fangirl

i just wrote the silliest, lamest little email to craig thompson. carnet de voyage was just lovely--i liked the informality of the sketchbook, but the story of his travels across france and morocco was compelling enough to keep me reading past my bedtime (hey, i got up at 6:30 and i'm sleepy!). and of course his drawings are all so beautiful; i selfishly wondered if he sells his original art so i could try and save up and hoard one little bit all to myself.

and his impressions of the loneliness of traveling were just so spot on. i kept thinking back to my week in egypt when i was 20, and how lonely and miserable i was, even though i was traveling with friends. not being able to communicate well makes one feel more isolated, i guess.

back to craig thompson for a second though: i just suddenly remembered that when kris and damon (comic swap! i miss you!) recommended his book goodbye, chunky rice, it was just before i went to israel. i remember rereading it in pittsburgh a day or so before i flew away . . . for the triangle denizens: i've seen copies at internationalist books and think you all should check it out. i hadn't seen it in years and finally found it in one of the boxes my parents brought me, along w/ all the stuff i got at the upc thing at bowling green when i'd just gotten back after 6 months abroad . . . i was so happy to read it again. and i finally got my copy of blankets back too, from its endless rounds among my friends. that one has a spot on my real bookshelves.

it makes my heart hurt a little to read his books, b/c he sometimes seems so sad; his drawings are so gorgeous that they hurt me a little too. i'm profoundly grateful that he's out there creating these things though. i told him in my email that i bet every girl who reads his stuff falls a little bit in love with him, and i sincerely believe that it's true. maybe it's true of the sensitive males too, or of anyone who has experienced love and loss and loneliness and all that alliterative jazz.

yes, i'm aware that i take these things too seriously.