#balance of power he finds a dog that has been murdered a few days previously

[forensicated]

How many seriously harmed children or murdered children did they want Leon to have to find/deal with/try and resuscitate over his actually rather quite short (about 70 eps) tenure?

Poor darling, especially after the tragic death of his girlfriend (that Leon being Leon, he got called to the scene of!)

"What's that caller? You've a traumatic and haunting thing happening where a young child/vulnerable teen has been hurt and could die/requires CPR/is crying out for help?? It's ok, we'll send our most sensitive, brooding officer who has already dealt with 5 of these sorts of cases this week to your house."

[bakudomaster]

Pushing Daisies

Hello again everyone! It’s time for another in-depth analysis of a show that I’ve watched. This time I’ve picked a show that I have recently rediscovered - question: do you guys like pies and corpses...?

[The facts were these]

PREMISE

In the fall of 2007, a quirky little show known as Pushing Daisies premiered on ABC. Taking inspiration from all things kitsch and Wes Anderson, the story centered around Ned (no, not THAT Ned), a self taught baker specializing in pies who has the unique ability to touch dead beings and bring them back to life. As with many superheroes, his powers did not come without restriction: once touched, should Ned touch the “undeaded” once more, they would become dead permanently. Also, once Ned touches the dead, they exist consequence free for only 60 seconds before something living in close proximity has to die to balance out the cosmic scales.

A bundle of anxiety and intimacy issues on a good day, Ned uses his special skills to moonlight as a part time private investigator to help full time investigator Emerson Cod solve various murder cases and collect reward money. One day, it turns out that the case they have to solve is that of Ned’s childhood sweetheart, one Charlotte “Chuck” Charles. Ned takes a risk and resurrects her beyond the 60 second rule, meaning that someone else has to take her place in the great beyond.

Together with Ned’s waitress (and unrequited admirer), the quartet must solve mysteries, keep the secret of Chuck being alive again from her eccentric aunts and come face to face with all of their emotional issues.

Sadly, the show was cancelled before it ever took off, but more on that later on.

CAST & CHARACTERS

Lee Pace as Ned - the man with the magic touch, he owns a restaurant called “The Pie Hole”, where he makes... well, pies; what did you expect? Ned discovered his gift/curse at a young age when he resurrected his dog after being run over and his mother after she suffered a brain aneurysm. He also discovered that his powers did not come without consequence, as the cost of bringing his mother back to life was Chuck’s father dying. Abandoned at boarding school by his father, Ned grew up and opened his restaurant where he also helps Emerson Cod solve many murder mysteries for the rewards of justice and money. Due to his powers and abandonment issues, Ned has trouble opening up to anyone and carries around a great deal of anxiety. Lee Pace was previously unknown before the show, but he rightfully gained much recognition afterwards, going on to make a few bad movies before getting roles in the Hobbit and MCU franchises.

Anna Friel as Charlotte “Chuck” Charles - Ned’s childhood sweetheart and neighbor, Chuck grew up with her father, having believed that her mother died giving birth to her. Once the universe decided to claim her father as payment for Ned’s mother being brought back to life, she was raised by her shut-in aunts and never allowed herself to travel beyond the gates of her house for their sake. Deciding to break that rule, she was killed when she went on a cruise, after which she was revived the socially anxious Pie Maker Jesus. Chuck is a very optimistic and sincere girl who enthusiastically takes to solving cases. She carries around a bit of existential depression in her, what with being previously dead and all, but she cares for her family and friends very deeply. She can never touch her boyfriend again, but she’s very happy to just generally be around him. Anna Friel had a bit of a generic career before the show, but all that changed once it was cancelled. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work here.

