Me?
![[Little me, Photo by Elsa Miller]](me.jpg)
Who would in their right mind want to know anything about me? But since this page is about me and my work I will share some things with you.
Throughout my life, I have gone by many different names. Why? Because I like names, all sorts of different names. Plus, I never really liked my name. Sure it's nice sounding and all, but oohh so very common. I've always had another person in my many classes who had the same name. So I say bah to my true name and go by something else.
Therefore, I go by many names: Midtalya (who was my most beloved D&D character, a halfling) and Lemo G (which is a messed up version of my real name). Both are me, but for anything internet related I am Midtalya, while for anything creative (writing), I am Lemo G.
But who am I in reality? I was born on the day of the dead in the early 80s, dragging my toes... or so my mother tells me. I am the third and last child and the second daughter. 3 years and 9 years separated me from my siblings (a brother and sister). My mom and dad were both farming folk, but now they do other things. My mom's love of gardening (kind of) passed onto me, and I like to think I know a little about plants, even though I don't know the Latin names.
I kissed my first boy when I was in grade ten, my first girl in grade two. I love them both to this day, even though I don't know where they are.
I am a librarian by profession with both my Library Technician diploma and Masters of Information Studies supporting me after 7 years of grueling school beyond high school. I completed my technicians program at Seneca College, my 4 year BFA at York University (in 3 years) and my MISt at the University of Toronto. It was a hard run, but I am glad it's over, though I will likely miss the student life. Currently I work for my former college and the Toronto Public Library, and I love it! While I dislike some of the internal politics that get in way of the ideal of "the library", I still love working with the people and answering their questions. Everyday on the reference desk is like playing Trivia Pursuit, how quickly and well can you find the answer without looking like you don't know what your doing....just kidding. My policy has always been: I may not know the answer, but I likely know how to find the answer.
In my youth I traveled quite a lot with my parents and have visited 9 provinces of Canada, 48 states of the US (guess which ones I am missing), and 1 whole block of Mexico (walked over the Grand and saw how depleted the river was). Sometime (hopefully) in the near future I plan to travel to places further away, such as Greece, Japan and Egypt. My interest in those areas has long been inspired from my books, movies and studies in art and literature.
I speak and read very limited Japanese, and am getting rustier as the years go by... I really need to study again. Sign... Nevertheless, my love of Japanese art and literature has generated much of my respect for Japanese animation--that and my early love of cartoons from my childhood. My mom used to say, she knew I was home by turning on the television and finding it still on the Cartoon Network.
Having found my calling in my first year of my undergrad, I continued throughout the years (including my Masters) to write numerous papers, projects and collaborations on my favourite subjects (animation, graphic novels, manga, cartoons), many from an art or social framework, but later from a library viewpoint. Particularly, my interest in manga is summed up by my continuous examination/research around the shojo sub-genre called “boy’s love”. It is also called shonen-ai (or spelled shounen-ai), bishonen-ai (beautiful-boy-love), or by its traditional, older and outdated name, Yaoi (which is actually an acronym). Lately; however, I have shift my focus to include traditional shojo-ai, and have been pleasantly surprised by the similarities between the two sub-genres.
Examples of my past papers and their topics:
- Shounen ai: Behind the Face of a Man - Why girls read, create, and enjoy yaoi and shonen ai
- Perverse, Normal, or Idealized: Representation of Homosexuality in Anime - How homosexuality is represented in Anime and Manga, be that positive, negative or unrealistic.
- Shonen ai: What about the boys - Looking at the reactions of readers and the opinions of non-readers, fans, men, and gays.
- Song of the Wind and Trees: The Beginning of Shounen ai Anime - Looking at one of the origins and prototypes of Shonen ai (specifically shonen ai animation).
- Why must I die: A look at tragedy in shounen ai - Examples of tragedy in yaoi and shonen ai (and shojo) with a specific examination of the change in trend from tragic stories (early works) to optimistic stories in recent years. This was a 30 page paper, which included a mini-documentary that I created to accompany it.
- AMV: Art, Law and the Digital - Addressing anime music videos, the culture behind them and the laws standing in their way.
- Do all Indonesian comic characters die young? - Paper on Indonesia comics and animation, the history and shadow development
- SCANLATIONS: The Gray area of Illegal E-Publishing (2006) - a website and blog used as a form of academic papar for a Masters-level class on electronic publishingLINK.
- Boys who love Boys: Graphic novels for teens (2007) - a library booklet featuring examples of shonen ai manga for teens, with summary of content, age rating, cover art, and quotation from the manga.
- Graphic novels: Challenges for Technical Services (2007) - a suggestive guide to the challenges and difficulties in cataloguing, processing, acquiring and placing graphic novels in the library, with direct input from current library professionals in the field.
- Graphic Novels: Before your Eyes and Behind the Scenes in the Public Library (2008) - a joint presentation with Susan Barker about Graphic novels in the Art library setting. Everything we could think of, divided into two domains—the public space (which I did) and the private space (behind the scenes-which Susan did).
If interested in reading these papers, feel free to email me.
I was even invited to present at the Asian Comic conference during my last year at York University, but due to being very busy applying for my Masters and finishing off the year, I didn’t get the time to prepare. Every year I attend the Anime-North and the CNAnime conferences in Toronto, and have considered helping out the Yaoi-North panel.
Since my first year of my undergrad, and every spare moment I’ve had over the following 5 years, I’ve been working on my pet project—an adult picture book—a fairytale of sorts. Expectations for final completion of the first volume are high as the b/w version was completed in 2007 and the colour testing has been on-going for over a year. Draft drawings have been started on the second and third volume. I even have my first, second and third pre-purchase request (Bonsai!).
For examples of writings see below
Currently I am a single girl in no real rush. After a series of false hopes and a self-imposed singleness while I was finishing off my Masters, I have finally discovered that I’m thinking of love again. I even have someone in mind—though I don’t think they realize it. Hopefully I find my nerve and I’ll ask them out, as was my requirement for my next interest.
I love playing D&D; reading books, graphic novels and manga; watching movies; discovering and reviewing older and new animation; drawing and illustration my fairytale; working on my writing for my second story and planning my future research. I miss traveling, petting cats, spending time at home with my parents where the air is clear and the sky is black and spending time being social with my friends. Currently, I have too much extra time, am looking for permanent full or part-time work in my field (as a teens or graphic novel Librarian…one can wish), considering establishing my own library dedicated to graphic literacy and looking forward to the day when I can pay off my extensive loans.
ahmm... well, that's me..... I don't feel like going into anymore details. So, I'll leave the rest of this page up to the fairies to play with.
See ya - Midtalya
Writings by Lemo G. Yahana
Stories - based on "The World Of Azuria"
Writings by J. L. E. Moffat
Adult Picture book/fairytales
