Pirates

Ahoy! Why is it that pirates are so incredibly cool? So, within genre fiction—spies (another weakness, another day), detectives, Westerns, romances, pirates—pirates is the category that adults really don’t indulge in (I don’t think Borders has a section for pirate books) and also the one that consistently makes people just totally happy. It’s also one that works best for children. I’m taking advantage of that fact, and using the beloved toddler as a reason to incorporate pirates in as much of my life as I can. The mardi gras beads are back out, every day. While I'd avoid imposing cowboys or spies on her, I have no such compunction about the equally violent, misogynistic pirates. Quite the opposite.

I still don’t know really what I love about pirates, but I know that the N. C. Wyeth illustrations for Treasure Island remain a completely primal love, that the fake treasure map entry to the University of Bath Treasure Island website makes my heart skip a beat, that I long to visit the 826 Valencia Pirate Store, that I look forward to a daily dose of Dora’s Pirate Adventure almost as much as a spin of the utterly hilariously fantastic Captain Bogg and Salty cd.

No big theories, but I think that all the adventure and all the singing are big clues.