Lev Snuggles Vanya


"Hi, Sunshine.  Even though there isn't any sun right now.  At least, not right here."


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St. George, Princess Una, and the Dragon: How to Grow Up

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When we first meet St. George of Merry England, he is simply called the Red Cross Knight, because he carries a shield with a red cross on it. The shield has been used by many other knights to win great battles, but he himself has never been tried in battle and does not even know his own name.  The Fairy Queen has sent him to kill a dragon that is ravaging the land of Princess Una, his traveling companion. Una’s face is veiled and she wears a black cloak. She had been on a journey to find a champion. She has been on a long journey and has faced many dangers.  Notice that at the beginning of the adventure, the Red Cross Knight knows neither his name nor where he was born. If the journey is also metaphorical, his will be to discover his identity on the way.  Una, on the other hand, does know who she is. Yet she has to some extent renounced her identity as princess, disguised herself with a cloak and veil, and left the safety of home to find a champion. The king and queen can...
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Rapunzel: A Story of Addiction, Dysfunction, and Agency

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Rapunzel , Retold by Barbara Rogasky, Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” It’s such a familiar sentence, but how does Rapunzel get up in that tower, letting people climb up to her using her hair as a ladder but never able to come down herself? The story begins with a poor yet loving couple who have no children. Finally, after years of waiting and hoping, the wife conceives. But all is not well. The wife looks out her window everyday into the garden of Mother Gothel, a witch. She sees rampion growing there and has such an enormous desire for the herb that she stops eating and grows weak and sick. Her husband, desperate to save the health of his wife and unborn child, sneaks into the witch’s garden at night and steals an armload of rampion. His wife makes a gigantic salad with it and eats it hungrily. Almost as soon as the last bite of salad is gone, she longs for more rampion. She keeps staring into the garden and stops eating again. So the hus...
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Follow the Light: Dormition, Church New Year, & the Birth of the Mother of God

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We celebrated the Dormition of the Mother of God in the Orthodox Church on August 15. This means we’re celebrating the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus. But we’re not just a bunch of macabre weirdos! This feast marks the end of the yearly cycle of feasts, since church New Year is September 1st. We begin with the birth of Mary, on September 8th, and end with her death, every year. As Christians, we follow the life of the Mother of God--the first Christian.  Why is it that the death of Mary completes the liturgical year? For an answer, we can turn to the icon. We see Mary in death on the bier, with the disciples gathered around, mourning, singing the funeral hymns, and burning incense. Behind the bier, we see Christ, and he is holding a small, child-sized figure. This is the soul of Mary, which Christ is carrying to heaven.  It’s also the inverse of the typical image of Mary holding baby Jesus. Rather than the human mother holding and protecting the divine-human child, the God...
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