#but some folks are simply not taking the stakes of this universe seriously

[chamerionwrites]

I don't wanna be wanky here but am I slightly perhaps just the tiniest bit put out that so many people are all "🤩I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see😍" about Luthen when Cassian Andor's other tall sandy-haired spymaster came in for so much flack over (checks notes) ordering a hit on the lead engineer for THE DEATH STAR? Maybe so

[missshezz]

So, I decided to do something new this week in regards to watching Bad Batch: I skipped the Omega scenes. That way I don’t get annoyed and can avoid upsetting those who take offense with my annoyance.

Win-Win, right?

Lemme start by saying that skipping those scenes made the episode exactly what it should be: focused solely on the actual Bad Batch (who Omega is NOT one of, sorry to rain on your parade).

The episode was honestly great once I employed this tactic. We finally get scenes showing the Empire’s tactics in forcing the compliance of planets not already under Imperial regime. Added to that, Raxus served as the headquarters of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars.

Avi Singh doesn’t come across as the typical Separatist. He wants to do what’s best for people but recognizes that what the Empire wants and is about is not the best way. He speaks out against this forced occupation and gets imprisoned for it.

Cue the Bad Batch being hired by Singh’s faithful protocol droid GS-8. I love GS-8. She’s a less neurotic version of 3PO and quite willing to get her robot hands into the mix. Her crack about getting the hang of things made me chuckle. I seriously want her to join the BB as their droid-man (wingman).

This was the BB we know and love. They were the organized and elite squad we met in season 7 of Clone Wars. I love how their ideology is challenged here and they are forced to see how the galaxy isn’t the place they were taught to think it was. The people they were told were the bad guys aren’t exactly the bad guys here. In fact, they’re just regular people.

This was the kind of episode we should be getting more of. There were stakes at play and lessons to learn. We see the BB adapting their techniques and stunning their brothers rather than shooting and killing them.

It was a fantastic episode overall.

Do I still have complaints?

Yes.

Like Echo’s traumas not being given more focus given the person they were hired to extract. This was the perfect time to delve into his head and see what memories are lurking. There’s unresolved trauma here and it felt brushed aside because of “reasons”. Them allowing Echo to simply disclose his thoughts on helping a Separatist would have really solidified that great moment at the end when he tells Singh to live and fight another day. In the writing game we call that character progression. It’s resolving a characters issues by having them work through them.

My other complaint?

The lack of Crosshair.

Again.

Look, folks, I get it. Omega is the center of their universe. She has been since she showed up. Ignoring the flaws of this character and the glaring plot holes her existence creates… her introduction still came at the expense of a major character (who is NOT a cutout character despite what some think).

Crosshair was basically forgotten the moment he was taken from that detention cell in episode 1. It’s always been in the back of my mind how there was never any mention by any of the BB about trying to find him and getting off Kamino.

The only concern and focus really was getting Omega out of there.

Why?

She was never in the danger they were. Lama Su at that point wasn’t wanting to terminate her. Nala Se could easily have persuaded Tarkin to overlook her actions, labeling them as the regrettable actions of a child and deemed them “fixable with reprogramming”.

Crosshair was literally in danger and they never once mentioned helping him.

The only time he is even mentioned as being missed by the team is by Wrecker in the episode with the Martez sisters.

That’s it.

This episode has Hunter issuing orders and instantly replacing Crosshair with Omega.

It doesn’t fly.

Crosshair was their teammate for years.

Omega has been with them for months, if that, at this point.

Years trumps months.

Years in the deepest, darkest trenches. Having each others backs. Planning and executing and completing missions together.

Hunter even reached out to Crosshair in Reunion, further making this neglect woefully painful, frustrating, and abundantly inconsistent.

Look, I love the found family trope. Anyone who knows Batman knows the found family trope is huge in that fandom.

It didn’t happen overnight, though.

There was growth and development that went into the formation of that family. Batman & Robin (Bruce & Dick) didn’t become family in the same comic or cartoon. It happened across multiple comics and episodes. They struggled along the way and became a family eventually. I myself write the found family trope in my works. You see it in my Batman, Prodigal Son, Supernatural, and Walking Dead stories. I don’t sacrifice major characters to create that family. I work characters into the story if they are necessary to that story. That’s what good writers do. You incorporate and adapt. Build your characters around the established ones. Give everyone a chance to shine.

I know my pointing this out upsets folks.

Guess what?

I don’t honestly care.

I watch the Bad Batch for the BAD BATCH.

Here’s another writing tip for you to end this post: if a character or scene can be removed and it strengthens your narrative?

It wasn’t necessary in the first place.

I skipped three scenes and the episode turned out wonderful.

Guess what that means?

That’s right… they weren’t important.

[popculturebuffet]

Star Vs The Forces of Evil: Is Another Mystery (Prince of Wishful Thinking) or Wasted Potetial

Happy Valentine’s Day Lucifans! And while I originally intended to cover this along with the much worse Booth Buddies I had too much to say about both to try and clown car both together so here we are. And just in times for V-Day we have a StarTom episode.. that isn’t as focused on thier relationship as I thought because I hadn’t seen this in a while because every time I think of things in this series I think of all the wasted potetial and it gives me a migrane. I’d also like to thank @jess-the-vampire for talking this one over with me as usual, and helping me think through some stuff. And as with last time we’re picking up about where we left off, so no real exposition to get through. Join me under the cut as we solve a mystery and marvel at HOW much potential from this episode the show squandered. 

We open with Marco chasing Glossaryck.. and it’s only now I realize I have not talked about this subplot at all. Or Glossaryck really. As you probably know Glossaryck is the tiny man who lives in the big book of spells, created the magical high comission and is a colossasl assshat whose likeablity plumted this season. For starters his voice actor Jeffery Tambour was outed as a massive creep, making him harder to stomach even if the show had reduced him to stock footage of one line. Speaking of which he came back from the dead... and despite it being revealed he was fully sapient the whole time and just saying Eclipsa’s husbands name without context a twist coming up int he finale that i’ll give out about here as while clever when you first hear it. makes NO sense in hindsight, as Eclipsa might of mentioned it before now especially since Glossaryck was around her quite a few times, had no reason not to, and you’d THINK Star, Marco or Moon, especially the latter two, would be curious why he can only say that and has seemingly been reduced to an infant. It’s an annoying subplot tha’ts just casually part of the series and no one seems to care about despite Glossaryck being a big deal and the spellbook revealing there IS a way to make copies, one that would be used next season. 

But what really just made me HATE him.. is how he contributed to how bad things on Mewni are, by doing nothing. Being omnicent and powerful does not mean you do nothing.. it just means you have to be VERY careful. Power is a responsivity not an excuse to say “Wheelp my kids were a mistake going to just let them overthrow the government, become far more entriched in mewni politics, and boss me around without EVER questioning them or trying to replace them”. His apathy is never really called out by anyone but Marco, and he’s treated with all this undue importance despite not doing anything but train the queens, which even then i’ts questionable how good he was at that. Just an asshole, not the worst character in the series, he’s coming up in a few episodes, but just wholly unlikeable. And I get he’s supposed to be comically douchey but after what we learn about eclipsa it just passes into unforgivable and it’s never brought up or talked about. Which is a trend for this series and I don’t know why i’m even bothering being annoyed at this point when I could easily COUNT the number of potential plot threads the series half finished, dropped or wasted and it’d probably hit 50+. 

So Marco is chasing after Glossarcyk and ends up in Buff Frog’s office. Buff Frog was Ludo’s former second in command, who reformed, and became close with Star and Marco, and who Star gave a position as Royal Monster Expert in order to have an ACTUAL MONSTER doing their job since the previous person was a crazy lady who thought of htem as less than sapient and tried to drown them all for reasons I don’t quite remember. This.. has not come up since and this is the first time we’ve seen his office since and it’s empty. 

Marco finds a note for star but accidently reads it before he can get it to her, and we do get a glimpse of the old Marco as he’s disgraught over “reading someone’s mail without their permission!” I missed this.. I think I blocked out the GOOD times with marco in my brain behind a butter-like wall of all the stupid shit he did this season and the next and the whole resolution to the starco thing that left a taste in my mouth not unlike sardine juice mixed with vinegar, aka what causes Mitch Mconnel’s face to look like delfated and to sound like the ghost of Michgian J Frogs Condederate Uncle. 

Meanwhile Star is with Tom and is distruaght after finding our her life is a lie and feels there’s no one she feels she can talk to about this, and Tom’s face when she says this just...

You can tell the poor guy is just hurt. HIs girlfirend is hurting.. and she dosen’t even CONSIDER talking to him about this or think she can trust him despite him being RIGHT THERE. This expression is only on screen for half a second but it says so much. And another thing it says is that he dosen’t know HOW to help her, as evidenced by the fact his offering to is very awkward and sitlted, that he’s clearly HURT she dosen’t think she can confide in him, but is so awkward in general and out of his depth her ehe dosen’t know how to help he just wants to.  But while Star eventually seems receptive.. Marco busts in and we get a seen of EVERYONE involved being a canoe filed with dicks and old vhs copies of biodome. After of course Marco tells Star, Buff Frog is gone. To wit

Star: Immediately plans to take off with Marco and only Marco despite tom being right there, that he could help even if he has no stake in it, and the fact that cloudy can both grow, and Tom can you know.. FLY. That’s a thing we’ve seen him do a lot. So space isn’t an issue, sh’es just forgetting tom exists. Which WOULD work if it was an intentional issue but is sadly the beggining of Star being a pretty terrible girlfriend to tom. This example is lighter since you know , one of her closest friends and his small children are missing, and this is the day after her entire world got flip turned upside down, so I can forgive her a bit since she’s probably not thinking clearly.. but it’s the start of a LONG pattern fo her forgetting tom exists when it’s not coinvent and not thinking about his feelings.

Marco: When Tom asks to take Marco’s place, Marco says, not that he’s buff frog’s friend or he’s worried again about the fact he has kids that could be in danger but “I’m her squire it’s my job”... BEFORE you know the fact his friend WITH YOUNG CHLIDRNE WHO COULD BE DEAD VIA HATE CRIME, is missing. 

Seriously it says something about how far Marco has fallen by this ponit that even in an episode wher eh’es largely his old self.. he STILL make this about him and star to her boyfriend’s face. HiS FRIEND’S FACE. There will be worse from Marco soon enough, and far worse we won’t be covering, but it does say something that they did him so wrong this season that THIS is minor in comparison to some of the other shit he pulls. 

Tom: The only INTEITONAL one of these, as Star’s neglect feels like it was an accident, as he insists on coming along as her boyfriend despite this being a fairly serious situation and him clearly just wanting alone time. 

OH and if you thought the writers you know ACTUALLY cared about STar’s anguish over finding out her whole life was a lie, her newly found grandma who actually relates to her and treats her with respect unlike her mother isn’t biologically related (Not that blood relation matters but I can see why finding out the one family member besides your dad who was anything like you in recent memory.. isn’t related to you would hurt).. 

This highlights the show’s biggest flaw, and yes folks it’s bigger than the ending with the accidental genocide and the horrible implications. That was bad.. but what really tripped the show up long before that.. is the lack of payoff. Now sure some plots get payoffs, especially the Metora one, it’s one of the series best arcs.. but TONS of other threads are just outright ignored, casually dropped or never really pulled.  Look I know that every show has things we wished they’d done more with, and most of the greats of this generation have stuff they dropped the ball on by dropping it or never really getting into it: She Ra never really had any closure with Catra and Scorpia, despite Catra hurting her the most out of anyone and that could’ve been a good thing for her character developent and Scorpia’s own character development. Ducktales had NO intention of going into Della’s reaction to Scrooge and Donald’s feud and quitely ignored or retconned the fact Scrooge clearly erased Della’s long history from the web and wherever else he could, as why else would the kids have never known. Did they just not use google? Steven Universe, if partially by design as it turns out, skipped over a LOT of things and ignored a lot of intresting characters human and gem. It’s the nature of writing seralized teleivsion: Sometimes you just forget to take care of something or simply don’t have the space to. That is fine.  The problem is star does this.. for major plot points that really CAN’T be ignored. Starting with this season they flat out ignore Star telling Marco how she felt for pretty much the entire season. They only deal with it in booth buddies.... THREE EPISODES before the season finale two parter. Despite it having massive impliciations, doing so IN FRONT OF JACKIE, who was her friend, and Jann who is both Jackie and Star’s friend and is not subtle.  We never get any fallout from this and the show weirdly acts like Marco can’t easily visit home. I mean yes he’s star’s squire but she’s not a heartless monster> The DIazes were her parents for a while too. And that’s not even getting into Marco Junior... “Shudders”. But that part of the cliffhanger was just the start after that the pile just kept getting larger. Before it was basically JUST the monster arm and it possibly being involved with the blood moon. So to prove my point i’m making a list of EVERY dropped plot point or storyline from the series, most of which are from season 3 onward. And naturally I asked jess for help with this after the first 25.. and the list DOUBLED. One or two of these are nitpicky.. but the fact the vast majority AREN’T .. yeah.

