Polaroid Photo

Tue
22
Jul '08

Building Jay Lake’s colon

Colon DesignBy this point, I think everyone probably heard about Jay Lake’s colon cancer news. The man is a cancer survivor the likes of which the world has never seen. When I heard the diagnosis, I emailed him asking if there was anything I could do for him from New York.

Oh yes. Yes, there was.

Jay asked me to build a puppet of his tumor, because he wanted to be “smarter and funnier” than his cancer. Before I had materials in hand, it was clear that Jay had kicked the tumor without the need for puppetry.

The colon, on the other hand, is a troublesome thing. So, I’m building Jay Lake a puppet of his colon in a jar. Today, I went shopping for specimen jars. Besides needing something the right size and shape, it also needed to be plastic so that I can drill holes in it with abandon. Tomorrow I’ll start the mech for the “mouth” of the colon.

This may well be my strangest commission ever

21 Comments »

  • http://neutronjockey.livejournal.com Jeff

    So who’s weirder…Jay for asking? Or you for having the talent to make a talking colon?

    Then again, I just put a fetus on leather…

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      Um… I guess Jay, ’cause talking colon isn’t that different from talking snake.

      • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

        Of course if you had asked, “Who’s weirder, Jay for asking or me for being really excited to build it,” I might have given you a different answer.

  • Angela Slatter

    I think you may well be the coolest person I know!!

  • Karen

    This is so beauitfuul. Yay Jay for spitting in cancer’s face, er, well, or colon…and you, too, for being right there, helping him do it, too. It’s a great thing, you know? Up yours, cancer! Well, you gotta laugh.

  • http://www.dianarowland.com Diana Rowland

    I, for one, am just incredibly thankful that he didn’t have breast cancer.

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      There’s a lady who does breast puppetry with her real breasts.

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  • http://chang3002.livejournal.com Chang

    That’s awesome!

  • http://www.chrisbillett.net Chris Billett

    You are unique in a brilliant and funny way, Mary!

  • http://everythingsun.blogspot.com Mike F

    I would hope that is your strangest commission. It’s neat that you are doing that. I’m glad it all worked out for him.

  • http://www.david-loftus.com David Loftus

    From the drawing, it doesn’t look like a full-size, full-length model of a colon.

    Does that make it a semicolon?

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      I reckon so. It’s just a puppet of the section they removed.

  • Sean P. Fodera

    Tomorrow I’ll start the mech for the “mouth” of the colon.

    You are about to give a whole new meaning to the phrase “Jay talks out his…” (which Jay doesn’t actually do, but still)

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      ::snort:: You are a funny man, Sean.

      • Sean P. Fodera

        Let’s hope Jay thinks so.

  • http://home.earthlink.net/~carpelibris/index.html Melissa Mead

    Just BTW, you and Jay are both awesome people.

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      If Jay were not awesome, I would not be making a talking colon.

  • stina

    just… wow.

  • http://mcurry.livejournal.com/ Michael Curry

    This is just so disturbing. And cool.

  • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

    This is why I love my job.

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