New 52 Pick Up

In September of 2011 after the Flashpoint event, DC Comics did a somewhat relaunch of all their titles called the new 52.  The most popular titles stayed somewhat the same others were changed drastically.   I had not been interested in DC’s main superhero stuff at this point.  I used this to try to get back into the characters I loved as a kid.  What interested me though was a group of titles in the adventure, science fiction, and supernatural genres that were doing something different than the usual superhero comics.  These were titles like Animal Man, Swamp Thing, All-Star Western with Jonah Hex, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Justice League Dark, Men of War, G.I. Combat, Dial H, Resurrection Man, Demon Knights, Sword and Sorcery, Phantom Stranger, Trinity of Sin, Trinity of Sin: Pandora, The Movement, Threshold, and Stormwatch.  DC Comics also in this new continuity merged some titles and characters from Vertigo and Wildstorm with their main DC universe.  

This led to a renaissance with some characters; characters like Jonah Hex, the Flash, Amethyst, Aquaman, Animal Man and Swamp Thing had gained new popularity and audiences.  It also was a great jumping point for new readers.  There were growing pains.  Many titles with minority characters as the title character were cancelled with their first year.  The diversity of the creators was called into question.  A disabled character was no longer disabled, and that chapped some hides. A few characters that were beloved went on missing for years after the reboot.  Many of the diverse genre titles had their titles cancelled as well.  This led to a glut of superhero books.  DC’s universe had been more diverse and hopefully it shall again.

One example of a questionable reboot was Shazam/ Captain Marvel and his alter Ego Billy Batson. The character known for a youthful and hopeful perspective had become jaded and cynical.  This is antithetical to the original concept of the character.  For many titles they brought back creators for the 1990’s who no longer had a real following. Many critics of the Comic Book Industry saw this as a failure by DC Comics to see the forest for the trees.

After the Convergence event in April 2015, they are going to reset things to a point again. Many of the titles I found unique and interesting did not last that long.  DC Comics kept all their mainstream superhero books. There were a few exceptions, like Constantine and Justice League Dark.  Some of their newer titles are going to try to keep a diversity of genres, like Omega Men, Doomed, Section 8, Prez, Bat-Mite and Bizarro. At the end of the Convergence event DC Comics is retiring the New 52 branding, but most of their titles will follow the continuity begun with the New 52.

I am going to give my impressions to the books from the New 52 I have read.  I tried the first issue of almost all the First Wave of the New 52 titles.  After that I followed the titles, found interesting.

First Wave

Justice League

The first story arc was about the first meeting and founding of the Justice League.  It featured the team of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman.   In the second year it included a Shazam Origin back-up story.  The catalyst for it was the first attempts of invasion by Darkseid. The story was well developed and the title is still strong.

Aquaman

This title created a renaissance for Aquaman.  It presented what a modern well written Aquaman title could be.  The first issue poked fun at many of the stereotypes people have thrust onto the character over the decades.

Wonder Woman

This was a return to a more mythic group of stories. There were some issues.  Wonder Woman seemed to need assistance from male heroes.  The writer, Brian Azzarello, seemed to take much of Diana’s independence away. He also made her the child of Zeus. I felt these were a lack of understanding of the character.   Mythic parts of these arcs were fun, but the heavy male supporting cast took away much of the message at the character’s core.  

The Flash

This was a great launching point.  The creative team gave the rogues inherent powers instead of weapon based. I kept on for two years. It had much of the fun and whimsy that is totally The Flash. 

Captain Atom

It was decent, but not a character I am a big fan of.  I read the first issue only.

DC Universe Presents

This started with Deadman and was followed by the Challengers of the Unknown, Vandal Savage, and Black Lightning and Blue Devil. There were also one-shot issues with Kid Flash, Arsenal, Starfire and they finished the Beowulf story from Sword and Sorcery in the final issue.  I enjoyed this anthology series, as I do that kid of title.

The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men

It was a decent story and Firestorm is my favorite of the Nuclear based superheroes; however I stopped at one issue.  The reason for stopping was I was no longer familiar with the newest version of this character.

Green Arrow

Green Arrow is one of my favorite DC characters and this was very different point of view. It used ideas from the Smallville TV Series and pre-dated the Arrow series. I stayed on for the first year.

