#give my man Alec his reparations

[im-out-of-it]

part three of season 1, episode 13 continued

41. well, at least Lydia remembered hodge was the one who whacked her

42. “No way. we’ve known him our entire lives.”- well Izzy, never say never

43. well what would you know Izzy 😭

44. it’s one thing for hodge to be a traitor but for Maryse and Robert to be traitors is a stretch jace. I don’t agree with everything they do but they’re always focused on doing what the clave needs. if they’re doing anything enough, it’s having the clave’s best interests

45. my double standard I see often is the stuff Alec says or does vs jace. Alec outed his parents of being members of the circle and jace and Izzy thought that was crazy. Alec was messed up after and apparently was the bad person after his choices with meliorn. (not defending his actions) but when jace says “that’s what you said about hodge” about being traitors, no one bats an eye or defends them

46. look, I’m not Maryse’s or Roberts biggest fan but it’s a huge stretch to make. I get that jace is upset he let Valentine go and that hodge turned out to be playing them but why doesn’t anyone say anything vs when Alec did, suddenly he’s gone mad????? Alec had every right to be mad that he didn’t know about his family’s history and jace can be mad about Valentine but it’s the double standard for me

47. just because hodge ends up being a traitor, it does not mean that everyone they know is. literally jace was so hard on Alec this whole season and then when jace does similar shit, it’s okay????? because he’s been through a lot????? it irritates me that no one ever smacks the shit out of jace. Alec has had nothing but issues all season

a. he’s had to sort through feelings or feelings of friendship for jace

b. found out his parents were in the circle and never told him

c. had an arranged marriage

d. wasn’t sure if he should come out or not

e. taking the blame for every decision jace and clary made

f. all the shit he dealt with Jace and clary- watching jace fall in love with her while babysitting her and taking the blame and all the hurtful words Maryse and jace threw at him

g. Maryse practically disowning Alec for doing something for himself

48. like I could literally go on. Alec has had nothing but snide remarks and bullshit all season and this has only been a few days. it’s the fact that almost no one says anything to jace when he throws tantrums and all the fucked shit he does. and Alec does get better treatment later on. but I can’t stand the way Alec gets treated vs jace. he practically gets away with any type of behavior

49. side note- show jace is at least better than book jace. but he almost pays zero consequences for any decisions he makes and it’s like everyone is expected to drop everything to save him. literally goes off to join Valentine, a decision he made and almost everyone is like omg let’s save him!

50. honestly it’s easy to see why hodge does what he does. I love my lightwoods but he was basically banned to spend all his life in the institute while the lightwoods got off for probably doing worse 😬 it’s not very often I call out my fav family but I try to look at things from all pov possible. (punishment for Maryse and Robert tends to be incomplete though at this stage) but it’s understandable why hodge does what he does. Alec and Izzy thought they treated hodge like family but that’s not the way hodge felt about it

51. just because you think you treat someone well, it doesn’t mean it’s how they feel. look at alec and jace. alec does about everything for jace no questions asked cause wE’rE pArAbAtAi (ban this word please) and jace treats him like utter shit- and Jace doesn’t see anything wrong with his behavior. I mean, he’s toxic on a whole but he thinks he treats alec fine if I would guess. just like clary and Simon, as well as clary and Izzy. she does hurtful things to both but in her mind, she treats them well. these comparisons obviously aren’t all equal to each other- but point being, you never know what someone is going through and how their actions affect you. either because that person is a dick, shit at communicating, not paying attention, or some other reason. sorry for my rant!!!!!! (am I though?)

52. point being, so many treated Alec shitty in season one and I didn’t see much apologies or changed behavior towards Alec. MY BOY DID NOT DESERVE THAT

53. I haven’t noticed this in forever but apparently they have a Russian flag just hanging at the place Valentine is in???? На хую видеть 💀

54. Valentines actions will never make sense to me

55. “I hate downworlders but I’m going to inject my children with demon and angel blood so they can be the ultimate warriors” so you want them to be downworlders then? IM SORRY HIS ACTIONS DO NOT MAKE SENSE TO ME

56. “when I was trying to find my mom, I didn’t care about anything else”- clary. are we missing some development on clary because I don’t see it. like did she just magically change or something????? because she still seems pretty selfish to me. was she not the one two days ago that was trying to rummage around ragnors stuff when he had just died???? or having Simon have to go to Camille for the book of the white? like am I missing something lmao

57. Jace is like I already have this evil inside of me (we already knew you’re a dick, this isn’t news to us) and clary has to remind jace they’re related lmao

58. nothing like a good reminder that the girl you “love” is really your sister 💀 that’s some good old fashioned karma

