Favorites

I am rarely audacious enough to pick a favorite of anything. A proud assertion that I "have no favorite [color/song/genre of anything]" is far more likely to escape my lips than a sweeping preference selection. I feel like that could 'pigeon-hole' me into some category. That somehow I would be a less interesting individual if I picked favorites.

Putting my worries of lacking dimensionality/interest aside, I actually asserted a "favorite" last night. At a small holiday gathering with friends, I endorsed a book so strongly that I uttered the phrase: "probably my favorite." Even I was stunned by my (contextually) grand gesture.

With all that to preamble my grand endorsement, I will not delay the disclosure any further. VAS: An Opera in Flatland is the book that, above all others, I would want to share, discuss and to emulate. The text is a collaboration between Steve Tomasula (let us call him the author in the traditional sense) and Stephen Farrell (who did a brilliant job with the graphic arts and design). The book has excellent art and writing; a beautiful balance is struck between the two in a way I have never encountered in all my years in school (I read this my senior year in college for a Postmodernism course). This opened my eyes to a book's potential. It is a stage for multiple modes of communication; this makes the book more relevant in our increasingly technology-driven age.

(Somewhat tangentially) I am currently a volunteer at the International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS). VAS enters the territory of science, eugenics, and surgery from an creative perspective. My propensity to view the history of medicine, surgery and science as inspiring and thought-provoking was what drew me to contact IMSS.