So here’s why I admire her:

1) Emily worked as an independent game designer for decades on a hobbyist basis (inasmuch as anything could be a hobby when it’s such a passion) before she started to make a living in the industry. Her career is a testament to the power of really hard work and networking; she seems to have a natural drive which I can only (and rather pitifully) describe as an intense and enduring interest. By this I mean that she is curious and analytical; she researches constantly and she is always working to find the best solutions to the problems she faces in merging the processes of computers and the dynamics of story-writing in ways that are immersive and creative.
2) In an industry that is not only male-dominated at the professional level but also male-centric in its approach to game content (cf. anything barely-worn by any woman in just about any game, ever; the fairly limited options for female POV characters, even in RPGs; the over-sexualized dynamics presented in game narratives), Emily writes female characters who are cool, competent, and vital. Her characters — both player characters and NPCs — have personality and agency; they’re not just objects, they’re people.
3) Her work does not aggressively strive to inject a feminist agenda into the industry. That’s really not her main focus: her interests lie more in narrative and language, and in playing with it. She takes joy in vagaries, double-meanings, subtext, conversation dynamics — even in spelling and puns. Her recently-released “Counterfeit Monkey” has a game mechanic that works on the Thurber-esque premise that things can be materially changed by changing the letters in their names. Her current work with Linden Labs, “Versu,” allows the player to take part in mannered conversation and narrative by underlaying the reactions and speech of NPCs with intricately woven dynamics related to narrative and story development, subtle (and not-so-subtle) shifts in mood, and a lot else that takes place behind the scenes to create a constant flow of activity that shifts, either subtly or dramatically, from one game to the next.

In the now-well-established and big-money industry of video and computer gaming, it can be astoundingly difficult to find works which really go against the tide and create something new. Games that are intellectually challenging at any level are rarer still. Emily’s games somehow manage to do these things while remaining fun and alluring — and constantly breaking new ground that keeps getting her noticed by the industry.

So, that sucks, and is a snapshot of the massively sexist and totally effed-up attitudes of the time. But what’s so cool about Artemisia herself?

1) She didn’t let the trauma of the rape and publicized trial stop her from achieving her goals. She was also respected in her own time; her paintings were considered exceptional examples, and not just because she was a woman. She was the first woman ever accepted to the Florentine Academy of the Arts, and went on to a long and fruitful painting career. She corresponded with Galileo. She was a friend of the Buonarroti family. She was favored by Charles I, and spent time as his court painter. She traveled, she studied, she married, she mothered, and she painted until the end of her life.
2) In a time when the female form was becoming quickly idealized, Artemisia’s work shows women who are burly, brutal, and unusually natural. Their breasts are subject to gravity, as actual breasts usually are. Their faces are expressive. The women she depicts have agency: they are not only not objects within the context of their own paintings, but they are not objectified for the viewer, either. Probably her most famous work depicts the Biblical story of Judith beheading Holofernes: in Artemisia’s depiction, blood sprays from Holofernes’ throat towards Judith’s face, and down onto the bed where he is lying, drunk. Judith’s face is not timid or reserved: she grimaces with disgust and resolve. The story behind it — of Judith’s seduction and assassination of Holofernes — could be understood as an allegorical assertion of the existence and danger of female power in the realms of both sex and violence. For contrast, here is another depiction of Judith and Holofernes from the same time, by another female painter, Fede Galizia. The work — while totally beautiful — is very staid; Judith’s expression is blank, and the natural brutality of the story seems to be treated with a vague embarrassment. The act has already been done, and Judith’s knife is mirror-clean. She is posed in a stance of inactivity, adorned, and seemingly awaiting recognition, with nary a drop of blood on her bodice. (It’s possible, I suppose, and I can’t claim to have personal experience of it yet, but isn’t beheading someone usually a fairly bloody prospect…?)
3) Even ignoring the implications of Artemisia’s depiction of women, her work is just cool. It’s the kind of stuff I love: romantic, and classical, generally narrative in nature, with a real mastery of color and light, much of which was drawn from Caravaggio, and some of which was uniquely hers. But she had mastered many techniques that were being tackled by various artists at the time — foreshortening, chiaroscuro, and the use of narrative, and allegory. Still, the most compelling aspect for me is the natural emotion conveyed by her works — even when that emotion is a little silly.

