McCall's and Simplicity memories

My mom has sewn for many years, making shirts for my dad, dresses for me and my sister, work suits, vests, qipao/cheomsang, and slacks for me.

When I was a kid and she was in the middle of sewing, I remember the sleeve packets that held the tissue-thin tan colored pattern sheaves of papers, McCall's and Simplicity were the brands I remembered. I used to teach myself anatomy by studying the fashion art on these packets. Elongated and elegant women, lean muscular men with boyish hair, children in all sorts of outfits. I learned some of the differences between women and men, boys and girls, and especially skin tones and shades. And while some were more expressive and detailed than others, I really taught myself on how clothing fell on a body, how it framed. I learned hairstyles and gestures. By the time I was doing art classes in elementary, I had a pretty good handle on anatomy compared to my classmates. These pattern sleeve packets even had an added bonus: showing how much styles, trends, and fashion changed within a decade. 

Enjoy the following images: [Credits from Pinterest (Germany), Amazon.com, ArtFire.com, Allthepreciousthings (Australia),  Bonanza.com, MomsPatterns.com]

My comic bookstore from middleschool childhood closed

[This happened 3-4 weeks ago]

Folks, I've had a traumatic experience today (Nobody died, thank goodness) but I feel no less devastated. The local comic store (LCS) I've frequented and patronized since middle school closed down and I only found out while I and my mother ran errands.

I saw the lease sign big as day in the window and the possible new owner going inside and I just. Lost. It. Only those who frequent bookstores can understand the hurt involved because the stores we shop from are also tied into our identities.  

Villains Comics & Collectibles was that sort of store for me. When stuff got stressful. When life got foolish. When jobs became hell. When sh!t hit the fan. This comic bookstore became my 'watering hole'. My sanctuary. My refuge.

Not to mention the owner was 1 heck of a guy. 1 of the few comic bookstore owners who didn't treat females any differently than the males. This week has been a mess. Last month was hard. September was worse. 2018 has been hard for a lot of us. But there were places to retreat to. 

I'm going to start looking into other LCSs in other cities and nearby counties. Maybe I can discover new places, I don't know. Florida isn't casual-explorer friendly and nearly everyone needs personal transportation because the state doesn't have good public transport.

So, yes, to make a long story short, this has been a sucky week. My body cramped up from driving until I had to take a day off from my part-time. And now, one of my favorite places in this God-forsaken city is gone. So yes, this week's been a hot mess. 

Farewell, Villains of NMB. I hope at least to run into the owner again. Hopefully, he's doing well. Sigh.😞😭

Originally on Facebook - September 4, 2015

We are driving through the Bronx.

Burnside, Webster, Valentine aves. Fordham Rd, City College, My Lady of Mercy, and where the old Public Library once stood, demolished and replaced by what I was told was a sleeker and more modern structure.

The red of brownstones faded and new Walgreens, Cee & Cee, Apple Store replaced my sister's school and the Alexander where we used to shop... It's not my childhood New York but it's still mine.

To Inspire Girls!

It hurts when I am teaching young women, and a few times, older women, and I see that often, the sense of curiosity has been lost or damaged.
What I mean is that girls often show they want to DO something but family, peers, and society tells them to leave things to the boys and men. 

What was I doing as a little girl? I was playing with my brothers' toys that they outgrew. My sister is an extrovert and appeared to know what she wanted to do.
As a child in the Bronx, I played with a magician's kit, my Xmas gift one year. Another gift years later when I was in Florida, and from big sis, was a chemistry set. I was performing experiments before and after receiving it, which is probably what may have inspired my sister to buy it for me. 

I believe these childhood experiences fostered a hunger in me to learn, to question, to seek out the truth...
Many of the young women I now encounter often yearn for knowledge, or don't appear to understand that they must ask questions. Their excuses range from 'I don't want to be a bother' to 'I didn't THINK to ask'. 

What is going on? Where is the female potential to question and to understand? As a functional human being, it is each individual's responsibility to seek and to learn! Especially us women! As the majority of the world's population, we can contribute so many things to our distinct societies, and yet, many things in those very societies, whether overt or subtle, bar us from doing so.

Why not take the challenge to challenge yourself? Don't just leave it to some, do the world a favor and participate in the human story.... We need ALL the chapters to tell it.

Dates with my Mom

My earliest happiest memories usually involved the performing arts.

