Editorial

With CelticFest 2007 put to bed Sunday evening, I finally had a break from what amounted to five straight days of drinking. Mind you, it was not all for naught – I heard and saw some great performers and met some wonderful, interesting people from all nationalities. The price paid, however, was with my health and so Wednesday morning I woke up to a cold - my third one since New Years!

The expression that says one “comes down” with a cold, is smack on because it certainly does bring one down. I’m sure that stress was a major factor, too, since I’ve got a lot going on these days, lots of looming opportunities and big decisions to make. But when you have a throbbing head and are having trouble even breathing, it’s hard to contemplate tackling anything bigger than just getting out of bed.

I watched a lot of TV, having found this great site http://www.tv-links.co.uk/ that has tons of shows, cartoons and movies. Who needs cable!

I watched the whole season of Heroes, a show about seemingly ordinary people who discover they have supernatural powers. Comic book stuff: as a matter of fact one of the characters is a comic artist who paints the future and Spider-man creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance.

An Iraqi friend of mine calls superheroes and comics the American Mythology. I think he’s right, but I think that what makes them popular is that they do strike a cord with most people.

There are two underlying threads to the series which are also common to comics:

People with special talents and abilities are outcasts and generally unappreciated,

and,

Everyone has a destiny.

I believe the first is a truism, and the second a leap of faith.

Commercial Drive is full of comic book characters and sensibilities. So many people in funny costumes and disguises who carry inside them a mostly blind faith as to what destiny holds for them - to the point of alienating themselves from friends and loved ones in pursuit of it.

I think it takes courage to be different, to follow dreams and chase uncertainty. The rest of the world is jealous of what it can’t do.

And yet, when someone finds themselves in some type of emotional train wreck, it is some type of art that helps pull them out of it!

Until next time, keep up the good work, and stay in touch.