#if voting is strategic not emotional than we should be treating it as something strategic and not emotional when we seek out votes | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

revlyncox · 4 years ago

Text

Democracy Is Not a State

Delivered to the Washington Ethical Society on January 10, 2021, by Lyn Cox

Congressman John Lewis reminds us what is possible when we join together, combining our collective action and sense of purpose to keep our country grounded in our best and highest ideals. His final instructions to us were to “walk with the wind,” to stay together and respond to the movement of our time in the spirit of peace and with the power of love.

That is what is happening in Georgia. This past week, we learned that Georgia will have two new Senators. The Rev. Raphael Warnock will be the first Black Senator from the state, of which about a third of the population is Black. The congregation Rev. Warnock leads, Ebenezer Baptist Church, is the former pulpit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is also a congregation that Rep. Lewis attended. Jon Ossoff will be the first Jewish Senator from Georgia. Ossoff interned for Rep. John Lewis as a young man, after having written him a fan letter when Ossoff was 16 years old. Relationships built over years make a difference.

Regardless of political party, we can agree that democracy depends on the ability of citizens to exercise their right to vote. True democracy rests on free and fair elections, in which obstacles to the right to vote are not placed unfairly and disproportionately in front of voters from marginalized communities. The runoff election in Georgia was historic, not only because of the outcome, but because of the momentous turnout. Overcoming voter suppression was a major task, and one that grassroots organizations in Georgia have been working on for years. Multiracial democracy is a threat to white supremacy, and white supremacy has been trying to prevent the full flowering of multiracial democracy from the beginning.

Yet there is progress. Between 2018 and the November election, 800,000 new people registered to vote in Georgia. Registering and mobilizing new voters is the big story of this election, and that was achieved one conversation at a time, one knocked-on door at a time, one phone call at a time, one relationship at a time. Stacey Abrams is a strategic genius and a focused advocate, having started the New Georgia Project seven years ago and Fair Fight two years ago.

Abrams will be the first to tell you that a wide variety of leaders and grassroots organizations share the credit for voter turnout in this election. For instance, LaTosha Brown has been fighting voter suppression since 1998, and her Black Voters Matter project helped mobilize voters across the South. In a series of tweets on Friday, Abrams named 30 different grassroots organizations that coordinated their efforts to help Georgians exercise their right to vote, noting that the runoff election was a demonstration of “decades of strategy, grit, + building.”

Between Rep. Lewis’ reminder about clasping hands and moving together, and the turnout in Georgia’s runoff election, our takeaway should not be limited to admiration for the most visible leaders, candidates, and public officials. We can and should admire their good character traits and their dedication to service. We can and should thank the movement leaders who made this possible, especially Black women. But we should not elevate these officials and movement leaders to the point where we regard them as something other than human, an example too rarified for us to follow.

The lesson here is that organizing is happening all around us. Coordinated solidarity to enact structural change for liberation is part of how we help bring the full promise of multiracial democracy into being. There may well be someone like Stacey Abrams in the movements you are part of at your workplace or in your neighborhood. Let’s listen. There are definitely organizations in our own communities being led by the people who are most impacted by marginalization. We can follow the example that has been set out for us by supporting power-building and relationship-building that is already happening locally. Grassroots organizing takes a long time. It requires a lot of one-on-one conversations, very little in the way of immediate results, and broad participation. That path is available to any of us, nobody has to be a superstar to participate in repairing the soul of our nation.

We contrast the progress in building multiracial democracy in Georgia with the violent attempt to destroy multiracial democracy that happened on January 6. Because this Platform is being recorded for posterity, I feel that I have to be very clear about the events of this week; please take care of yourself if a reminder of these events is overwhelming for you. On Wednesday, at the urging of their demagogue, white supremacist insurrectionists invaded the Capitol building, threatened the safety of elected leaders and staff, looted the building, and left chaos in their wake for others to clean up, primarily janitors and facilities staff who are People of Color. They were not merely rascals ignoring the rules of orderly protest, they were an armed mob seeking to disrupt the practice of democracy. Computers were stolen, putting our national security at risk. Five people died, including an officer from the Capitol Police.

In our community, I know we are holding intense emotions about this incident. I am particularly mindful of the impact that this has on those who work for the Federal government, for whom the area around the Capitol is an everyday environment, a place full of memories and colleagues. My heart also goes out to those who live near the Capitol, who had to deal with armed white supremacists wandering the neighborhood unimpeded. To anyone who has ever been treated roughly by the Capitol Police for non-violently exercising their first amendment rights, the lack of resistance to the mob may not have been surprising, but it was yet another insult, a reminder that the level of force with which police respond to protestors is a choice. For People of Color, Queer people, Muslim people, Jewish people, immigrants, or anyone who holds an identity targeted for violence by these insurrectionists, Wednesday’s events were a chilling show of power that was precisely intended to make us feel afraid for existing as our whole selves. We cannot let that fear stop us from living fully, nor prevent us from persevering in the work of liberation.

