From the phone…

I’m sitting here at a party, watching folks playing games and conversing about death and the spiritual world to come, and thinking about what I’ve done so far. There are a couple factors that enter into these thoughts: 1) death and whether or not I’m ready for it, and 2) the stories I’ve been working on for the last few days.

So, I started outlining this short comic about, well…it became about terrorism and extremists, and I started getting scared at the prospect of writing a story about such things. The thought that I could write something that could invite the further persecution of Muslims, the fear that any extremists could use what I wrote to hurt my family, and, most importantly, how such rhetoric and fictionalized story telling that could, negatively or positively reflect on my own religion and beliefs. After all, no matter how arrogant it may sound, a lot of people don’t know much, if anything, about the Baha’i Faith and my exposure could very well shape their first impressions.

Again, I’m left pondering and weighing my options. Thinking about how this one piece could both break me into the business and solidify my belief that we should, as writers, examine and discuss the current environment. Emblazon the news and educate as best we can. Because, really, comic books continue to be a form believed to be – and while this has changed a bit by the vast and far-reaching comic book movies, the general thought remains – based almost entirely in the fictional telling of boyhood longing to belong or fulfill some misplaced and long-dying male stereotype, and we can change that. I want to change that. I’m just a little wary about the consequences.

P.S. – Please excuse the spelling and grammatical errors above. I wrote this entirely on my iPhone, and the screen and keyboard is limiting.