American Gods: S1E1

I read the book, but already noticed bothersome things after watching only one episode of the series that I hadn't noticed from the book.  It's not that the book is different from the series already, I just hadn't noticed things.  I probably didn't notice them because the book was recommended by a good friend, Robert, who loves Neil Gaiman, and loved the book.  Normally, Robert and I hate similar issues, like sexism and racism, so it didn't occur to me to worry about these things. 

I also didn't look up any of the god(desse)s while I was reading the book, but I am looking them up now that I'm watching the first season, and the first episode already has inaccuracies!

SPOILERS

In the first episode, we already have the wife fridged!  See Wikipedia for a more complete explanation of this concept, but it's basically when the wife or girlfriend of the male protagonist is killed or tortured as motivation for the male protagonist's story and growth.  It's lazy writing, and I'm sad to see it here.  So, sexist box is checked.  :(

What about racism?  The main character is an intelligent, middle-class Black man, so that doesn't seem to fulfill any stereotypes.  He does start the story in prison, but that might be more an accurate portrayal of our racially biased criminal justice system.  Although, it is also a stereotype. 

But more concerning is Bilquis, for a variety of reasons.  First, the depiction of Bilquis as some sort of sex goddess, or love goddess, is historically inaccurate.  Again according to Wikipedia, Bilquis's history is disputed, but seems to generally include providing gifts/trade and using riddles or wisdom.  There's nothing about sex.  But, and here's the second issue, there's a lot of sexualized racism about how Black women's sexuality is dangerous.  In the show, she literally consumes people during sex, presumably killing them.  In the second episode, she consumes both men and women, but mostly White people.  Misognoir much?  I like having diverse casts and stories, but if you wanted a killer sex goddess, maybe be historically accurate and find a real god/dess who uses sex as a weapon instead of plucking one African queen from history and telling a lie about her story. 

Yes, the main character is a complex Black man, but the depiction of the two women so far is as sexual and dangerous.  This plays into stereotypes of women in general, but particularly of Black women.  Sadly, because of this sexism and sexualized racism, I'm not looking forward to continuing the series.  Sorry, Robert. 

2018 Fun!

As I was adding important dates to our new Ellie calendar, I saw that we did a lot of fun stuff!  I wanted to get it all down somewhere, so here you go!

In January, we celebrated my Gram's birthday and Ellie turned 3!
In February, we had a nice Valentine's dinner.
I went to Washington in March because I missed my niblings.  I'm sure I also had pie on Pi Day.  :)
It looks like we went to Washington in April, too.
I went back to Washington in June for my nephew's high school graduation, and we started our many appointments for Brie.  Poor puppy had her knee surgery in June!
We celebrated July 4th, and I saw Gwen Stefani in Vegas with a long-time friend in July.  We also went to Seaside , OR, with my family in July.  That was Gary's first time on this annual trip!  July was our first of 3 Angel's games this year.
I went back to Washington right before school started in August.  Gary and I went to a musical in both August and September.  I went to Six Flags with a student group in September, too.  Gary also brought Ellie up to Taft to visit me for a weekend!
In October, I visited my niblings in Seattle to welcome my oldest nephew to college, and I took my student club to the Bakersfield Pride Festival.
In November, we only traveled for Thanksgiving.
I went to Wicked with my long-time friend in December, then we went to Washington again for the holidays and Auntie Day.

Lots of music, and Angel's games, and family!