BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (1)
By:
July 1, 2022
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, delivering brief remarks on mottos, mantras, speeches, slogans, and other words to live by. Series edited by Adam McGovern.
WHAT SAM BLACK CROW BELIEVES
Sam Black Crow believes in many things. That’s the gist of it. What she said, everything she said in one peculiar, memorable, extended moment became my favourite quote, my mantra of life, as they say.
It rings out in my head like an old record in moments of crescendo… or moments of sinking to the rock bottom; it rings out somewhat differently each time, ever evolving, ever expanding, not because the words are metamorphic by nature, but because it’s a, well, soliloquy, and I can’t remember what exactly it says, ever — but the thing is, that’s kind of exactly the point.
In Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Samantha Black Crow, a young half-Cherokee woman, gives Shadow Moon, the protagonist of the novel, a ride. And on the way, she spills the beans about everything there is to be human by listing everything she believes in.
The list includes Santa Claus and Easter Bunny and Beatles and Marilyn Monroe and sex and God and the lack of a god and reincarnation and the benefit of honesty and the benefit of little white lies and…
The list goes on.
“I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you’re alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.”
It gets hard to hold onto hope when life deals you a shitty hand, and boy if the house hasn’t been on a vicious winning streak for the past… I shudder to pause and consider. So, these days, I prefer to take a page from Sam’s book, and focus on the good bits. I believe in throw pillows, for instance, and soft blankets. I believe in hot showers and ice-cold coke when the time is right. I believe in morning coffees and bedtime teas. I believe in the healing power in the scent of fresh baked bread, and I believe in eating that cherry on top of your sundae instead of saving it for last, lest Murphy’s law dictate that you drop it to the ground anyway. I believe in the magic that happens when a story gets told by the collective creativity of people who are kind, and are willing to see beauty even in the darkest of times. I believe in the fact that there is no winning in the game of life because that’s never been the point anyway — because whenever there’s a dewdrop trembling in the air before sunrise, there’s a glimpse of hope, reflecting daylight.
BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Adam McGovern | Ran Xia on BLACK CROW BELIEFS | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on LEFT-CORNER BRICK | Andrea Diaz on JOY IS RESISTANCE | Lynn Peril on TO THINE OWN SELF | Miranda Mellis on THE FUTURE IS PASSÉ | Bishakh Som on LET THE WEIRDNESS IN | Lucy Sante on FLAUBERT’S PERFECT WORD | Stefene Russell on CRYSTAL SETS | Crystal Durant on LIFE IS A BANQUET | Adam McGovern on EVERY MINUTE AN OCEAN | Josh Glenn on LUPUS LUPUM NON MORDET | Heather Quinlan on SHUT UP, HE EXPLAINED | Adrienne Crew on WATCH YOUR PENNIES | Art Wallace on COME ON AND GIVE A CHEER | Julia Lee Barclay-Morton on WILLIAM JAMES, UNADAPTED | Christopher-Rashee Stevenson on TO EACH HIS OWN | Nikhil Singh on ILLUMINATE OR DISSIPATE? | Mimi Lipson on CHEAP FOOD TASTES BETTER | Kahle Alford on NOT GONNA CRACK | Michele Carlo on YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT | Marguerite Dabaie on WALKING ON WATER | Raymond Nat Turner on TRYIN’ AND TRANEIN’ | Bob Laine on WHEN YOU GROW UP | Fran Pado on THE SMILEY EMOJI | Deborah Wassertzug on PLACING YOUR BETS. PLUS: BLURB SERIES CODA by Lisa Levy.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!