1. Jackie’s reactoin to Star’s feelings for Marco 2. Janna’s Reaction to Star’s feelings for Marco 3. Buff Frog being head monster expert 4. Buff Frog and Co fleeing this dimension and where they WENT exactly 5. Tom being a Monster 6. Star not being a Butterfly by blood 7. Moon’s reaction to not being a butterfly by blood 8. Rhombulus feeling guilty 9. Marco’s reaction to hekapoo being a terrible person 10. Marco and Kelly’s Relationship (Technically resovled but done poorly) 11. Tad not being over Kelly 12. Hornanne never getting a horn (I know minor but it bothers me a lot) 13. Eclipsa having to win over the other kingdoms 14. Related, the Johnasons being the hardest one of those to overcome 15. Related to 13 again: Why Tom’s Parent’s didn’t suppport eclipsa 16. What the Jaggy Mountains are or are like at all 17. WHy Glossaryck was worried about Globgor 18. Why Glossaryck faked being feral for a season 19. How Star had a piece of the spell book 20. What Mr. Candle’s Deal is 21. The Pie Folk knowing the true lineage of the queen 22. Was the commission conspiracy ever made public.  23. Meteora possibly having memories from her previous self 24. Lobster Claws 25. River’s reaction to moon’s betrayal 26. Toffee’s Past  and Motivations 27. Marco’s Cheekmarks 28. Any reaction by Star and Janna to said cheekmarks 29. The kingdom’s reaction to the book being stolen is never brought up again 30. The Past Queens (Never brought up in show itself, but Jess feels there was supposed to be more there and I agree) 31. The Septarian Painting in ST.O’s (While i’ts a hint at who meteora is WHY it’s there and why ST. O would even allow it and why it’s of septarians is never explained) 32. Monster Arm 33. Relicor’s Wife 34. Why the dance memory was different 35. How do people in other dimensions get dimensional scissors? 36. How Did Toffee Know of the Whipsering Spell? 37. Where did Toffe, Ludo and Rasticore’s dimensonal scissors/chainsaw come from? 38. Toffee’s Damage to Mewni (Never gets brought up aagain after silver bell) 39. Why Globgor eating Shastacan was “Complicated” 40. Upwards Waterfall Unicorn 41. Star spying on Marco and Jackie 42. Any Explination for Green Magic 43. The photo’s of star and marco’s kiss (To quote jess, into the void they go) 44. How Metora Learned Soulsucking and why she can do that 45. Metora taking Rasticores arm with her.  46. The Neverzone’s weird time dialation 47. Star’s Neglect of Tom 48. The Spiderbites reaction to globgor being freed 49. The “Big Surge of Dark Magic” 50. Eclipsa “gets into your head 51. Star learning wandless magic with no effort 52. Where did Brian Go? 53. Star and Marco Never apologize for the kiss on screen 54. “I know how this all ends 55. Why Lekmet was never Replaced and why reynadlo didsn’t replace him

55 in the span of an hour.. and that’s not even getting into the fact Jess was thinking these up off the top of her head and probbaly coudl’ve kept going, but I didn’t want to overtax her since I was asking a favor of her, and  fifty goddamn three is more than enough to say ya done fucked up. Just.. holy shit. MARVEL has less dropped plotlines than this, and that at least has the caveat of changing writers and some writers being dipshits who don’t CARE about resolving what happened before. The Star team has an excuse for maybe 10 or 20 of these.. but 55! Fifty Goddamn five! And that’s stopping as we could probably have found more and just tying this paragraph we did, hence 55. How much do you have to NOT care about your audience, your plots and your characters to miss this much? The three I mentioned before all have understandable explinations behind them: She-Ra had a set episode count and only so much space and it made more sense story wise to have scorpia be taken over by the horde. Ducktales is on a kids network and Disney isn’t at all supportive of adult plots to the point a courtroom episode was deemd too confusing for kids... which first off , no, and secondly you see what they were dealing with. and Steven Universe again did this slightly intentionally, with things happening offscreen because that’s how life works, sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. 

This is just incompetence on a MASSIVE scale that boggles the goddamn mind. I have seen shows do worse, but i’ve never seen a show flush most of i’t spoteital drama nad character development down a goddamn hole again, and again and again in such a consitent manner. There’s no wonder I didn’t see this at the time. This is a level of messed up you have to see from helicopter view! The show just stopped carring about finishing most of it’s storylines and just brought shit up when it was convient and threw it out on a scale that just... just.. 

It sucks. It sucks to see a show that had so much potetial squander it, it sucks the show ended up like this, as only a handful of those are from pre season 3, and it sucks that the clock is ticking on how much good I have to say about the show without having to add the button “And then this was never properly resolved.” Good. Fucking. Grief. And Jess wanted to find MORE, and probably could, but I didn’t want her to dedicate her life to this. It’s monuentally frustrating, and saddening to see waht a waste of potetial this series was by the end. All of this is one big list of what if and most of it shoudl’ve been resolved in some way. “Sigh”.... let’s move on.. for my sanity’s sake. I made myself very sad. 

So with Marco out of the way Tom and Star start investigating and Tom is a bit of a dick about it, suggesting they abandon the search for her friend and his CHLDREN to go get a corn shake and that the monsters just went out grocery shopping.. the former is just horribly out of character, as even if he would WANT to leave he woudln’t be so cavialer about it when sh’es this upset just a few episodes AFTER monster bash, where he learned you know.. not to do that. The other is just ehhh... like you think he’d react to an entire town being missing and Star’s JUSTIFIED fear mina did it , after she easily swatted both of them aside, with more than “eh maybe their doing pesant stuff I don’t know” Thankfully the “Tom is a huge dick and also star is grossed out by him liking monster food revealing she might still be a touch racist without realizing it, which itself is nver touched on, let’s call that number 54″, portion of the episode ends when dark gets a little something on him

Star gets one in her arm, and the two pass out and wake up with sacks over them. We do get the best part of the episdoe where both try to run around blind, and Tom realizes he’s claustrophbic and starts panicking, which results in him falling around and kicking in a circle, while Star takes a guy out and while she can’t see assumes she did something cool. Eventually we find out their kidnappers are related to the buff frog thing and tell her to stop looking and just to be serious are going to break tom’s horns... before Buff Frog arrives wondering what the fuck their thinking and stopping them, and he and his kids are fine. Turns out he’s leaving Mewni and Katrina, his oldest daughter who has giant legs now, wanted to make sure they got to say goodbye, so she left the note in his name knowing Star would come and find them. Before we get into all of that, just a quick aside.. okay so baiscally these monsters who threatened are either fleeing mewni or running some sort of underground railroad to cover up the monster exodus. Which begs the question... why did they tihnk breaking the horns of a crowned prince of one of their allied states and kidnapping and threatning the princess of mewni, who is PUBLICLY pro monster and thus only makes them look worse, was at all a good idea. I get wanting to hdie this but breaking Tom’s horns is only going to lead to a fight at best and two kingdoms coming down at them with their full might, putting innocent people in the crossfire at worst and most likely

But yes the Monsters are leaving.. and this is part of where the episode misteps as the scale is kind of hard to figure in hindsight. On one hand the montser villiage is abandoned , meaning that the episode implies ALL the monsters are leaving.. but not only are some left, once Eclipsa takes over plenty of monsters come back or may of never left, making nit very vauge just how many actually left, especially since the party leaving that we see is just about 10 monsters not including buff frog’s babies.. where did they come from by the way? Ludo just kinda stole them but from where? Jess brought that up but i’m not sure I got it on the list so 55. The show is entirely too vauge on if this is a mass exodus of eveyr monster at long last or just a large migration of them wanting a better life. Instead of explaining any of this when it’s a very intresting and engrossing idea, the monsters leaving the predjuicde outright, the possible hateful reactoins of the commission given how paranoid they are, how star would combat this, a possible divide in monsterkind with one half going back and the other staying put, WHERE they went exactly.. there’s a lot of great questions and stories here.. but as the list the size of my gut should make clear, none of them get answere dbecause this series just didn’t care about it.. and if so then WHY bring it up. That’s why I brought up the list in the first place.. because this is one of MANY times they bring something up and just.. do nothing with it. Then why did you bring it up in the first fucking place?! As I said I can abide by dropping a plot point for time or beacause Disney is kinda dumb or you just want to get to other good stuff and you had to make a cut. And while a portion of the list is that. i’ts mostly things like this: really fascenating stuff.. that’s ignored because htey just stopped caring. 

So before they all can leave despite Star’s best efforts, TOM steps up and calls them cowards.. and admit’s he’s a monster too. And while one.. WEIRD looking guy points out he’s rich, so should he count, Tom counters with the fact that sure he’s rich.. but when he gets in an elevator he’s a monster. He may be part of a diffrent “catageory”.. but to a stranger he’s just the same as them. While it dosen’t feel quite earned by the episode, it is a moral that needs to be taught: prilvage dosen’t insulate you completely from prejudice. You can still be discrminated against no matter how much money you have or how far you get because the system sucks.  And once again this is a waste of potetial: tom technically being a monster and being the son of a human and a demon is never brought up again.. despite you know also being a massively powerful monster child of a monster and a mewman.. like a certain someone who’se the big bad for this half of the season. It just never comes up... and I get it’s a categorical bullshit thing, that the comission werne’t worried about a lucitor doing any of this because “Well demons are okay and we have a treaty and stuff”, but the show had no trouble pointing out categorical bullshit before.. why not now? 

The ending however is good as Buff Frog.. isn’t convinced. HE admit’s tom’s speech is good.. but he’s been dealing with this stuff for too long. It also works because him leaving the job they never focused on.. isn’t framed as him being ungreatful or anything. He’s genuinely appricative of what Star is trying to do and gets her heart is in the right place.. but she doesn’t have the power to fix this. She’s just a kid, and while she has some power her mother has no real intention of making things better for them. And he has to think of a better life for his kids.. so we get some tearful goodbyes as Buff Frog promises to return when she’s in charge.. even though he does because she’s in charge in the season finale and we never see him , 56, and he has to be talked into coming back in the last season... so they leave but Tom promises her it can work out because their a monster and a mewman and they hug and I sigh a little knowing how this relationship ends and the accidental message it sends. 

Final Thoughts: This episode is DECENT on it’s own but in hindsight.. it’s just depressing, bringing up some good ideas.. that end up going nowhere and the ending REALLY isn’t great in hindsight when he leaves star so she can be with another human-type person. Also tom’s charcterization is a bit lopsided starting off worse than ever and being fine in the end, and while that COULD just be that he felt he coudln’t admit he was a monster... it honestly just feels liked they wanted the moral without having to work for it as him being a monster has nothing to do with how he acted earlier. Till the next rainbow... UUGGGGHHHh. 

[logsfm]

hey my loves   !   i’m mia  ,  21 from the east coast   !   i have not roleplayed in sheeeesh   ...   like five or six months   ?   but i am so excited to be here for opening with all of y’all   .   i spent like all morning trying to weed out this gal logan right here   ...   she’s a trip   ,   that’s the best overall description i have for ya   .   anywho   ,  lets get to the actual thing you’re here for her lil intro   .   also if you wanna mssg on discord here ya go   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐬 𝖜𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖊#7040   .

logan samara-de jaager was spotted in the fashion district adorning  air force 1’s university blue  , with some airpod pros on . they’re most likely listening to  benz i know by kelvyn colt  . you may know them as  @delogan  or as that  bella hadid  lookalike . their  twenty fourth  birthday just passed . while living in  the upper east side  , they’ve gained a bit of a reputation . they’re known to be  querulous  but on the other hand  passionate  . wonder if they’ll be the next person to hit the headlines . ( cisfemale / she/her +  mia / twenty one / she/her ) + ( “ logan de jaager seen shoving ex in hotel footage during heated argument , not so sweet huh? ” / “ miss de jaager was spotted sneaking into ex beau’s apartment , what could she be up to? ” / “ sweet socialite or greedy trust fund baby ? milan de jaager publicly accuses daughter logan of stealing $1M … ” )

born into the true lap of luxury . the daughter of real estate magnate & high - profile attorney milan de jaager and his wife , british born socialite lana samara . the two of them held high favor within the 1% but were also able to find a perfect balance . they did a great job of separating personal life from the tabloids . it was rare to really know the happenings of their day to day . they had this particular kind of mystery to them , if you will .

it wasn’t long before lana began to instill the very same rhetoric she received as a child into her own   .   quality over quantity   ,   was the motto   .   just not in the way you’d assume   .   the quality at which a de jaager presented themselves to you was much more important than than quantity of time you spent with them   .   looks   ?   they’re everything   ,   in the de jaager household   .   time was simply a societal construct implemented to catch you on a bad day   ,   for that very line of thinking they embodied being late   .   rushing out of the house to finish your make up in the car   ?   a literal sin in the eyes of her mother   .

she was encouraged to take part in ballet and beauty pageants growing up   .   anything that could showcase how beautiful their daughter was lana and milan were on board for   .   personally logan hated ballet but she couldn’t deny she loved the applause the night of a showcase   .   she also couldn’t stand pageants but loved having all eyes on her as she went on stage   .

