Ornament Stories: Day 8

Today I bring you Wonder Woman. She is gayborhood-adjacent.

Those who know me know of my love for her. My homage to her–“Orange Colored Sky”–was just accepted to the anthology Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books. And though that poem chronicles my childhood memories of Lynda Carter’s portrayal, there are other incarnations I love: the Gail Simone run in the comic books (not just for her take on the origin story, but the queer-friendly gifts of the Manazons and Achilles!); the animated Diana in the early 2000s cartoons Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited. But I have other loves from the comics. Catwoman. Jean Grey/Phoenix. She-Ra. And outside the comics, Madonna and Marilyn Monroe. I think I should have ornaments for all these loves. For isn’t that what people’s trees become in some respects: reflections of things they love through small baubles that are either exact replicas (though I still struggle to find a Marilyn Monroe ornament that does her justice), or charged parts that stand in for the whole (take this She-Ra crown I found on Etsy)?

Side note: I have a fabulous crocheted She-Ra crown courtesy of my friend Amy Jo. You can see me wearing it here as I perform my She-Ra monologue “For the Honor of Grayskull”.

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