Justice League International

A UN sanctioned version of the Justice League made up of Batman, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Rocket Red (Gavril Ivanovich), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Vixen, August General in Iron, and Godiva.  I only read the first issue.  It was OK, but did not speak to me.

Mister Terrific

This starred the Modern version of Mister Terrific that had been featured in JSA.  There is not JSA in this version of the DC Universe so is story is slightly different. I enjoyed it and followed it until its end.

The Savage Hawkman

This is another of my favorite DC characters.  This turned out to be the Silver Age version, Thanagarian Katar Hol.  I loved it, until Rob Liefeld joined the creative team. I am not a fan of Mr. Liefeld’s.   It was passable with Liefeld, it improved when he left. I followed it until the title ended.

Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman: The Dark Knight, Detective Comics

I am not a big Batman fan I read all the first issues of these titles.  They were very good, bit not my preference.

Batgirl

This is the return of Barbara Gordon to the mantle.  It was controversial to have her recover from her paralysis.  Very well written, but again I am not a Batman Family fan.

Batwoman

This is another well done book.  Again I read the first issue. It is another Batman Family book, so I did not continue. 

Catwoman

This book sadly was not well done.  It was very disappointing.

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Two thirds of this team were characters I loved. That could not help it with it being badly written.  I was not a fan of the portrayals of Starfire or Arsenal.

Batwing

I did not care for the concept of Batman for a whole continent.  The comics industry has a bad habit of treating Africa like one country when it is many.

Birds of Prey

This was a great launching point for the series. New characters were mixed with older ones.  It even had Poison Ivy and the team at one point. I followed for a year or so. 

Nightwing

Of all the Batman family characters, I have the longest history with this one. However it had been decades since I followed him.  I felt lost, so I only read the first issue. Still it was a good title.

Superman

This was a solid series.  I did not continue after the first issue with it since my not being much of a Superman fan.

Superboy

This was a retelling of the Kon-El version of Superboy.  It was an interesting take as with the Batman Family I tend not to read the Superman Family books either.

Supergirl

This was a retelling of Kara Zor-El’s origin. Well written based on the first issue.  Again I did not continue since it was a Superman Family book.

Action Comics

This was initially about the early years of Superman’s career as written by Grant Morrison.  I enjoyed the story and stayed on for 9 months.  I left because I am not that big a Superman fan. 

Green Lantern

This was one of the titles that picked right up where the Pre-New 52 left off.  It was the end of Geoff Johns run. It was a great story.  It followed Sinestro and Hall Jordan after Hal has been stripped of his ring and it is given to Sinestro.  I stayed till Johns left.

Green Lantern Corps

This followed John Stewart and Guy Gardner with the rest of the Green Lantern Corps.  It was continuing the story Post Blackest Night.  This was a solid title.  Later it became just John’s story.

Green Lantern: New Guardians

Originally it was the story of Kyle Rayner and representatives from each of the other Color Spectrum Lantern Corps. Then it was about Kyle becoming the White Lantern and harnessing the power of all the color spectrums.

Red Lanterns

This was originally the story of Atrocitus, founder and leader of the Red Lantern Corps and how he was trying to lead the Corps in a more productive way.  Their emotional lynchpin is Rage. Later it was the story of Guy Gardner becoming a Red Lantern as a mole for the Green Lantern Corps.

Blue Beetle

This was the Jaime Reyes version of the character.  It was after my time.  I found it interesting and fun.  I really was not interested, since I am a Ted Kord era guy.

Teen Titans

This was more based on the Post Young Justice version of the characters. I was there from the introduction of Tim Drake, but he was not my Robin. I passed. It was decently written and drawn.

Hawk and Dove

Rob Liefeld returning to the title he got his big break on.  I did not even read this.  I am not a fan of Mr. Liefeld’s.

Legion Lost

This was about a group of members of the Legion of Super-Heroes stuck in the 21^st Century.  Again solid title but I was lost with characters they where not the versions I was familiar with.

Legion of Super-Heroes

As like most of the previous Legion of Super-Heroes this was about a group of teenage superheroes living a thousand years from now. This covered the group not lost in time. Again solid title but I was lost with characters they where not the versions I was familiar with.

Static Shock

This was the relaunch of the Milestone Comics character in the DC Universe.  I was a fan of the original, but teen oriented titles are not my speed these days.  It was solidly written.