Chi McBride as Emerson Cod - a jaded private investigator who believes in nothing but the almighty dollar, Emerson frequently contracts Ned’s skill to revive murder victims, ask them how they died and who killed them, solve their cases and collect easy reward money. He had a romance with one of his PI targets a few years before the series began, resulting in daughter who is now missing. He is the author of a children’s pop-up book, hoping to get it published so that his daughter will use it and come find him instead of the other way around. He does not like the complications that come with having Chuck around nor does he care for Ned’s frequent ethical dilemmas or Olive’s stubborn charms; but he does appreciate all of them in his own way. Chi McBride previously starred in Boston Public and went on to star in short lived shows such as Human Target and Golden Boy before getting a recurring role on the new Hawaii Five-O

Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook - a former jockey turned waitress, Olive works at the Pie Hole, lives next door to her boss and carries a very strong, yet unrequited love for our Ned. She does not take kindly to Chuck suddenly appearing and gaining the affection she had worked so hard without reward. She believes that Chuck faked her death and is locked out of the loop as to what is really going on. After some snooping around of her own, she makes firm friendships with Chuck’s aunts, Chuck herself (they even become roommates) and even Emerson. She also learns to accept that Ned will never see her the way he sees the dead girl and tries to move on. Kristin was a very well established Broadway actress before the show and won an Emmy for her role in the show’s second season. She went on to do more plays and more TV shows, with a few guest starring roles here and there.

Swoosie Kurtz as Lily Charles - a cynical and sarcastic agoraphobe, Lily was once part of a synchronized swimming duo called the Darling Mermaid Darlings with her sister Vivian. They toured all over the world before settling down to raise Chuck once her father died. She’s fond of martinis, guns and does not take kindly to strangers... or anyone for that matter. She also happens to be carrying a few secrets of her own as Olive find out and is devastated when she finds out Chuck dies at the beginning of the show. Ms Kurtz is a very acclaimed actress, having an Emmy and two Tonys to her name. She went on to star as Joyce Flynn on Mike & Molly after the show.

Ellen Greene as Vivian Charles - Chuck’s other agoraphobic aunt, Vivian was the other half of the Darling Mermaid Darlings. She’s much more compassionate and delicate than her older sister, but is lost and sad after her niece’s death. Wanting to explore the world in all senses of the phrase beyond her house, she finds herself frequently held back by Lily’s stubbornness... but is that all that’s keeping her back. She was also once engaged to Chuck’s father. Ms Greene is renowned for her role in Little Shop of Horrors (both musical and film versions).

STRUCTURE, DEVELOPMENT & WRITING

Described as a “forensic fairytale”, Pushing Daisies drew inspiration from all the 20′s right through to the 50′s. For those who haven’t seen the show, have you ever watched the Wes Anderson segment in the Family Guy episode Three Directors? You’d be surprised at how similar the setting is, even though it’s a parody. You could even say it has a very Tim Burton feel to it, and who doesn’t love Tim Burton?

Combining the murder mystery and fantasy show genres was not new at all. Medium started up 2 years before PD; whilst Missing & Tru Calling debuted the year before that. If PD was going to be different, it needed another element to make it a success, critically at least. It found that piece by embracing full on quirkiness and adding equal amounts of emotional gratification instead of the darker themes of the aforementioned predecessors, it could carve a niche for itself in the late 00′s television market. PD didn’t serve up thumping adrenaline in any of Ned’s pies, but it didn’t need to: there were other shows who could do that better. It aimed for something else entirely, making the crime element a portion of itself rather than the whole focus.

In this sense, the show followed through with the more intellectual sarcasm starting to appear more frequently at the time (thank you Tina Fey), but tempered it with sincerity. Characters were allowed to be jaded or anxious, but never at the expense of the lighthearted atmosphere. The show’s scripts were also tightly consistent with character development, often pairing very unlikely characters for humorous or heartwarming moments. Characters also took on very familiar tropes in a very unique way - instead of endlessly pining for the pie maker who could never be hers, Olive attempted many a times to get over him, finally accepting that friends instead of lovers was better than slicing Ned out of her life completely. Emerson was a hard-boiled private eye, who wanted his AWOL daughter to find him instead of the other way around.

As with many shows airing on ABC at the time, PD carried a family secret/scandal that affected almost every character, forcing them to go to great lengths to keep it buried once the truth had been discovered. It fit in well with the general theme as opposed to the other examples who used it for shock value or to prolong viewership.

