Lisa Alvarado's New Installation

From my friend Lisa Alvarado, the following bit of news. Congratulations Lisa!!

Lisa Alvarado's Mexican Woman's Toolkit, Sin Fronteras is a large floral
tote bag hanging on wooden pegs, which visitors are invited to rummage
through. The bag belongs to a Mexican domestic in WWII-era Chicago: her
life is service to others, she has no privacy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markart/2414858942/

Reimagining The Distaff Toolkit

"Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit" is an exhibition of contemporary art,
each of which has, at its visible core, a tool that was important for
women's domestic labor in the past (the 18th century through World War
II). The old tool becomes the fulcrum for a work of art. Each work and the
exhibit as a whole have the power to speak to viewers independently,
Artists are placing objects such as a dressmaker’s figure, diapers,
graters, grinders, needles, pins, pots, pans, baskets,
garden-seed-packets, rakes, hoes, dress patterns, dish-rags, rolling pins,
brooms, buckets, darning eggs, knives, rug-beaters, and other tools at the
center of their work. One piece will have an early 19th century distaff at
its visible core. Part of the point of this exhibition project is to
explore the idea of "seeing as context." As I imagine the process here, I
look at a tool that facilitated very hard and repetitive labor and that
evokes women's degradation as domestic drudges. I look again, through my
early 21st century eyes, at a moment when "old tools" have become
commodified and expensive, and I see costly beauty. Reimagining the
distaff toolkit for the purposes of this exhibition might include
(overlapping) gestures in any of the following directions – or other
directions – history / memory / gender / labor / material culture /
household objects / family relations / power and powerlessness / drudgery
/ craft and beauty. Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit puts utility in
conversation with art, the past in conversation with the present.




March-May 2008 Bennington (VT) Museum
Oct-Dec 2008 The Mead Museum, Amherst College
Jan-Feb 2009 Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
March 2009 Oklahoma State University
Sept-Dec Union College, Schnectady, NY


http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2008/04/double-double-toil-and-trouble.html

--
Lisa Alvarado, poet, novelist, literary critic

A Seed is Sleepy

A Seed is Sleepy
Author: Dianna Hutts Aston
Illustrator: Sylvia Long
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN-10: 0811855201
ISBN-13: 978-0811855204

The author and illustrator of the gorgeous An Egg is Quiet join together once again to create an astounding illustrated introduction to the life of a seed. Long’s amazingly detailed watercolors showcase many different types of seeds. The pages are slightly reminiscent of Victorian botanical drawings but these are so much richer in color, depth and scope. Each painting is something special, a treasure to be enjoyed for many years. The succinct and poetic text is just enough information for a very small child and enough of a nip to send an older one (or adult) running to the library to find out more. I love books like that, ones that get you fired up about something you’d otherwise not have an interest in. Now I’m excited about seeds!

The text is poetic too.

“A Seed is Inventive

To find a spot to grow,
A seed might leap from its pod,
[violet]
or cling to a
child's shoestring,
[cocklebur]
or tumble through
a bear's belly.
[Red huckleberry]
A seed hopes to land where
there is plenty of
sunlight, soil, and water.”

How about this wonderful phrase?

“Some have lain dormant, or slept undisturbed, for more than a thousand years”

Makes me just say oooooh.

I can’t say enough about this wonderful book except to say that I dearly hope this fantastic duo does another book. A Seed is Sleepy is a perfect gift for anyone of any age. Even non-book lovers will love this book for its glorious color and appreciation of nature.

If you visit Chronicle Books website, there are posters to print out!

An Egg is Quiet

An Egg is Quiet
Author: Diana Hutts Aston
Illustrator: Sylvia Long
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN-10: 0811844285
ISBN-13: 978-0811844284


An Egg is Quiet is a glorious feast for the eyes. The book is an illustrated introduction to eggs of amazing diversity. The simple and poetic text just adds a quiet drama to the whole book.

“An egg is quiet It sits there, under its mother's feathers... On top of its father's feet ...Warm. Cozy."

