What Did You Say?

by Greg Meyer
September 30, 2016

If you’re like me, you’ve reached the point in the year where your social media feeds are politically charged. Everyone has an opinion, and they’re going to tell you about it! You better agree with the candidate of their choice, or they’ll unfriend you! After all, if you don’t vote with them, you’re the reason this stable country is falling apart.

Is it no coincidence then that two of the biggest movies this year are all about choosing a side? Both Superman Vs Batman and Captain America: Civil War are about heroes forced to do battle amongst each other. The ad campaigns for both movies stressed this, asking you to pick a hero to stand with. While both movies took different approaches to this idea, with Sups Vs Bats being more of a personal tiff, and CA: Civil War splitting the Avengers into two teams, both had the same idea.

Personally, as a casual comics enthusiast, I’m not fond of these types of crossovers. I’m of the mindset that I want to see heroes act like heroes and fight the bad guys, not each other. Now, I’m not saying there can’t be any personal conflict between heroes. It wouldn’t be realistic to show them getting along all the time. After all, friends get into disagreements all the time. I see the appeal of the stories, but they’re just not for me. I only watched Superman Vs Batman because it was a DC movie. I’ve yet to see Captain America: Civil War, and I might never watch it.

Did I mention that I was disappointed that Civil War was going to get adapted for a Marvel movie? I don’t care that the new Spider-man is in it (Andrew Garfield, I’ve got your back bro!), or Black Panther. Blah!

Can we be friends?
From cinemablend.com

I’ve been used to these types of arbitrary divisions since I was a kid. On the playground, you had to identify with either being a Marvel or DC fan. You couldn’t enjoy both. It’s a constant problem in the world of video games, too. I’ve been involved in enough console wars in my lifetime that my gravestone will be adorned with medals for my service in the 32/64 bit wars. Sega does what Nintendon’t! Quality over Quantity! These were the war cries I heard as system armies battled each other to the death.

Anyhow, the political season and these super hero movies point out one thing to me: as a people, we’re cartoonishly divided among each other. It’s even worse now, with people stating that if you vote one way, you are no friend to them.

As someone who stays away from politics and Internet arguments as much as I can, I find it sad. I hold values that are important to me, and I know many people who hold opposing views. Do I disagree with them on these topics? Absolutely! There are certainly positions I hold that I refuse to bend my stance on. Likewise, I know my friends hold positions that they refuse to sway on as well.

Far be it from me, though, to hand someone I meet a clipboard, asking them to fill it out so I can check whether I can be friends with them or not. What kind of person would that make me? I’d only surround myself in an echo chamber that endlessly repeats the beliefs that I hold. I surrender my ability to grow and think if I act that way.

If I only surrounded myself with DC Comics fans, I’d never learn how great the Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant-Man are. If I only listened to Nintendo gamers, I never would’ve discovered the Dark Souls series. I never would’ve listened to Five Iron Frenzy or Flatfoot 56 if I only listened to metal. Being surrounded by a variety of opinions helps me grow. It not only allows me to expand my view of the world, but also strengthen my beliefs and opinions on what I do like. It gives me reasons to think about the beliefs I hold and decide if they’re still true to me or not.

Don’t give in to the increasing tendency to view people who hold contrary opinions as the enemy. Instead, try to understand why someone likes what they like or believes what they do. That doesn’t make you an opinionless person, but rather someone with depth. Sure, it’s not always easy to do, and you’ll encounter some pretty vicious people in the process; but I want to be a person that can see where others come from and meet them where they’re at.

I had a long conversation on Saturday with one of my best friends about the Apostle Paul and his trip to Athens. While Paul was a Christian in a land surrounded by pagan gods, he found a monument dedicated to an unknown god. Paul used this as a gateway to try and reach the people of Athens, speaking to them in a way that he could relate to them. He didn’t smash the other monuments in righteous fury, nor did he decide not to speak to them. Instead, he tried to understand his audience and actually get to know them. It wasn’t an easy sermon to deliver, and some mocked him and his message, but he still found fruit in what many would’ve considered unyielding soil. To be honest, I don’t know if I could’ve done the same, but it encourages me to think outside of the box that society wants us to stay in.