Sadly, the pie maker and his friends weren’t destined to remain on TV for long. The show was one of the victims of the 2007/8 writers strike, forcing it’s first season to end after only 9 episodes. Production resumed afterwards, however the second season only premiered an entire 10 months after the first one did, with only a quarter of the viewership. ABC pulled the plug through the second season in 2008, leaving the final three episodes unaired in the US until May 2009. Pushing Daisies was... pushing daisies - eh? Eh? Ok, I’ll see myself out.

BULLSEYES & IMPROVEMENTS

What the show gets right:

The general offbeat, yet pleasant mood

Olive Snook - for a relative outsider (she’s not part of Emerson’s PI business nor does she truly know Ned’s secret), she worms her way into all mystery related plot lines, proving herself to be a badass sidekick along the way

Speaking of Olive, she is wonderfully unique. Though she sees herself as a rival to Chuck for Ned’s love, she bonds with the previously dead girl over taking care of Lily and Vivian, even rooming with her. She also doesn’t go down the tsundere route - she’s not afraid to discuss her feelings maturely with Ned and accept her defeat in amore.

Emerson and Olive frequently team up together, even though they’re as different as night and day. Olive proves herself so competent that Emerson offers her a position at his firm should she ever get tired of The Pie Hole

The sets and cinematography contribute to the fairy tale escapism mood. I wish more shows did this nowadays

Olive’s songs, especially her renditions of Eternal Flame and Hello (Lionel Richie’s version, though I’m sure Adele’s one would be equally perfect, if not more so)

Ned coming to terms with his abandonment and intimacy issues by slowly letting people in

Jim Dale as the eloquent narrator. Never have exposition and narration been so quaint

Vivian’s delicate melancholy when she realizes her boyfriend abandoned” her and now she has to take the rose colored glasses off

Digby - enough said

The show doesn’t get much wrong, but then again it couldn’t have considering the extremely short run. Had they received a full season at least once, I’m sure the tension in the various mysteries could have been a bit tiresome. Instead, here is a wishlist of sorts:

Who Dwight Dixon really was and why he was obsessed with the pocket watches

See Ned connect with his twin half brothers a bit more

What did Chuck’s father get up to after he took off

Explore Ned’s dad character, who he was and why he abandoned his two families

A slow burner of Emerson’s missing daughter plot

Emerson’s relationship with his mother (Debra Mooney is a hoot)

Delve into more of Vivian’s anger at her sister in the last episode

CULTURAL IMPACT

PD was a critically acclaimed gem right from it’s very first episode. That continued through the 22 episode run. Unlike its peers, it didn’t chop and change plot elements to see what worked and what didn’t. It chose a direction and it stuck with it.

Many fans have expressed their desire to see the show revived, claiming injustice at the fact that it was gone too soon. I think part of why it was cancelled, apart from the production troubles it faced, was that it was a bit ahead of its time. Considering it as a whole by today’s standards, it seems something better suited to Netflix rather than mainstream TV. It was a very specific show that needed a very specific mindset to watch. It didn’t have the commercial broadband appeal that Desperate Housewives or even Weeds had.

Could it be revived today? I think it’s in a very prime position to at least be considered. Creator Bryan Fuller is currently busy with Star Trek: Discovery, but I’m sure he could find time, at least in a consulting capacity. Streaming services offer a much more diverse set of original productions, something cable and network services are struggling to keep up with - it’s an environment that Pushing Daisies would thrive in. It comes down to the cast - Lee has a quietly booming movie career, but it would be nice to see him on TV again. Both Chi and Anna are busy with other TV shows, but I could see them working this in during their inter-season breaks. Kristin has just come off a cancelled TV show, so she’d probably say yes.

Let’s hold thumbs - after all, these guys are in the business of bringing the dead back to life

WHERE TO WATCH IT

The series is available on Amazon’s Prime Video service

If Amazon hasn’t licensed it in your region, you can find episodes from various channels on Dailymotion (just search for the titles)

[vmheadquarters]

When the Veronica Mars fan-funded film was released in 2014, no one could have predicted it would help to usher in a trend of revivals and reboots and remakes that would come to dominate Hollywood. And certainly no one could have predicted the series, a neo-noir about a teenage private detective in its original form, would be returning again five years later, this time as an eight-episode limited series on Hulu.

