Saffron Threads - Blood and Treasure, Pride and Glory

A couple of months ago, as a break from immersing myself in the depressing history of the Balkans and the exploitative and patronising practices of early European colonialists, I read my first graphic novel. It was "How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less" which follows a pair of young American adults on a birthright tour and explores how their preconceptions about the country and the tour are challenged through the experience. It's pretty weighty stuff for a format I'd casually written off as being purely anthologies of comics! As well as being beautifully illustrated and well-researched the presentation of information meant quite a lot of it stuck in my mind. Certainly, on my own trip to Israel a few days later I was struck by how much I remembered at odd times. More, I think, than I remembered from any of the academic reading or indeed the Lonely Planet guidebook I'd been poring over for months while planning my trip.

One ceasefire doesn't make a peace treaty, of course, but it's a start. I borrowed Ben's copy of Pride of Baghdad for my next foray into this strange, new world, and promptly sat on it for almost two months while finishing up my MSc Finals*. Of course, when I got around to reading it, it took me all of about half an hour, but 24 hours later I'm still thinking through the implications of its political commentary.

On the surface, it's a lushly coloured and somewhat harrowing account of the fate of a pride of lions when the 2003 invasion of Iraq destroyed the zoo they'd called home. Unlike Animal Farm (which can be read by young children as a story about animals a well as being an insightful political commentary on communism for older readers) Pride of Baghdad begins with gang rape and progresses thence through torture and cold-blooded murder, illustrated by graphic depictions which make the Killer Bunny from The Holy Grail look positively pleasant.

Analysing more deeply, the pride represents the people of Iraq, liberated by the American troops whether they wanted it or not: within the pride, some of the lions are pleased by their escape into the concrete jungle while others are not. Taking the analysis further still, there's a sophisticated retelling of the story of Iraq to be found. There are discussions about “outside” and what the pride remembers of it, as well as the concealment of the less-savoury elements from Ali (“Exalted”), the baby of the pride who represents the future of Iraq. The lionesses Safa (“Purity”) and Noor (“Light”) compare memories and stories of “the old days”, with the aforementioned gang-rape perhaps alluding to the number of times Iraq was invaded and conquered from the Middle Ages onwards, but with periods interspersed of prosperity and peace. In my reading, the pride represents the Shia Muslim majority of Iraq, with the zookeepers (killed by the first wave of bombs) representing the ruling Sunni Muslim minority. The pride suffers starvation, dehydration and a loss of their home as a result of the bombing; this uncomfortably highlights the effect of the invasion on the ordinary citizens of Iraq who lost their homes and their livelihoods in the war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime.

There are other groups of animals too: before the bombs begin to fall, one of the antelopes in the zoo talks to Noor, who tries to persuade the antelopes that if they worked together they could all escape. The final substantial group in Iraqi society is the Kurds, and the antelopes' ultimate decision to take their chances in the ruins of Baghdad mirrors the autonomy-seeking stance of the Kurds in Iraq and their distrust of the Arab majority (whether Sunni or Shia: Kurds follow both strands of Islam but are ethnically distinct from Arabs). A monkey tribe attempts to opportunistically abduct Ali, perhaps symbolising elements such as Iran or Al Qaeda taking advantage of the chaos and destruction in the immediate aftermath of the invasions and competing for influence over its future.

Finally, a visit to the deserted main palace in Baghdad reveals a chained male lion, a black bear, and a herd of horses. Given that the book was written in 2006, I take the black bear to be Saddam Hussein and the horses to symbolise justice, driven by Ali. I'm undecided on the significance of the chained lion: perhaps the Shias who had been complicit – on whatever level – with the old regime? I also haven't decided whether the final few pages are intended as a brutal and poignant indictment of the attitude of the American forces or if they were simply necessary for it to stay true to the final events befalling the pride. Of course, it may be both and this is perhaps the most damning political comment in the whole novel.