All-Star Western

This was the return of Jonah Hex to the main DC Universe.  He had been in the Vertigo line since the 1990’s like, Swamp Thing and Constantine.  It was little less weird than that era, except for the storyline where he was in the present. The first storyline had him in Gotham City teamed with the founder of Arkham Asylum.  It even had a storyline where Hex ended up in the 21^st Century. I followed it till 2014. I enjoyed it.

Blackhawks

This was the re-imagining of the 1940’s heroic fighter squadron as a civilian military contractor.  I read the first issue and left soon.  It was OK, but did not interest me.

Deathstroke

Deathstroke AKA the Terminator AKA Deathstroke the Terminator, he received his own title.  I was not really impressed and of the villains that could get their own title, this would not be my choice.

Grifter

This was the re-imagining of the Wild Storm character in the DC Universe.  It was interesting, but he is not a favorite of mine and I loss interest in it.

Men of War

This followed a descendent of the World War II character Sgt. Rock.  It was how the military dealt with the devastation of super powered being.  I liked it, but it only lasted 8 issues.

O.M.A.C.

This was a modern take on the Jack Kirby character.  I was not a fan of the original and not of the reboot.

Stormwatch

Stormwatch was a revamp of Stormwatch and Authority. It included Martian Manhunter as a member.  Initially I enjoyed it, but the further it went on, the more I grew to be disappointed.

Suicide Squad

Super Villains and sometime superheroes forced to work as a team for the government on Suicide missions.  No matter what version of this there is it works on so many levels. I enjoyed it, but I left after a while.  It was not the writing; it was not my kind of stories.

Voodoo

Here is another Wild Storm character put into the DC universe.  It was very compelling, I did not have the funds to continue and there were other titles I preferred.

Justice League Dark

This was a collection of mystical character from DC’s catalog.  Many that were solely Vertigo characters who now existed or existed again in the DC universe.   It was a wonderful ride, as the title suggests a darker super team.

Animal Man

Animal Man was a return of the character seen both in Vertigo and the main DC universe. The character was a champion of the Red, the thing that connects all in the animal kingdom.  This was an interesting and intense take on the character.

Demon Knights

Demon Knight was a collection of mystical and mythical DC characters from the Middle Ages. It was a good series that did end, sadly enough.

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

Frankenstein’s Monster is a secret agent living in a microscopic city base.   This was an insane trill ride of a book.  It included a new version of the Creature Commandos.  Ray Palmer (sometimes known as the Silver Age Atom) had designed the technology that allow the city to be microscopic and was the resident scientific advisor of the secret agency known as S.H.A.D.E.  I loved it and it lasted little over a year.

I, Vampire

This was the return of an old Vampire comic from the early eighties.  I was not impressed with this series and only bought those connected to other series after the first issue.

Resurrection Man

This was about an amnesiatic man who dies and comes back with a new super power after each death.  It lasted a year and resolved the main mystery.

Swamp Thing

Swamp Thing is the Avatar of the Green, the force that connects all plant life.  Great series I enjoyed it a good deal.

Huntress

This was the introduction of the New 52 version of the Huntress.  In outwards appearance it seemed to be the same character from the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe.  It turned out to be a variation of the Pre-Crisis character.

The Shade

This was a continuation of the story of the character from the Starman series. It did not seem connected at all to the New 52.  Still great series and story, it explored the origins of the character.

Second Wave

Earth 2

This was the re-inventing of the Golden Age versions of the DC Universe.  It also was set in the present instead of the 1930’s and 1940’s.  It was a great story.

Worlds’ Finest

World’s Finest was a follow up to The Huntress series.  It features Power Girl and the Huntress as the titular World’s Finest, which is usually a Batman Family member with a Superman Family member.  Both characters are originally from the New 52 version of Earth 2.  I enjoyed it.

G.I. Combat

This series brought back the War that Time Forgot, soldiers on a dinosaur inhabited island.  It also brought back the Unknown Soldier and the Haunted Tank.  All were set in the modern era. I liked it, but I also have a soft spot for the original stories these were based on.

Mini-Series

National Comics

This was a series of one shots that took minor characters (Kid Eternity, Madame X, Rose and Thorn, and Looker) and tried to do interesting things with them.  It used superhero concepts without the overt trappings.  I liked them they took the ideas of the characters and turn them on their head.

Human Bomb, The Ray, Phantom Lady and Doll Man

These three series seemed to be leading up to a Freedom Fighters series, but it never coalesced.  I enjoyed the modern re-inventing of many of the golden Age characters from Quality Comics.