59. why does jace have to be like stop thinking with your stele to Alec? so sue a man if he wants to see his boyfriend

60. how nice of Luke to use his wolves for his own agenda. not saying he can’t use them but he’s always telling them to do what HE WANTS but when it comes to keeping them safe, he’s like y’all are on your own bye

61. “the shadowhunters have no business interfering in the night children’s affairs”- tell clary off Raphael 🔥 I mean, they really don’t

62. Hodge: I was a prisoner. not agreeing with his choices but I understand in a way. I don’t agree with what he’s doing because putting the cup in valentines hands is asking for a war but I understand why he did it

63. BEAT HIS ASS HODGE! BEAT HIS ASS HODGE! BEAT HIS ASS HODGE! now y’all got me rooting for hodge lmao

64. why is jace’s facial expressions so weird?

65. it’s so extra lmao I don’t know if it’s because I can’t stand the character but it’s so cringe to me

66. “he’s a traitor, he deserves to pay.”- jace. at least when Alec was following claves orders, he wasn’t actively cutting off meliorns hand. (AGAIN NOT DEFENDING) and jace went out on his own

67. went from “Robert and Maryse raised me to my mother is Maryse to Robert and Maryse aren’t my parents” in short of 10 episodes. well, make up your mind jace. I get he’s going through a crisis or whatever but I can’t sympathize

68. I’m tired of seeing the “I’m going through something” trope so I can do or say whatever. like if you want to be a villain? wonderful! I could probably sympathize but when you go through that villain stage and you don’t adapt, grow, and use excuses. I’m not sorry but get out of here. and that’s all jace does. everyone is constantly fighting for him and saving his life and he’s like ahhhhhh I’m about to go do more reckless shit because I can

69. he’s just as bad as clary doing whatever he feels like while everyone else pays the consequences (mainly Alec)

70. RAPHAEL 🥰 (couldn’t find the gif but I love Raphael’s iconic lines)

71. Raphael and Camille are some of the characters I felt were also underutilized. I understand why they decided not to keep Camille around and Raphael at least gets his storylines but I wished to see more. I think the show could have turned things around and done more for the downworlders or featured them more. yes it’s called shadowhunters but show some growth for fucks sake

and Camille is super iconic and was in like four episodes

72. “Valentine really messed with his head. He went through a lot recently.”-alec. I guess he gets a pass?????

73. CAMILLE IS BACK

74. Simon: I beg your fucking pardon?

75. Camille: you’re such a predictable lot

76!!!!!!!!!! I’m going to forget that but part 4 coming soon!

I’m sorry this one was so long. Jace breathes and irritates me so I rant

[be-gay-do-heists]

hello yall :) the holy month of elul started last night, which is typically a time for contemplation, so since it is impossible for me to stop thinking about leverage, i decided to write an essay. hope anyone interested in reading it enjoys, and that it makes at least a little sense!! spoilers for leverage redemption

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Leverage, Judaism, and “Doing the Work”: An Essay for Elul

When it comes to Elul and the approaching High Holidays, Leverage might seem like an odd topic to meditate on.

The TNT crime drama that ran from 2008-2012, and which released a new season this summer following its renewal, centers on a group of found-family thieves who help the victims of corporations and oligarchs (sometimes based on real-world examples), using wacky heists and cons to bring down the rich and powerful. In one episode, the team’s clients want to reclaim their father’s prized Glimt piece that had been stolen in the Shoah and never returned, but aside from this and the throwaway lines and jokes standard for most mainstream television, there’s not a ton textually Jewish about Leverage. However, despite this, I have found that the show has strong resonance among Jewish fans, and lots of potential for analysis along Jewish themes. This tends to focus on one character in particular: the group’s brilliant, pop culture-savvy, and personable hacker, Alec Hardison, played by the phenomenally talented Aldis Hodge.

I can’t remember when or where I first encountered a reading of Hardison as Jewish, but not only is this a somewhat popular interpretation, it doesn’t feel like that much of a leap. In the show itself, Hardison has a couple of the aforementioned throwaway lines that potentially point to him being Jewish, even if they’re only in service of that moment’s grift. It’s hard to point to what exactly makes reading Hardison as Jewish feel so natural. My first guess is the easy way Hardison fits into the traditional paradigms of Jewish masculinity explored by scholars such as Daniel Boyarin (2). Most of the time, the hacker is not portrayed as athletic or physical; he is usually the foil to the team’s more physically-adept characters like fighter Eliot, or thief Parker. Indeed, Hardison’s strength is mental, expressed not only through his computer wizardry but his passions for science, technology, music, popular media, as well as his studious research into whatever scenario the group might come up against. In spite of his self-identification as a “geek,” Hardison is nevertheless confident, emotionally sensitive, and secure in his masculinity. I would argue he is representative of the traditional Jewish masculine ideal, originating in the rabbinic period and solidified in medieval Europe, of the dedicated and thoughtful scholar (3). Another reason for popular readings of Hardison as Jewish may be the desire for more representation of Jews of color. Although mainstream American Jewish institutions are beginning to recognize the incredible diversity of Jews in the United States (4), and popular figures such as Tiffany Haddish are amplifying the experiences of non-white Jews, it is still difficult to find Jews of color represented in popular media. For those eager to see this kind of representation, then, interpreting Hardison, a black man who places himself tangential to Jewishness, in this way is a tempting avenue.

