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(All I Have to Do is) Dream: Why The Sandman is Important To Me

My first encounter with the works of Neil Gaiman was in 2009 when I sat in a dark theater and was delighted by the Henry Selick adaptation of Gaiman’s Coraline. I immediately sought out a copy of the book and was entranced by his writing, as it was exactly the kind of fantasy writing I enjoyed reading, mixing the magic and wonder of the real world with that of a fantastical world that could only exist in imagination. I was hooked, and soon I had also collected American Gods, Anansi Boys, and several of his short stories. This is when I first became aware of The Sandman, but I wouldn’t actually read it until a few years later when I was in film school. I was roaming the school library for some good reading material, and they had a large collection of the trade paperbacks of each volume of Sandman. I had never been a huge comic book person despite enjoying superheroes on television and film, but Neil’s name meant It was at least worth a look. I tore through each volume (although I admit I got a tad impatient and skipped some of the stand-alone tales to finish the full arc of the story, something I have remedied on subsequent re-reads). For my senior thesis in film school, I focused on a story about dreams and traveling through them, and to say this isn’t influenced by Sandman would be an outright lie. I had written some of the basics before I read the whole of Sandman, but it really took shape when I wanted to tell my own story set in dreams. I even got to discuss it with Neil Gaiman himself when I had the great fortune to spend an evening with him and his wife. He gave me great advice to tell my story, and very kindly signed my favorite volume of Sandman, A Game of You, and his signature had the wonderful advice to “Dream Dangerously” which I have tried my best to do ever since. Throughout my time in Film School I dreamed of possibly getting to adapt Sandman for HBO or some similar television network someday, and while that has not come to pass, I was so thankful for it being a part of my education. 

Several years passed, I had graduated, moved to Florida and had spent many years working at a certain Haunted Mansion in a certain theme park, and Sandman still stuck with me. I would go back and reread my favorite bits over and over again, and was excited when they were working on a film adaptation with Joseph Gordon-Levitt involved,and then even more excited when Netflix announced they were making a series out of the show, which I always felt was the best way to adapt the material.

And then my life fell apart. 2019 came into my life like a force of nature, destroying as much as it could. I wound up in the hospital multiple times and discovered that my body was basically destroying itself after I let it fall into disrepair due to a severe bout of depression. Between this and being stuck indoors during the pandemic, it got worse, and I ended up having to leave my job, which lost me not only a place I loved working for but friends too. I started to feel very alone. I wound up back in the hospital and physical rehab. I had to move out of an apartment that had been home for years, into a strange new home with a strange new roommate, and the loneliness continued to mount. I was in constant pain, and often, the only real voice I had to speak to was the one in my head, which was quickly becoming a much darker voice than it had ever been before. I used to tell myself I’d never consider suicide, it just wasn’t my style, but in the dark of lonely nights, trapped in a room by myself, I did. I thought about how perhaps it would just be better if I was no longer here, and that dark voice getting so much stronger than I ever imagined it could. I had one thing I was looking forward to…The Sandman adaptation. It feels silly to say that a television show was the only thing I had to look forward to, but it’s true. I found a small group of fans on Twitter and they were so kind and welcoming to an older guy who just wanted to watch his favorite story become a show. To help with the long wait and anticipation I finally sat down and listened to the Audible audiobook adaptation of The Sandman, which I had been avoiding as I typically have a hard time with audiobooks, but once I listened, I found myself discovering the magic of the world of The Sandman in a new way, and it felt as if for the first time. As I sat in my bed, struggling with my pain and health, I could make all that go away by putting my headphones on, and listening to Dream of the Endless go on his journeys.

When I first read the comics, one of the one-off short stories on my first read-through that didn’t quite click with me was Facade, a story that features Death meeting a woman named Urania Blackwell (Element Girl for comic savvy folk) who was cursed to be made of different elements and it was slowly destroying her life and mental state. As I listened to the Audible version of this story, it suddenly became real. A woman who can barely leave her apartment due to her condition, her only real companion being a weekly phone call, and a desire, but inability, to kill herself. I found myself silently sobbing as Urania spoke with Death about her life being miserable. I then began to imagine my conversation with Death, the kind goth woman who Gaiman imagined to whisk people from this life to whatever comes next with kindness and a smile. I realized that Sandman had saved me. The dark voice started to go quiet in my mind. 

I admit, I still struggle with these thoughts sometimes, and I am still finding my way back to what I sometimes refer to as “normal” but it has been so helpful to have this world to escape to, to help make sense of my reality. It reminded me how simple it is to go somewhere special, and reminded me that all I have to do is dream. 

Thanks to Neil Gaiman (@neil-gaiman), Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg, and all the artists who have worked on Sandman over the years. As you have done so to many hundreds of thousands of readers before me, you inspired me. You inspired me in 2012, and then you saved me in 2022. I can’t thank you enough and I can’t wait to watch the entirety of the new show and find myself lost in that world yet again. 

May we all continue to dream dangerously 

Donald Hallene III

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this changed it all

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lifehack: when you see a Take One candy bowl in a restaurant, wait until noones looking and shovel candy into your pockets. god may judge you but his sins outnumber your own

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they're girlfriends,,,

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dinghuart on Instagram

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damn ok lake superior

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wolf & bunny: a love story

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Got these insert for my boots- just lace them in, and your boots are now zip ups! Excellent for people like me with weak joints that struggle with laces but love boots!!

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In the early 70s Sesame Street was created with an eye towards educating poor, inner-city children for free, and became a massive hit with all children. In 2016, faced with going off the air forever after facing conservative efforts to destroy public broadcasting since basically its beginning, new episodes became a timed exclusive for premium cable network HBO. In 2022 HBO Max, newly merged with and taken over by reality TV channel Discovery, removed Sesame Street episodes and spin-offs from streaming as a tax write-off and scheme to avoid paying residuals.

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[ iMessage / LINE ver 1  ver 2 / Telegram]

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sometimes plushies make me cry because it’s like. they’re little guys made to be loved. their only purpose is to be held and hugged and loved. we made them because we love making things and we love loving things. and they’re so cute

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Like to charge reblog to cast

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In summer, the Hitokotonushi Shrine in Ibaraki sets up on oasis for bees where they can safely collect water