The book displays eggs in all their glory with different textures, colors and themes. There are lacewing eggs, salmon roe, ostrich eggs, etc. Each egg portrayed is gorgeously painted in rich, layered watercolors of such depth and color that they seem to be real. You can almost feel the depth of texture. The endpapers of the book are pale blue and speckled giving the feel of an eggshell. The attention to detail is simply amazing. What a labor of love this must have been!

The book talks about the shapes of eggs – the tubular eggs of the Dogfish Shark or round like a sea turtle’s. It talks about size – the mammoth eggs of the ostrich. It goes on to discuss egg embryos, egg habitats, etc.

The colors! Oh, the colors used are wonderful! Pale blues, mottled greens, light browns, oranges that ache with their beauty, butter yellows, stunningly simple brown ink text that adds to the lushness of the colors used in the gallery of jewels called eggs. What a lovely way to teach children (and adults) about nature and its diversity. An Egg is Quiet is instructional, arty and simply beautiful. An absolute must for any library and a book that is sure to be pored over lovingly for years to come. A masterpiece!

Book Description from the Publisher:

Award-winning artist Sylvia Long has teamed with up-and-coming author Dianna Aston to create this gorgeous and informative introduction to eggs. From tiny hummingbird eggs to giant ostrich eggs, oval ladybug eggs to tubular dogfish eggs, gooey frog eggs to fossilized dinosaur eggs, it magnificently captures the incredible variety of eggs and celebrates their beauty and wonder.

The evocative text is sure to inspire lively questions and observations. Yet while poetic in voice and elegant in design, the book introduces children to more than 60 types of eggs and an interesting array of egg facts. Even the endpapers brim with information. A tender and fascinating guide that is equally at home being read to a child on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.

About the author and illustrator:

Dianna Aston spends a lot of time in her backyard hoping to find new eggs. She often enlists the help of her husband, children, and their assorted pets. She lives in Texas.
Sylvia Long is the illustrator of many books for children including the best-selling Sylvia Long's Mother Goose, Hush Little Baby, and Snug As a Bug, all published by Chronicle Books. Ms. Long's detailed paintings are inspired by her love of animals and the outdoors. She lives in Arizona.

Fred Patten Reviews Mouse Guard - Fall 1152

Mouse Guard, Fall 1152

Author: David Petersen

Publisher: Archaia Studios Press

ISBN 10: 1-932386-57-2

ISBN 13: 978-1-932386-57-8

This little gem of an art-book was serialized last year in the form of six small bimonthly “comic books” of 24 8” x 8” pages each. Each page is painted in a detailed realistic art style reminiscent of Arthur Rackham or Brian Froud. The collected complete work, plus bonus artwork, is a squarish hardcover of 192 pages; more of a fine-art graphic novel than an illustrated picture book.

The story is an adventure fantasy set in a medieval world of anthropomorphized mice, although they are drawn realistically, without clothes. (It is hard to tell the main characters apart except for the colors of their fur: red, gray, and brown.) Lieam, Kenzie, and Saxon, three young Guardsmice whose duties include the protecting of mice from the predators of northern European forests, are assigned to find out what happened to a peddler-mouse traveling between the towns of Rootwallow and Barkstone. They learn that he was eaten by a giant (to mice) snake, which they track down and kill in the first of the six chapters. But hidden in the peddler’s wares is a map showing the secret defenses of the Mouse Guard’s headquarters, indicating that the peddler was a traitor. The three Guardsmice set out to learn to whom the peddler was going to deliver the map. They discover a full-sized plot to take over the forest mouse nation, which leads to a civil war and the dramatic siege of the Mouse Guard’s castle in Lockhaven.

Mouse Guard has been receiving rave reviews throughout last year and this from critics ranging from comics-shop owners to librarians and Publishers Weekly. There have many comparisons of the story with the animated fantasy movie The Secret of NIMH, and Mouse Guard would make an excellent movie of the same type. The adventure, although rather shallow and stereotypical, is suitable for young fans of Tolkienish heroic fantasy, with lots of swordplay against huge predatory beasts and mouse traitors. The quality of Petersen’s artwork and the adult art-book presentation elevate Mouse Guard from a children’s book to one suitable for all ages. The appurtances of a media hit are already being planned; a first sequel, Mouse Guard, Winter 1152, will begin serialization this July, and PVC action figures of Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon will follow a month later. Read the first story now in what is sure to become a successful series.