it became quite clear as the years went on that her parents were much more like close friends to their daughter than like rule - instilling guardians   .   she would text them to dismiss her from school   ,   get them to buy her   &   her friends alcohol for sleepovers  /  parties   ,   was very much so that kid who got high with her parents   .   really anything you could do with your friends   ?   was fair game with logan   &   her folks   .

at sixteen a friend of her moms who was going to be a designer for spring fashion week that year asked if logan would want to walk for him   .   she was quick to accept the offer and before she knew it she had multiple offers to walk in that years fall fashion weeks   ,   because of how easy it came to her   -    though   ,    she’s the first to admit she never really took modeling all that seriously   .

it was just a year later that her way of life changed drastically , logan and her twin brother had been caught by paparazzi on a friends boat in the hamptons snorting a white substance , anyone with eyes knew exactly what the group of teenagers were doing . upon returning home the two received the crackdown of the century . their once friendly parents turned to strict jail like guardians . often reminded that they put the families reputation at stake . the pressure to be perfect was something logan had never had to deal with until now & she almost cracked under the pressure at every turn .

it wasn’t until she left for college that she was finally given some room to breathe , attending the university of florida was the best choice for what logan truly wanted to do with her life - become a sports analyst . growing up she was infatuated with sports & and would have been involved in much more than just cheerleading had her mom allowed for her to get so much as a speck of dirt on her . during her time in florida the paparazzi seemed to find her more often than not , something her parents often denounced both over the phone & in public . the longer she spent away from the upper east side the more she became america’s sweetheart & simultaneously a thorn in her parents side . she graduated from university in 2018 , only returning back to new york for the sake of work . she’d been offered a reporting job with espn , on top of taking up modeling gigs here & there when ever she felt necessary .

personality …

one thing is very true about the de jaager’s & is very much so the same for logan ; she is not to be trusted . she can be extremely charming when she wants to be . she could sell a bag of rocks to a beach & get a princess to sell her sole to sex work . she knows exactly what people want to hear & when they want to hear it and has no qualms about lying straight to someone’s face if it means she gets something out of it . in fact sometimes , she might lie to your face just for the sheer fun of being able to call you gullible .

she’s very much so a spoiled brat although she hates when anyone call her one , she feels like she has more layers to her than that broad term . hand in hand with that is her drama queen like tendencies , any situation were there is a simple solution she will find a way to blow vastly out of portion .

due to her mother’s heavy influence growing up , she can be rather vein & materialistic . catch her like “ i can’t date a garbage person ” to someone simply because they’re not as rich or known enough for her liking .

it’s rare that you’ll ever see her jump out of character . she’s very calculated & aware of who she is ( or who she needs to seem like ) so if you ever see her emotions getting the better of her , you’ve really broken her .

she’s the type to dabble in a little bit of anything   ?   she’s a rich nyc party girl who’s been partying well before anyone should have allowed her to so she’s done it all   .    you’d be kidding yourself to think you could surprise  /  scare logan on a wild night out   .

she’s quick   &   creative with her sense of humor   .   she has both a crude / dry sense of humor   ,   as well   ,   and really just doesn’t find goofy things to be funny but more or less embarrassing   ( so if she ever tells you you’re goofy , remember it’s not a compliment ) .

her upbringing   &   parents sentiment on tabloids once reflected massively on logan   ,   but now she couldn’t quite care less about it all . after all she spends hours in front of cameras on a regular basis for work . although she does tend to shy away from people who she deems are hungry for fame or attention   .   she’s been used in the past for fame   &   will never let it happen again   , plus she’s the type to lap up attention so she likes to have as little fame whores around her as possible , more shine for her .

when she isn’t being a total nightmare though she’s actually really fun to be around ? she’s playful & loves to keep the party alive . often can be found claiming “ i’m high on life ” although everyone saw the pictures , logan , we know what you’re really high on , girl .

very chatty girl , too . victim of foot - in - mouth syndrome , big time . she doesn’t try to be disloyal & spill people’s secrets ( or does she ? ) but she can’t help herself . if she has piping hot tea she’s gonna spill it because she doesn’t wanna burn herself .

very observant girl , who loves to people watch but her observations can sometimes get muddled when she starts judging people a little too hardcore .

she’s also a undercover couch potato    &    by that i mean if you give her an option to go out   &   do something she’ll never outwardly choose to stay home to watch netflix and snuggle up under the blankets but secretly she’s hoping   &   praying she gets a chance to do so   .

plots   ...

END THIS ( L.O.V.E ) / her first love   .   these two brought the absolute worst out of one another   .    they messed her up so much that she has a weird perspective on what love between two s/o’s should even feel like now   .   maybe they had another s/o at the same time as her   &   kinda just strung her on   &   when it came out were able to lie so much to her that she believed them   .   idk   ,   in truth we could really plot something completely different as to what they did   &   inevitably what the breaking point was   .   maybe they broke up with her   &   had they not ended it maybe she would’ve still been okay with being in the relationship   .   idk i just feel like this one could be fun as hell   .     also they’d be the one whom she was caught arguing with in one of her headlines   .   ( 0 / 1 )

AFTER PARTY / this is a more reckless take of party buddies   .   im envisioning a group of people who when the parties over they all pull up to close by gulf course   ,   indulge even more in their choices of substance   ,   there is a naked gulf tournament going on   ,   there are drunks driving golf carts   ,   swerving and pouring bacardi all over the course   .   running from security when they pop up   .   it’s tradition at this point   &   if someone doesn’t come it’s almost disrespectful at this point   .   idk i just love the thought of this kinda vibe   .   ( 2 / ? )

SECRETS / okay so this one is messy   .   basically logan was very private for most of her life   (   thanks mom   &   dad   )   and during the early stages of highschool she lied to everyone saying she was a virgin   .   she told each one of these individuals that they were her first whether it be to make them fall for her   “   innocence   ”   ,   want to chase after her   ,   or whatever else we might be able to plot out   .   inevitably they compare notes at some point and find out that she’d been lying to them all   .   we can plot out how they confronted her i feel like we could make this real dramatic though   .   this would also be a backstory plot so   ,   we  can also plot out how things have transpired since for them   .   ( 0 / 3 or 4 )

BEST FRIEND / these two girls take best friends to the next level   .   they relate to one another on every level and are there for one another at all times   .   there is never a moment where they are competing with one another because they know that their #1 in there respective category   .   they are one another’s ultimate hype beasts   .   they truly embody chaotic goddess vibes   .   it’s like they were placed on this earth simply to be friends because they compliment one another that well   .   ( 0 / 1 )

LETS FALL IN LOVE FOR THE NIGHT / they are the one that’s there whenever she’s down   .   they have the ability to make her feel like they have some sort of old love whenever she’s around them   .   those feelings only last for the night though   .   they enjoy when she rambles on about sports or the novel she just recently read or really just anything she enjoys can put a smile on their face   .    they know better than to ever confuse what is going on between them though   ,   they know that she’ll never be theirs   .   whether they’re okay with this or not we can definitely plot out   .   ( 0 / 1 )

MOANA / they are not a fan of logan   .   they see her for what she is   :   an attention seeking   ,    spoiled brat and the fact that they don’t want anything to do with her makes her want them all the more   .    when they finally slept with her it was only to prove a point to her s/o at the time   ,   to prove that she’s not the sweet girlfriend she claimed to be   .   basically they’re the person who outed her for being a ho ho ho but despite knowing that they outed her for that she still tries to hook up with them because they were the best she ever had    .   they often turn her down but after a while not even they can deny that they’re attracted to her   .   they still don’t fuck with her though   .   also i think it’d be cool if their were two of them   &   maybe they worked together to out her to her s/o that didn’t believe she was a cheater   ( 0 / 2 )   also bring the s/o that they outed her to   ( 0 / 1 )

ELEVEN / the type of relationship that is stuck in the grey area   .   they’re more than friends but they don’t necessarily admit to having feelings for one another   .   honestly they probably don’t even think they have feelings for one another   .   it’s a weird dynamic   .   they spend the most of their time together late at night   .   there meeting time    ?   11pm   .    they go on wild joy rides to the beach   .   heads out of the sun roof as they let out a loud woo   .    the only thing accompanying them is a big bag of weed   .    sometimes they have deep talks   ,   honestly they probably know more about one another than anyone else   ?   because of these adventurous of theirs   .   when they aren’t having deep talks they’re running across the beach aimlessly   &   rolling around in the sand with one another   .   it’s really just a very pure plot that i need in my life   .  ( 0 / 1 )

TRUST NOBODY / this is someone who used logan for fame / attention   .   they either became close friends or even started dating   &   they used everything they learned about her or what went on between them to relay back to a tabloid / would call paparazzi to come and take pictures of them together whenever they’d go out   .   ( 0 / 1 )

some other plot ideas i’d love to see   :   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   ,   x   .

[rattmemes]

Beetlejuice: the Musical OBCR Starters! ACT 1

((>>act 2<<))

all changeable titles/pronouns will be in [italics and bracket!]

PROLOGUE: INVISIBLE

“ in times like these, we have no words, we only have each other ” “ we only have each other ” “ today we come together to mourn ” “ scripture tells us: “sorrow not, for we do not walk alone” ” “ sorrow not, for we do not walk alone ” “ you’re invisible when you’re sad ” “ clocks tick and phones still ring ” “ the world carries on like mad ” “ the world carries on like mad, but nobody sees a thing ” “ nobody sees a thing ” “ whispering behind their hands, lost for kind words to say ” “ nobody understands, and everyone goes away ” “ nobody understands ” “ everyone goes away ” “ grownups wanna fix things, when they can’t it only fills them shame ” “ they just look away ” “ is it being greedy to need somebody to see me and say my name? ” “ seems when you lose your [mom], no one turns off the sun ” “ folks carry on, that’s that ” “ holy crap, a ballad already? ” “ such a bold departure from the original source material! ”

THE WHOLE BEING DEAD THING

“ hey folks! begging your pardon! ” “ hey folks! ” “ begging your pardon! ” “ ‘scuse me! sorry to barge in! ” “ ‘scuse me! ” “ sorry to barge in! ” “ let’s skip the tears ” “ let’s skip the tears and start on the whole, y’know, being dead thing ” “ you’re doomed! ” “ you’re doomed! enjoy the singing ” “ the sword of Damocles is swinging ” “ if i hear your cell-phone ringing, i’ll kill you myself ” “ the whole being dead thing! ” “ death can get a person stressed ” “ we should have carpe’d way more diems, now we’re never gonna see ‘em ” “ we should have carpe’d way more diems ” “ i can show you what comes next ” “ don’t be freaked ” “ stay in your seats ” “ don’t be freaked, stay in your seats ” “ i do this bullshit like eight times a week ” “ so just relax, you’ll be fine ” “ drink your fifty-dollar wine and take a breath ” “ welcome to a show about death! ” “ you’re gonna be fine on the other side ” “ DIE! YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE! YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE! ” “ i’ll be your guide to the other side ” “ oh, and full disclosure: it’s a show about death! ” “ everybody gets on fine here ” “ everybody gets on fine here, like Rodgers, Hart, and Hammerstein here ” “ the women’s bathroom has no line here ” “ just... pee where you want! ” “ you’re just gonna love the folks here ” “ yes, i know you’re woke, but you can take a joke here ” “ i do, like, a TON of coke here ” “ nobody is bullet-proof ” “ “i work out! i eat clean!” jesus, pass the Dramamine ” “ jesus, pass the Dramamine ” “ time to face the brutal truth ” “ we’re all on a hitlist ” “ might not live ‘till christmas ” “ choke to death on Triscuits ” “ hey, that’s just statistics ” “ take a little break here ” “ kinda like a wake here ” “ the scenery is fake here ” “ there’s a giant snake here! ” “ how you doin’? not good! ” “ seriously though, this is a show about death ” “ death is taboo, but it’s hardly something new ” “ there’s nothing medical professionals could do, ‘cept maybe just bill you ” “ if you die while listening to this album, it’s still gonna keep playing ” “ there’s no destiny or fate, just a terrifying wait filled with people that you hate, and on a certain date, the universe kills you ” “ that’s the thing with life: no one makes it out alive ” “ toss that body in the pit ” “ gosh, it’s awful, ain’t it tragic? ” “ blah blah bible jesus magic ” “ when you’re dead, who gives a shit? ” “ pilates, no more yoga ” “ namaste, you fuckin’ posers! ” “ from the cradle to cremation, death just needs a little conversation ” “ i have mastered the art of tearing convention apart ” “ how about we all make a start on the whole being dead thing ” “ god, i hope you’re ready for a show about death! ”

