Journaling Prompt: Favorite Childhood Show

“What show from your childhood would you love to bring back?”

I’m actually very lucky because one of my favorite childhood shows is actually being rebooted later this year: Sailor Moon! This show has a special place in my heart because it was the first Japanese anime that I watched, leading me to discover many other great shows, movies, and manga from Japan. It was also the first time that I saw lesbian characters portrayed positively (before Buffy the Vampire Slayer brought us Willow & Tara), so it was very important in my teen years. I’m excited to see what the newest telling of this story will be like.

But to really go back to my childhood, I would love to see Ocean Girl come back. My lifelong love of the ocean guaranteed that I would be interested in this show from the name alone, and it did not disappoint! The television series was made in Australia, but I watched it on the Disney Channel when I was younger (which sadly never showed the fourth season, so I’ve never seen the end of the show). It’s a science fiction show about two brothers who befriend a mysterious girl named Neri, who lives alone on an island. (more…)

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Why I Will (Not) Use My Religion in My Stories

I have been religious for my whole life, and my faith is important to me. It’s as much a part of me as anything else, and it’s especially important when I make decisions about how I live. I want the things that I do to honor the gods and show my respect for their creations. You will not hear me talk about this very often, though. My spirituality is very personal for me, and very private.

More to the point, though, I do not think that a story is a good place for religion. Of course there are characters for whom religion is important, and it may affect them in good or bad ways. And creating religions is a personal favorite of mine for world building. A story should also reflect the ethics and philosophy of the author in certain ways. But a story is a very bad place to preach about ideas, religious or otherwise. (more…)

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