Writings From a Past Life: La Sol y El Luna?

Posted by Guest Writer in WBN News & Events      1 comment

Jan
10

This week’s entry in our Writings From a Past Life series comes from Austin’s very own Amanda Kimmerly:

Lunar-cy

The fat and happy full moon caught a bad case of bulimia to rid some excess crust.  Each day that he vomited more of himself, he gained a new confidence.  (The real goal being, of course, to impress the beautiful, blinding sun, who passes the moon daily without any sort of acknowledgement.) After shedding layer after layer each night, Mr. Moon, now shriveled down to a few measly craters, grew obsessive and threw up at least three times a day.  Happy with his slim bod and smooth, thin curves, he decided that on July 6th, he would finally work up the courage to talk to Mr. Sun.  (Yes, if you haven’t noticed, they are gay.) But what slim Mr. Moon didn’t know is that the Sun favored the shape of a circle.  He liked round, robust figures, like himself.  To please Mr. Moon’s ongoing crush, the night of July 7th, he traded in his bulimic habits for a binger-eater’s.  Night after night, he’d regain a new layer, until finally, during a Total Eclipse, the fat and happy full moon, and the fat and happy full sun, became one.  Now, when the moon appears before the sun sets, know it is a longing watch between distant lovers.

Here’s what we (think we might) know, from the author herself:

“I wrote it for my best friend shortly after moving to San Antonio from Germany in 9th grade. I think it was a birthday story for her, since her b-day is July 6th, and her Uncle Bob, who we had recently visited in Berlin, is gay.  But I could be wrong.”

Here’s what we know for sure:

This mind-blowing piece tears down many of our preconceived notions about gender.

Let us examine the implications of the parenthetical statement regarding the sexual proclivities of Mr. Moon and Mr. Sun. (I in fact had not noticed that Mr. Moon and Mr. Sun were gay, until two words before said parenthetical, when the sun is first labeled “Mr.”)

Although in reality the sun and the moon are genderless, traditionally the sun has been seen as male (Helios, Sol) and the moon female (Selene, Luna). After all, if the sun were female, would anyone dare say “That lucky old sun?” Would we risk talking aloud about the size of the Sun Belt?

Then again, if the moon is female, “the man in the moon” takes on a much different quality. Is Ms. Luna struggling to come to terms with her masculine side? Or are we to believe that she is constantly in flagrante delicto with some strange, unnamed celestial being?

Then again again, the Germanic folks had their own idea about who Sol really is. Are there sapphic implications here? And think about what this line, from the Wikipedia page, does to that theory: “She (Sol) is described as the sister of the personified moon.” Incestual sapphism?

So what’s the answer? Is the sun male and the moon female? Are they both female, but the moon is considering gender-reassignment surgery? Are they female lovers from a shared mother?

Well, Amanda Kimmerly has an answer, and that answer is D) None of the above. By becoming the first to make the sun and the moon both members of the male persuasion, she is in effect asking us to forget all we thought we knew about our two favorite orbs. (Yes, “orbs.” It’s time we brought back “orbs” as an acceptable word.)

It’s all quite avant-garde, really. How many stories touch on bulimia, binge-eating, homosexuality, and unrequited love, while at the same time answering an eons-old question about the heavens above? “Lunar-cy” has all the makings of an ABC After School Special and a PBS documentary on astronomy.

Unfortunately, “Lunar-cy” will likely be banned from most of our schools, as so many millions of our citizens aren’t emotionally and/or mentally equipped to handle that which makes them uncomfortable.

Too bad, Ms. Kimmerly. I think you were on to something here …

Amanda Kimmerly has since written about gay space relationships, but fear not, dear readers–body image is still a primetime subject! She received her B.A in Journalism from Stephen F. Austin State University, which somehow provided the credentials to copy-edit and market novels for local (crazy, talented, fantastical) Austin author Robert Stikmanz, read fiction submissions for (experimental, whiz-bang, revolutionary!) Fringe Magazine, and on top of this, manage a coffeeshop in South Austin.  At 22 years old, her creative works have appeared in Storychord online literary magazine and Poetry for the Masses art project, as well as journalistic works in East Texas publications, The Daily Sentinel and The Pine Log.  She writes regularly and hopes to publish more soon.  Until then, read her infrequently updated blog at www.messymuse.wordpress.com, stalk her on Facebook, or check out her more frequently updated writer’s group’s blog, www.weputwordsonpaper.wordpress.com.