Fred Patten Reviews The Ancient Book of Myth and War

The Ancient Book of Myth and War
Author: Scott Morse, Lou Romano, Don Shank, and Nate Wragg
Publisher: Red Window/AdHouse Books
ISBN 10: 0-9774715-1-9
ISBN 13: 978-0-9774715-1-5

The four artists whose paintings compose this glossy hardcover 80-page art book/folio are young but veteran comic book creators and animation studio artists. All have recently worked or still work at Pixar Animation Studios as sketch artists and designers.

In these 35 full-color experimental works (although a few are monochromatic), the four artists “each take a personal approach to their myths and heroes. Their stories include retellings of ancient myths as well as the creation of new legends” (from the Introduction by Harley Jessup).

All four work in modern art forms, from abstract to impressionistic. Scott Morse’s bold paintings illustrate specific classic myths (the Deluge, the Golem of Prague, Oedipus Rex, Finn MacCoul, scenes from Native American folklore) and more general scenes of “war” (a Wild West barroom brawl, a modern urban “The Battle of Algiers”). Lou Romano’s surrealistic works are more generic scenes of Greek history and mythology; “Spartan”, “Trojan Horse”, “War Monster”. “Zeus”, “Perseus & Medusa”. Nate Wragg has created a cartoon ancient soldier, “Pathetos the Warrior’, and painted him in battles around the world against “The Deep Sea Hydra”, “Yeti”, “Cyclops”, “Demonic Centaurides”, “The Ancient Fire Sasquatch” and more. Don Shank, the most varied artist, has created his own myths and battles (“Orange Goddess”, “Fight”, “Map of the First Galactic War”, “Archway Usher” “Stab”) in paintings that range from Dali-esque “realism” to pure abstractionism.

Each painting, on a right-hand page, is faced with the left-hand page’s artist’s notes, giving the title, description of what the scene represents, and medium. The latter range from “Gouache on watercolor paper” through “Cell vinyl on board” and “Collage” to “Digital”. More and more modern artists, especially those who work in the cartooning industries, are painting entirely in their computers, and it is impossible to tell these works from “hard copy” acrylic or gouache or watercolor works on artboard. The Ancient Book of Myth and War is impressive both as a collection of modernistic fine art, and as a showcase of animation studios’ artists’ personal artistic talents.

Kings in Disguise

Kings in Disguise: A Novel
Author: James Vance
Illustrator: Dan Burr
Introduction: Alan Moore
Publisher: W.W. Norton
ISBN-10: 0393328481
ISBN-13: 978-0393328486

Kings in Disguise takes place in1932, the height of the Depression. It’s the story of the Bloch family, young Frankie in particular. Mr. Bloch has plunged into alcoholic despair and can’t find work anywhere. He’s lost just about all hope. Albert, the older brother has lost all respect for his father while Frankie just gets lost at the movies. Gangster movies are his favorites and he carefully saves bottles so that he can get his dime to see a new movie every week.

It all comes to a head when Albert and Mr. Bloch get into a terrible fight and in the morning, Mr. Bloch has disappeared supposedly looking for work in a new town. Albert and 12-year old Frankie are left on their own. Albert tries to rob someone in order to buy food and is injured, will possibly arrested and thrown in jail. Frankie is left on his own and tries to make it to Detroit to find his father and uncle. Frankie runs into a group of hobos with bad intentions but is saved by another hobo calling himself the King of Spain.

The King of Spain is more than a little crazy and sick to boot but he’s a kindly soul and protects Frankie. The two set off riding the rails for Detroit and they encounter just about every kind of lost soul there is. They also find small kindnesses and worthy people which help keep the hope alive. It’s an incredible story told with humor, pathos and gut wrenching reality.

The black and white illustrations by Burr add not only depth to the story but manage to convey such deep emotion.

This story of a child forced into being a man is touching and painfully beautiful. The Great Depression depicted by this amazing graphic novel is depicted in a very realistic and human way.

