Oh, good, I’m starting to write before 10:00. I once again did not get enough sleep and will have to pay for it and some time but now I’m feeling fine. I just have to be awake to see Anaïs Mitchell doing Hadestown tonight. I’ve had tickets since they went on sale but I don’t know what to expect. Is this going to be Anaïs performing the original work by herself? Will she be doing a solo version of the revamped Hadestown: The Myth, the Musical? Will it be an ensemble concert version of either the original or the re-imagining? I will love any of these.
I loved my dinner last night, I tried something new. I made Philly cheese steak with mashed potatoes. What is new is that I sautéed garlic in olive oil and added it to both the steak and the potatoes. Oh no! I just realized that I never cleaned up my dishes. That would not be a disaster except that I bet that Beruthiel washed them, and that’s not fair to her. I have not been in the kitchen but I hope to find dirty dishes there.
I always keep the clean up in mind when I cook. I try and minimize what needs to be cleaned. For instance, I sautéed the garlic in the same cast iron pan I made the cheese steak in. The mashed potatoes are the high maintenance dish; making that involves a pot, a Pyrex measuring cup for the melted butter and cream, a colander, the masher, and something to serve it with.
I fell asleep as a finished typing the previous paragraph. I awoke to find that I had left my hands on the keyboard and typed 13 pages of the letters “w” and “e.”
Yesterday I promised to write about Tiffany Aching; as I had hoped watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would clarify why I love Tiffany and the worldview of Terry Pratchett. Hermione is the one that made it clear. I have often said that the Tiffany Aching books were what you’d get if Hermione, not Harry was the hero, so this is appropriate. At the end Harry tells Hermione that she’s a better wizard than he is. She says something to the effect of, “No, I’m intelligent and I read a lot but that’s not the most important thing; there’s bravery and friendship.” First off who says that she is less brave or a worse friend than Harry? I didn’t see any evidence of that. But it’s the devaluing of intelligence and intellectual pursuits that bothers me the most.
The hero with a more intellectual sidekick is a fictional trope that has always bothered me; think Kirk and Spock, Ralph and Piggy. Tiffany is as brave as anyone. When she was eight a monster attacked her younger brother. She didn’t scream, she didn’t run for help. Because she is not just brave, but also intelligent, she didn’t attack the monster with her bare hands. She ran home, got a cast iron skillet, and hit the monster over the head with it. That’s both brave and resourceful. But the thing that really sets Tiffany apart, the thing that makes her a great witch, is her intellect. She craves knowledge and devours books. Then she has the wits to use what she has learned. She’s both an intellectual and a girl of action. Unlike most heroes, especially child heroes. It’s her intellect that sets her apart.
Intelligence is so often paired with hubris or impracticality in fiction. Think of A Wrinkle in Time. While both siblings are intelligent it’s the super-intelligent brother that creates the danger and the less intelligent sister that saves the day through love.
Getting back to Hermione; when we meet her she’s snooty and supercilious, she had to learn from Harry and Ron how to be a nice person. Nobody had to teach Tiffany, she was always kind and caring. Pratchett isn’t worried about kids identifying with the hero. He was concerned with making the hero heroic.
As you might have picked up I’m an intellectual, a nerd, the kid that was picked on for being bookish. Tiffany is someone I can relate to much better than to Harry. Harry is the chosen one, the numinous child, Tiffany is smart and wants to understand the world. She’s my people.
Now it’s time to eat. This feels like a day for bacon and eggs.
Wise Madness 