READY, SET, NOT YET

“ look at this crib ” “ look at this crib, in all of it’s glorious antiquary ” “ every curve and surface speaks to me, saying pamper and spoil me, sand me and oil me; come on ” “ i know to the untrained eye it’s boring ” “ nothing’s a chore when you’re restoring ” “ apart from frustration, pain, and financial drain, it’s fun! ” “ why do you polish your crib when you don’t have a kid? ” “ even if you did have a kid, this crib is too precious for placing a baby inside it ” “ it simply exists to remind you your sense of perfection is just a reflection that you are not mentally prepared to make room for a kid ” “ why don’t you live? ” “ just make a start ” “ are you willing to take the next step? ” “ ready, set - ” “ look at these jugs! ” “ amazingly glazed and terracotta-ery ” “ i took some clay and made you pottery ” “ the world will never wreck you, i’ll protect you in a mother’s embrace ” “ why can’t you see that ceramics is simply a manifestation of [motherly] panic; by making a baby that’s breakable aren’t you creating a way of translating the terror of making [maternal] mistakes into clay, hiding away so you don’t have to face being a bad [mom]? ” “ that’s what you’ve done, ___ ” “ here we stand at the end of a 10-year plan ” “ a house, a yard, a minivan, a baby should be next ” “ together let’s leap off the cliff, fall forever, then smash to bits ” “ trapped in a terrifying viper pit ” “ trapped in a terrifying viper pit of diapers and regret ” “ are we willing to take the next step? ” “ ready, set - not yet ” “ why rush? ” “ soon enough our hopes and our dreams will be crushed ” “ but not yet ” “ not now ” “ we can’t start a family in a house with creaky floorboards ” “ you are absolutely right, let’s add it to the list ” “ with the cracks in the plaster ” “ the wi-fi should be faster ” “ this sofa needs a castor ” “ the bathroom’s a disaster! ” “ what about global poverty? ” “ what about world peace? ” “ then there’s the whole darn economy ” “ the whole middle east ” “ we should learn mandarin ” “ yeah! or spanish at least ” “ no habla espanol, dos cervezas por favor ” “ and that’s all we got, and that’s not a lot ” “ do we want a bilingual household or not? ” “ so let’s go slow, no breaking a sweat ” “ what’s the point of having children if we’re drowning in debt? ” “ see, i wasn’t kidding, it’s a show about death! ”

THE WHOLE BEING DEAD THING PT. 2

“ ready? okay! ” “ hi! i’ll be your guide! i’ll be your G-U-I-D-E to the other side! ” “ don’t go to the netherworld ” “ netherworld? ” “ did i say netherworld? never mind ” “ jesus, i can’t spell ” “ he’ll be your guide! ” “ let’s all get naked! ” “ let’s all get naked! eh, worth a try ” “ what is happening?! ” “ i understand that it’s a lot to process ” “ the good news is you and our spouse died in your own house ” “ that gives you clout ” “ that means the two of you should stick around ” “ lucky for you i dropped by ” “ yeah, you seem like nice guys ” “ a little on the pottery barn and dry white wine side ” “ as for me, i’ve been scaring for millennia ” “ i’m the bio-exorcist giving houses enemas ” “ push out all the breathers so you can breathe easy ” “ just stick with me ” “ i’m like a ghost zombie jesus ” “ ghost zombie jesus! ” “ i do it for the love of it. money? ah, who gives a shit ” “ i think we’re a perfect fit, c’mon let’s make out a bit ” “ it’s the perfect day to die ” “ it’s the perfect day to die, ‘cause this guy happened to be passing by ” “ to give you control of your soul ” “ to give you control of your soul for the whole being dead thing ”

DEAD MOM

“ hey [mom], dead [mom] ” “ hey [mom] ” “ i need a little help here ” “ i’m probably talking to myself here ” “ i gotta ask, are you really in the ground? ” “ i feel you all around me ” “ are you here? ” “ i’m tired of trying to iron out my creases ” “ i’m a bunch of broken pieces, it was you who made me whole ” “ i’m a bunch of broken pieces ” “ it was you who made me whole ” “ every day [dad’s] staring at me, like all “hurry up, get happy” ” “ move along ” “ forget about your [mom] ” “ [daddy’s] in denial, [daddy] doesn’t wanna feel ” “ [he] wants me to smile and clap like a performing seal ” “ ignored it for a whole, but [daddy’s] lost [his] mind for real ” “ you don’t believe the mess that we’ve become ” “ you’re my home, my destination ” “ i’m your clone, your strange creation ” “ you held my hand, and life came easy ” “ now jokes don’t land ” “ no one sees me ” “ nothing seems to fit ” “ are you receiving? ” “ i want something to believe in ” “ take me where my soul can run ” “ i’ll be in my bedroom, wake me when i’m twenty one ” “ won’t you send a sign? ” “ i’m running out of hope and time ” “ a plague of mice, a lightning strike, or drop a nuclear bomb ” “ no more playing [daddy’s] games ” “ i’ll go insane if things don’t change ” “ whatever it takes to make [him] say your name ”

FRIGHT OF THEIR LIVES

“ okay, listen up, i’m not gonna lie; right now you couldn’t frighten a fly ” “ you ever stop to ask yourselves why? ” “ both of you are super polite, middle class, suburban, and white ” “ well, all of that is finished tonight ” “ take your places ” “ i want scary faces, now go! ” “ bigger! ” “ further! ” “ harder! ” “ not bad! ” “ i want scary faces, now go! bigger! further! harder! -- not bad! ” “ sever a head, preferably someone you know ” “ look at me, i’m so scary! ” “ don’t be so vanilla, would a little anger kill ya? ” “ c’mon drop your panties i’m trying to fill you -- with wisdom and skill ” “ and the instinct to kill ” “ again, we do not want to kill anyone! ” “ fine, but somehow, someway, you gotta make ‘em see ya ” “ i’m talkin’ jumpscares, the jerky japanese ghost-walk ” “ learn how to throw your voice! -- fool your friends! -- fun at parties! ” “ now THAT is cool! i wanna do THAT! ” “ whatever it takes to make ‘em go crazy ” “ raising the stakes by punching a baby ” “ scare ‘em away till they break ” “ they’ll be quaking in fright ” “ you’ve got some evil deep down inside you ” “ put all the farmer’s markets behind you ” “ you’ve gotta work, gotta haunt till it hurts through the night ” “ give those guys the fright of their lives! ” “ let’s start with things that you hate ” “ hate’s a very strong word ” “ perhaps when people are late ” “ or getting pooped on by birds ” “ no, what fills you with rage? ” “ what fills you with rage? ” “ being mean to a pet ” “ chefs who use too much sage when they make beurre noisette ” “ over-glutinous food ” “ when kids call me dude ” “ oh, i find that so rude! ” “ well, there’s lots there to use ” “ take a deep death and give me your best primal scream ” “ [weak, lame scream] ” “ that was brilliant! ” “ try it again, maybe this time pretend like you mean it ” “ [lame scream but deeper] ” “ that was even better! ” “ i want freedom ” “ to get my freedom i need to get a living person to say my name ” “ i know that beggars can’t be choosers, but do they have to be such losers? ” “ both of them are deathly dull and lame ” “ why God slash Satan did you send these bed wetters? ” “ even, like, a tax attorney would’ve been better ” “ somebody with gravitas, somebody to fear ” “ excuse me, ___, we can kinda hear you ” “ yeah? well that was a soliloquy, so you’re the one who’s being rude ” “ turn all the lights on ” “ dress like a baby ” “ ___, i don’t even -- no. ” “ get your heads in the game ” “ let’s hide their phones! ” “ screw their phones! ” “ ugh, these dopes are hopeless ” “ how will i ever survive? ” “ unless they get the fright of their lives ” “ yes, we’re feelin’ it! ” “ they gotta get the right of their lives ” “ we’re scary, very very scary! ” “ they’ll never get the fright of their lives ”

READY, SET (REPRISE)

“ that needy pervert was right ” “ if we want our house back, we have to fight for it ” “ how? no one can see us! ” “ we’re ghosts, damn it! let’s haunt this bitch! ” “ oblivion calls ” “ we might as well walk through some walls ” “ i’m sure we can haunt our own halls ” “ we’re ready as we’ll ever get ” “ i gotta get right outside my comfort zone ” “ we’ll rattle chains and, i don’t know, just wail and moan until they go ” “ ready, set let’s oooOOOoOooOooOo [ghost noises] ”

NO REASON

“ the universe is more than just space with no end ” [sung] “ la-la-la-la-la! ” “ just think of the universe as a female best friend ” “ hey, universe, what’s happening girl? ” “ oh nothing. just running the world ” “ you’re on the right track, [girl], i got your back, [girl] ” “ i’m helping you grow ” “ think positive, act positive, you are a child of the Earth! ” “ life coaching! nailing it! ” “ time to take command you dictate the hand the universe deals ” “ look, science makes no sense; who needs evidence? ” “ go with yours feels ” “ i’m like a radio tuned to the stars ” “ i found my frequency, crystals speak to me ” “ what are they saying? ” “ buy more crystals ” “ everything, EVERYTHING, happens for a reason ” “ be a beacon of light in the world, put a little alright in the world ” “ there are spiritual guides above, look up and see ‘em ” “ perception is reality ” “ just listen to the melody the universe sings ” “ everything happens for a reason ” “ gee, i hate to break it to you: the universe is just the contents of time, matter and space ” “ ninety-one billion light-years across and the Earth’s a small place ” “ good people die in famine and wars ” “ the pacific islands are sinking, but negative thinking is hardly the cause ” “ you think life is all unicorns and rainbows ‘cause you’re bored ” “ positivity is a luxury that few can afford ” “ we’re gonna die, yes you and I, in meaningless and alone ” “ no no no! no! ” “ one day you may wake up alone ” “ your husband and his boyfriend bought a boat and then they sailed away to Rome ” “ that’s specific ” “ so you cry yourself to sleep in deep despair, talking to the walls ‘cause there’s no one there, and you have to buy a cat ‘cause that’s your last chance to have a family ” “ take it from me, your aging ass will have to believe that everything happens for a reason ” “ put some more fun in the world, a little “I AM STILL YOUNG” in the world ” “ be prepared to take your eggs and freeze ‘em ” “ is this still about me? ” “ sounds like terrible things can happen ” “ because the universe is random ” “ yes, but, random for a reason ” “ no reason ”

INVISIBLE (REPRISE)/ON THE ROOF

“ you’re invisible when you’re me ” “ there’s no one to see my truth ” “ if they could look up they’d see: hey! somebody’s on the roof! ” “ god, it’s mortifying, what’s the point of even trying? ” “ now i’m trapped with no escape ” “ banished! disavowed! i vanished like a cloud of dirty hipster vape ” “ i vanished like a cloud of dirty hipster vape ” “ nobody said life’s fair ” “ guess they will never see the demon who isn’t there ” “ whoa, what have we got here? ” “ by the time you read this, I, ___, will be gone ” “ there’s nothing for me here ” “ i’m alone, forsaken, invisible ” “ that makes two of us ” “ who the hell are you? ” “ can you... see me? ” “ yeah...? ” “ you can SEE me! ” “ I’M GONNA HAVE A NEW BEST FRIIIIIIEEEENND! ”

SAY MY NAME

“ you could use a buddy ” “ don’t you want a pal? ” “ yes i do! yes i do! ” “ the way i see, your [daddy] should be leaving and you should stick around! ” “ and kill him! ” “ ... what? ” “ nothing! ” “ don’t end yourself, defend yourself ” “ [daddy] is the one you should maim ” “ together we’ll exterminate, assassinate! ” “ the finer points can wait ” “ first you gotta say my name! ” “ go ahead and jump but that won’t stop [him] ” “ here you got a solid plan B option ” “ i can bring your [daddy] so much pain ” “ all you gotta do is say my name ” “ just say it three times in a row ” “ you won’t believe how far i’ll go ” “ i’m in the bench, but coah, just put me in the game! ” “ i don’t know your name ” “ well, i can’t SAY it ” “ how ‘bout a game of charades? ” “ yes, let’s play it! ” “ close, but no ” “ wow, i’m impressed ” “ all you gotta do is say my name three times ” “ three times in a row it must be spoken, unbroken ” “ you’re so smart, a stand-up bro ” “ i’ll think about your offer, let you know ” “ i prefer my chances down below ” “ being young and [female] doesn’t mean that i’m an easy mark ” “ i’ve been swimming with piranhas, i don’t need a shark ” “ yes, life sucks, but not that much ” “ be a doll and spare the lecture ” “ i’m offering you a full-time specter! ” “ are you any good? ” “ you bet’cha! trust me, baby! ” “ really, it’s a flattering offer ” “ don’t you wanna see [dad] suffer? ” “ i think i’d rather just jump off ” “ i may be suicidal but ___, it’s not as if i’ve lost my mind ” “ so, playing hardball, huh? you are tougher than you look ” “ just wanna make sure i know who i’m working with. go any references? ” “ ___, there you are! ” “ get away from [her] ! ” “ this is a dangerously unstable individual ” “ ___ is sexy! ” “ ___ is smart! ” “ ___ is a graduate of Julliard! ” “ [he] can help, we found [him] on yelp ” “ our troubles all ended on the day that we befriended ” “ every word is the truth ” “ what the heck was that? ” “ so violating! ” “ there you go, kid, couple of five-star reviews ” “ that was possession ” “ any ghost can do that in less than one lesson ” “ pretty much any ghost’ll do, sure ” “ then, ___, what do i need you for? ” “ woah, woah, woah woah woah! hold up! ” “ hold up! i’m your pal! ” “ they’re sweet, but i’m a demon straight from hell ” “ i know, i went a little hard on the sell ” “ we’re BF-F-F-F’s forever! ” “ what? he was already dead ” “ we don’t need that demon ” “ together we can make a grown man weep ” “ we got a dinner date to keep ” “ okay, so what’s the plan? ” “ [he’s] gonna freak when we possess him ” “ i’ll lead that lamb to slaughter ” “ yeah, i got game! ” “ i’m gonna make [him] say my name ” “ not running away ”