On Wednesday night, I invited the WES community to gather by Zoom to process the day’s events, to overcome the numbness of trauma by feeling our feelings, and to lift up our shared values in a way that only a community like ours can do. It was short notice, and I apologize if you didn’t hear about it in time. Please reach out if you would like to talk to me or to a member of the Pastoral Care Associates about how you are feeling. More than twenty of you were able to attend. Just from that sample, I know that there are feelings of rage, worry, disgust, helplessness, disappointment, and confusion. There are also feelings of readiness, of curiosity about what to do next, relief about the Georgia election, and even optimism that there are long-deferred actions for repair that can take place with the new Congress. Emotions are what they are, and they will be affected by your previous experiences with oppression, trauma, and violence. Feel your feelings. Please know you don’t have to be in those feelings alone.

The violence on January 6 was designed to reinforce white supremacy. It was a reaction to the expansion of multiracial democracy, fed by the shock of racist white people that the votes of people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color were allowed to have an impact. White people have been told since the moment Europeans arrived on this continent that the land and its abundance and the benefits of government are for ourselves, that white people own this country, and that this is unassailable no matter what happens to the bodies, voices, and lives of those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. This worldview is gravely harmful and wrong.

The incredulity with which the insurrectionists faced the results of the 2020 election, urged on by politicians who capitalize on their racism, is rooted in the belief that only white votes are legitimate. Their invasion of the People’s House was meant to mark their territory, to show that their ownership remains primary, and that they can and will use violence to maintain that ownership. White supremacist violence as an attempt to derail multiracial democracy is not new, and it has worked before. We all have choices ahead of us to reduce the chances that this tactic will continue to work.

One avenue is to confront and dismantle white supremacy in all of the ways it shows up around us. For those who have been the targets of racism their whole lives, simply living and thriving is an act of resistance. For those of us who were socialized as white, the construction of a wall of ignorance around the machinations of white supremacy is part of how the system operates. For those of us who were raised with barriers to perceiving racism, let’s not wait another moment before removing those barriers and taking action to uproot racism.

We saw again this week how deadly white supremacy can be. It shows up in the minds and hearts of well-meaning people and in the institutional practices of well-meaning communities. It shows up in the decisions of governments from the level of homeowners associations to the U.S. Congress. It shows up in art and music and literature. We don’t have to look far to find a place to begin uprooting racism. For all of us, the outpouring of voter empowerment in Georgia reminds us that there is room for everyone in expanding multiracial democracy.

Another thing we can do is to insist that the threat of violent white supremacy is real, and that we should take it seriously. Perhaps that seems obvious after this week, but we’re already seeing efforts to humanize, sanitize, and excuse the perpetrators of destruction. News articles about insurrectionists who died emphasize their good qualities or accomplishments instead of their criminal records; an obvious departure from the media treatment of racial justice activists and those who have been murdered by police. Jokes about the perpetrators seem to imply that they are too stupid to be held responsible. Calls to understand their pain and excuse their racism rely on stereotypes that are demonstrably untrue. Exhortations to “move on” without practicing accountability reinforce the idea that harm caused by white people should be consequence-free. White supremacy is and always has been a threat to our national security and our national wellbeing, and the sooner we recognize and address that, the better.

Failing to take white supremacy seriously contributed to our vulnerability to Wednesday’s events. Racist militia groups have been allowed to grow and thrive for years when anti-racist groups have been infiltrated, sabotaged, and undermined with outrageous punishments and mysterious deaths. After the Charlottesville event where Heather Heyer was murdered, nothing happened to reduce the potential for future right-wing violence. The Capitol Police knew that the crowds planned for Wednesday were likely to be dangerous. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said:

We all were aware of the danger. Ten days ago, Maxine Waters had raised the issue of our security on a caucus call to the Speaker and asked what the plans would be. And 48 hours before, we had gotten instructions from Capitol police about all the threats: that we had to be on high alert, that we had to get to the Capitol by 9 a.m. before the protesters, that we couldn’t plan on going out, that we should have overnight bags. It was very clear, and everyone understood what the threats were.

Rep. Jayapal points out the discrepancy between what the Members of Congress were told about impending events and how the Capitol Police were prepared on the outside of the building. Whether failing to have adequate staff or backup or hard barriers was a result of underestimating the threat or of deliberate collusion or both, the lack of preparedness is a product of white supremacy.