Night Force

This was a min-series that brought back a horror/ supernatural comic and tried to present it to modern audiences.  It had its original writer and co-creator on the helm of this title.  It was very suspenseful and had a Lovecraftian tone to it.

Third Wave

Team 7

Originally a Wildstorm title, this reboot merged Wildstorm with several DC character all covert or Special Forces characters.  One character included was Black Canary; this was used to re-write her origin. It was a good story, but it fell to the way-side due to lack of funds.

Sword and Sorcery

This was a re-boot for Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Beowulf and Stalker.  It lasted only 9 issues.  It created fresh well done versions of all three stories.

The Phantom Stranger

Here was another mystical DC character getting the New 52 treatment.  This series was very dark and edgy.

Fourth Wave

Threshold

Threshold was a re-imagining of various future and space based DC characters including a Green Lantern and the Jaime Reyes version of the Blue Beetle.  They even made new versions of Captain Carrot and Pig Iron.  I enjoyed it immensely.

Constantine

Many of the Vertigo character that used to be part of the DC Universe were returned to it in the New 52.  John Constantine was one of those.  Many think of this version as Constantine Lite. The stories were still well written and they got the essence of the character right.

Justice League of America

This was a U.S. government backed version of the Justice League, created in case the main team went rogue. It had a team of many Pre-New 52 Justice League members.  It was well done and it ended after the Forever Evil event.

Fifth Wave

Larfleeze

Lafleeze, AKA Agent Orange, the only Orange power ring wielder, received his own title.  He started as a back-up story on Threshold.  They book had multiple humor elements, especially since the orange power ring operates off of Avarice/ Greed.

The Movement

What if the Occupy movement inspired super powered beings?  That is what you have with the Movement. Are they good or are they bad?  It depends on which side of the socio-economic divide you find yourself. I enjoyed it and it too was short lived, twelve issues.

Trinity of Sin: Pandora

One of the Trinity of Sin characters, the other two being Phantom Stranger and the new version of the Question.  She was pivotal to the Forever Evil event. I followed a handful of issues and enjoyed what I read.

Sixth Wave

Justice League 3000

Justice League 3000 was a future version of the team set in the 31^st century.  It was meant to replace the much beloved Legion of Super-Heroes, which were revealed to be form another timeline. It was interesting, but did not really grab me.

Seventh Wave through Ninth Wave

By this time I was not interested in newer titles even though two piqued my interest, I never picked either up.  They were Star-Spangled War Stories Featuring G.I. Zombie and Trinity of Sin.

These were my impressions and descriptions of those books.  I find myself drifting away further and further fro Superhero comics, even though they continue to invade popular media.  The Post-Convergence DC Universe is set to include some profound changes to iconic characters.  I am going to stick to my non-spandex choices of comics.  This Has Been My Not So Humble Opinion.

Back in the Kitchen

In my Road to wellness, I have learned that in order to get healthier I need to forego many convenience foods.  What that mean is that no more Hamburger Helper, canned chili con carne, canned soups, frozen dinners, frozen burritos, Hot Pockets, corn dogs, and more.  There are a handful I will still buy like Zatarain’s rice dishes, Thai Kitchen’s rice noodle brick soups, Carroll Shelby’s chili con carne starter, sandwich fixings, canned vegetables and frozen vegetables.  Carroll Shelby’s is basically a spice mix with thickener, masa flour.

The last week of April 2015, I made a roasted turkey and shoyu chicken (chicken with soy sauce, ginger and sugar, I usually use honey instead).  The first week of May half of my cooking was prep work.  I had to bake my tortillas chips, roast my Poblano chilies and roast my garlic.   I also made tzatziki sauces, salsa, hummus, and guacamole.  May’s menu included sopa de lima (Yucatan chicken and lime soup ) Filipino pork adobo, Carroll Shelby's chili, pork cooked in Jalapeno jelly tacos, dirty rice, chili Relleno casserole, chorizo and eggs, sandwiches, homemade salsa, oven baked tortilla chips with olive oil, homemade guacamole, homemade hummus, homemade tzatziki sauce, and bratwursts and mashed potatoes.