And yet the show's refusal to accept defeat feels like a perfect encapsulation of the spirit of Veronica Mars herself. Brought to vivid life by Kristen Bell, Veronica always gets back up. She plays by her own rules, never allowing herself to be content with or conform to the status quo. She's never what you expect, and she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to. Along with her sparkling wit, these are her most admirable traits. But as with any revival, one has to wonder what the end goal ultimately is.

The feature film funded by fans through a Kickstarter allowed series creator Rob Thomas to craft an ending where there previously wasn't one. A parade of familiar faces, it was heavy on the nostalgia but light on the intricate, well-paced mysteries that originally set the show apart. This new chapter in the Veronica Mars saga doesn't serve the same purpose. It's not a trip down memory lane or an extended coda; it's an opportunity to test the waters and find out whether or not Veronica Mars still has life left in her. The world of television has changed a lot since the series first debuted on UPN, and although audiences might not have been ready for her then, they very well may be now.

Hulu is referring to these eight new episodes as Season 4 rather than simply a limited series, and while that doesn't necessarily mean anything, we can't discount the fact this is the second time the show has returned from the dead or that Bell, whose NBC series The Good Place will be ending after this upcoming season, and Thomas have both already expressed an interest in continuing Veronica's story beyond what we see here. The stakes are infinitely higher now than they were five years ago when the film hit theaters. The new season has to appeal to longtime fans as well as potential new ones. This ultimately means the overarching mystery at the heart of the season has to be strong enough to carry the weight and then some. The story has to push Veronica forward in a meaningful way. And for the most part, it succeeds.

When the show returns, Veronica is still working alongside television's No. 1 dad, Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), as a private eye in her hometown of Neptune, California. She and Logan (Jason Dohring), who is still in the military (and remains incredibly handsome), are still together and have adopted a dog named Pony since we saw them last. They're happy and stable, but Logan's job often takes him away suddenly for weeks or months at a time. While he's constantly moving, Veronica is more or less standing still. And she appears completely content with her life. But when a series of deadly bombings hit the town during the month-long celebration of spring break and threaten the city's tourism industry, and thus the livelihood of Neptune's quickly disappearing working class, Veronica dives headfirst into solving the case.

The class divide of Neptune, with the working class pitted against the town's rich elite, was built into the foundation of Veronica Mars, but when Veronica was in high school, it often played out through Veronica's status as an outsider. She didn't fit in with the popular crowd, known as the 09ers, because of Keith's wrongful accusation of the Kanes in the wake of Lilly's (Amanda Seyfried) murder. But she also didn't fit in with the working class because of her former association with that same rich crowd. In 2019, with Veronica now in her 30s, the class warfare manifests itself differently. Veronica and Keith are still hustling to make ends meet as private eyes — Veronica is hesitant to take any job that won't pay them well and drives up their retainer whenever she can — but a pointed C-plot also finds Keith, who is still struggling in the wake of the car accident that occurred in the film, attempting to navigate our country's broken healthcare system as a member of the have-nots. It's familiar social commentary for the series, but it's perhaps even more relevant now than it was in 2004.

So when bombs start going off, putting many of the businesses that rely on local tourism in jeopardy, like a rowdy nightclub owned by Kirby Howell-Baptiste's Nicole, Veronica naturally starts digging. Technically she and Keith have been hired by the family of a congressman whose brother was injured in one of the bombings, but Veronica is interested in the case for other reasons too, namely Matty (Izabela Vidovic), the daughter of a divorced single father who dies in the first explosion. The show takes every opportunity to remind us Matty is a lot like a young Veronica, for better or worse.