When we recognize the enormity of the problem, we are led to work on systemic solutions. That means examining laws and policies, and the uneven application of those laws and policies. At a Symposium yesterday, award-winning peacemaker and spiritual care activist Najeeba Syeed spoke about the “myth of interpersonal peacemaking,” and how it can be a distraction and derailment of the systemic justice-making that provides the foundation for authentic, lasting peace. Trying to understand and relate to Nazis does not yield systemic change. Attempting to de-radicalize loved ones is another project, not the same thing as building multiracial democracy or expanding liberation. Professor Syeed reminded us that “Peace is not the absence of violence … Peace is the absence of injustice.”

In a week with so many low points, even as we notice the high points, it is understandable to feel disoriented. I have said before that hope is doing the next right thing, working toward a better world even when the outcome is not assured or even clear. Yet if your sense of reality was turned upside down this week, or you were overwhelmed with an experience or a reminder of trauma, maybe the next right thing is especially elusive right now. In that case, the next right thing is to take care of yourself. Drink water. Eat nourishing food. Maybe go outside at some point during the day. Talk to people who care about you. The movement will still be there when you have regained a sense of the ground underneath you. You are a precious being of worth.

Another next right thing is to check up on each other. Remember your federal employee friends. Follow up on a Caring News email. If you’re reaching out to someone who might be having a hard time, you might ask, “Is it OK if I ask how you are?” Let’s try not to make people feel obligated to re-live negative experiences if they aren’t ready. Just being present is often helpful. Even if we can’t fix anything, we can give people the option not to be alone in their grief.

If you have a little more energy and want to channel your feelings into positive actions, consider something that will have a material impact on your local community. R was telling me about Mutual Aid in Washington, DC, especially in Ward 5. For information about Mutual Aid throughout the District, check the website for Bread for the City or find them on Facebook. I also checked in with D, who is involved with Silver Spring/Takoma Park Mutual Aid. You can find them on their Wordpress site or on Facebook. If you’re involved in Mutual Aid, feel free to mention it during Community Sharing or post in the Facebook group later.

R tells me: “Mutual Aid is a non-hierarchical way for neighbors to help neighbors. Anyone can ask for any kind of assistance, and anyone can offer to help. Some roles require some training and learning codes of ethics/responsible service. It's not a particularly ‘formal’ or ‘organized’ thing - it's all hands on deck, and everyone is just doing their best.” R went on to say that there are short-term and long term roles, and those who are able can donate any time.

If you’re wondering what this has to do with dismantling white supremacy, building relationships with your neighbors both is and is not about a larger goal. Building relationships with neighbors is a primary good; it’s something that is valuable and satisfying to do for its own sake. Similarly, offering care when you can and giving people a chance to practice care when you need it are both good, full stop. Neighbors helping neighbors is a form of resistance to oppressive structures.

In addition, neighbors who have strong bonds with each other are in a better position to advocate for their communities. If you and your neighbors are working to overcome environmental racism where you live, or redirect funding to basic human services, or update policies in the local school that have a negative impact on students of color, you will have a head start if you already know each other. This could be its whole own Platform, so I’ll pause there and just say that strong, connected, diverse local communities can be a manifestation of multiracial democracy and a home base for even more positive change.

Forming authentic relationships with our neighbors, community organizing, building power, paying attention to local issues, caring for ourselves and each other: these are some of the tools with which we will resist white supremacy and build multiracial democracy. This way is slow, and it is often hard, and it works. Growing multiracial democracy is a constant practice; Rep. Lewis reminded us that “democracy is not a state.”

When white supremacy attempts to use violence to enforce a warped and harmful vision of who we should be and how we should be together, one of our avenues for resistance is renewing our commitments to communities living into a vision of wholeness. That can mean your local mutual aid society, it can mean a project like the Food Justice Initiative, it can mean a coalition like the Washington Interfaith Network or the Congregation Action Network, it can mean a voting rights organization like Fair Fight, it can mean a community like WES. A better world is possible. There are pockets of it already living and moving among us and around us and within us. Clasping hands (figuratively, for now), traveling together with the winds of our time, let us gather our collective strength to stay grounded in a vision of the world that is possible.

May it be so.

7 notes · View notes

thisspaceintentionallyleftblank · 6 years ago

Text

Try, Try Again (pt. 6)

Good news! I’m finally done being murdered by schoolwork and can actually post stuff again! I’ve got a few good ideas for other stuff, but in the meanwhile, here’s some more fanfic :p

Chapter 6 (4537 words)

The first rays of sunlight trickled over the horizon, streaking the sky with the same orange glow as the desert sands below. Disturbed by the light, Rex sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Commotion had already begun in the street below, and he could see more than a few early birds up and about their morning errands.