Obviously, being put under house arrest (even by a military dictatorship) may be notable, but it isn’t particularly heroic. So here’s why I think Aung San Suu Kyi is so amazing:

1) She speaks eloquently and carefully. Her speeches are beautiful pleas for peace, negotiation, and contain a running theme of injecting personal courage and individual strength into the political process in a way that encourages higher standards of discourse and conflict resolution. In her address at the NGO Forum on Women in Beijing, she wrote:

“For millennia women have dedicated themselves almost exclusively to the task of nurturing, protecting and caring for the young and the old, striving for the conditions of peace that favour life as a whole. To this can be added the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, no war was ever started by women. But it is women and children who have always suffered most in situations of conflict. Now that we are gaining control of the primary historical role imposed on us of sustaining life in the context of the home and family, it is time to apply in the arena of the world the wisdom and experience thus gained in activities of peace over so many thousands of years. The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all.”

2) Despite being placed under house arrest for 20 years, the assassination of her father, the government’s denial of a visa to her husband, violent attacks, and legal persecution, Aung San Suu Kyi loves her homeland. She loves it so much that, when the government essentially told her that, while her husband couldn’t enter Burma, she would be allowed to leave Burma to see him, she refused, because she was afraid that she would not be allowed back into the country. She loves it so much that she established a $1.3 million trust to safeguard the health and education of its people even though she was not allowed to leave her home at the time. She loves it so much that despite suffering a lifetime of abuse and persecution, she continues to dedicate her time and energies to the growth of democracy, freedom, and justice in Burma. It’s an extraordinary story of patriotism. Patriotism does not mean that you will not criticize your country’s government, citizens, or military or religious leaders. It does not mean nationalism, or the assertion of supremacy over other nations. It does not mean obedience or silence. Nor, on the other hand, does it necessitate revolution or violence. Patriotism is simply the love of one’s homeland; in Suu Kyi’s case, this is admirably manifested as a genuine concern for the well-being of the Burmese, and the hope of peace both domestically and internationally.

Frances Oldham Kelsey was a pharmacologist. She received her Ph.D. at the age of 24, and immediately went to work teaching at the collegiate level. She married at 29 and had two daughters. At the age of 46 in 1960, she went to work for the Food and Drug Administration as one of only seven full-time employees reviewing drugs for safety and legalization. I know, this sounds boring — she’s just a bureaucrat, right? But what she did there earned her the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and saved an untold number of mothers and children from a nightmarish fate by refusing to approve the sale of thalidomide in the United States. Thalidomide was a drug that was developed to help pregnant women combat morning sickness; and it was reportedly effective at this, but had the unspeakably horrible side-effect of causing serious birth defects. Between 1957 and 1962, thalidomide was linked to over 10,000 cases of birth deformity worldwide.

On its surface, it seems like Kelsey’s heroism could be overblown, or even accidental. So here’s why this story makes me love her:

1) She was a total noob, mostly inasmuch as this part of the FDA was kind of a noob. There was no really clear template for how these drugs were lobbied or researched — it just wasn’t established. Kelsey was part of that.
2) She stood up to pressure from Richardson-Merrell, the drug company pushing to sell thalidomide in the states as “Kevadon,” and refused to cut any corners to expedite their approval. She repeatedly denied their application, citing inadequate testing. Richardson-Merrell distributed free samples of the drug to physicians in the US to try to build support (a trick that wasn’t, at the time, prohibited by any law); this resulted in 17 cases of thalidomide-related birth defects in the US. This sucks, but it’s a lot less than the thousands of cases throughout Europe in countries that approved the drug.
3) Kelsey didn’t just have some accidental feeling or hunch, or even read a paper or two about some possible risks of thalidomide. She had spent years researching teratogens and the absorption of drugs through the placental barrier. She was responsible for her own research and education, without which, she might not have had the slightest clue as to thalidomide’s risks. Put another way: she was a woman who had curiosity, drive, and discipline in a specialized field. The timing of thalidomide’s application may have been simple chance, but it was her intellect and hard work that put her in a position to avert tragedy.

She also didn’t stop there. She was instrumental in forming FDA policy, and eventually retired at the age of 90, after 45 years of working for the FDA.

Alexandra Guarnaschelli is a frequent judge on the television show “Chopped.”

She’s a vocal, assertive, well-spoken woman. She is opinionated and not afraid to speak with thorough authority, which she kinda has, because she’s an Iron Chef. But here’s what I love most about her: she always speaks her mind after clear and careful consideration, but she expresses herself in a way that is neither bitchy nor mousy. That can be an extraordinarily difficult balance to strike, especially for women, because an attitude which some men might regard as confident or assertive in another man is seen as overreaching or harsh in a woman. There are some who think that women should be pliable and demure, but here’s something I’m realizing more and more: that’s boring, for everyone. I’m not saying that women should be crazy. But women who think and speak their minds will always be much more fascinating — love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re just more interesting — than women who look cute but never open their mouths.