Ultimately, Pride of Baghdad makes several incisive points in a very subtle fashion, and criticises the foreign policy of those involved in the “Coalition of the Willing” in a way which more mainstream media would struggle to do and still be given airtime. It turns out there are several more graphic novels exploring aspects of the Middle East, and these have been added to my ever-expanding list of Things To Read For Fun Once I've Graduated.

*not literally on it

This month, Saffron is immersing herself in Israel's 1980 “Jerusalem Law” and related British government policy in order to get a handle on her dissertation research.

Saffron Threads - What do motorcycles, Zen and diplomatic intrigue have in common?

Well, there's the book about “The Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance” but the action in that doesn't look out of the USA, and is not hallowed for being particularly accurate on either Zen or motorcycle maintenance, instead being a setting for deep philosophical discussions. Anyway, that isn't what I'm going to write about today.

My topic for this month is Babylon 5. I know, I know, I'm waayyy late to the B5 party given that it stopped airing in 1999. I first heard about it when it was in its second or third season* and was assured my by sci-fi aficionado friends that it was pointless trying to pick it up at that point, and I should just wait until it had finished then start from the beginning. I'm not sure they expected me to take a further 11 years to “get around to it”.**

So, I'm watching B5 from start to end. Thus far, I'm spoiler free too: I was aware of the character of Londo – thanks to a regular (female) sci-fi convention guest who would remain in character for the weekend – and the Nimbari (or so I thought they were called), but that was it. Everything and everyone else was brand spanking new to me. I'm about seven episodes out from the end of Season One at the moment, which by common consensus means it's just about to start getting Really, Really Good.

I have several favourite parts or themes thus far. The first is the point where Garibaldi is restoring an old Earth motorcycle in the episode “Eyes”. I've just taken my CBT, with plans to get my full license later this summer, so the sight of gleaming black and chrome certainly piqued my interest. Up to this point, Lennier was vaguely irritating to me, in an adoring puppy kind of way. It baffled me how the Minbari could select someone as serene and quietly powerful as Delenn as their ambassador, yet send the keen and oh-so-eager-to-please Lennier as her deputy? Perhaps it was what my old boss would have euphemistically called a “development opportunity” for them both? Anyway, in this episode Lennier still retains his over-eagerness, but this time channeled through a love of history and a desire to immerse himself in the language and workings of the bike – and its Japanese instruction manual.

The scenes between Garibaldi and Lennier show another aspect of Babylon 5's writing that I love: it's the familiar banter and small talk discussions that happen in every day life between people who live and/or work together. All to often, this is absent from TV (and book) writing: dialogue is there to drive plot forward, provide exposition, or to establish a character's current mood or personality. It's rarely there to make the setting of all those elements more believable.

Sticking with the Minbari theme for the moment, the Zen Garden introduced early on in the season intrigues me. In a station described as “two hundred fifty thousand tonnes of spinning metal”, to have devoted the time and space to something as apparently pointless as a space for tranquility and rest is wonderful. Thus far, the garden has been used for some shady information trades, but the only one who appreciates it for its true purpose and beauty is Delenn. I have a suspicion, though, that the serenity she radiates conceals a much, much darker side: her flash of temper when her Grey Council membership was mentioned in public; her membership of it in its own right; her cryptic references to the “hole in your (Sinclair's) head”, and the implication at this point that the Minbari had a strong hand in Sinclair being given command of the station over the heads of many more qualified and senior candidates. Time will tell how much of this is borne out and becomes important...

Finally, I'll own to to being shallow enough that any TV series I watch in its entirely has to have at least one character I find strikingly attractive. It's not a guarantee that I'll watch it (even Eliza Dushku couldn't save Tru Calling for me) but it's definitely a prerequisite. In this case, it's Claudia Christian, playing the dichotomous Lt Cmdr Susan Ivonova. I'll leave you with this image:

* I'll dig my geek card out and hand it back soon

** random trivia point: a shop in my local market town when I was very little used to sell plates saying “This is a round tuit. Now I have no excuse not to get on with all those things I've been putting off”. To this day I regret not saving my pocket money up to by one.

