, they’re all the alternatives to she and he (for people—I’m not counting “it”). In the introduction to Capricious Issue 9: Gender Diverse Pronouns, editor A.C. Buchanan writes that gender diverse pronouns include “singular they, neopronouns, and pronoun sets of the authors’ invention.” What’s a neopronoun? Often, people use the term neopronoun to refer to gender neutral pronouns that can be used instead of singular they. I’m borrowing A.C. Buchanan’s term for this post because it’s broad, encompassing singular they, other gender neutral pronouns, and even pronouns which signify a gender identity beyond femininity or masculinity. All of these things—all of these gender diverse pronouns—bring me great joy. I love singular they pronouns. I love gender neutral neopronouns. I love invented pronouns which signify nonbinary genders. I love stories that feature characters—and societies—that use gender diverse pronouns, whether it’s singular they or entirely new pronouns that signify entirely new genders. These stories normalize diverse pronouns and gender identities, which is good and necessary work because people with diverse pronouns and gender identities are all around us.
I thought hard about what I wanted to write about for the Month of Joy but eventually I knew what it had to be: the game called Fate/Grand Order. It’s a little silly, it’s a little weird, but oh my gosh, especially right now as the first major story arc closes out, it brings me so MUCH joy. Fate/Grand Order is nominally a mobile game from the Fate franchise. You know, that Japanese thing where King Arthur is a girl and very few of the characters are original? Perhaps when you first heard of it, like me, you rolled your eyes, completely uninterested in yet another bizarre Japanese harem idea. I totally did that!
There was a moment in grad school. Kevin and I had split up and I was desperately broken-hearted. I’d been getting up at 4 a.m. every morning to an alarm because it was the best time for me to concentrate, when the world was dark and still, writing by the light of a candle. I’d gotten about halfway through drafting Bodies in Motion at that point; I had been working so hard, for so long. I loved the book, but I was otherwise very tired and very sad. I cried all the time. There came a day when I just couldn’t stare at the computer screen any longer. I found myself — and I honestly don’t even remember making the decision to go — at the art store, ringing up $200 of supplies (money I didn’t really have, but I just didn’t care). I came home and I made things — candles and collages mostly. They weren’t very good but I needed to do something that wasn’t just brain work, that didn’t require so much deliberate thought. I needed to use my hands. It helped. (My mother still has the candle I made her that year. She thinks it is too pretty to light it.)