The Wizardology Handbook

The Wizardology Handbook
Authors: Dugald Steer
Illustrator: Anne Yvonne Gilbert/Helen Ward /John Howe/Tomislav Tomic
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763634018
ISBN-13: 978-0763634018

The Wizardology Handbook is a companion book to Wizardology and belongs to that wonderful series of Ology books by Candlewick Press. Like all the Ology books, it’s packed with information and illustrations. It even has a section in the back where young wizard apprentices can write their own spells and results as well as some colorful stickers.

The book is set up as a lesson book divided by the seasons. It includes lessons on Western Wizards, A Wizard’s Robes, Wizard Familiars and many more. The book also includes a glossary of magical terms.


I always am amazed by the quality of Candlewick’s books, especially the Ologies. There’s so much attention to detail, paper quality, the little embellishments that make turning the pages a joy. I’m as big a fan as are my grandkids and children. Each of my four children as the whole library of Ologies and unashamedly say they belong to them, not their children. The kids have their own copies. Wizardology in particular is a favorite of my middle son Phillip, a big strapping 24 year old with a brown belt in karate and he loved this companion book. I bought Egyptology for his daughter Isis when she was born (how could I not with a name like Isis?) and it is Phillip that reads it to her every night even long after she’s fast asleep.

I found the book to be completely fun and a perfect addition to the rest of the series. These books are so much fun for kids! A perfect gift for any child who loves fanciful things.

Samurai: Heaven and Earth, Volume 2 Chaper 2: Land and Sea

Samurai: Heaven and Earth, Volume 2, Chapter 2: Land and Sea
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Luke Ross
Colorist: Rob Schwager
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Once again Ron Marz and Luke Ross have created a believable and stunning adventure.

In Land and Sea, the samurai Shiro along with the Arab he has forced into helping him hunt for Don Miguel Ratera and Yoshiko who have boarded a ship bound for Vera Cruz. The two leave Barcelona and board a ship headed for the Americas.

Once they are on board and halfway across the ocean, Shiro finds that the ship Yoshiko was on was captured and the people on it taken to Egypt to be sold. Frustrated at being stuck on a ship with no way out or to Yoshiko, he battles the crew and jumps ship taking the Arab along with him.

Meanwhile Yoshiko is sold to a pasha and taken away to a harem where she will live out her days. Don Miguel is also sold to the same pasha. Will he find a way to the harem?

It’s a marvelous adventure on the high seas and across the blistering desert sands. The art is amazing, especially the scenes on the ocean. I don’t know how they make the sea look so real but it’s fantastic. You get the feel of a stormy sea, big waves and movement. It’s incredible.

Samurai: Heaven and Earth

Samurai: Heaven and Earth
Writer: Ron Marz

Artist: Luke Ross

Cover Artist: Luke Ross

Colorist: Jason Keith
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN-10: 1593073887
ISBN-13: 978-1593073886

Samurai: Heaven and Earth is simply astonishing. Both the artwork and the story are just gorgeous. It is the story of Shiro, a Samurai warrior who was the only survivor in a great battle. He returns home to find his love, the beautiful Yoshiko, only to find she has been taken by the victors in the battle. Determined to find her, he sets off to the stronghold of the Warlord Hsiao only to find she has been sold and sent to Europe.

What follows is an incredible tale of love and devotion, of Shiro’s vow to Yoshiko that nothing on Heaven or Earth will keep them apart.

Shiro travels to Europe, meets the Musketeers, even lands in the palace of Versailles. He will do anything, go anywhere to get Yoshiko back.

The story is mesmerizing and riveting and each page is a dream. The pages look like paintings, they are so lush and vivid. The battle scenes are action packed and vividly intense. The sword fight with the Musketeers is just unbelievable and realistic. The page where the Musketeers and Shiro are in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles is just glorious. The light literally bounces off the page and you get the feel of light bouncing off mirrors. Incredible!

Samurai: Heaven and Earth is one of the most beautiful and evocative comics I’ve ever seen. Shiro is an incredible hero – determined, completely ruthless and vicious in battle yet so tender and devoted to Yoshiko. It’s quite the contrast and completely compelling. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

Diego

Diego
Author: Jonah Winter
Illustrator: Jeanette Winter
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; Bilingual edition (January 9, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0679919872
ISBN-13: 978-0679919872

Diego is an information packed little picture book that focuses on the young life of famed Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.