This week, Saffron is still stressing about exams, and Lindy Hopping her socks off in a bid to forget about impending exams

Saffron Threads - Who am I, again?

I may have mentioned before that I'm a bit of an escapism addict. It's certainly part of the reason I enjoy tabletop RPGs and LARP, but it does have its downsides, namely keeping all those personalities straight and in-check.

I have a few past RPG characters that are not memorable, mostly from my early days of gaming or from a first attempt at a new system. I have two I'm very attached to but who don't get out to play because the games are on indefinite hiatus. Finally, I have two currently in play and am ready to roll up a third, all in different systems. I try to make the characters different from each other in a bid to make it easier for me to remember who I'm supposed to be being today: I don't always succeed, although I have yet to confuse anyone else in this way. I prefer to think that this is because I catch myself, rather than because I'm a rubbish roleplayer...

The first of the two on hiatus is a young, naive and somewhat flighty werewolf in a new World Of Darkness campaign, but with house-rules to the old WoD rules when the GM prefers them. She started out as a twenty-something living it up in London while working as a Parliamentary Researcher but after almost two years of play she's a scarily powerful werewolf with no paying job, sharing a ramshackle house with two mages, hanging out in the spirit world and a bar guarded by Wraiths and trying to avoid any responsibility in the decimated local pack. Oh and she has a wraith in her head: the only way she could escape the Deadlands as a werewolf after dying during her first Change was to agree to allow a wraith to guide her back. In return, he overtly and covertly pushes her to fulfil his own ends, and when he achieved them he will leave her. Allegedly...

The other hiatus character is for a post-apocalyptic free-form system run by Proud Lion's very own Ben called Cactus Land. This one was a rebellious adrenaline junkie, caring for almost nothing and no one. I have to admit, I loved this game. Because it was systemless, if there wasn't a reason in your backstory for you to be able to do something, you couldn't do it. End of. Backstory and character development is the key reason I roleplay, and the main reason I didn't get on with D&D v4 at all. As a social board game, it's good. As a roleplaying game, it sucked, and not in the good way. Back to Cactus Land: as an ex-Nascar driver and jillaroo, Lisa had many skills I do not, and her independence and nihilism meant there was no falling around persuading the party to cooperate! She still hasn't forgiven herself for almost escaping from a prison camp and hesitating when the rest of the party seemed to be in trouble, and then all being recaptured together. Really, who needs a spark of humanity with experiences like that?

Of my two current characters, Gudrun is a half-elf sorceress in a Norse setting of D&D v3.5. It's the first system I ever played but I've had mixed results on the roleplaying side of the game. I'm struggling to inhabit this character, and while there are things she will do, such as taking the dawn watch (because she follows Dellingr, father of Day and god of Dawn) and weaving in the evenings and walking with a staff (because that's what the Volva did), she doesn't have a unique personality for me. Yet...

I've mentioned Lady G before, my Curious Pastimes alchemist. She's a lovely roleplaying challenge because although she considers herself a lady "by accident of birth rather than character" she's unwilling to give up the status it brings or intentionally behave like a common peasant. So, I get to spend a weekend trying to avoid making a single smutty comment (something I have yet to achieve!) and influencing people by diplomacy rather than outright leadership, or shirking duties entirely – it's always Gin O'Clock for some players! I have a very clear sense of who she is and how she reacts, but even so, maintaining it unscripted for 16hours a day is another challenge. As a non-combatant alchemist, there's an awful lot roleplay involved in being her, so it's refreshing to take time out on a monster slot to just mindlessly hit things as the third gribbly from the left.

I'm trying out Maelstrom LARP later this year, which will see me attached to the pleasure cult, providing services in return for personal gain. And she will utterly detest nature, thus being a complete change from every other character I've played, and definitely involve me playing against my own preferences. Escapism, here I come...