Regardless, all of the above remains fan interpretation, and there was little in the text of the show that seriously tied Judaism into Hardison’s identity. At least, until we got this beautiful speech from Hardison in the very first episode of the renewed show, directed at the character of Harry Wilson, a former corporate lawyer looking to atone for the injustice he was partner to throughout his career:

“In the Jewish faith, repentance, redemption, is a process. You can’t make restitution and then promise to change. You have to change first. Do the work, Harry. Then and only then can you begin to ask for forgiveness. [...] So this… this isn’t the win. It’s the start, Harry.”

I was floored to hear this speech, and thrilled that it explained the reboot’s title, Leverage: Redemption. Although not mentioned by its Hebrew name, teshuvah forms the whole basis for the new season. Teshuvah is the concept of repentance or atonement for the sins one has committed. Stemming from the root shuv/shuva, it carries the literal sense of “return.” In a spiritual context, this usually means a return to G-d, of finding one’s way back to holiness and by extension good favor in the eyes of the Divine. But equally important is restoring one’s relationships with fellow humans by repairing any hurt one has caused over the past year. This is of special significance in the holy month of Elul, leading into Rosh haShanah, the Yamim Noraim, and Yom Kippur, but one can undertake a journey of redemption at any point in time. That teshuvah is a journey is a vital message for Harry to hear; one job, one reparative act isn’t enough to overturn years of being on the wrong side of justice, to his chagrin. As the season progresses, we get to watch his path of teshuvah unfold, with all its frustrations and consequences. Harry grows into his role as a fixer, not only someone who can find jobs and marks for the team, but fixes what he has broken or harmed.

So why was Hardison the one to make this speech?

I do maintain that it does provide a stronger textual basis for reading Hardison as Jewish by implication (though the brief on-screen explanation for why he knows about teshuvah, that his foster-parent Nana raised a multi-faith household, is important in its own merit, and meshes well with his character traits of empathy and understanding for diverse experiences). However, beyond this, Hardison isn’t exactly an archetypical model for teshuvah. In the original series, he was the youngest character of the main ensemble, a hacking prodigy in the start of his adult career, with few mistakes or slights against others under his belt. In one flashback we see that his possibly first crime was stealing from the Bank of Iceland to pay off his Nana’s medical bills, and that his other early hacking exploits were in the service of fulfilling personal desires, with only those who could afford to pay the bill as targets. Indeed, in the middle of his speech, Hardison points to Eliot, the character with the most violent and gritty past who views his work with the Leverage team as atonement, for a prime example of ongoing teshuvah. So while no one is perfect and everyone has a reason for doing teshuvah, this question of why Hardison is the one to give this series-defining speech inspired me to look at his character choices and behavior, and see how they resonate with a different but interrelated Jewish principle, that of tikkun olam. 

Tikkun olam is literally translated as “repairing the world,” and can take many different forms, such as protecting the rights of vulnerable people in society, or giving tzedakah (5). In modern times, tikkun olam is often the rallying cry for Jewish social activists, particularly among environmentalists for whom literally restoring the health of the natural world is the key goal. Teshuvah and tikkun olam are intertwined (the former is the latter performed at an interpersonal level) and both hold a sense of fixing or repairing, but tikkun olam really revolves around a person feeling called to address an injustice that they may have not had a personal hand in creating. Hardison’s sense of a universal scale of justice which he has the power to help right on a global level and his newfound drive to do humanitarian work, picked up sometime after the end of the original series, make tikkun olam a central value for his character. This is why we get this nice bit of dialogue from Eliot to Hardison in the second episode of the reboot, when the latter’s outside efforts to organize international aid start distracting him from his work with the team: “Is [humanitarian work] a side gig? In our line of work, you’re one of the best. But in that line of work… you’re the only one, man.” The character who most exemplifies teshuvah reminds Hardison of his amazing ability to effect change for the better on a huge stage, to do some effective tikkun olam. It’s this acknowledgement of where Hardison can do the most good that prompts the character’s absence for the remainder of the episodes released thus far, turning his side gig into his main gig.