One of the things I missed about cooking from scratch regularly was being able to play mad scientist with my dishes.  I have an innate knack of being able to come up with variations of recipes when a see or eat a dish. In May I had crispy tacos with potato filling. The potatoes were mashed; I figured why not, do that with plantains, a starchier type of banana. I had been wracking my brain to combine Japanese and Mexican foods. Years ago I came up with making ceviche with Japanese flavors, now the new idea is adding wasabi to guacamole.  In making my own salsa I got to play with chili peppers I missed using, Poblanos and Aniheims.  I get to make my hummus to my particular tastes. I will no longer be happy with what some corporations tells me is tasty.  I will be able to make things to my tastes.

Relearning how to cook and having to go back and find recipes is both fun and frustrating at times.  I realized that fresh salsa is more like Pico de Gallo, which I am not a big fan of.  I also learned I bought too much food in the month of May, the first month I started cooking from scratch.  I found out after I purchased can chickpeas/ garbanzo beans that many hummus recipes call for dried chickpeas / garbanzo beans.  I learned that one lime is sufficient for a single batch of guacamole.

 Re-learning to shop is also a struggle.  You shop differently for scratch cooking than you do when eating a lot of convenience foods.  I am also going to consult my recipes prior to shopping.  By not consulting the recipes I had too many return trips to the grocery store.  This is nothing new, in my twenties and early thirties I cooked from scratch 90% to 80% of the time. In my mid-thirties till now, it was less than 10%. 

So far the mistakes I have made are the learning kind.  In cooking there is another kind of mistake, the glorious kind.  This is the kind of mistake that a flub leads to a new discovery in flavor.  Like the time I used tomato sauce instead of canned tomatoes for a lamb dish.  This led to my turning Armenian lamb shanks into Armenian lamb sauce on spinach pasta with parmesan and feta.  This happened over several dishes. 

My experimenting with what works and does not is the part of cooking I love.  I seriously missed it.  Mind you I did not realize how much I missed it until I started creating my menu. On my book shelf, I moved some books into storage, so I could put my cookbooks up there.  With the internet finding recipes for dishes not found in my cookbooks is a wonderful resource that opens up the possibilities.  I find myself doing what I did years ago, modifying recipes to fit my personal tastes.  That is what a good cook and/ or chef does.  Those modifications represent cumulatively a particular taste and style of the cook.

I have posted my menus for May and June on my Facebook page.  They have got good responses.  Even though most of my tastes in food are Latin/ Hispanic and East Asian, I will try anything. With in my entrees and snacks there have been Mexican, Cuban, Thai, Filipino, Japanese, Hawaiian, Russian, German, Greek, Middle Eastern, Cal-Mex, Tex-Mex, and American dishes.  Those who know me know I come from a Multi-Cultural background both personally and by influence.  It is no surprise my food reflects that.  I am fairly adventurous with food. The only area I am very picky is sweets. 

There are still places I want to explore in food.  Once I get my blender I will start making sorbet with no added sweeteners.  I am becoming a big proponent of olive oil.  It is healthy and known to help with good cholesterol.   I am also using organic and/ or Greek yogurt, for probiotics.  I need to add some more seafood to my diet, my situation makes that difficult unless it is canned.  I am working to reduce gluten, specifically wheat from for diet.  Milk is down to cheese and yogurt.  I am using reduced sodium products.  Some fat free and low-fat products are not good.  I am relearning to read labels and pay attention.  Some dishes are healthier than others, this is still better than the old convenience foods.   This is my journey and it changes as I go along, I keep what works and jettison what does not.

Iconography II

There was an article on Salon about the backlash to the recent increased diversity of characters in comics.  The article was brought to my attention by David F. Walker of BadAzzMoFo.com.  I thought about just re-releasing My Boys Can Be Idiots article.  That article talks about the misogyny in and directed at Comic Book fandom.  It did not talk about racism or behavior against any other minority (racial, religious, cultural, or ethnic).  I thought about releasing my Iconography article about the changing of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual identity of Iconic characters. I realized I needed readdress this subject.  The Iconography article talked about changes these attributes.  This article is about how that diversity is viewed and can help positively.

 Much of the backlash had been direct towards a slew of new characters or character taking on new mantles.  The examples are the new Female Thor, the Muslim Ms. Marvel, and Sam Wilson AKA the Falcon becoming Captain America. All three of the original characters still exist and could reclaim their mantles at anytime.  Mind you, I doubt Carol Danvers will return to being Ms. Marvel after becoming Captain Marvel.  All of these changes are not to the original characters; they are new or existing characters taking on the mantles. People forget War Machine began as a replacement for Tony Stark as Iron Man when Tony’s alcoholism was at its worst. A female Thor is not even unusual to Norse mythology, he has posed as female or been turned to female in some of the myths.