With a deep yawn, Rex stretched, arching his arms above himself and working out the stiffness left in his spine from having slept on the hard floor. As he did, he felt the tell-tale buzz of Emmet’s cell phone vibrating in his pocket. Curious, he pulled the device out, inspecting the bright screen.

hey emmet, a new text notification read. b@man moved the meeting to his place

again

we can still head over together tho

meet u @ larry’s?

Rex grimaced as he thumbed through the messages. If he was the sort of guy that felt regrets, he would definitely regret having told Lucy yesterday that we would meet up with her this morning. But, obviously, he had no such regrets. If any cowardly portion of his mind was shying away from the idea of seeing her and the others again, of being treated like some goody-two-shoes again, then Rex would just have to ignore that part until it shut up and went away.

Unfortunately, it was starting to look like that part of himself wasn’t planning on shutting up anytime soon.

Pulling his knees up to his chest, Rex rested his chin on top of them and tried to reason with himself. Meeting with Lucy was a strategic decision; it was as important to his disguise as the construction worker outfit and the yellow paint on his face. If he truly wanted to keep up his facade, that meant continuing to be Lucy’s Special Best Friend.

Of course, Rex thought, scowling to himself. I might not have to pretend forever.

Once Emmet was done with his training, once he was Rex as well, the odds were high that he’d see Lucy and the others the same way Rex currently did. Therefore, if Rex were to break things off with Lucy, it would likely benefit himself in the long run.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

A tinny, beeping noise emanated from Rex’s pocket, shaking him out of his thoughts. He reached for his cell phone again, only to realize that the device was still resting inertly in his palm. Tucking the phone back into his pocket, he pulled out the sleek black radio that he had taken from the Rexcelsior. The device continued to beep and blink at him, indicating an incoming call.

“Emmet?” Rex asked hesitantly, as he pressed the button on the side of the device.

“Rex!” Emmet’s voice came through the speaker clearly. “You’re there! How are you?”

“Uh,” Rex paused, casting a look down towards the people meandering in the streets below. “I’m super awesome, little buddy. How are you holding up?”

“I’m awesome too! I’ve been doing a lot of push ups, though. Snake says they’re the toughest form of exercise.”

“Yeah,” Rex chuckled. “That sounds like her. Have you all started your mission then?”

“Yep!” Emmet squealed loudly enough to elicit a sharp shriek of feedback from the radio. “The mission is going really well! I was all like, ‘Oh my gosh, why did I think I could do this? We’re all going to die out here!’. But then, we totally didn’t!”

Rex smiled, listening to Emmet regale him with the entire story of his adventure - sound effects included. He tried to pay attention, but couldn’t help but get distracted by the small part of himself was was quietly thrilled at how far Emmet had already come.

He had been hesitant to send Emmet through the glastroid field so early in the training process, especially considering Rex’s personal history with the area, but he had faith in Emmet and his raptors.

Clearly, his faith had paid off.

Clearly, the plan was working.

Rex had let himself get distracted. His goal wasn’t to have a good time in Apocalypseburg. It was to keep an eye on Lucy and make sure that neither she nor anyone else interfered with Emmet’s training. He had let his emotions run wild and, if he continued to do so, then he would never be able to complete his half of the plan. He would fail to protect the one person he cared about.

Emmet was still chattering in his ear, but Rex had long stopped listening. He just had to stay focused on playing his part. If he didn’t - if Lucy and the others undid all of Emmet’s training as soon as he got back, like had happened before when Lucy found them in Undar - then Rex would have to start all over, again.

Yesterday had proven that this was going to be an uphill battle, but Rex had been in situations far, far more hopeless before. He was prepared to tough it out.

“Rex?” Emmet’s inquisitive tone grabbed Rex’s attention.

“Uh,” Rex’s brow furrowed as he tried in vain to recall what Emmet had just been saying. “What is it, buddy?”

“I have to go now. We’re having a mission briefing, and they need their captain.” Emmet couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of that title applying to him.

“Alright kid, keep up the good work.” Rex held the radio in his hand, listening to it spit static for a moment before falling silent as he finally released the side-button. Slipping the device back into his pocket, he pushed himself to his feet and started pacing.

He had to do something to show everyone that he meant business, but what?

His hair was still messy from last night, which was a good start. With a practiced motion, Rex brushed the disheveled mess into his signature hair style.

Next, he clutched at the fabric of his shirt sleeve. Ripping them off would look pretty tough, as they were currently hiding his sick muscles from an unsuspecting world, but would such a drastic change strike the others as particularly un-Emmet-like? Uncertain, Rex settled for sloppily rolling the sleeves halfway up his arms.

Satisfied, he took off down the statue, heading into the city. It had been years since he had walked to Larry’s coffee shop, and yet his feet carried him there as easily as if he’d gone only yesterday.