On certain nights, Mom would take me to Poe Park, and we would buy ice cream cones - mine usually vanilla - from the Good Humor® truck.
We would sit on a wooden bench and watch the band play hit tunes in the white gazebo.
The weather would be crisp.
The band wore full uniforms: carmine red with braided gold trim. The bandmaster, with his tall hat, would wave his conductor baton as a wizard, stiff and starched like a wooden soldier or Christmas nutcracker.
Show tunes, marches, all kinds of syncopated beats would pulse through me, and make me remember music that I was too young to understand. The instruments were shiny, glossy, and glinted when swayed around by its musician.

I miss the white gazebo, the vanilla ice cream I can't eat now because of sensitive teeth. I miss seeing that band in carmine red and their shiny instruments. I can't remember the music played. Maybe Souza.
I miss being seven. On Sept. 18 will be my 37th birthday. And I'm sad I can't remember what the bench felt like in Poe Park in New York City in 1982-83.

A Happy Discovery....by accident!

Ser*en*dip*i*ty - n. faculty of making happy discoveries by accident. ser*en*dip'i*tous adj. ser*en*dip'tous*ly adv.
(The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus - Second Edition-Berkley second edition/July 2001)
~~~~~~

There was a mall in the Skylake area, just several blocks and a 20-minute drive from my house during the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s.

As a little girl, my parents would frequent this mall for various reasons, as it wasn't our closest mall, (the 163rd Mall gets that distinction) and particularly the go-to store where my mom bought her sewing tools, kits, thread and needles. I think it also sold yarn.

Whether it was next door, or a section of the sewing shop, my eight year-old self flipped through a table rack of books, and it is here I discovered a gem.

by Stephen Cosgrove/Illus. by Robin James - Goodreads(c)

Serendipity(c)

A thin paperback with a unicorn foal and a tantalizing title. When it came time for us to leave, I asked mom if she would buy it for me, and she did.

The book was read by the time she drove us home. The story was short, had the most luscious illustrations ever, new words to learn, and a bittersweet ending. 

I remembered getting teary-eyed. I re-read it numerous times after until the staples became loose and the spine a little beaten.

Hungry for what I thought was a one-time deal, I placed the book in a respected spot so I could always access it. Imagine my delight and surprise that the two-legged, magenta dragon that was the adorable logo meant it was a series?

Serendipity(c)

Hungry for more, and disappointed that I could not find others, except for "Poppyseed" - circumstances and not returning to the store, nor able to remember the name, - I learned what 'Serendipity' meant, but couldn't remember that this was the actual series' name... Eventually, I forgot about the delightful books, until I rediscovered them in 5th grade. 

Cosgrove/James(c) 

Even in the Catholic school I attended for a short period, we had a library in the class and there were a variety of books: from Black Beauty to Oliver Twist, some French children's books, and a handful of Serendipity's books! I read "Trapper", "Leo the Lop", title book "Serendipity", and others that memory fails to recall. 

I made it a point to collect the series (I'm in my late 30s, and haven't scratched the surface), but life and other books got in the way... And then I re-rediscovered the series again online.

Cosgrove/James(c)

Serendipity(r) is just like its name: wonderful tales with strong moral messages, reminding me of a longer-length Aesopic fable.

And the art! Ah, the illustrations done mostly by the incredible Robin James are so lush, and so fixated! You fall in love with the large, doe-like eyes of the characters: both real and mythical.

The reader can probably count every blade of grass in the fields, count every flowers' petal, see the tendons in the horses, the equine characters are drawn quite lovingly realistic, and at the same time, whimsical - many of the animals in the Serendipity(r) series are drawn more anatomically correct than many other children's books to the point I believe these books inspired me to draw animals better. 

I've recently re-re-rediscovered these books! 

Serendipity(r) helped to formulate the childhood for many of us during the 80s. I'm honored that I was one of those original fans and am excited to read the newer titles, especially now that early readers came together and begged for more stories.

Serendipity(r) has now come under a new imprint/publisher and online shopping/reviewing has made the books easier to locate and purchase!

A happy discovery indeed....

~~~~~~~

P.S. Goodreads.com and many other online retailers such as BarnesandNoble.com, Abebooks.com, Alibris, Half.com, etc. sell the Serendipity(r) Books - both early and new editions - Give them a try, and do us older fans a favor.. Introduce these wonderful tales and characters to a new generation.