DAY-O (THE BANANA BOAT SONG)/ACT I FINALE

“ what’s going on ___? are you alright? ” “ i don’t -- i dont know what just happened ” “ ___? do you need to lie down? ” “ what is happening to me? ” “ work all night on a drink of rum ” “ daylight come and me wanna go home ” “ stack banana till the morning come ” “ wait, why aren’t you dancing? ” “ it’s like i told you, ___, this house is haunted, and the ghosts who live here want you OUT ” “ who wants bacon? ” “ no! no! i’m a vegan! ” “ shut up, you moron! don’t apologize, we’re gonna be RICH! ” “ a genuine haunted house? it’s a goldmine! ” “ these ghosts are gonna make us a fortune! ” “ no! you’re supposed to be scared! ” “ there’s one thing that can still stop [him] ” “ ___, no! you don’t know what’ll happen! ” “ i can’t keep living like this! ” “ oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! i’m so glad you changed your mind! ” “ you are never gonna regret this! ” “ we are gonna make such a great team! ” “ give me just... one... more... ” “ it’s SHOWTIME! ” “ it’s our house now, kid! ” “ looks like we’re not invisible anymore! ”

[the-light-followed]

THE LIGHT FANTASTIC (1986) [DISC. #2; RINCEWIND #2]

“What shall we do?’ said Twoflower. ‘Panic?’ said Rincewind hopefully. He always held that panic was the best means of survival; back in the olden days, his theory went, people faced with hungry sabre-toothed tigers could be divided very simply into those who panicked and those who stood there saying ‘What a magnificent brute!’ and ‘Here, pussy.”

Rating: 5/10

Standalone Okay: No

Read First: ABSOLUTELY NO.

Discworld Books Masterpost: [x]

* * * * * * * * * *

If The Colour of Magic is a bad place to start reading Discworld, The Light Fantastic is 100% worse.  Not because it’s bad, because it’s absolutely an improvement on its predecessor.  It’s just that The Colour of Magic ends on a cliffhanger (only in the metaphorical sense; in the literal sense, Rincewind has just fallen off the cliff).  The Light Fantastic picks up exactly where it left off, with only a little exposition or explanation to soften the shift from one to the next.  I tend to think of The Light Fantastic as more like The Colour of Magic: Part 2, Now We’re Getting Somewhere, because, well, now we’re getting somewhere.

Folks, we finally have a cohesive, over-arching plot! We have stakes greater than “let’s not get killed by this latest thing that wants us dead!”  We have purpose, and drive, and successful barbarian heroes so old they lack teeth and have to make dentures out of diamond, and I love absolutely every bit of it!

In what will quickly become obvious is the norm for him, Rincewind’s life continues to be a series of upsetting things happening one after the other.  Some highlights from The Light Fantastic include:

Being forcibly teleported (back) onto the Disc by the parasitically-attached Great Spell living in his brain, after falling over the Rimfall.  Reality is completely rewritten to do this, but everything remains exactly the same except Rincewind’s new position clinging to the top of a pine tree.  (Twoflower gets dropped back onto the Disc as well, but that seems mostly incidental.)

Going to the land of Death while still alive, picking up his mostly-dead friend, and running right back out to the land of the living.

Camping in the mouth of a giant troll the size of a mountain, while being held captive by mercenaries.  Somehow only the mercenaries end up dead.

Being attacked by wizards and Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, and fighting said wizards and Things in life-or-death battles.

Using the most powerful magical book on the Disc, possibly the most magical item full-stop, and then afterwards, allowing said item to be eaten by the carnivorous sentient Luggage for safekeeping.  Rincewind ends up owning the Luggage before the end of the story—so technically, he still has this wildly dangerous book.

Oh, and saving the world, of course.  He also does that.

I love, love, love the way Pratchett writes ‘heroes’ vs. how he writes his protagonists.  Absolutely none of his protagonists are the stereotypical hero, and his stories are better for it.

Quick sidetrack to define terms: when I say ‘stereotypical hero,’ I’m talking about the kind of lawful good protagonists you see in most high fantasy adventure stories or superhero comics, the stuff with worldwide or even cosmic stakes.  They’re typically well-trained or have some kind of special skills, or they acquire special training/skills along the way.  They almost always set out specifically to save the world, and typically do not have any ulterior motives beyond it being ‘the right thing to do.’  Usually, they’re strong and rugged manly men with impressive jawlines.  I’m talking Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.  I’m talking Captain America and Superman.  I’m talking the real Boy Scout types.

Truth, justice, and apple pie—or whatever the regional-specific pastry of choice might be!

Pratchett’s heroes are not that.  They’re cowards.  They’re scared or confused or unprepared, or making the whole thing up as they go along.  They’re fools, alcoholics, con men.  They’re salty old ladies and know-it-all young girls.  If there is a stereotypical hero-type character, they’re going to be a foil for the actual main character, and they won’t stay perfectly pure and uncomplicated for long—I’m thinking specifically Carrot, though we’ll talk about him later when we get to the City Watch books.  

Here, what we get is Rincewind.  And he is as far from a stereotypical hero as it is possible to be, probably because he would have started sprinting full-speed away from the thought before anyone finished saying it out loud.  Rincewind doesn’t save the world because he suddenly found his courage, or developed bonus superpowers, or found some kind of magical sword to do the fighting for him.  (He actually found the sword back in The Colour of Magic, hated every second of it, and got rid of it as soon as possible.  Goodbye and good riddance to Kring the magic sword.)  He hasn’t secretly had the courage inside of himself all along.

Rincewind saves the world because he’s got nowhere left to run, and that’s excellent.

I’m going to save a lot of my rambling about Pratchett’s deconstruction of the concept of ‘heroes’ for when I get to Guards! Guards! and later City Watch books, since Carrot is, like I said, both the main example and the central thesis.  But it is very important for everyone to understand: for me, nothing is more satisfying from a literary perspective than knowing that, at the end of the Discworld series, coward and hero-only-by-accident-or-mistake Rincewind is one of the two people in contention for the spot as ‘ultimate savior of the world, the universe, and all of existence.’  The other is a teenage girl.

Honestly, the only reason I think Rincewind might edge her out for the title is because he technically saved a slightly larger slice of reality with this whole escapade.  In Tiffany’s defense, I’m 98% sure she hadn’t been born yet when this whole thing went down, so we really can’t blame her for not solving it first.  If she were there, she’d have it handled, and that’s just objective truth.

But Rincewind.  Rincewind.  At the end of The Light Fantastic, the dude’s spent two whole books screaming and running whenever something tries to kill/maim/eat/threaten him.  The audience has absolutely figured out by this point that while he’s smart and sarcastic and surprisingly speedy, he’s totally useless in a conflict.  His priority is saving his own skin, not dashing feats of derring-do or whatever it is heroes are supposed to do.

And yet with the end of the world looming, his back against the wall, and no real place left to run, when the Big Baddie demands that he give up the last Great Spell, the one last thing preventing the immediate destruction of everything and everyone, we get this from Rincewind:

“If it stops anywhere, it stops here, thought Rincewind. ‘You’ll have to take it,’ he said. ‘I won’t give it to you.’”

And that’s it.  That’s what saves the world.  Not a stereotypical hero, not a hero of legend, not a mythic champion showing up for a final glorious battle—it’s a Pratchett hero.  It’s an everyday guy, a coward and a failure, dragged in by accident and against his will.  It’s an average person, nothing really special, who looks at something that he knows is wrong and that he’s sure will hurt him for disobeying.  And yet he still says no.  It stops here.

Even rats fight back, as Rincewind himself says.

This is the moment that really sells me on Rincewind’s character, every time.  Even before Pratchett was really taking Rincewind or the Discworld seriously, even while the whole thing is still one massive joke more often than not, he’s still given the readers a POV character who feels believably real.  He’s scared shitless, he’s tired, he’s sarcastic, and he doesn’t want to be there.  But that’s too damn bad, because he’s the one there, and if he doesn’t do this, no one else will.

And maybe Rincewind’s not Superman, but he still does it. He succeeds, he saves the day, and—despite everything—he’s somehow the hero of this story.  Screaming all the way, maybe, but he still gets it done.

[Paul Kidby does incredible Discworld art, including some of the amazing cover art for the books.  You can find a lot of it on his website— www.paulkidby.com.  This one,The Colour of Magic, stars Rincewind, Twoflower, and their dramatic escape from the Wyrmberg.]

While we’re on the subject of heroes, we can’t skip over Cohen the Barbarian, who makes his debut here in The Light Fantastic. Now, Cohen is technically a hero, but this is still not in the ‘stereotypical hero’ sense—it’s literally his job.  It’s the thing he writes in the little box marked ‘Occupation’ on his tax forms, or at least it would be if he actually paid any taxes.  Or if he actually wrote things down.  

For Cohen, being a hero is how he makes a profit and pays the bills, and he is very, very good at it.  That’s 100% objective truth, and I know that for sure, because the man is old as the hills and still gets into life-or-death fights about twice a day, and that’s the sort of thing that gets you dead very quickly if you aren’t very good at what you do.

But Cohen still isn’t a stereotypical hero.  He does a lot of looting and pillaging, and his body count over the Rincewind books is—wow, it’s up there.  It’s a real doozy.  It’s hard to call his work heroism when it’s hardly a smidge to the left of repeated, outright murder.  I’ll probably circle back around to this in Interesting Times and The Last Hero, because there are some really interesting points made there about the ways that Cohen and his contemporaries play at heroes and villains like they’re a sort of performance they’re putting on rather than a moral act or a choice made out of necessity. But I will say now that putting Cohen in the same storylines as Rincewind really does put both characters into a more complex and interesting light.  Rincewind, the coward-not-hero, and Cohen, the fearless warrior, can kind of play off of each other.

It just goes to show Pratchett’s grasp of people as people, and not unidimensional cardboard cutouts.  Nobody’s always right.  Nobody is always wrong.  And real people don’t always stand up to perfect, pure concepts of what we think they should be.

Also, since Cohen is about a billion years old, we get little gems like his toothless lisp before he picks up some dentures, a concept that Twoflower brings with him from the Counterweight Continent.  (Or, as Cohen calls them, dine chewers.  That, friends, is a pune, or a play on words.)  Also, because he’s Cohen and therefore a dramatic bastard, the dentures are solid diamond.  It’s not as if the man can’t afford it, I guess?

I do want to take a little side trip into some other new details that pop up in The Light Fantastic, specifically the more in-depth stuff about Unseen University and the wizards.  The wizards are a lot of fun in the early Discworld books, specifically if you’re really bloodthirsty, because up until Ridcully arrives in Moving Pictures there’s quite a lot of turnover in Unseen University staff. The wizards are backstabbing bastards early on, and it’s almost jarring to compare the shifty, power-hungry jerks in The Light Fantastic and Sourcery to the fat, lazy hedonists they’ll become. We do get an impression of them as a collective that will stay pretty consistent as we move forward: their values, their skills, the way they do magic.

This is important not only because it establishes a lot of lasting detail for stories involving Rincewind, the University, and the city of Ankh-Morpork, but also because we’re about to get our first glimpse of the witches.  (Hey-o, here comes Equal Rites!)  With a lot of this stuff mapped out in advance, it makes it easier to run a compare-and-contrast of what’s going on with the two main schools of magic users on the Disc, what’s different between them, what’s the same—and the positives and negatives in them both.  (Again, hey-o, Equal Rites!  That all is about to be the whole damn point.)

I think it’s also fun to note that The Light Fantastic features the brief run of Galder Weatherwax as Archchancellor of the Unseen University, A.K.A. He Who Dies So Granny Weatherwax Can Have His Frankly Excellent Name.  Granny Weatherwax is the steel-souled spine of the witches, and the driving force of their run of books, and it’s kind of hilarious to think that Terry Pratchett did the writer’s equivalent of digging through a graveyard to give her a name.  This theft is later lampshaded and then ignored; Granny says something briefly about Galder Weatherwax being a distant cousin she barely knew, and the whole thing is never mentioned again from then on out. I can’t exactly remember where, and it might even have been in a short story or one of the side books Pratchett eventually put together, not in a novel.  Honestly, who cares—Granny Weatherwax is such a force of nature that it only takes a few minutes to forget that her name ever could have belonged to anyone but herself.

But Granny Weatherwax is not a discussion for The Light Fantastic.  It’s time to move on to Equal Rites!