The ensuing investigation, which plays out over the entire season, puts Veronica on a collision course with Penn Epner (Patton Oswalt), a local pizza delivery guy with a true crime obsession, as well as a few familiar faces from the original series. They include Weevil (Francis Capra), who's back in his criminal element after being framed by the sheriff's department in the film and taking an out-of-court settlement in Mr. Kiss and Tell, one of two canonical books published after the film; Leo (Max Greenfield), who now works for the FBI and continues to have sparks with Veronica; Vinnie (Ken Marino), whose office is a strip club because that's the logical next step after a van; and even Liam Fitzpatrick (Rod Rowland), who's still a scumbag and may or may not be involved in planting the bombs. Eventually, the case leads Veronica to none other than Big Dick Casablancas (David Starzyk), who seems to have suffered very little from his time in prison. Now cozied up to a man he met on the inside, Clyde (the always excellent J.K. Simmons), he's attempting to transform Neptune from a wild spring break destination into an elite and idyllic seaside community only the rich can afford.

This is a Veronica Mars that is both familiar and new. As Bell and Thomas promised, the new season is a different beast from the show that initially ran for three seasons on UPN and The CW in the mid-2000s. It's been described as more adult and as "hardcore So-Cal noir," and although it's difficult to imagine a scenario for Veronica that is worse than her own rape and the murder of her best friend as a teenager, the series somehow manages to go bigger and darker and create a more dangerous atmosphere, complete with increasingly dire consequences. In the process, it also evolves into a show about Veronica's emotional stagnation.

A running thread this season finds Logan pushing Veronica to go to therapy so she can hopefully begin to cope with her trauma rather than continuing to ignore it. He credits his therapist with helping him manage his anger — Logan might have evolved and matured during his time in the military, but he's still Logan — but Veronica repeatedly refuses, insisting she's fine. Of course, anyone with a working set of eyeballs can obviously see that Veronica is not fine, that she's been hardened by everything that has happened to her over the years and still suffers from the trust issues that have plagued her since her high school days. It's not entirely clear if Veronica is even happy working as a P.I. in Neptune or if that's just what she thinks she should be doing. All the same, Logan is determined to help Veronica, and after seeing plenty of men on TV struggle in this same way, seeing Veronica face these challenges instead is a welcome role reversal that still feels completely in character. In fact, everything that occurs between Logan and Veronica throughout the season is well done, completely thought out, and true to both characters.

But for all the good, and for all the fun it is to return to Neptune and watch Veronica continue to be smarter than everyone around her, the new season isn't without its faults. A major twist near the end of the season feels like it belongs in a different series entirely, like it was added more for shock value than anything else, and I worry about its lasting implications and how it might affect the possibility of another season. If it's an attempt by Thomas and the writers to convince Hulu to grant the series more episodes to explore the aftermath, it's a big swing, and not one I am sure will pay off.

It's unfortunate that one bad decision in a sea of good ones can so easily color the rest of a finished product, but there's a very good chance that is exactly what will happen for many fans. If they can get past it, there absolutely could be life left in Veronica Mars. For most of the season, the show is a lot of fun, balancing its well-honed sense of humor — many times at the expense of fan-favorite character Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) — with Keith and Veronica's powerful family dynamic and a sometimes predictable but nevertheless engaging central mystery. There were many times throughout the season I found myself wishing Kristen Bell would never stop playing Veronica, that we never stop getting to spend time with what might be one of the best and weirdest supporting casts on TV after FX's Justified (another series I would kill to revisit in the future). And to an extent, I still feel that way; Veronica is one of the most competent characters on TV. After 15 years, she's now an old friend, and I'd rather spend time with her than most anyone else. But after these eight episodes, I also won't be surprised if this is the end of her story, and if it is, it's a somewhat disappointing one.

All eight episodes of Veronica Mars debut Friday, July 26 on Hulu.

[jojotier]

Really quick update on random projects I have going on for gk fics, under the cut so as to not take up too much space:

- On The Subject Of Character Bombs, like I’m planning with Tsukishima- Honestly it’s a toss up on when this first character bomb will be done, just bc one of the five fics to be uploaded at once (Frost Heart, a story taking place in siren au) is getting up to 8-10k in length, and I wanna keep it a oneshot

- I may replace Frost Heart for the moment with a second TsukiKoi canon divergent oneshot idea I’ve had, Tightrope, which includes Koito tightrope walking Tsukishima to safety over a ravine

- For now the plan for TsukiBomb is:

1. Eat Up: Heiji Koito, in Sado for a military parade, confounds everyone when he glosses over dozens of noble families and seemingly snubs military kids by inviting Tsukishima, the hated son of a murderer, to eat with him instead. Also includes Baby Otonoshin, aka the Grumpiest Infant Alive

2. Update on the Tsukishima with Dog fic but it’s kinda become a Monty Python skit because Ogata is inexplicably stuck in a tree. He won’t say he’s stuck though. Mostly an exercise in walking the thin line between Tsukishima’s survivor guilt upon meeting Tsurumi again after months and seeing that the brain damage is still being treated, his rightful bitterness over the military venture and essentially being used, and a lighthearted tone to keep it from slipping too far into despair. 

3. A vaguely canon-divergent fic where Tsukishima defects to Sugimoto’s group, set after 190; told from Shiraishi’s POV as he kinda tries to help Tsukishima with the obvious existential crisis he’s going through with a lot of vaguely disarming talk and a drop of alcohol. Also focuses on Sugimoto and Asirpa, with their sibling relationship and the connection they have, untainted by Sugimoto’s brain injury and acting as a foil to Tsukishima’s implied thoughts about Tsurumi, since I’m versed in neuroanatomy and know for a FACT that the same injury isn’t going to cause the exact same effects, particularly when the base personalities are different

4. The second half of that TsukiKoi modern boxer’s au- much less trauma on Tsukishima’s end, a lot more lighthearted banter, and Koito being encouraging in his kind roundabout way as he tells Tsukishima to stop giving those weaksauce punches Jesus Fuck give me all you HAVE already

5. Frost Heart, which goes over Tsukishima’s sudden introduction into the world of magic, Harry Potter style. Kind of. I mean, there’s no magic school, and he doesn’t even know he has magic. He meets a mermaid Igogusa, they help each other survive as they learn more about the other’s species, and he slowly learns that he has an innate ability over water magic, bit by bit. Which is a bit complicated, since as a kid, Tsukishima is deathly afraid of deep, open water... It’s a mild coming of age story, basically, with a lot of magic elements, and it’s a balancing act, since Tsukishima’s father lurks always just off screen... 

- I do want to do similar “Character Bombs” in the future, where I drop like 5-7 fics all at once centered around one character, and the next one I wanna do is Asirpa- but that one’s taking me a long while, because I want to do some canon compliant things with her exclusively with other Ainu characters, and it’s taking a lot of research and careful review of ideas. I’ve already revised or outright scrapped quite a few ideas, but one that I’m sure of is one where a little Ekasiotonpuy (Asirpa) spends time with Inkarmat, telling stories and teaching magic...

- Another is “Ozoni Wars”, a modern little ditty where Shiraishi and Sugimoto compete with two different styles of ozoni to impress our young judge Asirpa and her Huci, trying to prove that either Kanto or Kansai style is OBVIOUSLY the best kind of ozoni. Might be SugiShira, but probably not, just to focus it more on Asirpa

- The more immediate project that you might see update in the next few days is Vainglory, with more SugiShira shenanigans! More magic! Kumagashi trying to come through and trade a seemingly powerful artifact for an Ainu artifact produced centuries ago (protected and kept new by magic, of course), meeting carefully mistrusting eyes from quite a few in the kotan...

- Another one you may see in the next month is a new Sinfonietta Paper for siren au, centered around both TsukiKoi and the golden trio separately coming to hunt down the same magic sea creature- a sandbar hag, leagues long and only coming from the depths of the ocean once every 25 years- one group to plunder a few of the magical artifacts on its long back, the other to take a strip of tail meat...

- I wanna do an Edogai centric fic exploring how he began his grisly “hobby”, the beginning scene based in part off of the time I went to a cadaver lab and worked with the dead bodies when I was 17. I’ll never forget that med student who flippantly told me that oil based soap gets the smell off your hands, or how giddy the instructor looked while pulling up those mostly mummified intestines...

