World Building

Death seems to be swirling around the perimeter of my world lately. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine lost his wife to flu complications. That same day, another friend was trying to get out to visit her uncle on his deathbed. This week a third friend is traveling to Arizona to say goodbye to her father for the last time. And now this disaster in Haiti has left perhaps a quarter of a million dead, with more likely to follow them as hunger and disease take their toll.

None of these events has touched me directly. I have been unusually blessed throughout my life: the Grim Reaper’s visits to my personal world have been infrequent. Two of my grandparents and both of my parents are still alive, as are all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. The last person close to me whom I lost was my great-grandfather, scant months shy of his 100th birthday.

And yet I am not unaffected. I feel like I am one thread in the middle of a tapestry that is fraying at the edges. I feel someone pulling on the weave, snatching out threads and leaving those they were connected to alone, dangling, half-stripped themselves. My heart cries out at the pain around me — There must be something I can do! — but I feel very small and fragile, and the comfort I can offer seems paltry in comparison to the pain.

What can I do? Only what I can: Give what I am able. Help in the small ways available to me. Pray. Love. Offer solace. Encourage others to do the same.

It’s not enough. It’s a drop of water on an inferno.

But if all of us do what we can, those drops join together to become a flood.

The world is on fire, it’s more than I can handle
Tap into the water, try to bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table — I bring what I am able

–Sarah McLachlan, “World on Fire”

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I’ve been working on getting Metamor City #19 ready to air this week, so I’ve not had the time to blog about Balticon yet. Fortunately, Gail Z. Martin put together these three video reports on what she saw during the first three days of the convention. The Podiobooks 101 panelists make an appearance in Day 1, Day 2 features readings from the Broad Universe panel, and on Day 3 we get to meet the Ghost of Honor, Douglas Adams, and his faithful assistant.

Balticon, Day 1

Balticon, Day 2

Balticon, Day 3

My own report on Balticon will, I hope, be finished this weekend.

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This site, like my life, is a bit of a work in progress. I’d like to tell you about my intentions for this site, but I’m not entirely sure of them myself. Mostly, I just needed a space where I can get out my thoughts on matters that aren’t directly related to Metamor City.

And frankly, it was a little annoying that all of the chrislester.whatever domains on the Internet were completely unrelated to me.

So, yeah. Watch this space. We’ll figure out what it’s about together.

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