So don’t unfriend that person on your feed who isn’t voting like you are. You became friends with them for a reason; remember that. Be kind to those you disagree with, and if you need to, take a walk and remember there’s more to life than politics.

After all, we all have a mother named Martha, and that unites us all.

Giving Up the Narrative

by Nathan Marchand
September 16, 2016

My apologies, dear readers (or “Wellsians,” if you prefer), for the looooooooooong delay not only in writing a new Children of the Wells novella (which I’m doing) but a blog as well. The latter was because our website was hacked and then shut down for several brief periods of time, as well as due to our usual summer busyness.

Ah, summer. That wonderful time of year was our blogging theme until the hacking interfered. I jokingly told Nick he should write about his sister, who’s named Summer. 😛 (Interestingly, she once served on the now defunct CotW “vision team”).

completely-different (more…)

The Faults Inside Us All

By Gregory J Meyer
August 12, 2016

“You will need help,” she told them, “but all I am allowed to give you is a little talisman… Meg, I give you your faults.”
“My faults!” Meg cried.
“Your faults.”
“But I’m always trying to get rid of my faults!”
“Yes,” Mr.s Whatsit said. “However, I think you’ll find they’ll come in very handy on Camazotz.”
-Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, 1962)

wall I think it’s a safe assumption to say that every single one of us have our fair share of flaws. Even if the most beautiful person stood in front of a mirror, I bet they could easily name a few things that they didn’t like about themselves. When I look in the mirror, I see where my beard doesn’t grow in on my chin, or the scar by my left eye I received from a fall when I was four.

Then there are the internal flaws and faults we have that can’t be seen in a mirror but are apparent to us every day. These are the things that we try to hide so others can’t see them because they make us look bad. Perhaps these are the anger issues we have, the bad words we say when things don’t go our way. There’s the crippling self-doubt when speaking in front of people, or the nervous vocal tick that rears its head when we least want it to. (more…)

Adventures Around Grandma’s House

By Timothy Deal
August 5, 2016

Last year, shortly after both grandparents on my father’s side had passed away, I started a short series of blogs I call “Lessons Learned at Grandma’s House.” Today I pick that series up again with a lesson well-suited to this time of year. (In yet another case of “great minds think alike,” expect some overlap with Nick’s latest blog.)

Adventures abound outdoors, especially when you take your imagination with you.

I talked about indoor activities in previous entries of this series, but one of the charms of going to Grandma’s house was exploring her expansive property. Purchased as a hobby farm way back before anyone was moving to that obscure corner of Noble County, the area around Grandma’s house included a barn, a couple garages, sheds, chicken houses, Grandma’s aviary (more on that in a future blog), a field perfect for kickball, woods, a creek, and one of the best sledding hills in northern Indiana. (more…)

Adventure Awaits!

By Nick Hayden
July 8, 2016

Adventure is out there!

We all know (I hope) how the first tinges of warm weather bring alive the senses. We want to go out of doors, to find something outside our winter-enclosed world, to explore and somehow, in some way, suck a bit of the marrow out of life. We long for adventure, even those of us who aren’t rock climbers and wilderness explorers. That’s one reason we spend hours staring at a page or a screen, to be taken somewhere bigger than where we are. We want magic in our lives.

But there is another sort of adventure, I think, that we often miss, the adventure of ordinary things. I remember watching The Secret World of Arrietty and being amazed at how much wonder came through the interaction of these little people with commonplace objects. As adults, we sometimes forget these little flashes of wonder. For kids, it’s the air they breathe. (more…)

104 Days of Boredom

By Natasha Hayden
July 1, 2016

A couple years ago, my family was introduced to Perry the Platypus, his evil(?) nemesis, and 104 days of summer vacation. It was glorious! From the 3-year-old to the 33-year-old, we all loved it. Still do.