As he entered, Larry turned and met him with an achingly familiar derisive scowl. As Rex scanned the crowd, the other patrons all shot equally scornful stares in his direction. Unperturbed by their reactions, Rex found himself with a more pressing concern.

Lucy wasn’t here.

With a frown, he pulled out his phone to double-check the messages she had sent. As the screen blinked to life, Rex suddenly realized his mistake.

He was late.

He was really, really late.

He had been so distracted during Emmet’s call earlier, he had completely lost track of time. Lucy must have left already. The meeting with their Master Builder friends had likely already started as well.

Rex hissed a word under his breath - one which cannot in good conscious be included in a PG story - and bolted back out the door.

*******************

Approximately ten minutes later, Rex hauled himself up the stairs in front of the former Wayne Manor and, with a grunt of exertion, rapped on the front door with the intricate and incredibly heavy, bat-shaped knocker. A moment past before Batman’s butler swung the door open.

“Master Emmet,” he said with a slight bow. “Please follow me to the drawing room.”

With a nod, Rex stepped through the doorway and proceeded to follow Alfred through the maze-like halls of the cavernous mansion. As they approached a particularly tall, stately looking door, the sounds of muffled voices grew louder and louder.

“Through here sir,” Alfred gestured towards the door before turning neatly on his heel and walking off in the direction they had come from.

Rex watched him leave. Once the butler was out of sight, he turned back to the door, pressing an ear against the cold wood and listening intently to the conversation on the other side.

“I don’t understand why you all voted against the giant steel dome.” Batman’s characteristic deep growl was difficult to make out. “It’s clearly the best and coolest option.”

“Batman,” Lucy responded, her voice strained with exasperation. “I am not going to explain again why blocking out the sun is a bad idea.”

“Sunlight is overrated.”

They’re arguing over how to prevent another alien attack, Rex thought, chuckling to himself. No one in that room had any idea how very relevant those concerns would become before the week was out.

“Maybe we should go over the blockade idea again.” Benny interjected.

“Yar, I be agreeing most with that sentiment.” Metalbeard’s loud voice was unmistakable. “Blockading yon Stairgate is quite clearly a better idea than anything this be-caped fool has suggested.”

Rex grimaced. Space was awful big, but if they started poking around the Stairgate then Emmet and the Rexcelsior could be in trouble. He needed to convince them to drop the idea, but as things currently stood, they would likely ignore whatever suggestions he made. However, if he could just show them how tough he was, then they’d have to take his advice. Determined, he pushed the door open.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” Rex stepped into the room, watching as everyone’s heads swiveled at the the sound of his voice.

“Emmet!” Lucy exclaimed. “I, uh, I thought maybe you just weren’t coming today.”

“Nah,” Rex waved a hand dismissively. “I wouldn’t miss something as important as this.” With a grin and a cocky laugh, he pulled out a chair and flopped into the seat. “After all,” he continued smugly. “You guys clearly need my help.”

The other figures around the table exchanged confused glances.

“Right,” Batman huffed. “We heard you’re tough now, or whatever.” He was seated at the end of the long table, opposite from Rex and directly underneath a large oil painting of himself, whose expression of disbelief perfectly matched his own. At the sound of his voice, Rex bristled involuntarily.

“Well,” Rex forced himself to continue smiling cheerfully. “I’m certainly getting there!”

“Emmet,” Lucy, seated to his left, interrupted. “Are you wearing your hair differently?”

“Oh,” Rex reached up towards his hair absentmindedly. “Yeah, I thought it looked tougher this way.”

“That it does, matey.” Metalbeard piped up. Benny, sitting beside him, nodded in agreement.

“I like it,” Lucy added. “It kind of suits you.”

Rex’s grin softened into something genuine.

“Uhhh…” Batman tilted back in his chair until he was almost parallel with the floor. “Newsflash, but changing your hair doesn’t automatically make you tough, bro.”

“Yeah,” Lucy laughed nervously. “Of- of course it doesn’t… Um, for a totally unrelated reason, I have to leave right now.” Hastily, she stood up, pushing herself away from the table and exiting the room in the direction of the bathroom.

Rex watched her leave, his expression growing taut. “That’s not the only thing that’s changed, you know.”.

“No, yeah, totally,” Batman responded facetiously. “I did notice the whole… sleeve thing you’ve got going on, and that’s just super tough.” He paused briefly. “Also, you can’t tell, but I’m totally rolling my eyes right now.”

Rex felt his fists clench at his sides. Deliberately, he forced himself to take deep breaths.

“Maybe someday,” Batman continued, “you might even be tough enough to patrol the wasteland all on your own. Of course, maybe not, considering that I’m the only one currently tough enough to do that.”

Rex laughed, a burst of manic energy erupting from him. “Well, maybe someday!”

“Well,” Batman scowled, “maybe not.”

“But maybe!”