* * * * * * * * * *

Side Notes:

This is the book where the Unseen University Librarian is changed into an orangutan.  It happens early on in a magical accident, as the grimoire containing the Eight Great Spells attempts to save Rincewind and the spell trapped in his mind, and he is never reverted to human form.  

He is referenced but does not appear in The Colour of Magic.  

At no point anywhere in the Discworld does he appear in human form.  At no point does he have lines in human language.  He is never named.  At no point is he described as he was prior to this change, except that the orangutan he becomes is initially said to look “like the head librarian,” so presumably he was already a bit orangutan-ish. 

For something as weird as this is, and for something with such long-lasting repercussions, it is treated in the moment as a thing of very little importance—except, of course, that now he has to be paid in bananas.  I find this absolutely delightful.

Tim Curry plays the wizard Trymon in the BBC miniseries The Colour of Magic, which combines The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic.  Trymon only appears in The Light Fantastic in the books, and I can’t read it anymore without picturing Tim Curry in his ridiculous robes and shoes, with his ridiculous overdramatic murder plots, working his way up to the top just to die a ridiculous death.

No, really. Look at this hat.  Look at this goatee.  Only Tim Curry has the acting chops to pull this off.

Death once again appears, and this time we also get to see his house and his daughter, Ysabell!  I can see why it didn’t take long to go from here to Mort: the concept is way too good to leave to little snatches and side appearances.

Krysoprase the troll shows up for the first time in this book.  Later, he’ll be known as Chrysoprase, and will make appearances in several other Discworld novels: Feet of Clay, Wyrd Sisters, and, notably, Thud.  There’s also a troll named Breccia in The Light Fantastic; Breccia will become the name of Chrysoprase’s gang in Ankh-Morpork.

While going through my copy of The Light Fantastic to work on this post, I glanced at the cover and briefly thought I was losing my mind.  At the bottom, there’s a blurb talking about beloved Discworld character “Conan the Barbarian”—but up until that moment I was 100% certain the beloved barbarian on the Disc was named “Cohen.”  Turns out I’m not crazy, it’s just that the literal cover of the book decides to make a reference to the character that Cohen is parodying rather than to Cohen himself.  And this is the 2008 print edition, not an early run or a badly-assembled e-reader edition, which means it’s being released by a professional publishing company a full 22 years after the original novel came out.  It’s not like nobody’s had time to look over the material and do some copy-editing.

* * * * * * * * * *

Favorite Quotes:

“The important thing about having lots of things to remember is that you’ve got to go somewhere afterwards where you can remember them, you see? You’ve got to stop. You haven’t really been anywhere until you’ve got back home.”

“Do you think there’s anything to eat in this forest?” “Yes,” said the wizard bitterly, “us.”

“Not for the first time she reflected that there were many drawbacks to being a swordswoman, not least of which was that men didn't take you seriously until you'd actually killed them, by which time it didn't really matter anyway.”

“Are you a hero, actually?” “Um, no. Not as such. Not at all, really. Even less than that, in fact.”

“What shall we do?’ said Twoflower. ‘Panic?’ said Rincewind hopefully. He always held that panic was the best means of survival; back in the olden days, his theory went, people faced with hungry sabre-toothed tigers could be divided very simply into those who panicked and those who stood there saying ‘What a magnificent brute!’ and ‘Here, pussy.”

[blacknerdproblems]

*SPOILER FREE REVIEW*

One does not consider fun while balancing the universe, but this does put a smile on my face.

The ominous and sinister words spoken by Thanos in the trailer also bend towards the direction of Anthony and Joseph Russo. The writers and directors of some of the best Marvel films thus far, have taken on the responsibility of fulfilling the promise that the previous dozen and a half Marvel films pledged ten years ago. While many directors have turned in outstanding takes on the Marvel heroes in separate films, it’s hard to imagine another team more poised for this ambitious of a film. And even harder to imagine them getting it wrong. My one spoiler is that they don’t. Infinity War is strange (Doctor or otherwise), sprawling, hilarious, awe-inducing and of course, really damn good.

Even after seeing Infinity War, I can’t imagine it being the consensus best Marvel film for most folks. (While not undeserving, there’s just something for everyone in the MCU.) But it never needed to be. It needed to be the culmination of all the stories that came before it and the movie doesn’t waste any time showing that. Almost no previous movie is without a character, callback or significant plot point brought forward in the big payoff film, making it more than lip service that this was a film 18 movies in the making.

What should be obvious, but is still disheartening, is there is all the screen time and yet not enough of it. No long monologues from new fan favorites like M’Baku or Mantis. There simply isn’t enough time in a super dense, two and half hour film. What it does provide are very poignant sections that both legend-build and raise the stakes. Infinity War manages to both give us multiple heroes’ quests without the film feeling too disjointed or scattered. Every time a team breaks apart, there is a thread where we inevitably feel like a reunion is upon us, usually in grand fashion.

Also, the stakes are real – very real. While the strength of the film is in the renewed familiarity and chemistry of so many favorites, the success would always hinge on how viable Josh Brolin’s Thanos would be. Whether you’re a comic book fan or not, Thanos was always going to be a difficult character to make relatable and able to be taken seriously. A hulking, purple and monstrously strong demigod of sorts, could go wrong in a lot of places. While not a perfect depiction, you don’t get Josh Brolin if you didn’t plan on trying to bring nuance to the character.

  There are a lot of scenarios that I can imagine of someone explaining to me the humanization of Thanos. All would have resulted in an instant eye roll. Infinity War almost completely nails it, showing Thanos as not simply the mad Titan, but an antagonist with a very clear plan and will to execute: no matter how troubling he found it. While not as relatable a villain as Killmonger, or as spellbinding as Hela, Thanos is foreboding and deserving to fight the galaxy’s strongest.

Which is to say, that the action is the top of the heap as far as action films go. The disappointment often lies in not getting to see characters in action for longer stretches because there’s another locale to cover. Whether on a crowded New York street, on Thanos’ homeworld, Titan, or in Wakanda itself: the action and CG are still operating at a much higher level than anything else in the genre (yes, yes, I’m looking at you DC). In doing so, the heroes look like phenomonal badasses and can still be seen to be mostly over-matched by the seemingly insurmountable Thanos.

Read on here. [x]

[zenruption]

Do You Have To Be Broke In Your Twenties?

https://www.pexels.com/photo/city-person-relaxing-sitting-1427/

We all know the stereotype right? There's a pretty heavily widespread assumption that everyone in their twenties is inevitably going to spend their time totally broke. It's a sad state of affairs that seems to be even more common now than it used to be. There are more graduates coming out of university than ever, and the job market has never been more competitive, leaving thousands of twenty-somethings unable to make enough money to get by. Inevitably this means that they end up spending what should be their first years of true adulthood running back to their folks for help. This just leaves everyone feeling frustrated, and it can be seriously embarrassing to have to to go to anyone, cap in hand because you're struggling financially. But does it have to be that way? Here are a few things that you can do to avoid being broke in your twenties.

Get paid to take surveys

This is one of those things that a lot of people often assume is some kind of scam and a lot of the time they are right. It's incredibly easy for sites to pretend that you're going to be able to earn money doing something simple like filling out surveys. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't legitimate ones out there. By doing a little bit of research, you can find out which ones are legit according to SurveysSay, and you'll actually be able to earn a pretty reasonable amount simply by filling out surveys online. It's not always the most reliable source of income, but it's certainly a useful thing to have on the side if you're looking to boost your earnings a little bit.

Use gig apps

If you're someone with a skill, then you should always try to market that skill as a way to make a living. The  

problem that a lot of people have is that they simply aren't able to build a reliable client base to start earning. That's where apps like Fiverr come in. Apps like this allow clients to connect with people with specific skills and hire them for pretty low prices, hence the name. Apps like this often have you working for a pretty small amount, so it's not a good idea to stake all of your earnings on them, but they are a great way to get your name out there and expand your client list without forcing you to work for free.

Invest your money

Yep, that's right. You might assume that being a penniless twenty-something means that it's impossible for you to have any money to invest but that is not true. If you take a little time to save some money, you can invest any small amount into pretty much anything. Stocks and bonds might sound incredibly complicated, but they're actually quite a bit simpler than you might expect. You'll find that all it takes it to get started with your first investment and you'll get a taste for it, slowly building up a portfolio and ensuring that you always have a financial cushion to fall back on in hard times.

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[multiracialmedia-blog]

Complexion Chronicles: Getting to the Root of Colorism in Diverse Families

When Lori Tharps, an African American writer, became the mother of Mixed-race children, she was challenged in ways that not only surprised her, but led her to write the book, Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America’s Diverse Families. (Available on Amazon and published by Beacon Press.)

This book, called “ground-breaking and urgent,” shines a light on and ultimately seeks solutions to colorism and identity politics in Multiracial families. Lori, an associate professor of journalism at Temple University, is the coauthor of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, and Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain, lives in Philadelphia with her family.

Q: What made you write Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America’s Diverse Families?

A: My Mixed-Race son was born light. From the moment he entered this world with light skin and straight black hair, my relationship with him was questioned. Most often people thought I was his nanny instead of his mother. By the time my son was two however, his skin had darkened and his hair got kinky, so many of the questions and stares stopped. But then I had another child, another boy. He too was born light, but he never “ripened up” like his brother. Thus, I now was the mother of two boys, one dark, one light and the world would never let me forget it.

As a writer, I am always inspired by the world around me. The process of being a mother to children of different hues (I now have three kids) is challenging in ways I never expected and I soon realized that this particular challenge was being experienced by many others besides me. So, Same Family, Different Colors Confronting Colorism in America’s Diverse Families came from a yearning to connect and understand how families in the United States – families like mine – navigate color differences and skin color politics in a race obsessed world.

Q: What did you want to accomplish by writing about this topic?

A: I wanted to start a conversation about colorism and skin color politics across cultures. I wanted to give people a vehicle to open up about this taboo topic. I wanted people to know that colorism is not a “Black thing.” And I wanted to offer some hope and context to these issues. I think if people know that others struggle with colorism, they won’t feel so alone. I also think that if people understand that privileging whiteness is a form of oppression, not just beauty talk, then we might be able to have some real conversations about just how serious this issue is.

Q: What role has colorism played in your life?

A; I can honestly say as a medium-brown Black person who grew up in very White environments, I never even knew colorism existed until I was in my twenties. That’s not to say I wasn’t aware of an obvious bias towards light skin, but to my knowledge, colorism hasn’t been a major part in my life. As a mother to two boys with different hues of skin, however, I am aware that they will be assessed differently by society simply because of the way they look.

Q: What has made you so passionate about this topic?

A: Because it’s personal. These issues affect me. Plus, in my opinion, colorism, is just so stupid. It’s based on zero scientific evidence and color perception is so subjective. When you break it down, discriminating against somebody because they have one percent less melanin the next guy? It’s just so foolish. And I can’t stand foolishness!

Q: Who did you write this book for?

A: The audience for this book is anybody who sees color. So, that pretty much means everybody. Seriously. Before I started writing, I thought White Americans might not have any context for understanding skin color politics, but I was so wrong. White people come in just as many shades as people of color. They understand discrimination based on skin tone. Just ask some olive-toned White folks.

Q: Why did you focus on how this topic impacts families? A: I specifically chose to write about colorism in the context of the nuclear family so that the stories would be accessible to everyone, even if they themselves haven’t personally experienced colorism. People understand family dynamics, so using the family as a microcosm of society, I believe, makes this concept pertinent to a wide range of people.

Q: What makes this topic so important for Multiracial families?

A: Because we are the most colorful families out there! Plus, the range of genes in our genetic make-up means we never know what our kids are going to look like. It’s literally a crap shoot when two people from different ethnic backgrounds have kids. We need to be ready to normalize difference from the start so our children recognize that their colorful families are normal.

Q: What is it that most Multiracial families don’t understand about colorism?

A: I think most people forget about science when they’re planning a family. I know I did. Even though my husband is a pale Spaniard, I just assumed our children would all be brown-ish with curly hair. That’s not what I got. At all. Humans are hard-wired to assume our offspring are going to be mini versions of ourselves, both physically and mentally. So, when that doesn’t happen, which is so often the case in interracial families, moms and dads really have to figure out how to parent a kid who “racially” might not look like them. And that is really hard. If you are a proud Black woman and your daughter looks White, what identity lessons do you teach? If you are an Asian man and your son looks Black, what lessons do you teach him about who he is? We don’t prepare for this, but we really should.

Q: In conducting the research and interviews, what did you learn that surprised you most?

A: First and foremost, I just learned so much! I have a much deeper understanding of the insidious and global nature of colorism. I understand its history and why and how it continues to penetrate our perceptions of power. I also learned that people, from every ethnic background struggle with the same issues of dismantling a skin-color hierarchy, not just Black people.

Q: What did you learn that impacted the way you interact with your family?

A: Previously, I thought it best not to highlight the fact that my kids were three different colors. I didn’t know that it was my job to normalize difference. Now we talk about those differences a lot more often. And the world didn’t end.

Q: Is there a difference in the way that White people and People of Color understand and process colorism?