Diversity is a big deal to me.  I grew up in a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood in a city with a large Japanese-American community.  My family includes people of Filipino, Mexican, Jewish, and Native American descent. Some of those heritages I share and some I do not.  Since I was differently abled with a facial deformity, I felt even more different growing up.  To me there were very few people like me, so my heroes would not be like me.  I grew up with heroes like Zorro, Sinbad, Bruce Lee, Mohammad Ali, and Cesar Chavez.  None of them looked like me.   I did not care I thought they were cool are people to look up to.  When I was younger I created my own superhero universes I always made them diverse, it was not a stunt for me.  It was about reflecting the world as I had known it.

The meat of the matter is that many responsible for the Video Game misogynistic brouhaha are now setting their sights on Comic Book and the Big Two’s recent pushes for diversity.  In the community itself there has been debate about whether or not these characters or mantle changes are just a marketing ploy. In the past when changes like these have happened more often than not the original version of the character is restored sooner or later.  The new more volatile voices in the debate are saying, “How dare you change our predominantly white straight male comic book paradigm”.  They claim that the two companies are bending their will to some leftist liberal and feminist agenda. This is similar to their outcry in the Video Gaming arena.

These changes do not take away the already existing plethora of White Male Straight comic book characters that already exist as cultural icons.  It is strange that the controversy happens when a character crosses gender, racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual identity lines.  No one got upset about Frog Thor, Spider-Ham or Beta Ray Bill (an Alien Thor).  It also seems suspect that the recent spout of attacks on this occurs when the Video Game misogyny controversy began to quiet to a point.  These people are reactionary to the change of the status quo.  They dislike things changing to better everyone.  In a way, more diversity means those offended are not a special as they thought.  They want everything to be about them and reflecting their myopic view of the world and their hobbies.

From a marketing standpoint, the more people interested in comics the more money you make.  With that dynamic the Big Two are going to want to cater to as many possible markets.  There has been a debate in the fandom and industry of comics about this.  The need for more diverse characters and diverse creators is there. It seems to be getting better, but there is definitely room for improvement.  Those critical of diversity would be critical of any change to the status quo as they see it.  The sad thing is traditionally the more diverse characters do not always sell well.  In the past sales for Blue Beetle and Static Shock led to their cancellations. That seems to be changing too with the popularity of the new Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel.  Vote with your wallet.  

The reason to have such diversity is to give people of differing backgrounds representation in our popular culture.  It has been proven to help inspire youth of those backgrounds.  Studies have shown that representation in popular culture helps build self esteem in children.  It gives them hope that they too can participate in our larger society and world.  Racism tends to come from fear of the unknown.  A more diverse representation in popular culture shows everyone we are all people and all members of the human race.  There are differences, but there are even more we have in common with each other.  Is this going to solve this?  No, these issues are too complex to be solved by a more diverse popular culture alone.  It will help in the long run.  This Has Been My Not So Humble Opinion.

Ch-Ch-Changes

I have come to an important decision.  I am working to start my own podcast.  I was trying to find a name to denote my personal journey and my optimism in it.  The name I came up with was Fumbling Forwards.  It denotes also humor and the case that I do not always know what I am doing and that I am still a work in progress.  I decided to use that name for the blog as well.

I have been really struggling with the name The Recovering Ubergeek.  There is so much more to me than just my geeky pursuits. The new name opens me up to social, political and spiritual discussions as well.  That does not mean that stuff is ever going to go away. I just am so much more and so will my blog be more. I already have tackled to more socially relevant subjects and covered my culinary history and pursuits. It is still me and all the older articles are not going anywhere.

The address is the same since it is connected to my account name and not the blog name.  Thank goodness for small favors like that. The name works for both the upcoming podcast and the blog.  Many of my personal journey articles fit the recovering side but not the Ubergeeky side.  The new name broadens that and makes anything a write possible.  It will be what it was plus so much more.  In a way this is a new introduction to the blog.  I have had a great deal of support for the name as it was for a podcast. I hope to get the same support for the change. This Has Been My Not So Humble Opinion.