“I know what we’re going to do today, Ferb!”
From Disney XD website

But I always wondered…from what calendar did they come up with 104 days of summer vacation? (I suppose, if that’s the only thing that had me scratching my head, there’s something wrong with my logic.) It certainly wasn’t from Indiana’s! In our county, we’re lucky to get 66, and the push seems to be for school year-round. Why?

What’s wrong with a good ol’ lazy, long summer? What’s wrong with ditching the books and hours of boredom? You certainly don’t see Phineas and Ferb doing homework (unless they’re reading a building manual). While I wouldn’t generally take my notes from a cartoon…why don’t we for a moment? (more…)

The Burden of Loneliness

by Nathan Marchand
June 24, 2016

I could write a progress report on Bron & Calea #5, but the pertinent lessons I’ve been learning are summarized pretty well in the latest blog I posted on my own website. I also hinted at a few things in my previous blog here. Ironically, in that same blog I joked about how my fellow CotW creators were getting personal in their latest posts, but I wasn’t. Well, now it’s my turn to be a bit vulnerable since most anything else I could blog about I’ve done elsewhere.

My birthday is June 29. I’ll be 33 (going on 19, according to some—I look young). As Tim said of himself in his most recent blog:

“I’m still unmarried, unsettled in my career, and not nearly as financially stable as I would prefer. At times, it’s hard not to look at where I’m at this far after graduation and not consider myself a failure.”

While I, too, feel the weight of all of these things, the first is where I’ve been hurt the most and worst. (more…)

Let’s Play it Again, Dad!

by Nick Hayden
June 10, 2016

“A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, Do it again; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough… It is possible that God says every morning, Do it again, to the sun; and every evening, Do it again, to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” -Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I have kids, three of them. The middle child, Serenity, is four, and her favorite game, which she requests nearly everyday, is a little romp she calls “Shopkins.”

The game is called Shopkins because it centers around me playing the part of her five Shopkin Happy Meal toys as they are introduce to her various friends. These friends are normally stuffed animals, though Renny’s baby sister, her Elsa carpet, and Darth Tater have all enjoyed the company of the Shopkins. (more…)

Bonus Story – A Sunset Vista

Have you read The Seekers and The Hidden yet? If not, let me whet your appetite. Below is a bonus story here about one of the characters you will meet in the story. So check out The Seekers and The Hidden, and dive into the continuing adventures of our favorite Jalseian bodyguard and doctor’s assistant.

~~~

A Sunset Vista
By Gregory Meyer

“It’s just up ahead Ursanne. Trust me, it’ll be worth it,” said the lanky young man. The young man, barely hanging onto his teenage years, waited as his younger sister caught up to him. The teenage girl stopped staring at the surrounding buildings and jogged up to her brother.

The industrial Thyrian street held little traffic on it with most of the workers gone with their day shifts over. Only a random homeless man wandered from building to building, scavenging for anything he could get his hands on to survive. The elder brother and younger sister stood side-by-side scoping the area. Both wore old, ragged clothes in case their path became a bit messy. The last thing either sibling wanted was a lengthy scolding from either of their parents for getting their nice outfits caked in dust.

“Sorry Rald, it’s just still so strange to see so many buildings of this size,” admitted Ursanne with a sheepish smile. “It’s so different from little old Cetarion.” Rald laughed at the comment and shook his head.

“Still the small town girl at heart,” teased Rald. Ursanne rolled her eyes and gave her brother a playful shove. (more…)

Hidden No More

By Gregory Meyer
May 27, 2016

At last, after what feels like an eternity, the latest chapter in the Bron & Calea saga is available for your eReader of choice. Having worked on the book since the initial planning stages in February 2014, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and hope you enjoy reading about the latest adventures of Bron, Calea, and Nyasha. (more…)

After the Cataclysm took our magic,
how do we rebuild?