This weekend, Saffron is running around being Lady G, then skipping off into the Mediterranean sunset for a well-deserved rest and cocktails on a beach, followed by some gentle sightseeing.

Saffron Threads - Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The LARP season approacheth!

Just as the withdrawal symptoms were getting unbearable, there are not one, but two, LARP events in April to look forward to.

This will be my third year playing my alter ego Lady G, a medieval alchemist, and I thought I'd share why spending weekends under canvas pretending to hit monsters with a latex sword is such good fun. No, really.

1. It's the ultimate in fresh air and exercise. Events start on Friday evening and run to Sunday or Monday afternoons, and the only permanent building you'll enter in that time is the toilet block... if the site doesn't rely on portaloos. You'll be soaking up vitamin D and running between camps sorting out plot, or running away from refs wielding The Plot Stick. Sometimes you'll be running for cover when the inevitable rain arrives, but other evenings you'll be sat around the campfire keeping warm until long after the stars come out. In the immortal words of the late High King of the Faction: "There is no such thing as inappropriate weather, only inappropriate clothing... I'm wearing inappropriate clothing!"
   



2. I can wear a corset with a warm skirt and sensible boots. I'm a bit obsessed with corsets, it has to be said (at last count I had 5 with another on order), but I usually team them with Silly Shoes, a pretty skirt and hoisery I ladder within half an hour of putting it on. This is why I only *play* a Lady, rather than being one!
   
   



3. There's always live music around the campfire and in the tavern. I always join in. Playing to a packed tavern and carrying the audience with the rhythm is an indescribable feeling! There's an eclectic mix of traditional folk, modern folk, filk and acoustic versions of alternative rock. "Nothing Else Matters" is haunting and beautiful when played like this and I'm working on a folkified version of "Holding Out For A Hero" since the lyrics require no adaptation at all. I'm hoping to debut it at the Bards Competition at the July event... but don't hold me to that.



4. There's no technology. Now, I'm sat on a train, typing this on a smartphone, listening to an iPod, having given up reading uni PDFs on my Kindle, so I'm no technical philistine! However, not being able to follow FB, Twitter, email, RSS or anything else for a weekend forces actual, in-depth person-to-person interaction (of the giggedty sort too, if that's your thing) and I thrive on that. Which leads me to...



5. Awesome characters. Some of the best LARPers I know are totally different in body language, voice, opinions and personality from their real selves. It's like a BOGOF of making friends. Separation between character and person is an interesting dichotomy and something I'll explore in a further post on RPG-induced-schizophrenia. For now, suffice to say there are characters which Lady G can't stand but players Saffron really likes, and vice versa.



6. I mentioned The Plot Stick earlier. Plot comes in two main forms: head-hurty plot and head-hurty plot. The first kind is where your head (or arm, hip, shin, back, or thigh) hurts from being hit by gribblies and having a darn good time hitting them back. The second kind is intellectual, where you are given a problem and need to use in-game knowledge you have, or can acquire in character, to stop Bad Stuff Happening. Never let it be said LARP is a single-dimensional pastime. Lady G much prefers the latter type of plot, rather than having to run around getting sweaty and waving a sword. Really, isn't that what we have Knights for? Saffron, on the other hand, will happily monster (play a disposable character for other players to fight) with much more gusto than skill. Did I mention the fresh air and exercise aspect yet?



7. Immersion. Oh wow, the immersion. The system I play is very hot on in-keeping costume and props (but not necessarily historically accurate: we have elves, magic and beastmen, so you can suspend your disbelief right there on that hook by the gate) and people regularly spend hundreds of pounds kitting out a character. It's a real mental gear change returning to the Real World. I'm an escapist at heart, and this Does It For Me.
   
   



8. Finally there's Spiced Mead, which is truly a nectar from the gods

(All photos are © Steve "Flasher" Mitchell. Used with permission.)

This week, Saffron is mostly worrying about uni exams, and fervently wishing she were somewhere else.