A: I really don’t think there is a difference in how White vs POC process colorism. I think the difference is between those who have been the victims of colorism and those who have not.

Q: What do you want readers to take away from the book? A: I hope people read Same Family, Different Colors and realize that colorism is the dumbest thing in the world. I hope they read this book and realize how damaging it is that we prioritize light skin over dark. Like truly damaging. I hope they realize that light skin is not a prize. I hope they realize that we all have an implicit bias towards lighter or darker skin tones and we need to recognize and admit it. Most of all, I hope they read this book and then share it with someone else and start all kinds of conversations about skin color politics. We need to keep talking about it until we solve the problem.

Q: What is the one thing you want the world to know and remember about colorism?

A: Like racism, colorism is an invented concept used to oppress those of a darker hue. Even darker-hued Whites suffer from colorist thinking. It’s such an arbitrary way to divide and judge people with absolutely no basis in fact. We should just be smarter.

Q: What are the most important actions one can take to get rid of colorism?

A: I have to mention that some industries often prop up these hateful “-isms” and the bleaching cream industry/cosmetics industry is a major supporter of colorism. They have a huge stake in making sure women and men the world over believe light skin is the key to success in all aspects of life – from the financial realm to romance. Believe it or not, Asian men are driving the robust growth of the global bleaching cream/skin lightening industry.

Stop buying bleaching and lightening creams; they are just fancy skin lighteners. Stop buying products manufactured by companies who also make skin lighteners and advertise them heavily in countries with majority Black or Brown populations. Do your research.

Speak out when you see blatant cases of skin lightening/photo shop or public figures promoting skin lightening in any way.

If you have a platform of any kind, use it to promote beauty and excellence in all shades. And most importantly, tell every young person you meet that skin color is just packaging.

You can learn more about Lori Tharps by visiting her website. Follow Lori Tharps on Twitter: @LoriTharps

The Complexion Chronicles is a bi-weekly column that explores the raw truths, nuances and complexities of Multiracial life.

Complexion Chronicles: Getting to the Root of Colorism in Diverse Families if you want to check out other voices of the Multiracial Community click here Multiracial Media

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Not-So-Mobile America: What Honolulu and Detroit Residents Have in Common

Sisoje/iStock; marlenka/iStock

Whether we’re setting out across the country or just changing neighborhoods, upgrading or downsizing—movin’ on up or movin’ on out—the idea of pulling up stakes has always been a core part of the American DNA. Our willingness and eagerness to move is emblematic of our faith in the idea that we can always make a fresh start in a new home.

But actually, we don’t move as often as we used to. Figures for 2015 show that only about 12% of Americans had swapped their address for a new one within the past year. In 1948, when the U.S. Census Bureau first collected moving data, the percentage of those who had moved within the past year was 20%.

We decided to take a look at the U.S. cities that have the most mobile populations—and those where people are most likely to stay in home, sweet home. To gauge which cities had the highest and which had the lowest number of residents moving to new homes—whether across the street or across the country—our data team reviewed the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. For each of the United States’ 100 largest cities, we calculated the percentage of households (both homeowners and renters) that had moved since 2010, to figure out where residents are most mobile.

Then we looked at the places where the largest percentage of households had been in the same home since 1990, to see where folks are staying put.

We found some surprising juxtapositions on our Top 10 “sticking around” list. Do Honolulu and Detroit really have so much in common? Turns out the cities were ranked high on the list for completely different reasons.

“There are two main determining factors whether people move or not,” says Nathalie Williams, a sociology professor from the University of Washington. The good: “The better people feel their lives are going, the less likely they are to move elsewhere.”  The bad: Lousy economies can force people to head for greener pastures.

But of course, economic insecurity can also keep people in the same place.

After the housing bust in 2007, migration slowed down, because uncertainties about the job market had made people nervous about changing jobs and deciding to move on. They were less likely to upgrade to a bigger and nicer home. Plenty even found their homes deep underwater, and were unable to sell.

Now that the recession is over, mobility is finally picking up again, says Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire. And jobs lure people, especially younger ones who haven’t put down deep roots, to new centers of employment.

So where are the folks the most and least mobile? The answers just might surprise you.

Detroit: When the going gets tough, the tough stay put

In the mid-20th century, Detroit, our least mobile city, drew thousands of workers, because it was the home of the Big Three automakers. But as the American auto industry lost market share and began to shed workers, the population dwindled. And while young people are streaming out, many longtime residents are staying put. The Census data show that 21.4% of Detroit families moved into their homes before 1990, the highest percentage in our study.

One reason is that owners are simply stuck in their homes.

About one in five Detroit homes is still seriously underwater, with a loan amount that is at least 25% higher than the property’s market value, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate information company. The median home value in Wayne County, where Detroit is located, is only $149,602, but the median loan amount is $161,965.

“If your house is upside down, you can’t move. You can abandon your house, but there’s no way to sell it,” says Eli Lehrer, president of R Street Institute, a policy research organization. He notes that people receiving government assistance typically have to reapply if they relocate to another state—and might not qualify, or have their benefits reduced.

Many Detroit residents live and shop near hulking vacant buildings that have been abandoned, overtaken by weeds, graffiti, and trash. But as the city recovers, its longtime residents are an integral part of the city’s growth, says Tahirih Ziegler, executive director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which promotes safe communities and affordable housing.

“Longtime residents stabilize their communities by mowing their lawns, keeping properties in good condition, investing in their homes. Overall, that’s helping the city stabilize the population,” Ziegler says.

Similar narratives of decline play out in Midwestern cities like Pittsburgh (No. 3), Cleveland (No. 6), and Toledo, OH (No. 7), after the steel industry’s downfall.

The high costs of moving often prevent the poorest folks from relocating, says retired New York University journalism professor William Serrin. Serrin wrote about the fate of a former steel town outside Pittsburgh in his book “Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town.”

“When you are 52 years old and have five kids, you don’t just move to Arizona—it’s just not in the cards,” Serrin says.

On the East Coast, Philadelphia (No. 4) and Baltimore (No. 5) are some of the country’s oldest cities. So it’s no surprise to see generations with deep ties to their metros.

Honolulu: Why ever leave?

Blue ocean waters, soft sand, mountains of Spam, and tropical weather all year round—it makes sense that people wouldn’t want to leave Honolulu, right?

But it also may come down to dollars and cents. The median list price of single-family home in this U.S. paradise is a whopping $730,000, according to realtor.com®. So while longtime homeowners stand to profit if they sell, they might not be able to afford another home in this town—or perhaps anywhere in Hawaii.

In addition, established homeowners benefit from the fact that the 50th state has, by far, the lowest property tax rates in the country.

And the unique culture of Hawaii binds people together.

Leonard Kam, 60, was born in Honolulu and runs Alicia’s Market, a general store that sells Chinese-style roast duck alongside Hawaiian poke bowls of marinated raw fish. His parents, who were originally from China, started the store in 1949 in a small wooden hut. Now Kam’s two sons help him develop new recipes. It’s a third-generation business, Kam says with pride.

“Honolulu is a small community. Everybody knows everybody, we are all family,” says his son Chris Kam. “You don’t move to the mainland unless you have to.”

New York and San Francisco: America’s meccas of the stubborn Once you go BK, you never go back.

Maremagnum/Getty Images

Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker. Maybe it’s because it’s so hard to find a foothold—or a decent apartment—in this town, just as it is in San Francisco (No. 9). You hang on to what you can get for as long as you can. That’s why, despite skyrocketing home prices and rents, many residents have managed to stay in their homes for decades. And low housing inventories don’t make intercity moves easy.

About 16.1% of New Yorkers and 15.6% of San Franciscans have been living in the same home since 1990, according to Census data. That’s compared with 13% of the population nationally. Yes, gentrification is pricing out longtime residents in some areas, especially renters. But luckily, both cities have rent control or rent stabilization, which keep some renters in their homes.

A certain amount of stubbornness helps too.

Regina Karp, 78, a retired public school teacher, has lived in a rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for 47 years. Her children grew up there and left, her husband passed away, and now she’s living by herself. For two bedrooms, she pays almost $3,000 a month, which she says is her entire pension. Still, she nevertheless refuses to leave.

“This is my apartment. I was born in New York City, I’ve lived here my entire life. All my friends are here. I’m simply not going to live in the middle of a suburb in Jersey,” Karp says.

Orlando: Life beyond Shamu

Outsiders may think of Orlando as the home of Mickey Mouse and poor Shamu, but increasingly, this is the city that leads Florida in job creation. The metro added 50,300 jobs in December, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Health care is one of the fastest-growing local employment sectors: Orlando’s newest asset is a medical research park with a medical school, three major hospitals, and multiple research labs. The city even benefits from the Disney World expansion, including an “Avatar”-themed addition opening in May and a “Star Wars”-themed addition that is in the planning phase.

Orlando sprawl

Arrangements-Photography/iStock

All this economic prosperity means that more people are moving here—and those already established may now have the means to upgrade their living situation.

“Economic development is usually glacial, but it’s been like a volcano erupting in Orlando. The development happened very rapidly,” says Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness with the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Orlando is trying out different remedies for its infamous sprawl, from bike rentals to commuter rail.

Nevada: A good place to start a business

The low cost of living and business-friendly atmosphere also makes Nevada an appealing place to call home. Reno (No. 3), the self-proclaimed “Biggest Little City in the World” has long been better known as a pauper’s version of Las Vegas. But put all that aside: The place is fast becoming a high-tech manufacturing hub. A few miles east of Reno, Tesla’s Gigafactory manufactures batteries for its electric cars.

“We have no corporate tax, no income tax, a very pro-business government,” says Mike Kazmierski, president of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. That makes it easier for newcomers as well as locals to become entrepreneurs.

Big brother Las Vegas (No. 4), too, is adding people in its many master-planned communities. The high cost of living in Los Angeles and San Diego is pushing Californians to look for greener pastures—or even desert living.

Jacob Orth, a 29-year-old hospitality worker, moved to Vegas from San Jose four years ago. At the time he left, San Jose was the most expensive housing market in the country (it still is). Orth says he cut his living costs by half after the move. And he’s not alone—millennials are flocking to Vegas for its abundant entry-level jobs.

“The big secret about the Las Vegas area is that it’s a lot more family-oriented than people realize. The Strip is kind of like its own little world; once you get outside it, life is pretty normal,” says Orth, who writes about Sin City in his blog, “Jacob’s Life in Vegas.”

Las Vegas

SerrNovik/iStock

Texas’ population boom

It’s hard not to see the appeal of Austin (No. 5): with the booming tech scene, friendly people, great live music, and amazing barbecue, just for starters. No wonder 20-something engineers, boomer corporate hot shots, and even retirees are flocking to the place. And plenty of them live in sweet high-rise apartments that were built over the past decade.

Grandmother Susi Spies moved to Austin two years ago, to be close to her children and their families.

“My children asked me to babysit for them, but I’m too busy having fun [with] food trucks, hiking trails, bat-watching cruises,” says Spies, president of Austin Newcomers, an association that connects new residents with one another and to their new neighborhoods. “It’s an amazing city.”

Texas’ population boom is no secret, but few cities add people as fast as Irving (No. 2), a suburb of Dallas. Home to ExxonMobil, and surrounded by corporation headquarters, like those of AT&T and J.C. Penney, the city’s flourishing job market is powering its exponential growth.

Fast turnover in college towns

Some of America’s most transient cities are college towns. In addition to Austin, there are Irvine, CA (No. 7), Madison, WI (No. 8), and Durham, NC (No. 9). For obvious reasons, incoming students and departing graduates help raise the turnover figures as they move back home or to different parts of the country to start careers.

“College towns are more transient, because new students come every year, and four years later, they are out,” says Realtor Alex Saloutos of First Weber Realtors in Madison. Plus, they tend to move around quite a bit during their tenure. “Students don’t buy homes, they rent.”

The post Not-So-Mobile America: What Honolulu and Detroit Residents Have in Common appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

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[realtor10036]

Not-So-Mobile America: What Honolulu and Detroit Residents Have in Common

Sisoje/iStock; marlenka/iStock

Whether we’re setting out across the country or just changing neighborhoods, upgrading or downsizing—movin’ on up or movin’ on out—the idea of pulling up stakes has always been a core part of the American DNA. Our willingness and eagerness to move is emblematic of our faith in the idea that we can always make a fresh start in a new home.

But actually, we don’t move as often as we used to. Figures for 2015 show that only about 12% of Americans had swapped their address for a new one within the past year. In 1948, when the U.S. Census Bureau first collected moving data, the percentage of those who had moved within the past year was 20%.

We decided to take a look at the U.S. cities that have the most mobile populations—and those where people are most likely to stay in home, sweet home. To gauge which cities had the highest and which had the lowest number of residents moving to new homes—whether across the street or across the country—our data team reviewed the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. For each of the United States’ 100 largest cities, we calculated the percentage of households (both homeowners and renters) that had moved since 2010, to figure out where residents are most mobile.

Then we looked at the places where the largest percentage of households had been in the same home since 1990, to see where folks are staying put.

