#Janette O’Reilly

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Benjie: There’s a small get together after school on Friday Janette: How small? Benjie: Just you, me, & the principal

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Janette: I just had a long talk with May and August about hitting, and now they're yelling "it's my turn to perpetuate the cycle of violence!" before hitting each other, I don't know what to do anymore

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Janette: Who ate the last of the cookies? Benjie: Tess did! *runs away* Tess: Aww, he pinned his first crime against me

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Jack: My ear hurts Janette: From the outside or inside? Jack: *walks outside, comes back inside* Both Janette:

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Janette trying to get to know her kids: So tell me, what would you say you like spending your time making? Wolfgang: Bad choices Lily: Bad calls August: Mistakes May: Enemies Beverly: False realities Janette: ... ok

[welcome-to-the-nunyverse]

Janette: I'm not mad. I just want to know why you got a fake ID

Wolfgang: *mumbles*

Janette: What was that?

Wolfgang: You have to be 18 to pet the puppies at PetCo.

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Janette: Part of this journey requires us going to uncomfortable places emotionally Tess: I don't travel well

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Kidnapper: We have your mom

Tess: EXCUSE ME !?!?!?!?!

Kidnapper: She made us reevaluate our life choices

Tess: I-

Kidnapper: I'm gonna become a painter

[welcome-to-the-nunyverse]

Symphonies & Stories on Saturday!

Where I take songs I heavily relate to GAC and discuss it.

First song for this: Bubble Wrap by Precious Pepala

This is a song that has themes & undertones of religious trauma stemmed from overzealous parents, and it represents breaking away from that. And for that reason, I relate it to my characters, the Espositos.

The Espositos (shown right below) are eight siblings who have what’s known as gifts and curses—otherwise known as power with a downside (I can probably touch on that in a different post).

My story is a low fantasy, taking place in our world, so this magic is uh… not exactly normal nor expected! And for the two Catholic parents of the Espositos, this is unspeakably nightmarish. They are under the belief that their children got this magic from the Devil, and as a result treat them as so. They treat the children inhumanly, referring to them as demonic scum, & prohibiting them from going outside as a means to keep them from being seen from the outside world and henceforth associating the Esposito reputation with demonics.

They essentially grew up with the idea that they’re hell born being ingrained into their mindset.

And that relates very well to the song :3

I’d imagine it’s the Espositos’ internal struggle after they run away from their parents. They want to find against everything they’ve been taught, but at the same time struggle with believing it’s true. After all, they’re an outlier in society and, as far as they know, the only people with gifts and curses in this world (haha untrue).

The ongoing verse that’s repeated three times has different inflections and tones each time and goes as:

If I get to those golden gates

And he turns me away,

Well then you can say “I told you so” and

I’ll burn forevermore

Like the sun that’ll rise

Even after I die

The first time the verse is sung is the softest version of itself, and to me it feels like the Espositos that don’t put up much of a fight for varying reasons. Beverly because she’s more of a mediator and caretaker than a fighter, Wolfgang because he can never truly find it in himself to defend his own humanity since he hardly believe he has any, August because he’s quite numb and really accepts any pain he’s prone to, and Lily because she’s a timid child.

The second time this verse is sung, it’s with more intensity in the voice, and that reminds me of the more fighter or angry Espositos. Tess because of her generally defensive nature mainly to protect her younger siblings, May because she’s learned that having a hard exterior as a form of protection, Jack because he’s so confused why they can’t be accepted as normal, and Benjie because he’s been hardened by witnessing the suffering of all his older siblings and himself.

All the Espositos internalize this message their parents scorned into their ears, and it’s made them all types of ways: most importantly, fearful. Fearful of acceptance from the world that they’ve been told hates them. And this can mainly be exemplified in how they fear rejection from their foster mom, Janette O’Reilly.

And I imagine that most with the third verse, when in my mind it’s a shift from the Godly imagery that the song itself is representing to a comparison to the Espositos fearing rejection from the only source of parental affection they’ve had.

“Golden gates” instead of referring to the Heavenly gates, now may refer to the gates of Janette’s home. “Turns me away” refers to a fear of Janette rejecting them; tied to that misbelief that they’re unworthy of love, especially that parental love. If this one, singular chance of hope turns them away, then what the Espositos have been told their whole lives would be true. They’d be nothing more than demonic spawns, unfit for society, and unloved by all but each other. And that final verse represents all that is on the line for them in my relation to them and the song.

And that’s all for that! Gonna hopefully do another next Saturday!! Bye.