“But maybe not.”

“I am very uncomfortable with the atmosphere we’ve created in this room.” Benny said, mostly to himself, as no one happened to be listening to him.

Beside him, Metalbeard scoffed. With a cacophony of metallic squeaks and squeals, he maneuvered his prosthetic body such that it leaned over the table conspiratorially.

“I dunno why the two of ye be bothering to argue about toughness,” he mused, “when neither of ye be tough enough to seek out Lord Business’s lost treasure vault.”

Rex gaped at him. “Lost treasure vault?”

“Of course!” Metalbeard clambered onto the table, posing dramatically in the center. “When me crew and I first infiltrated that landlubber’s treacherous office tower, we stumbled across a vast chamber housing his most powerful relics - mysterious and terrible things, the lot ‘em.”

“His relic room?” Rex frowned. “But, we've been there before.”

“We found but one room of many,” Metalbeard insisted. “The powerful relics, the dangerous relics, be kept much, much deeper in yon tower.”

“Rumor has it,” he continued, “that some poor fool tried to find this vault, claiming that the relics belonged in a museum, only to instead find himself flattened by none other than the dreaded Orb of Tee-ti-lus!”

Benny gasped. “That’s horrible!”

“Aye,” Metalbeard assented. “That’s why I'll be sure to avoid his careless mistakes once I get me body working again and can seek out this treasure on me own.”

Batman said something about that, but Rex didn't hear it over the sound of gears turning inside his head. If he could find Lord Business’s vault, break in, and steal a relic, then these idiots would have no choice but acknowledge how tough he truly was.

“I can do it,” he said to no one is particular, before pushing out his chair and briskly walking out of the room.

“Uh,” Metalbeard watched him leave, his mouth agape.

“Well, that's… not good.” Batman stared at the closing door.

“Let's get Lucy?” Benny asked.

Batman nodded. “Let's get Lucy.”

*******************

“I can't believe you guys would just let him run off like that!” Lucy, sat in the passenger seat of another of Batman's cars, twisted herself to glare backwards towards the other passengers, who for the most part, had the decently to look properly chastised. As they sped across across the rough terrain, the vehicle jostled violently underneath them, forcing Lucy to hold tight to her armrests in order to maintain her position and fierce scowl.

“Has he not undergone a be-toughening, though?” Metalbeard asked from where he'd been crammed into the backseat. “Is he not tougher now?”

“He's a little tougher, but…” Her scowl softened, revealing a fraction of the worry she really felt. “Come on guys, this is still Emmet we're talking about. Do you really think one day is going to make much of a difference if five years didn't?”

“I hope he's okay.” Benny mumbled, squashed somewhere underneath Metalbeard.

“You guys worry too much,” Batman interjected. “We're all, like, superheros. Obvis, we'll save him.”

He reached over towards the dashboard, cranking up the music in order to drown out the others’ voices. If any of them noticed how his own grip on the steering wheel was deathly tight or how concern was etched into the brow of his cowl, they didn't mention it.

Outside of the car, the wasteland rushed by. Recognizing their need for speed, the group had elected to take the Bat Racer - the fastest custom vehicle in Batman's arsenal. The twin rocket engines on the back were howling furiously, propelling them nearly fast enough to turn the sand to glass underneath them.

In the distance, surrounded by the remnants of other fractured buildings, the imposing silhouette of Octan Tower grew steadily closer. Despite having been ravaged by aliens for years, it was still the tallest building in what remained of Bricksburg. As such, it was not particularly hard to find.

Upon arriving at the base of the tower and clamoring out of the car, Lucy and the others surveyed the area around the building, searching for any signs of Emmet.

“Emmet!” Lucy shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Emmet, are you out here?” She paced nervously in front of the main entrance, worry gnawing at her gut.

“Avast!” Metalbeard exclaimed from around the corner of the building. At the sound of his voice, Lucy ran over to see him gesturing toward the twisted remains of some kind of motorcycle.

“Is that Emmet’s?” Benny asked, floating closer towards the wreck.

“Yar, most likely,” Metalbeard nodded. “The engine still be hot.”

Lucy felt dizzy. “But if this is here, then where is Emmet?”

“Look,” Batman said, pointing towards the building. “There are tire tracks on the windows.”

“You be thinking he done rode up vertically?” Metalbeard asked, stroking his chin thoughtfully with a metallic claw.

Tracing the tracks upwards, they could see a freshly broken away section of the building - a gaping hole in the glass with fragments of debris still flaking off and falling away.

“Okay,” Lucy said, breaking the tense silence. “Odds are that Emmet went in there. How can we-”

“On it,” Batman interrupted, lunging towards the Racer. With a trained Master Builder hand, he quickly stripped the vehicle apart, reassembling it into a sleek plane. “All aboard,” he barked, leaping into the cockpit. The other three followed him in, and with a tremendous roar the jet took off, streaking up the side of the skyscraper.