With this in mind, it will be interesting to see where Hardison’s arc for this season goes. Separated from the rest of the team, the hacker still has remarkable power to change the world, because it is, after all, the “age of the geek.” However, he is still one person. For all that both teshuvah and tikkun olam are individual responsibilities and require individual decision-making and effort, the latter especially relies on collective work to actually make things happen. Hardison leaving is better than trying to do humanitarian work and Leverage at the same time, but there’s only so long he can be the “only one” in the field before burning out. I’m reminded of one of the most famous (for good reason) maxims in Judaism:

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to neglect it. (6)

Elul is traditionally a time for introspection and heeding the calls to repentance. After a year where it’s never been easier to feel powerless and drained by everything going on around us, I think it’s worth taking the time to examine what kind of work we are capable of in our own lives. Maybe it’s fixing the very recent and tangible hurts we’ve left behind, like Harry. Maybe it’s the little changes for the better that we make every day, motivated by our sense of responsibility, like Eliot. And maybe it’s the grueling challenge of major social change, like Hardison. And if any of this work gets too much, who can we fall back on for support and healing? Determining what needs repair, working on our own scale and where our efforts are most helpful, and thereby contributing to justice in realistic ways means that we can start the new year fresh, having contemplated in holiday fashion how we can be better agents in the world.

Shana tovah u’metukah and ketivah tovah to all (7), and may the work we do in the coming year be for good!

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(1) Disclaimer: everybody’s fandom experiences are different, and this is just what I’ve picked up on in my short time watching and enjoying this show with others.

(2) See, for example, the introduction and first chapter of Boyarin’s book Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man (I especially recommend at least this portion if you are interested in queer theory and Judaic studies). There he explores the development of Jewish masculinity in direct opposition to Christian masculine standards.

(3) I might even go so far as to place Hardison well within the Jewish masculine ideal of Edelkayt, gentle and studious nobility (although I would hesitate to call him timid, another trait associated with Edelkayt). Boyarin explains that this scholarly, non-athletic model of man did not carry negative associations in the historical Jewish mindset, but was rather the height of attractiveness (Boyarin, 2, 51).

(4) Jews of color make up 20% of American Jews, according to statistics from Be’chol Lashon, and this number is projected to increase as American demographics continue to change: https://globaljews.org/about/mission/. 

(5) Tzedakah is commonly known as righteous charity. According to traditional authority Maimonides, it should be given anonymously and without embarrassment to the person in need, generous, and designed to help the recipient become self-sufficient.

(6) Rabbi Tarfon, Pirkei Avot, 2:16

(7) “A good and sweet year” and “a good inscription [in the Book of Life]”

[punishandenslavesuckers]

Look. You will have my undying love and gratitude if you ever wrote anything ever about trans!Magnus. Because there is just not enough of it in this fandom and you're literally my fave writer here

Like literally anything. Small oneshot? Sure. Whatever. Incorporated into something else? Yeah, okay. Just anything. I’m desperate. Your writing is amazing and i hunger for any trans!Magnus content ever. (Side note: if you can’t/won’t it’s totally cool I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask and/or beg. Sorry!)

I GOT YOU FRIEND. TRANS!MAGNUS FIC. MALEC DEALS WITH A MOMENT OF DYSPHORIA BROUGHT ON BY THE WEIRD COMPLEXITIES OF MAGIC INTERFACING WITH IDENTITY:

Magnus gets into more fights than most High Warlocks.

This is one of the first things Alec learns about as he navigates the strange political and social topography of dating Magnus Bane. Among the roulette wheel of immortal faces that stand out in the Clave’s vast library of historical operators, Magnus Bane looms large. His fingerprints are everywhere now that Alec cares to look it – in their rune deployment tech, the portal system layout, the ward structures, and magic defense batteries young shadowhunters take into the field.

There’s a lot that Magnus has influenced. Henry Branwell saw to that – tying a warlock to the beating heart of the New York Institute in a way that horrified and enraged leadership back in the day.

“Brave man,” Magnus said about Henry Branwell. “There were days back then he had to bar to the door to our workroom because his colleagues wanted to come in and throw me out. One time, they were trying to kick the door down. He had to literally fistfight them in the hallway.”

“Really?

Magnus shrugged.

“That’s just how it was. It was one thing to call on warlocks in the field, it was another to really work with one. Henry was adamant that I complete my work. He kept saying, Magnus, they can’t kill you if you finish installing the ward system. They’ll be too scared that you’ll blow the place up.”

And then he laughed.

Alec Lightwood knows a lot of things about Magnus Bane.