- I currently have two out of three possible choice paths fully planned out for Phase 2 of the Starchasers upload- it’s taken a bit, mostly because I’m trying to determine which items a reader doesn’t necessarily have to find to reach a good ending at the end of Phase 4 and what options may lead to a reader having a harder time in Phases 3 and 4, elevating the struggle to reach at least one of the Good Ends- it’s not impossible, it’s just a little more difficult, depending on what you’ve chosen previously

- Of Phase 2 the trees I have fully planned, with the list of possible chapters, are the First One where Sugimoto and co. are outside the space station and choose whether to wait for something to pass or explore immediately and ending with landing inside the station, and the Wait path, stemming from if you choose for Sugimoto and co. wait for whatever might be outside the ship (if there’s anything) to come into view or pass.

- I just have the “Explore Immediately” tree of branching options to plan out for phase 2 and then I can start writing in earnest. 

- I’ve also decided to implement a “morality” system which more or less decides whether or not Sugimoto is allowed to adopt Asirpa as family by the end and am planning a possible SugiShira dating sim element to later phases

- Formatting for Phase 1 is going to be a Bitch, so I’ve decided to put up a checkpoint chapter that will be deleted once all the text has been officially uploaded, after which I’ll start linking all the chapters together

- Art is hard. But I’m doing it. I’ll do it for you, Starchasers

[sabstronaut]

If I Owned a Plantation

When I walked into my first day of English 106, I was not expecting the mind-blowing, misconception-revealing, philosophically-engaging psychological expedition I was starting. From day one, I was told not to find myself, but to make myself. By being exposed to Nietzsche’s teachings and being encouraged to educate ourselves on his life, I have begun to recognize that I can’t just listen to what I am told to do, I must constantly challenge the norm. Nietzsche thought differently than anybody else of his time. By declaring himself the Antichrist, he preached the death of God stating “We have killed Him. All of us are his murderers.” I have major respect for Nietzsche who was willing to work hard, to the point of literal collapse, in order to convey a firm belief which eventually drove him mad. His dedication to internal reflection is electrifying and motivational to me and began the entire analysis of my upbringing and influences.

In my household, growing up, I have been surrounded by the influence of my parents’ professions. Both held occupations that strived to maintain the wellbeing of others, my father being a pharmacist and my mother a director of Human Resources. While my father’s job helped on the physical side of wellbeing by actually constructing the medication to make sick people well again, my mother’s job helped with maintaining the psychological and social state of her current and future employees. Each of their jobs and ways of life strongly instilled altruistic values into my sister and I at extremely young ages. We were encouraged to volunteer and began our involvement in elementary school and from there the momentum carried us forward. Additionally, when I finished eighth grade my mom was forced to discontinue working, as she has an immune disorder and a life-threatening condition called Idiopathic Angioedema and my sister has Fibromyalgia, both regularly needing my assistance. With my dad traveling five days a week for work, I grew to be their caregiver during my high school years. This is a very noticeable lens that I have been able to see for most of my life, let’s call this one the altruistic lens. This lens shows in my college application essays, my resume, and most distinctly the occupation I aspire to have. But I know that this is not something that all children are taught at as young an age as I was. Not all of my peers walk through Wynwood, see the run-down state of living, and yearn to help those people. Not all of my peers would perform the simple courtesy of giving up your bus or train seat for an elderly or disabled individual. Not all of my peers wish to spend the rest of their life in an occupation that’s only goal is to help other people survive, recover, and thrive without any concern of the pay. The majority of actions I take, both presently and in the future, all revolve around this altruistic lens that has been inserted into my brain and is now seen with as much objectivity as gravity. Only after intense self-reflection did I realize that this was a very powerful worldview, my altruistic lens, that stems from the time I entered this world.