Elegantly, Batman piloted the jet through the hole in the side of the building, landing it in a clear enough spot for everyone to disembark.

Climbing out of the plane, they took a moment to look around. The room they were in was an utter disaster zone. Fragments of debris, miscellaneous office supplies, and the occasional robotic limb were littered around the room. A number of desks had been tipped over, and now laid on their side, surrounded by broken chunks of computer monitors and piles of official looking paperwork. In one corner, a beaten-up copier sat by itself, intermittently spitting out blank papers.

Lucy moved away from the plane, shards of glass and wall crunching under her feet as she maneuvered around the larger pieces of debris. On her left, the room opened up into a narrow hallway. Above the entrance, a laminated sign read “Super-Ultra Top Secret Relics This Way”. Hanging slightly below it, a second sign read “Enter at Your Own Risk”.

Peering into the corridor, Lucy’s view was illuminated by the subtle red glow of laser grids. Beyond them, she could just barely see the rotating head of a sentry turret. Beyond that, there was only darkness and deeply concerning noises.

Unsettled, she turned away from the hallway, shifting her focus towards another worrisome aspect of the room - a giant hole that had been blasted out of the neighboring wall.

“Jeez,” Lucy breathed, stepping closer. “What could have caused that?”

On cue, Rex appeared in the mouth of the hole, holding some kind of large gray tube in his hands.

“Huh,” he looked at the others in surprise before smiling cheerfully. “Uh, hey guys. What’s up?”

“Emmet!” Lucy cried out as she ran up to him. She stopped just short of embracing him to cast a quizzical glance towards the object he held in his arms. “Uh…” She gestured vaguely towards the tube. “What exactly is that?”

“It be a powerful relic,” Metalbeard exclaimed in astonishment, striding towards Rex in order to examine the object more thoroughly.

“Really?” Benny floated closer as well. “But, uh, what actually is it?”

“Unless I be mistaken,” Metalbeard said reverently. “This be the Tape-estry of Ducks!”

Rex frowned. “That’s a stupid name. It doesn’t even have any ducks on it.”

“Me thinks it be a metaphor.” Metalbeard shrugged. “Regardless, legend says that anything ye stick onto its surface will remain stuck for all eternity!”

Lucy gasped. “Emmet! Are you sure you should you be holding that?”

“Relax Lucy,” Rex laughed. “I’ve got it covered.” Holding the tape up, he explained. “Only one side was sticky, so I just rolled it up a little. That way I only have to touch the safe side.”

“Ooh…” Benny nodded appreciably. “That’s super clever, Emmet.”

“Yeah, that’s cool or whatever,” Batman muttered. “Totally what I would have done, you know.”

“Wow Emmet,” Lucy pressed a hand to her temple, shaking her head in amazement. “You actually pulled it off. I’m…” She looked up at him, an apologetic smile playing on her lips. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Rex shrugged, struggling to keep his expression cavalier. “It, uh, it wasn't that big of a deal.”

"Not a big deal!?” Metalbeard exclaimed. “Mayhaps you hit your head, matey.” Plucking the relic from Rex’s hands, he carefully turned it over in his hands to admire it. “Any pirate worth their salt knows that whenever ye be laying your hands on some treasure, it be cause for a celebratory shindig!”

“Yeah!” Benny reached over, clapping Rex on the shoulder. “We haven’t had a party in ages, maybe it’ll be fun!”

Rex smiled as his friends started chattering away, eagerly planning a party. The expression sat easily on his face. This kind of reaction was much closer to what he’d been expecting. It almost felt nice, just being with his friends again.

*******************

Rex was loath to admit it, but the party turned out pretty cool. The music was intense and loud, the floor was already sticky with spilled drinks, and the whole place stank of sweat and body spray. It wasn't necessarily a fun party, but it was definitely a cool one.

Given the number of people attending, they'd been forced to use the Bat Fortress, as it was the largest available space in Apocalypseburg. However, considering Batman's infatuation with high-end speakers, as well as his recent installation of a snazzy new lighting rig, the fortress was actually a top notch choice for a party venue.

Despite its enormity however, the place still managed to feel claustrophobic. Swarms of people, crushingly close to each other, moved across the dance floor in seemingly random patterns.

In the center of the giant room, raised on a makeshift pedestal, was the relic. The Tape-estry was still rolled up for safety, a wise decision considering that a number of fights had already broken out on the dance floor.

Above all the ruckus, smaller groups sat on the suspended catwalks, talking amongst themselves and generally seeming above it all. Among them sat Lucy, another passive observer of the chaos below.