He knows that Magnus taught shadowhunter trainees for a brief period through the eighties and nineties. He knows they pay him an average of three point five million a year to maintain the New York wards systems and the fee structure for custom portal work. He knows Magnus has fifteen recorded shadowhunter kills on file, all pre-dating the Accords or committed during the Uprising. All charges pardoned in light of circumstance. On record he said, at his court date, “Yeah, thanks.”

He knows they paid him a pittance in reparations in the nineteen twenties for the millions of dollars in property taken from him over the centuries and Alec knows Magnus Bane was one of the only warlocks ever paid a reparation amount.

Other things Alec knows:

He hates the smell of oranges. He’s ambidextrous. He’s won three national Lindy-Hop competitions under various aliases. He lies constantly about his age. He uses magic to style his hair and make-up, but when he’s stressed out, will do it by hand. He smells a little like ion when he uses magic and covers that with cosmetic charms and cologne. He can punch a hole in a brick wall without the aid of magic, but it will break all the bones in his knuckles to do it. He loses control of his aesthetic magic when he’s flustered. He likes it when Alec pushes him around a little. He chose the name Magnus Bane.

He has another name, but he’ll never tell Alec what it was.

“Why?”

“It’s dangerous and it’s not my name.”

“Oh.” A pause. “What do you mean?”

And Magnus explained it and that was that. 

It’s ridiculous how fast a good night can go bad. 

Magnus and Alec have a drink at a warlock-run dive bar in the Upper West Side where Magnus has a few too many gin and tonics, orders two hot fudge sundaes, and ties a cherry stem with his tongue just to show off. Then he gets in a fight with a towering warlock in town in Ireland about some ancient disagreement from the 17thcentury. Alec, as usual, isn’t sure if he should be interceding on Magnus’ behalf or not and so he kind of lurks in the backdrop of the argument, listening, waiting…

Right up until the guy from Ireland says, loudly, “Damn your dark eyes, you shifty fucker!”

And then he hits Magnus in the chest with a palmful of magic and knocks him spine-first into the bar. He hits the counter hard, the air knocked out of his lungs, body crackling with arcane lightning. He makes a choked, kind of panicked noise, his entire face screwing up until he’s unrecognizable in agony and –

Alec’s across the room, instantly.

There are five runes that activate automatically when his adrenaline spikes: haste, stamina, strength, and clarity. So the Irish warlock doesn’t see Alec coming until he brings an entire chair down across his back with full, devastating nephlim strength. Floors him cold in a that single blow. Then the world catches up to him and the whole bar is full of screaming. Alec tosses the chair aside and moves to Magnus, who’s still fetched up against the counter, clutching his chest, hanging there like his legs can’t take the weight.

“Magnus? Magnus, are you okay?”

He shakes his head. His fist is closed in the fabric of his jacket. He can’t seem to breath.

Other patrons are out of their seats, coming to check on the commotion. He can hear them muttering ‘shadowhunter’ and ‘nephlim’ and ‘what happened?’ and becomes very aware he’s the only shadowhunter in a bar full of warlocks. Magnus hooks an arm around the back of his neck, hanging his weight of Alec’s shoulders and then his mouth is against Alec’s ear, breathing static against his skin. That’s strange, Alec could have sworn Magnus had five o’clock shadow when they were kissing before but his cheek is clean shaven. What–?

“Get me out of here,” Magnus rasps. His voice sounds odd.

Alec happily obliges.

They’re in the street seconds later, Alec one-man walk assisting Magnus for a full block until the warlock gets his legs under him again. He keeps his arm around Alec, leaning on him for another few blocks before his breathing normalizes again. Is strange. Alec’s hyper-focused, the world jumping at him in pieces – the model and license plates of passing cars, the menu in a dinner window, the fact Magnus seems… lighter for a full block. That his wrist seems thinner in Alec’s grip, or his sports jacket a little too baggy.

He glances at Magnus, but he’s got his face pressed against his shoulder, so Alec can’t see his eyes or his features. He seems like he’s doing it on purpose but Alec’s worried. Magnus has magic on him still, crackling at his fingertips, in his hair.

“Magnus, what did he hit you with?”

“Cheap shot,” Magnus croaks. Again, his voice sounds wrong. “I’m okay. Give me a second.”

“Magnus. Here, let me—” He starts to reach for Magnus’ waist, his palm fitting to his ribs and sliding down to maybe grab his belt or –

“Stop! Don’t!”

Alec stops. He takes his hand back up to Magnus’ shoulder. Okay, there’s really something wrong with his voice. He doesn’t even sound like himself.

“Just… just keep walking. It’ll fade. Just…”

“Okay. Okay, I’ve got you.”

