Manga is my happy place. I think I’ve known this for a while honestly, but it wasn’t something I fully admitted to myself until recently. Or maybe it was more that I accepted that this is my new “reality” for my bookish world. This world no longer consisted of novels for clients that I worked… Read More That Time When Depression Tried to Swallow Up My Favorite Fictional Heroes…And Me, Too
The article that you’re about to read has been more than four months in the making. It’s one of the most difficult pieces of writing that I’ve tried to craft. Of course, there are practical reasons for that: busy summer and school schedules, writer’s block, apathy, procrastination. If I’m being honest, though, I find it… Read More Tangles Writers Do Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Arc 3: Rio, You Don’t Have To Hate Yourself
My Broken Mariko is an intense, single volume manga about Tomoyo Shiino after the death of her friend Mariko. This manga covers topics of abuse, depression, rape, and suicide. This is not a story of redemption, but rather about death and coping. If these topics are triggers for you, I would recommend avoiding this story… Read More Manga Review: My Broken Mariko
As we close out 2020, and complete our 10th year anniversary celebration, we’ve been posting a final series of Throwback Thursday posts from writers, past and present, revisiting their former columns! Today we’re posting the fifth and final article in the series, returning most appropriately to Zeroe4’s “Throwback Thursday” column. We hope you enjoyed the… Read More Throwback Thursday: 三月のライオン (Sangetsu no Lion)
Novel coronavirus is changing the way most of us are living out lives. Through the pandemic, we find ourselves separated from each other. Schools, businesses, universities, and churches are closing doors until further notice. This makes for incredibly challenging times as we are all alone together. Over a month ago. I started writing a piece… Read More Newman’s Nook: Pandemic Loneliness
I feel inadequate in so many ways. This feeling is on display each time I write, preach, teach in the church, or try to share the Gospel. While I have advanced degrees, none of them are for those actions, and I sometimes feel like these are irrelevant and insufficient when writing, preaching, or teaching. This… Read More Newman’s Nook: Inadequacy, Depression, and Shinji
Shouya Ishida is a lanky, handsome teenager attending high school in Tokyo. He’s smart and does well in school. He has a supportive family, and there are people in his life that he cares deeply about. Shouya is respectful and kind, and works diligently at a part-time job, helping to support his family. And tomorrow,… Read More Review: A Silent Voice