We found some surprising juxtapositions on our Top 10 “sticking around” list. Do Honolulu and Detroit really have so much in common? Turns out the cities were ranked high on the list for completely different reasons.

“There are two main determining factors whether people move or not,” says Nathalie Williams, a sociology professor from the University of Washington. The good: “The better people feel their lives are going, the less likely they are to move elsewhere.”  The bad: Lousy economies can force people to head for greener pastures.

But of course, economic insecurity can also keep people in the same place.

After the housing bust in 2007, migration slowed down, because uncertainties about the job market had made people nervous about changing jobs and deciding to move on. They were less likely to upgrade to a bigger and nicer home. Plenty even found their homes deep underwater, and were unable to sell.

Now that the recession is over, mobility is finally picking up again, says Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire. And jobs lure people, especially younger ones who haven’t put down deep roots, to new centers of employment.

So where are the folks the most and least mobile? The answers just might surprise you.

Detroit: When the going gets tough, the tough stay put

In the mid-20th century, Detroit, our least mobile city, drew thousands of workers, because it was the home of the Big Three automakers. But as the American auto industry lost market share and began to shed workers, the population dwindled. And while young people are streaming out, many longtime residents are staying put. The Census data show that 21.4% of Detroit families moved into their homes before 1990, the highest percentage in our study.

One reason is that owners are simply stuck in their homes.

About one in five Detroit homes is still seriously underwater, with a loan amount that is at least 25% higher than the property’s market value, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate information company. The median home value in Wayne County, where Detroit is located, is only $149,602, but the median loan amount is $161,965.

“If your house is upside down, you can’t move. You can abandon your house, but there’s no way to sell it,” says Eli Lehrer, president of R Street Institute, a policy research organization. He notes that people receiving government assistance typically have to reapply if they relocate to another state—and might not qualify, or have their benefits reduced.

Many Detroit residents live and shop near hulking vacant buildings that have been abandoned, overtaken by weeds, graffiti, and trash. But as the city recovers, its longtime residents are an integral part of the city’s growth, says Tahirih Ziegler, executive director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which promotes safe communities and affordable housing.

“Longtime residents stabilize their communities by mowing their lawns, keeping properties in good condition, investing in their homes. Overall, that’s helping the city stabilize the population,” Ziegler says.

Similar narratives of decline play out in Midwestern cities like Pittsburgh (No. 3), Cleveland (No. 6), and Toledo, OH (No. 7), after the steel industry’s downfall.

The high costs of moving often prevent the poorest folks from relocating, says retired New York University journalism professor William Serrin. Serrin wrote about the fate of a former steel town outside Pittsburgh in his book “Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town.”

“When you are 52 years old and have five kids, you don’t just move to Arizona—it’s just not in the cards,” Serrin says.

On the East Coast, Philadelphia (No. 4) and Baltimore (No. 5) are some of the country’s oldest cities. So it’s no surprise to see generations with deep ties to their metros.

Honolulu: Why ever leave?

Blue ocean waters, soft sand, mountains of Spam, and tropical weather all year round—it makes sense that people wouldn’t want to leave Honolulu, right?

But it also may come down to dollars and cents. The median list price of single-family home in this U.S. paradise is a whopping $730,000, according to realtor.com®. So while longtime homeowners stand to profit if they sell, they might not be able to afford another home in this town—or perhaps anywhere in Hawaii.

In addition, established homeowners benefit from the fact that the 50th state has, by far, the lowest property tax rates in the country.

And the unique culture of Hawaii binds people together.

Leonard Kam, 60, was born in Honolulu and runs Alicia’s Market, a general store that sells Chinese-style roast duck alongside Hawaiian poke bowls of marinated raw fish. His parents, who were originally from China, started the store in 1949 in a small wooden hut. Now Kam’s two sons help him develop new recipes. It’s a third-generation business, Kam says with pride.

“Honolulu is a small community. Everybody knows everybody, we are all family,” says his son Chris Kam. “You don’t move to the mainland unless you have to.”

New York and San Francisco: America’s meccas of the stubborn Once you go BK, you never go back.

Maremagnum/Getty Images

Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker. Maybe it’s because it’s so hard to find a foothold—or a decent apartment—in this town, just as it is in San Francisco (No. 9). You hang on to what you can get for as long as you can. That’s why, despite skyrocketing home prices and rents, many residents have managed to stay in their homes for decades. And low housing inventories don’t make intercity moves easy.

About 16.1% of New Yorkers and 15.6% of San Franciscans have been living in the same home since 1990, according to Census data. That’s compared with 13% of the population nationally. Yes, gentrification is pricing out longtime residents in some areas, especially renters. But luckily, both cities have rent control or rent stabilization, which keep some renters in their homes.

A certain amount of stubbornness helps too.

Regina Karp, 78, a retired public school teacher, has lived in a rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for 47 years. Her children grew up there and left, her husband passed away, and now she’s living by herself. For two bedrooms, she pays almost $3,000 a month, which she says is her entire pension. Still, she nevertheless refuses to leave.

“This is my apartment. I was born in New York City, I’ve lived here my entire life. All my friends are here. I’m simply not going to live in the middle of a suburb in Jersey,” Karp says.

Orlando: Life beyond Shamu

Outsiders may think of Orlando as the home of Mickey Mouse and poor Shamu, but increasingly, this is the city that leads Florida in job creation. The metro added 50,300 jobs in December, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Health care is one of the fastest-growing local employment sectors: Orlando’s newest asset is a medical research park with a medical school, three major hospitals, and multiple research labs. The city even benefits from the Disney World expansion, including an “Avatar”-themed addition opening in May and a “Star Wars”-themed addition that is in the planning phase.

Orlando sprawl

Arrangements-Photography/iStock

All this economic prosperity means that more people are moving here—and those already established may now have the means to upgrade their living situation.

“Economic development is usually glacial, but it’s been like a volcano erupting in Orlando. The development happened very rapidly,” says Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness with the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Orlando is trying out different remedies for its infamous sprawl, from bike rentals to commuter rail.

Nevada: A good place to start a business

The low cost of living and business-friendly atmosphere also makes Nevada an appealing place to call home. Reno (No. 3), the self-proclaimed “Biggest Little City in the World” has long been better known as a pauper’s version of Las Vegas. But put all that aside: The place is fast becoming a high-tech manufacturing hub. A few miles east of Reno, Tesla’s Gigafactory manufactures batteries for its electric cars.

“We have no corporate tax, no income tax, a very pro-business government,” says Mike Kazmierski, president of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. That makes it easier for newcomers as well as locals to become entrepreneurs.

Big brother Las Vegas (No. 4), too, is adding people in its many master-planned communities. The high cost of living in Los Angeles and San Diego is pushing Californians to look for greener pastures—or even desert living.

Jacob Orth, a 29-year-old hospitality worker, moved to Vegas from San Jose four years ago. At the time he left, San Jose was the most expensive housing market in the country (it still is). Orth says he cut his living costs by half after the move. And he’s not alone—millennials are flocking to Vegas for its abundant entry-level jobs.

“The big secret about the Las Vegas area is that it’s a lot more family-oriented than people realize. The Strip is kind of like its own little world; once you get outside it, life is pretty normal,” says Orth, who writes about Sin City in his blog, “Jacob’s Life in Vegas.”

Las Vegas

SerrNovik/iStock

Texas’ population boom

It’s hard not to see the appeal of Austin (No. 5): with the booming tech scene, friendly people, great live music, and amazing barbecue, just for starters. No wonder 20-something engineers, boomer corporate hot shots, and even retirees are flocking to the place. And plenty of them live in sweet high-rise apartments that were built over the past decade.

Grandmother Susi Spies moved to Austin two years ago, to be close to her children and their families.

“My children asked me to babysit for them, but I’m too busy having fun [with] food trucks, hiking trails, bat-watching cruises,” says Spies, president of Austin Newcomers, an association that connects new residents with one another and to their new neighborhoods. “It’s an amazing city.”

Texas’ population boom is no secret, but few cities add people as fast as Irving (No. 2), a suburb of Dallas. Home to ExxonMobil, and surrounded by corporation headquarters, like those of AT&T and J.C. Penney, the city’s flourishing job market is powering its exponential growth.

Fast turnover in college towns

Some of America’s most transient cities are college towns. In addition to Austin, there are Irvine, CA (No. 7), Madison, WI (No. 8), and Durham, NC (No. 9). For obvious reasons, incoming students and departing graduates help raise the turnover figures as they move back home or to different parts of the country to start careers.

“College towns are more transient, because new students come every year, and four years later, they are out,” says Realtor Alex Saloutos of First Weber Realtors in Madison. Plus, they tend to move around quite a bit during their tenure. “Students don’t buy homes, they rent.”

The post Not-So-Mobile America: What Honolulu and Detroit Residents Have in Common appeared first on Real Estate News & Advice | realtor.com®.

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[oselatra]

For gun sense

Since the attack at Ohio State University, lawmakers have offered solutions they believe would prevent such scary events.

For gun sense

Since the attack at Ohio State University, lawmakers have offered solutions they believe would prevent such scary events. Recently, state Rep. Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) argued that all Arkansas colleges should be forced to allow the presence of loaded, hidden guns on campus, because shooters intentionally pick so-called "gun-free zones" like college campuses to wage attacks.

However, an analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety found that only 14 percent of mass shootings from 2009-2015 took place in so-called "gun-free zones." Of the at least 133 mass shootings since 2009, only two occurred at a college or university. Lawmakers like Collins are relying on this false notion of exaggerated vulnerability to carry out the gun lobby's aim to allow guns into as many places as possible with no questions asked.

In 2013, our legislature passed a law allowing faculty and staff with concealed carry permits to be armed at our colleges and universities, with the condition that institutions could choose to opt out of the law annually. Three years later, every single Arkansas college has continuously chosen to keep guns off their campuses — and they have good reason to do so.

While some may believe that only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad one, the fact is most civilians have not received law enforcement training on how to respond to active shooter incidents and severely lack the expertise required to stop a shooter.

What's more, allowing the presence of guns on campus would burden campus police and other first responders with the task of having to quickly decipher during a violent incident if a person holding a gun is a "good guy" or criminal.

If you believe our lawmakers should respect the decisions of our campus communities and ensure that Arkansas colleges continue to remain safe spaces in which to learn, I urge you to join Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. There is simply too much at stake to back down now.

Eve Jorgensen

Little Rock

Congressional perks

Did you know Congress works 10 months out of the year, taking the entire months of August and October off? Sixty days of vacation? Do you get that much? Did you know that in the 10 months they are in session they average three workdays a week? They get four-day weekends every weekend. Do you get this?

Robert Johnston

Little Rock

Lawn commandments

Governor Hutchinson signed the bill putting the Ten Commandments on the Capitol lawn. He's a lawyer and knew it wouldn't pass the Supreme Court. But before he was a lawyer, he and his wife were graduates of the fundamentalist Bob Jones University. He won't publicly admit that now, but it still compels him to sign bills by religious nuts that he knows to be illegal.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) says the Ten Commandments are the basis of American law. Some questions: Please show me where the Ten Commandments made the genocide of the Native Americans OK? Where did it authorize the Trail Of Tears? Where did it make the Salem Witch Trials OK? Which commandment made slavery OK? Where did Jim Crow get authorized? Where did it make the internment of innocent Japanese Americans morally right?

For that matter, where did it say torture and secret prisons under George W. Bush was OK? The simple fact is that Rapert is a phony who is pushing his religion on us with the lie that our government was built on the Ten Commandments. The above stated proves that!

And our governor is complicit in that effort because he signs such bills out of religious compulsion or to get the cooperation of his fellow fundamentalists in his "save the rich folks' money" administration.

Time will bear out what I'm writing here, I believe. Not to mention the taxpayers' money it will cost us in the courts.            

Karl Hansen

Hensley

From the web

In response to Best and Worst 2016

Always the best read of the year.

Claude Bahls

The best read of the worst year.

Yellowdogdaughter

Rapert is gonna be pissed he did not get a mention ... or did I miss it?

Arbiter of All Things AOAT

In response to an article in the Dec. 15 issue about the medical marijuana commission:

I have some concerns about how a commission [whose members] voted against medical cannabis and were appointed by opponents of medical cannabis will be able to make fair, unbiased decisions that would best benefit and meet the needs of seriously ill patients. Alleviating unnecessary suffering is what this law is supposed to be about. It sounds like the commission still wants to continue the arguments for and against it. Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman said "not everyone in the state voted for it and we have to be conscious of that." What has that got to do with anything? The majority of the state voted for medical cannabis. Period. There wasn't a rule that said you had to cater to the minority that was against it. Does this mean the commission is going to dilute the law and only halfway honor the "will of the people"? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2 million people in the presidential election. Do you think Donald's new Cabinet members are looking for ways not to offend or hurt those 2 million voters? I was wondering about the comment that the commission can also impose fees and receive revenue from other sources. Will these fees and revenue be available to the public? I have a hard time believing that Speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam did not receive any applications [for the commission] from attorneys who have experience in state rules and regulations. You would think Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, would have an overabundance of them.

ShineonLibby

For gun sense