“I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.”

Wikipedia summarizes the “Cloud of Unknowing” pretty well:

The underlying message of this work proposes that the only way to truly “know” God is to abandon all preconceived notions and beliefs or “knowledge” about God and be courageous enough to surrender your mind and ego to the realm of “unknowingness,” at which point, you begin to glimpse the true nature of God.

This is not particularly unlike the more psychological writings of Carl Jung, who used the medieval processes of alchemy as a metaphor or template for personal transformation. Among other things, he discusses the phases of the magnum opus (the “great work”), which is traditionally the name applied to the alchemical process of turn base metals into gold (or creating the philosopher’s stone).*

Nigredo — “blackness” — putrefaction or decomposition. Everything must be broken down to its base elements. In a personal sense, this is an abandonment of knowledge and preconceived notions; we wipe the slate clean, and accept that we are lost in the cloud of unknowing.
Albedo — “whiteness” — purification. From chaos, order — but, still, no particular knowledge. This is a period of peace and grace, intended to bring us from the destruction of nigredo to a place where we will be receptive to growth and knowledge.
Citrinitas — “yellowness” — the sun. It is interpreted sometimes as turning silver to gold, other times as the transformation of consciousness from “lunar” (i.e., albedo) to “solar” (citrinitas). Skill, knowledge, and experience can be assimilated into consciousness; we are no longer blank.
Rubedo — “redness” — the phoenix. New life is born from the experience of pain; enlightenment is achieved. For Jung, this would mean actualization; the birth and acceptance of self, mind and body, merged together.

I’m working on a project, right now, which will give some illumination to this topic — a series of illustrations intended to take a more detailed look at the path from nigredo to rubedo; this is just a simple introduction to those concepts. More information on that soon…

*It doesn’t work in a chemical sense — but as is generally the belief of many Rosicrucians and mystics of various stripes, it was never intended to be a literal chemical template, but was actually always meant as a spiritual process.

I am pleased to announce that Steamypunk will be relaunching, with a fresh look and new content, on March 20th. Submissions are now open, so if you are interested in being part of the celebration, or would like to submit works for future publishing, please send your original writing, poetry, or artwork to steam [at-symbol] steamypunk [dot] net.

I am eager to continue Steamypunk’s traditions: to offer the finest in Steampunk erotica, while retaining existing submission guidelines:

- All work should contain elements of Steampunk.
- Submit only your own work.
- Please depict only consensual participants in your work.
- Your story may be of any length, but less than 5k words is preferred.
- When submitting artwork and illustrations, please submit them in JPG or PNG format, and compress them to under 1MB.

Thank you very much for your patience, and for being part of Steamypunk!

Sarah McMenomy

I’ve updated my portfolio at sarahmcmenomy.com to show off some of my recent work and give you an idea of the kind of stuff I do for short-term, contract, or commission work. If you have something longer-term in mind, feel free to download my resumé and give it a look. I currently have no full-time or part-time work, which is a win for you — it means that whatever your project is, I am available to devote 100% of my time and energy to it.

You can view my Design work here and my Illustration work here.

As a general rule, my rates for everything from web design to custom illustration hover around $30/hr, but email me at sarahmcmenomy at gmail dot com with a project description if you’d like an estimate.

“Why post this?” is a repeated question. People seem to think that MPT is just using Driscoll to drum up publicity or hits for himself, or to stir the pot. But I’d have to say that as Christians, we should keep an eye on each other. Driscoll, like Fred Phelps, is just one face of modern Christianity, and represents us to those who may not realize that there’s a spectrum, and that we’re not all the same. A wayward sheep is a problem, but a wayward shepherd is a disaster.

As an Episcopalian, I take exception to Driscoll’s comments about our presiding bishop. As a woman, I take exception to what he teaches about the place of women in the church, and in society. And as a Seattlite, I’m worried about the impact of Mars Hill Church on my immediate social, political, and spiritual environment.

Driscoll seems to me to be engaging in WWF-style repackaging of religion for increased manliness, obfuscation (and lack of intellectual exploration) of the Christian message, stadium-filling zealotry, and flat-out sexism. In Seattle, where most churches are withering and dying, Driscoll’s is growing like crazy, and it worries me that he seems to be selling an Easy Christianity.