By the time they get to the end of the block, his runes are starting to disengage and Magnus’ weight feels normal again against his ribs. Magnus is shaking a little. Adrenaline shivers. He pulls away from Alec and scrubs two hands over his face, turning away from him and walking away, shoulders hunched. Alec watches him, wary, letting his boyfriend shake off whatever curse it was that other warlock hit him with. Magnus shakes his head, shakes his hands out, pats down his chest and stomach.

“Okay,” he says. “Okay, okay.”

He turns back to Alec.

His eyes are gold fading into brown.

“Sorry. I wasn’t in danger. That just threw me. I’m okay.”

“You’re okay?” Alec says, not moving, not sure if he’s allowed.

“I’m okay.” Magnus extends two hands, beckoning him back. “Sorry I snapped.”

Alec moves forward, fitting his hand to Magnus’ neck and he runs his thumb along his jaw which is…yes, just a little rough under the pad of his finger. Alec studies him closely. Magnus looks like himself in the glow of the street lights and storefronts – dark, focused eyes staring calmly up at him from the ageless architecture of his face. Alec, uncertain suddenly, tentatively runs his fingers along the sharp crest of his cheekbone, following the zygomatic arch around his eye, his thumb brushing Magnus’ lips.

“I thought… for a second…?”

Magnus reaches up, gently takes his hand and squeezes it.

“Raleigh hit me with a kind of transfiguration spell.” He says this quietly, his voice rough in his throat. Familiar now, just as Alec knows it. Magnus sighs. “I think he meant to rip my cosmetic glamore off, but he’s always been stronger than he knows how to control. Particularly drunk. His magic tends to… follow the spirit of the intention rather that the letter of the spell.”

“What did he mean to do?” Alec says softly.

“Expose me, I think. But when you’re drunk, that tends to amplify an intent.” Magnus clears his throat, wiping the back of his hand across his face. “His spell hit like a hex, so I wasn’t myself for a moment there.”

“You wanna talk about it?

Magnus hesitates. “I told you about… I haven’t always been…” He trails away. He looks uncomfortable. “You know. Like this.”

“What does that have to do with –?” Alec stops.

Oh.

Magnus looks… wow, terrified. Pale. Like he’s a little sick to the stomach.

Alec swallows. Quickly calculates. He’s not sure what’s the right thing here. Maybe there is no right but… he cups the warlock’s face in his hands and smiles down at him.

“Well, like you said: you weren’t yourself. Glad to have this face back.”

He leans down, slowly, just to gauge Magnus’ expression and when he sees a kind of hopeful longing, he catches the warlock’s lips against his and kisses him. Kisses him harder. Pulling him close. He waits until Magnus kisses him back, opening is mouth against Alec so he can lean into that tempting press of tongue. And then he’s backing Magnus up against a wall between a bike shop and a café. Not because he’s so desperate for it, but so he can press his body against the familiar lines of Magnus’ legs, hips, and torso. Outline him in pressure and friction, map it out for him. Make it real. Alec drags his hands down Magnus’ chest, under his jacket, over his ribs, digging his fingers into muscle and counting out every rib.

“You good?” Alec mumurs. “You with me?”

Magnus has his arms around Alec’s neck, breathing slowly against his neck.

“Yeah.”

“See. You’re right here.” He presses Magnus against the wall, lines his hips up with Magnus, holding him there. “Feel that?”

Magnus laughs. “Yes.”

Alec kisses him, his mouth, his jaw, the arch of his adam’s apple, down along his collar bone. He keeps his hand over Magnus’ heart, his palm spread over the hard plane of his right pectoral, pressing heat there. He can feel his heart beating against his ribs. Feel every breath in his lungs rising and falling.

“I love this face,” Alec whispers. “I love you. Okay, Magnus Bane? This is you, right here.”

Magnus holds onto him. “How do you know the right things to say?”

“I don’t. I’m just guessing. Let’s get out of here and get ice cream.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

Alec takes Magnus by the hand and they step off the curb into the night.

[aion-rsa]

John Lewis: Good Trouble – Documentary Spurs Viewers to Action

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Congressman John Lewis is one the central figures in the early struggles of the American Civil Rights Movement that included bloody confrontations with white policemen, sit-ins, boycotts, widespread lynching of Black people, assassinations of prominent leaders, and culminating with marches in Selma, AL, and Washington, D.C. Lewis is now the subject of John Lewis: Good Trouble, a comprehensive new documentary directed by Dawn Porter.

John Lewis: Good Trouble is an alternately impressive, shocking, enraging, and motivating film that calls on everyone to do better in life.  John Lewis is a legend, an icon, and an American pioneer. The combination of historical footage, interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, and trailing Mr. Lewis is a great balance over the span of the film. The film triggered suppressed feelings that welled up in me as a Black man who was raised in segregated Houston, who traveled across town under the cover of dawn to a predominately white magnet school where I first experienced passive-aggressive racism. America is still dealing with white supremacy, oppression, police brutality, and police murders of yore.