After reading the work of Du Bois and his ideas of “being a problem,” I began to imagine how my altruistic lens would shine through if I lived during the time of slavery as the person I am today. DuBois wrote about being free, but not really free, and described freedom as climbing a mountain because it means overcoming disrespect and ridicule. So with the altruistic lens that I have grown to have, I think that I would be a Cool plantation owner. For the sake of this essay, let’s ignore the second oppressed population who were seemingly unaware of their own oppression at the time, not sexually discriminate, and just hypothetically allow me, as a woman, to be the owner of this Plantation (disclaimer: I do NOT have any aspirations under any terms EVER to own/partake in any form of slave owning- in fact, the word ‘slave’ was not allowed in my household even as a joke [another instance of the altruistic lens]). As stated in Cool Rules: The anatomy of an attitude, “Cool is an oppositional attitude adopted by individuals or small groups to express defiance to authority.” Owning slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries was a basic symbol of social status. To own slaves was to show that you had wealth, authority, and class, therefore, no slaves means no respect. Nobody with slaves was cool. Nobody who had slaves expressed defiance to the social norms or authority. If I lived in this time-period as the individual with the altruistic lens I have I would adopt an oppositional attitude, defy authority, and let my slaves be free without a doubt. I would spend my life freeing slaves and giving them the proper life they deserve as the equals that they are in my eyes. I would risk my social status and life to give these individuals happiness. If this isn’t a realistic option than an alternative plan would be to treat the slaves I have as equals, for example: they would eat what I eat, sleep where I sleep, and I would spend my days in the field with them rather than beating and lashing them.  While I’m sure many people think this way, it has come to my attention recently that not as many as I thought do. I was taught to never be racist and accept everybody for who they are by my parents and grandparents and school assemblies, another lens of mine that is second nature. Although all of that teaching may have worked for me it can be seen clearly that it did not work for a sizable proportion of our country’s population presently as racism has become an even bigger problem than previously.  

While I can’t compare my position of oppression even remotely to that of the Black population, I do have a sense of the whole “I am free, but not actually,” mindset. Here I am, a 19 year old college student with dreams of becoming a doctor, a majoritively male dominated occupation, and on top of that an astronaut, ANOTHER male dominated field. A woman with aspirations as mine is not uncommon in today’s world which almost leads to an entirely inverse situation than would be expected as more medical schools are looking to take woman in order to even the ratio and expand their diversity. You could almost say I now have the upper hand! But, I will not be free for a long time. As I stated previously, freedom is synonymous to climbing a mountain: before I can live out my aspirations as an astronaut physician, I have 8-10 years of schooling standing in the way as my own mountain.

Another quote from Cool Rules: The anatomy of an attitude that spoke to me was, “Cool will change from place to place, from time to time and from generation to generation.” This speaks in my theoretical situation of being a plantation owner. Cool today defined by rebellion, narcissism, hedonism, and irony has nothing to do with setting slaves free, that was the Cool of the past. A new generation now exists, far different from that of the 18th and 19th centuries and Cool takes on a new form here and today. In Thompson’s paper, “An Aesthetic of the Cool,” he expands on the ancestors’ ability to “restore coolness.” Older generations have wisdom like no other, something I can personally explain from my own experiences. My grandparents are constantly sharing cheesy, helpful tips and words of advice such as, “never walk alone at night” or my personal favorite: “always wear sunglasses when you watch fireworks” (my grandma has weirdly said this one a few times). Although these don’t seem like the wisest words of wisdom, I do know that they have an abundance of worldly knowledge. Older people have experience in all realms and are crucial to communities such as the African ones mentioned in Thompson’s writing. These older generations help us to understand who we are and where we came from! They help us essentially bring back the past as if it never left.

As Nietzsche conveyed through his work, he believed you must know suffering to know pleasure. Not to say that my job as ‘Head of the House’ at such an early age was an even remotely true experience of suffering, but the daily stress of having to balance my own academics, sports, and social life on top of taking care of my sister, mom, and two dogs during the school week was a somewhat pathetic, yet decent concept of the not-so-average sufferings of an adolescent. I agree with Nietzsche in this sense- I did learn what pleasure was. I learned to look forward to my father’s arrival home every Friday night so that we could share the burden of the family for the weekend. I learned to greatly appreciate the days my mother is healthy enough to get out of bed and lessen my load. All of these learnings function as a vehicle of change for me. Oscar Wilde said, “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made.” This quote is sufficient support for my proposal of how I would have treated the individuals on my plantation. I would have helped create progress and I would hope that my learned virtues of equality and selflessness, the altruistic lens, would serve as a safe haven for the slave population.