neighbourlybind

11. Get an actual Calvin and Hobbes “writer’s block,” pick it up (carefully! It’s heavy!) and put it on your desk. Take a breath, pick up the block, move it off your desk, and start writing, because you’ve just rid your desk of a writer’s block.

Here’s another question: in today’s supermarket, do people who don’t fit the “perfect nuclear family” actually stand out? After all, shopping for food is something that almost everyone does. I would say that more people fall outside the realm of perfect nuclear family than fall into it—and it’s unlikely that 100% of that family unit would be in the store simultaneously, anyway. Work to do, chores to split and do separately.

If we wanted to do a contemporary analysis of the supermarket, I’d be more concerned about things like… Which shoppers are painted as potential shoplifters because of their race? Who’s grabbing frozen food with poor nutritional content for themselves and their kids because they’re working three jobs and they don’t have time to cook? Who might be afraid to use the washroom in a public place? What about the people who have crippling OCD or anxiety that makes shopping for food a challenge? What about the people who have a physical disability that makes shopping difficult or impossible? Who has to fit all their groceries for the week in a backpack because they have to take everything on a bus? Who’s buying organic produce? Who has to read every label carefully because they have an allergy that most people aren’t familiar with? Who’s being impatient and rude to the cashier? What about the employees who will be taking expired food home because they get a huge discount and it’s the only thing they can afford on minimum wage?

Conformity? We all face very different challenges.

I spent a few years going “Oh yes, prequels, those were terrible,” but that was rewriting my own history a bit. I was about 10 when Episode I came out, and I loved watching it with my family… along with the original trilogy, which I was practically raised on. The thing is, I can be critical while still acknowledging some of the pain points in the original film. The assumption that children needed an on-screen child to connect with wasn’t quite right: I was always cheering for either Padmé or Obi-Wan.

Force Awakens did a great job of harkening back to A New Hope, without throwing away the good things that DID come out of the prequels. And I’m quite pleased that the Rogue One trailer indicates we’ll still see some elements of the video game continuity, as well!