Of Menagerie and Mythology

So, yesterday I went to the informational meeting for the LTHS literary magazine called Menagerie. It was pretty cool, although unfortunately I missed the deadline this year for submitting a story. I just had too much stuff going on to even think about that. However, art submissions are due March 7, so all you wannabe artists out there can still submit art if you feel so inclined.

I am liking this Greek mythology unit in English so far. Like I said on Maffey's blog, I have finally found a practical use for the abundance of Greek mythology knowledge I have acumulated over the years. The only problem is that so many Greek myths contradict each other that some of my previous knowledge is different than what we're learning in class.

For all of you English students out there who are enjoying the mythology unit, or just like mythology in general, you should definitely check out the comic book series Sandman by Neil Gaiman. I know most of you are probably immediatley turned off by the words 'comic book,' but trust me when I say that Sandman is like no comic you will ever read. It focuses on Morpheus, the King of Stories and Dreams, after he is woken from a long period of suspended animation. Morpheus is a member of the family of supernatural beings called the Endless, who all represent a concept (Destiny, Death, Desire, etc.) made anthropmorphic. Since the protagonist, the eponymous 'Sandman', is the lord of stories and dreams, the story features a huge amount of characters taken directly from Greek, Roman, Arabian, Norse, and even Biblical mythology, such as Orpheus and the Furies. Also, there are a bunch of interesting characters who are literally 'dreams' and inhabit the realm of the Dreaming, including the Biblical Cain and Abel, who are storytellers forced to replay the tale of the First Murder for all eternity (Abel regenerates everytime Cain kills him). The story is extremely good, and you can probably find all ten volumes at your local library. I highly recommend checking them out, especially if you are interested in mythology.