Christianity isn’t easy. It tells you to love people you want to hate, and forgive people who have harmed you deeply. Signing up for Jesus’ team does not mean you’ll always be right. It’s a lifestyle, not a get-out-of-jail-free card. It requires devotion, persistence, and education. The Bible is not intended to be prescriptive; it cannot tell you the answer to every question you have, only give you a history and some guidelines for how to achieve those answers.

But easy Fundamentalism is what Driscoll is selling to a subset of youth who have been raised in unchurched environments, and who don’t know that Christianity is much, much more than what Driscoll preaches.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Driscoll is feeding his flock junk food. Personally, I believe they deserve better.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about Bento:

Bento (弁当, bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.

I get fresh vegetables and various other foods delivered to my home by Spud, but I rarely wind up using everything, because I don’t eat breakfast and I’m never home for lunch. My mornings are far too rushed (get up earlier? Are you effin’ keeding me?) to make lunches, and that means I wind up spending unnecessary dollars on a downtown Seattle lunch when I could be bringing something delicious from home instead. (And eating out on a regular basis completely ruins the whole notion of portion control.) But I’m an adult, and my hope is that the fun element of bento will help motivate me to assemble lunches the night before and just stick them in the fridge so I can just grab them in the morning. Healthier, cheaper, cuter, and yummier. That’s my goal.

I’m also not really an adult, and squee slightly at the lovely pictures of Kyaraben that float all over the internets, but I am not sure I can bring myself to make cute-ass bento only just for myself. That is why it is good to have a sister who lives with you!

I wanted a box that would be simple, cute (but not too cute), with 2 or more compartments, and at least one that could seal up and hold slightly-wet foods. And I sort of hoped it would fit in my messenger bag. So I went over to Bento&Co and got the blue and green Iro Iro Argyle Set.

These are lovely solid-color boxes with a 600ml total capacity. For $60, I got two boxes…

Lovely Argyle carrying bags…

And chopsticks with their own carrying case!

I also got us each a set of My Cutlery, which come in their own small box…

And can be assembled to make a spoon, a fork…

Or chopsticks!

I don’t plan on making anything that will need a knife, nor is that really (as far as I can tell) the Bento Way.

I also got some cutie-pants bento things.

The flat round things are for thick sauces (hummus, dips); the little bottles are for thin sauces (soy sauce, vinegar dressing). These, of course, are totally practical. Slightly less defensible are the cute as crap panda bear picks.

Last week, I went on down to Uwajimaya, Seattle’s reigning Asian food palace (calling it a “market” seems diminutive), to get some authentic bento foods of various sorts. While I’m not against the idea of sticking in westernized substances such as cheese and crudités and so on, I nonetheless love any opportunity to play around with food, and Japanese food is a sort I’m less acquainted with than many another. (I say “less” because I’m pretty good with sushi, but there’s a lot of Japanese food that’s not sushi. And to anyone out there who tries to argue the “You wanted something cheaper, but you have to go out and buy extra food” line on me: dude, have you ever been to an Asian food market? It’s like the cheapest food there is…)

Here’s the haul:
In the back row, from left to right: furikake (a seasoning made of seaweed, sesame seeds, and yum), pickled ginger, seasoned rice vinegar, black sesame seeds, and kim chee.
On the left: umeboshi (pickled plums), green tea, fruit snacks. (I didn’t get the fruit snacks at the Asian food market, but eventually they’re going to wind up in the bentos…)
Center: sushi nori (for playing with, basically), bonito flakes (fish seasoning that flavors all sorts of Japanese food).
Right: pickled radish. (This looks weird as hell, I know, but it makes a great palate-cleanser. I spent a week once at a Zen Buddhist monastery, and we ate pickled daikon with every meal. Om nom nom!)

A few notes on these. This is one of the most delicious things you can ever put in your mouth:

and since apparently onigiri with umeboshi inside is a traditional type of onigiri, well, that’ll be happening.

Fear not: this will never be going in the bento boxes. It is strictly for at-home consumption, because I do not hate my coworkers, and I’m pretty sure that kim chee is considered only slightly more acceptable in civilized places than durians are.

More things that will be going in the boxes:

Snacky crackers! And…

Sweets! I think most folks around here are familiar with Pocky (chocolate or strawberry-flavoring-dipped little stick-cookies); the other items here are, from the top: ginger candy, plum candy, toasted sesame-filled mochi, and bean paste-filled wheat cakes.

So, I’m excited; I’ve been busy enough with the upkeep of other parts of my life lately (friends, career, blahdeeblah) that I haven’t had as much time and energy as I once did to have foodventures. But this is a good start, and I’m already a little bit in love with it all. For tonight, though…