The book tells the story of Diego as a little boy, struggling with school and how his parents supported him in his art. It also tells that he was a twin born in Guanajuato, Mexico and that his twin brother died before he reached age two. Diego was then sent to live with an old curandera in the hills for fear that he would take sick and die as well. While being separated from his parents caused some trauma, for the most part his life with Antonia the curandera was pretty magical and influenced his art for the rest of his life.

Both the author and the illustrator have done such a great job in teaching small children about this very important artist. Diego’s love of his culture and homeland shine through the book as does his social conscience. His tumultuous personal life is not addressed and personally, I don’t think it needs to be for a book that caters to such a young age. They’ll figure that out later because they’ll have a great interest in Diego after reading this book.

Each page has a great picture done in the style of a Diego Rivera painting with succinct sentences that convey much in both languages. Each page is lavishly illustrated in Diego’s own style. Paintings are bordered in Mexican style with birds and other tropical nuances. There are some great illustrations of Diego as a little boy holding a paintbrush.

The Spanish translation is clear and simple. It flows easily. I think the book is great learning tool for children trying to learn Spanish or English as well as learning about art and the artist himself. Jonah Winter is so eloquent in the short sentences that he compels the reader to like Diego, want to try to understand him and know more about him while Jeanette Winter’s lovely and lively illustrations show her love of the subject and suggest that she was very influenced by this artist. Her brilliant color choices also reflect Diego’s love of nature and of Mexico itself. Highly recommended!

Book description from the publisher:


Diego was a boy who loved to draw; he drew on everything, even the walls. In time, he would become known as one of the greatest muralists in all of Mexico—in all the world. "An accessible picture book about the life and work of Diego Rivera sounds like an oxymoron, but Winter and Winter succeed beyond belief," announced School Library Journal in a 1991 starred review. With spare, lyrical text—featured in both English and Spanish on every page—accompanying miniature murals done in Rivera's own vibrant style, this celebrated picture-book biography now makes a much deserved return to hardcover after a seven-year absence.

The Flying Bed

The Flying Bed
Author: Nancy Willard
Painter: John Thompson
ISBN-10: 0590256106
ISBN-13: 978-0590256100

The Flying Bed is an incredibly beautiful book with an enchanting story. Newbery Award winning Nancy Willard tells the tale of the baker Guido and his wife Maria. Guido has inherited the bakery from his successful father but doesn’t have his skills. "Guido's icings were lumpy and his fresh bread tasted stale." Needless to say with that kind of baking going on, the customers go elsewhere, the business is dying and the couple is poverty stricken.

In desperation, Guido takes to selling just about everything they have to survive but when he sells the bed Maria puts her foot down. She will have a bed or she’ll move back home with her parents. So Guido heads off to find some kind of bed that will please Maria and be cheap enough for him to afford.

Guido takes a turn down an alley and finds a most unusual bed. It’s intricately carved and looks as if it were made for someone very rich. The shopkeeper tells him that the bed has chosen him and charges him nothing. Maria of course, is charmed by the bed and falls instantly in love with it. The first night however, the bed reveals is dark side and leaps out the window, terrified couple in to fly through the night sky of Italy. They encounter a Master Baker and things start to turn magical for the couple.

The Flying Bed is an amazing tale and the illustrations are just gorgeous. The paintings of the bed make it look almost alive and the aerial view of Florence is just stupendous. The book took my breath away. If you love art, Italy, and old fashioned fairy tales then this is the book for you. If you don't, you will after reading this. Highly recommended!

Napí

Title: Napí
Author:Antonio Ramírez
Illustrator: Domi
Publisher: Groundwood Books
ISBN: 0888996101

Napí is the story of a young Mazateca girl who lives in a small village near the bank of a river in Mexico. The story is ethereal and dreamlike as is the artwork. Napí likes to dream, she dreams of colors, of feelings, of herons flying through the wind. She talks of her village, of her Naa (mother in Mazateca) making tortillas and of the ancient pachota tree that is the center of her village.