Regardless of political affiliation, sensible viewers will hopefully broaden their local and national view after watching the Good Trouble documentary which could compel its audience to explore real world solutions on how and where they can make a difference socially and politically.

The subtle and obvious dare inherent in Good Trouble is taking the baton for the next leg of the race that our Black forefathers and mothers began years ago. Will you dare take up the mantle for new leadership? How does one peacefully protest and remain alive? How does one practice nonviolence and not become enraged? Watch the film and cobble together answers for yourself.

We spoke with Erika Alexander, actress and producer, most notably for her roles on Living Single and Black Lightning, about producing John Lewis: Good Trouble, the living legacy of Congressman Lewis, and how Americans must acknowledge the country’s painful  history and discover ways to get into their own brand of trouble to ensure equality for all.

 Den of Geek: What drew you to the documentary?

Erika Alexander: I have been inside of politics as a surrogate since 2007. I’m Hillary Clinton’s most traveled surrogate, and I got to campaign in Georgia with Congressman Lewis, Stacey Abrams, and Ayanna Pressley in 2016, because I stayed her surrogate throughout her first and second run. Together, all of us went around Georgia to campaign, but we also got a chance to see how Congressman Lewis does it. It was truly a masterclass. At the time, I had no idea that Stacey Abrams and Ayanna Pressley would come to the national fore as they did, but we all knew who John Lewis was.

So the fact that we were able to work with him in that way, and also eventually, got to know people in his office, specifically Rachelle O’Neil, the constituent services representative, and we became friends. She was my conduit to the congressman for the film. Another friend introduced me and my partner, Ben Arnon, to Dawn Porter and her producing partner, Laura Michalchyshyn, who just happened to be making a movie about John Lewis. And so we decided to partner together to make one and that’s John Lewis: Good Trouble.       

Were you around during the filming, editing, or post production for the documentary?

I was around for the filming. Not a lot of filming that went to Georgia. Not Georgia, but you know, like to [Lewis’] home and things like that. But especially in DC, New York, and those places, because the people we asked to participate from Hillary to President Clinton, to Ayanna, to Sheila Jackson Lee, those are all my friends. 

And by the way, [Lewis] would need me to make the introduction. The truth is they needed somebody who they trusted in order to feel like they were being handled by a group of professionals. I was able to facilitate all of those interviews. That’s no small thing in documentary terms.

Do you think of the congressman as a hero, an icon, or a legacy?

He’s all of those, and he’s earned it the hard way. I mean, we all talk about good trouble and being a moniker and the icon status, but the truth is he’s committed his life to the fight for Civil Rights and justice for all, and he did it armed with just the courage of his convictions and inviting philosophy of nonviolence and peaceful protest. He calls it his work for the beloved community, and that’s what Martin Luther King and others were fighting for. 

But he was trained in this. Dawn loves to say that this didn’t happen by happenstance. He’s not just brave. He was trained. They approached it from an intellectual point of view. James Lawson taught him about nonviolence. The idea of nonviolence as a weapon was a methodology. He is a political genius, and so we honor him in that way.

Have you always wanted to be a producer?

(laughs) Yes. I just didn’t know it. Now, here’s the thing. I’ve been in Hollywood for 37  years. And the thing that you find out is that the people who have more power than the actors are the writers, creators, and producers. Directors at some point, but they need those other people in order to do their job. So I knew I wanted to be a producer. I just knew I wanted to write and be more in charge of my own destiny.

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There were very few options for a person of color, especially a Black woman in 1984, when I got my first SAG card until now. When I first entered the scene, there was no Viola Davis, Nia Long, or Jada Pinkett-Smith, but there was Cicely Tyson and Lorraine Toussaint. 

I like to say that I saw that producing would be the best advantage I had to creating more opportunity for myself. Turns out that as I got to be older and saw that there were much more systemic challenges inside of the paradigm that I had to find a way to be a producer in order to create the pathway to do the things that I wanted to do.

That sounds like a political statement, or a political stance. What lessons have you learned from John Lewis’ life? Are you saying to enact change you had to embrace politics?

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I think that we all bring ourselves to our projects. My father was an itinerant preacher, and my mother was a teacher. Both my parents were orphans. They always had to create and make their way. I think I saw very quickly that the society, the social contract that we all make with each other, can be a one-way street a lot of times. You want to create a two-lane highway on the gravel road. That means you need to bring some cement, you know? (laughs)

That’s power when you start to build things. And I got to give y’all props, writers, journalists, media people, because the thing that focuses us are the stories we tell. When we start to bring that power to change the narrative that has been told about us, the lie all these years, we can stop the George Floyds from being executed in broad daylight.

