ceitfianna | Words, Lovely Words

Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

As everyone can probably tell by now, I never tire of this meme since it changes every single time its done. Also I just got back from a lovely walk and picked up a cheap copy of Band of Brothers at Borders and found out about selling my used books at Dawn Treader, which I'm going to try and do this week.

And I finally found a lovely set of drawings that show Ann Arbor, now I just have to find them in a notecard set, which is much trickier than I expected. I want to send out mail but all the Michigan things are rather sporty as opposed to just simple, sketch notecards. So this is another reminder to say that if you want a card from me, comment here and email me with your address.

For the words from

mmexlibris I was given: Mythology, Legend, Library, baking, writing
and from

wordsthatfail: New Zealand, mythology, information science, cooking/baking, Robin Hood mythos.

As you can see there's a bit of overlap which makes me grin, I like being associated with mythology and cooking.

Mythology

I think I fell in love with mythology when I was young because my parents had and gave me wonderful books full of myths from all over the world. My utter favorite was one of my mother's from I think the 1920s so it was probably her mother's with these amazing, striking illustrations. That's when I fell in love with Demeter since there was a beautiful simple picture of a woman, really line sketch but then a sweep of black for her cloak. Also I adore connections in literature and stories so I've always read any book of myths and legends that I can find because I love then spotting them in my favorite writers. As I was unpacking my boxes of books, I found so many collections of folk tales and myths from various parts of the world. The two authors that I loved studying the most in classics were Homer and Pindar because they're so intelligent about how they use the myths and in Greece, there are a lot of myths with tons of variations. Both of those poets were careful about the choices they made and how that added to their work. So I always love reading retellings of famous stories, everything from the Percy Jackson books to Margaret Atwoods' The Penelopiad, which I highly recommend.

Legend

To me the line between legend and myth is slightly blurred so a lot of my answers from above still hold true. When I think of a legend, I tend to think in terms of Robin Hood and Arthur, these stories that define a place and a people where there's the sense that they could have happened. With mythology, its on a much grander scale and less connected to the forest near your home. I grew up outside of Philadelphia so surrounded by many legends and history of the founding of America, which I find fascinating. What are the stories we tell ourselves to explain why we got here and why we have certain things and not others?

Robin Hood Mythos

Every time I talk about Robin Hood, I need to link this, Paul Creswick's Robin Hood and His Adventures with illustrations by N.C. Wyeth. This book is the entire reason that I love Robin Hood as much I do. Its a beautiful retelling of the story where the men are given true stories and it just felt like a real world to me when I was reading it. From here I can see my copy which is falling apart since I've read it so often and the orange cover has turned yellow. I think the reason I adore Robin Hood so much is that its truly an ensemble story at least when its told well and I've never considered myself a leader. I tend to be the one in a group who supports others and I see myself as quite loyal so Robin Hood made me go, I want to have a group of people around me like these men. Since I've been playing Will Scarlett in

milliways_bar, I've been able to really get to know the world even better and write more in it. The first fanfiction I wrote was about that book and the first adult story I ever told was of Will's hanging, both of these happened when I was about twelve. Since then there have been many retellings of the Robin Hood and I'll be honest, I haven't read and watched all of the ones out there. Sometimes I'll take a look at ones, but I have the ones I love and the one in my head so I'm happy.

Cooking/Baking

I love cooking. I'm from a family where you can tell we're having a party because the kitchen is a mess and good smells are coming from everywhere. Both my parents cook but in different ways. My mother really got into cooking when she lived in France so she tends to start with a recipe and then make changes. My father invents chocolate sauces and pestos, but he's not that big a fan of recipes. To give you an idea of how he cooks, before I left my brother Robert and his family came down to visit and we had some lovely seafood. Well my brother and father decided they would grill the fish, this ended up not working out that well but they wanted to try it. I fall somewhere in between, I have some decides that I just love to create but I also have such fun playing with recipes. So if you ever visit me, there will be cooking since truly cooking and eating with friends and family is one of my favorite things ever.

Library/information science

I've spent this past year since I returned from New Zealand after not finishing my Master's thesis in a strange sort of limbo. I looked for a job and almost got two, I finally got my driver's license and my ear's pierced but the economy hit hard and things didn't quite work. Around the end of last year, I was finally able to start volunteering at my local library which is something that I've done before in Swarthmore and is one of my favorite things. Then I got to thinking, well I've done a lot of work related to libraries and always loved it, maybe I should start looking for that kind of job. So I did a few informational interviews with some of my connections and got to thinking that maybe I should get an MLS. Then things suddenly hit fourth gear and only since I've moved to Ann Arbor have they settled. April I applied to UoM, I was accepted in June and moved in August, next week my training for my part time job as a reference librarian starts and the next week orientation and classes. I love libraries and this world because a good public library is a community center where at some point everyone finds their way. I want to be an active part of that and help people find books and help children discover the wonder of reading and maybe change a few lives and make the world a better place.

New Zealand

New Zealand was where I found my independence and suffered one of my worst years ever. My three years there were such a strange and complicated mixture and its a place that I would go back to in a second since I adore the people and the place, the beautiful mixture of a young people and an old landscape. My first year, I earned my way down in the South Island and had some crazy adventures while working some good and horrible jobs. I found a boyfriend who was young and did some hard things for my self esteem, but he got me to Wellington which is my favorite city. My second year, I was a graduate student taking classes in Aristophanes, Athenian Democracy and Etruscan Art while writing a paper on Pindar and falling in love with Wellington. I broke up with my boyfriend, ended up with a great flatmate who I wished I had been brave enough to date and was pulled into comics and Milliways and started writing again. The third year was the hardest and most heartbreaking one as I tried to write my thesis, couldn't find a part time job and was horribly isolated. I'm taking all the lessons of that year and turning them around here in Ann Arbor. I'm going to be active and take chances and go on dates again, but New Zealand holds a very important part of my heart and always will.

Writing

I've been writing for so long, the back pages of my notebooks from elementary school are covered in stories since with a spiral ring notebook, I'd flip it over and write starting from the back. That way if the teacher looked over at me, I could just flip to the front where my notes were. I have huge collections of journals since my family and friends have gifted me with tons. I don't think I've ever actually filled one, but I love them so much, I need to have something to write with where ever I am. Writing and storytelling are just how I create and I've done all sorts of things from one act plays to poetry but short stories are I think my favorite place. Since I started answering prompts, I've learned that I think almost in snapshots, a moment with perhaps not a huge amount of context. I tell stories the same way, I bring you into a world for just a snippet that I hope stays with you for a while. Milliways and my flist got me back into writing after falling out of it slightly for a bit and I'm so grateful. I love having people to bounce ideas off of and try things that I would never think of just to see what happens.