Napí is poor, at least she says so. However, her story is of a girl who feels safe and secure, who loves her village, her huilpilli's in bright colors and her family. She loves the pachota tree under which her belly button cord is buried, the herons who live and nest in it and the colors of nature and her village. Color is important in this book, each page is dedicated to it and the lovely wash of watercolors in brilliant and vibrant colors enhance and compliment Napí's dreams of colors and the river.

Domi illustrated Subcommandante Marcos' The Story of Colors and I love her use of color and the way her paintings have not only a dreamlike quality but also of their indigenous look and feel. This is especially true in this book of an indigenous girl living in her Mazateca village. Domi is Mazateca herself and this book reflects her love of her people and their customs. My favorite illustration is the one where the pachota tree becomes alive at night with as the herons fill the branches like blossoms. It's simply beautiful.

Antonio Ramírez is an artist who has worked in many media, including books and murals. Thisis his first book. He lives in Mexico with his wife, Domi and they are both very active working for the rights of Native people in Mexico, especially in connection with the Zapatista movement in Chiapas through the Colectivo Callejero, of which they were founding members.

I hope you will find this book as beautiful as I did and enjoy it.

Little Night/Nochecita

Little Night

Author/Illustrator: Yuyi Morales

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

ISBN-10: 1596430885

ISBN-13: 978-1596430884

From the book jacket:

As the long day comes to an end, Mother Sky fills a tub with falling stars and calls, “Bath time for Little Night!”

Little Night answers from afar, “Can’t come. I am hiding and you have to find me, Mama. Find me now!”

I loved this book! I recently received the BLAD (book, layout and design) of both this and the Spanish language version, Nochecita and simply fell in love with Yuyi Morales’ sumptuous illustrations. Each page is a feast for the senses. The art is so rich, so deep, so textured that it is almost tactile. It feels like you could walk right into the page and in doing so, you would be walking into a dream world make of silk and velvet.

The face of Little Night is one of sheer joy. She is imbued with the spirit of childhood and laughter. Even without the fun hide and seek story you’d be completely engaged because the art tells the story on its own. That said the story is fun and adorable. The imagery of Yuyi Morales’ writing is beautiful and poetic.

Mother Sky is beautiful as well. She embodies the spirit of the india in her gorgeous huilpil and braided hair. She makes me think of Mexico, of my grandmother and her comadres, of paintings by Siquieros and Rivera but with a more feminine, almost sensual feel.

Nochecita sounds a little better in Spanish, but overall the translation is seamless and you get the same sense of fun in both versions of the book.

Little Night won’t be published until April but it is available for pre-order in most bookstores. I’m running right out to pre-order it and I highly recommend that anyone do so. Children will love the sense of fun in the book as well as the illustrations and adults will adore the dreamlike sensuousness of the art.

About the Author:

Yuyi Morales is an author, artist, puppet maker, fold dancer and was the host of her own Spanish-language radio program for children. Other books she has written/an or illustrated include Just a Minute, winner of the Pura Belpre Medal, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, a Pura Belpre Honor Book, and Los Gatos Black on Halloween. She has also received the Jane Addams and Christopher Awards for her work. Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Yuyi now makes her home in the San Francisco area.

Becoming Naomi Leon

Becoming Naomi Leon is one of the best children's books that I have read in many years. It is the touching story of a bi-cultural brother and sister abandoned by thier mother and living in their Grandmother's trailer named Baby Beluga in Lemon Tree, California. Naomi is a shy, quiet girl who carves soap into animals and makes lists. Owen is an FLK (Funny Looking Kid) who dreams of bicycles and wears tape on his clothes for comfort. Grandma is a fiesty, postive thinking, loving woman who tries her best to expose the children to their Mexican culture. They live in relative happiness until one day, their mother shows up. She devotes her time and gifts to Naomi, ignoring Owen in spite of his obvious desire to have her love.

As Naomi's mother spends more time in Lemon Tree, her motives for coming to see her children become threatening and Grandma and the wonderful Mexican neighbors band together to protect the children.

Becoming Naomi Leon is eloquent and moving story of an extended family, a mother that is a danger to her children, a hunt for a father that takes you to Oaxaca and the beauty there. It is simple and elegant; painful and sweet. This book will touch your heart and show you love in it's purest form.

Pam Munoz Ryan has written an ageless and beautiful story that will stay with me for a very long time.