Do you believe the documentary will change opinions, open minds, for those who still haven’t accepted the importance of civil and voting rights?

I hope so. I think the mindset wants to change, or is looking for a little opening, or a reason why. It’d be up to them. 

There’s some people that are hard of hearing, and then there are those who are hard of thinking. They don’t know how to have discernment. They just know that they feel like they’re being attacked and they like that narrative. So they’re not willing to let others in, however for people who are ready for change, it will find them.

One thing that struck me, the parallels from his early years to what’s happening right now.

Amazing. Right?

America hasn’t learned after 450-plus years. Contrasting voices and viewpoints have emerged since the start of the Civil Rights Movement. One of many topics lately is how to be an antiracist among the different schools of thought. Black people aren’t a monolith, however, we need a united voice, which we still don’t have.

Well, the old folks said there was nothing new under the sun. We are always fighting the same things, and having the same conversations. If you look at some of the philosophers and things they talked about, it’s why it resonates with us because it’s what we’re going through now. 

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I can’t guarantee what the future would be, but I know I can be better. That’s what I need. So if I’ll be better and everyone else thinks they can be better, whether it’s around civil rights, environment, civil justice, social justice, immediate sort of restitution and reparation. That means that you’re creating a better world in real time. It’s not because anything’s changed. It’s because we’ve changed that things change. Oh, that’s some deep shit! (laughs)

One of the many quotes that stuck out to me is when he says, “When you lose the sense of fear, you are free.”

That’s real.

If we’re using that as a basis, there are too many of us who are afraid.

Yes. For all sorts of reasons, afraid to lose, afraid to lose what we have, afraid that the sacrifice would be too good, afraid that it doesn’t matter anyway. We tried. Afraid that somebody’s going to take what you have. If you can cage children at the border thinking they got something you want, then you are terrified of the future and the future isn’t in their stars. It’s in yours. Who you are right now makes their future more certain that your future in your current state of your status is assured and more importantly elevated. So I don’t know. Yeah, you’re right.

I recently confided in a friend that I think I’m in mourning.

Mourning. Wow.

We all make plans, and those I might’ve had in February didn’t come to fruition. I think we’re all in a long mourning process, and will be for the foreseeable future.

That’s just it, we’re looking in the wrong direction. Our direction is where John Lewis is looking and where MLK, Malcolm, Baldwin, Maya, and Fannie Lou Hamer were looking. They look toward a future that wasn’t presented to them. They looked at one that they made, the one behind their eyes. There’s no reason for Black people to stand around talking about hope when what they see in the real world serves them less than anyone on this planet.

But that’s what makes us so miraculous is that we have been sort of pulled into a real dark struggle. It’s worthy of Lord of the Rings. We are Frodo going across to Mordor. You hear me? Toss that rock into the fiery hell it came from, and each person who gets that ring thinks they have power. 

We can replace even white power with a different set of power. It’d be the same thing we’re fighting. We just got to keep knowing that Middle Earth, it’s not just a journey and a destination. It’s what each person has to do. It’s their leg of the race. So this is our leg.

I agree. Are we more determined to vote with the way things are in the world now?

I don’t know. Freud talked about a death instinct that people have. An instinct to want to tear things down when things are going well. Think about the Obama years and how he got the country back, and everybody thought there was a new energy with his black face and his very sort of “aaaah” new thing (gestures razzle-dazzle showman’s hands). And then they tore it down.

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Here’s the other thing they could tear down, even inside a pandemic. They could look at this and say, fuck it. Let’s all go in on this. And I’m not voting for this and I’m not voting for that. We are just going to go hard. What they don’t understand is that they ceded their right to have the conversation. Whoever’s in control that shows up to vote, they get it. They didn’t understand that, otherwise they would have been in local politics and wouldn’t be so up about who was president. 

If you don’t care about who’s running your neighborhood, you don’t give a damn about who’s at the top. I’ll see. We’ll see. I think people are frightened, but you wouldn’t be surprised to know that fear runs concurrently against hope.

That’s why his quote stuck out. We’ve moved into the realm of white fragility, books, and how to not to offend people of color.

It has to be taught, because one of the things about racism we know is that in his book, Baldwin said, it’s an illness, it’s passed on to people and they don’t even have the vocabulary. The fact that they want to talk about how they might have an issue, and that it’s inherent inside of how they’ve learned things. They need to look and say, “wait a minute, I might just be totally fucked up.” Yes, you are. If you start from there and you relearn things, then suddenly we can have a conversation again that benefits them more than it benefits us.

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