Batman, the self-appointed DJ, put on another song. It was something loud and angry sounding, comprised of shouted vocals and industrial noise. It wasn't one that Rex had heard before, but he found himself enjoying it as he started making his way over to where Lucy was perched.

As he pushed through the crowd, people kept slapping him on the back, congratulating him and shouting banal phrases about how they'd always known he had it in him, or whatever. That bitter sense of resentment still simmered in his gut, but Rex couldn't deny that, at the same time, something like pride was slowly joining it. He'd finally gotten everyone to see him, see how tough he could be, see the person he was underneath Emmet's saccharine schtick.

There was one person that needed to see the new Emmet more than anyone else, one person that could undo all his hard work if she didn't. Lucy's opinion of Emmet could make or break Rex's entire plan.

It was for that reason, and that reason only, that Rex clambered up to her place on the catwalk.

"Pretty rad party, right?" He shouted as he approached.

"Yeah," Lucy turned at the sound of his voice. "It's uh, it's great, Emmet. Listen, I, uh..."

Her voice trailed off. Rex sat down beside her, watching her expression shift and grow thoughtful.

"I just..." Lucy scooted closer to him, pulling Rex into her arms. "I'm really glad that you're safe."

Stupefied, Rex wrapped his arms around her in return, pressing his palms against her jacket's velvety back.

"I'm proud of you." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it didn't need to be any louder. Rex felt the words more than he heard them. He clutched at her like a drowning man, squeezing her tight against himself. The strains of discordant music faded into the background. He couldn't think of anything; for a moment, everything was just soft and warm and perfect.

Lucy patted him on the back, and instinctively he let go. It had been a sort of signal that the two had developed when it became clear that Emmet liked hugs a lot more than Lucy did. It wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy them, just that Emmet tended to hug longer than she was comfortable with.

Rex leaned back, out of her space. She was still smiling up at him, and distantly, Rex could feel a dopey grin mirrored on his own face.

She reached out to take his hand, slipping her fingers in between his own.

"I love you, Emmet."

"I love you t-"

Rex cut himself off with a sharp inhale, the sudden breath causing him to cough profusely.

"I just- I need a drink." Quickly, before she could protest, Rex shoved himself off the platform, dropping into the crowd below.

He didn't run to the drink table, electing instead to turn and race out a side door, out into the chill

evening. The brisk air felt nice, as his skin suddenly seemed entirely too hot and clammy. From behind him, he could hear Lucy's voice asking the other partygoers if they'd seen where he'd gone.

Rex snorted. Of course she was looking for him. Now that he was tough, she and the others actually wanted him around.

This was proof that Rex was doing the right thing. It was proof that Emmet had to change so that his friends wouldn't abandon him.

It was proof that Rex should have just listened when his friends had tried to toughen him up all those years ago.

It was proof that if he had just been tough, then they wouldn't have left him there.

Rex slumped down against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest. He hadn't listened back then. He'd chosen to cling to childish naivety, chosen to do things the hard way. A cold but familiar voice in the back of his head whispered how, in the end, it had really been his own fault that he'd spent so long in Undar.

This was his own mistake to fix. But, it was at least a mistake that he knew how to fix. In less than a week now, he would finally be successful. When Emmet returned, toughened up and accepted by his friends, the mistakes of the past would disappear.

He would never admit it, but Rex was afraid of not existing. It was an uncomfortable idea to consider. Of course, as he routinely reminded himself, it wasn't like dying. He- Rex would still exist, just with a different backstory, a different set of memories.

In the end, that's what he wanted. After all, the only way for him to move on, to get over Undar, was to make sure that it never happened in the first place. Losing those memories would fix him. It would fix everything. It had to.

Until then, he just had to stick to the plan.

#lego movie 2 #tlm2 #rex dangervest #emmet brickowski #lucy tlm #wyldstyle #tbh I probably could have broken this into two chapters #but ITS DONE #so IM POSTING IT

13 notes · View notes

journeysintowebcomics · 7 years ago

Text

Worm Liveblog #30

UPDATE 30: Bitch

Last time I had finished the sixth arc, and read its interlude. Taylor had pretty much left home with intentions not to return for quite a while, and gave up with school. Besides, there’s the matter with Coil, she’ll need all the time she can have. So now I start arc seven: Buzz.

Ah, I see Taylor was serious when she had considered sparring lessons with Brian. That’s what the chapter opens up, Taylor and Brian sparring. Taylor isn’t doing too badly, but she’s still new at this, so she’s subdued. I think at least she’s managing to think strategically even in this fast-paced situation? I’m having a hard time picturing in my mind how the moves went, but it seems she followed her instinct and tried to be rational about how to avoid damage. That’s a start, certainly, even if it ended with Brian straddling Taylor against the ground. Victory for him.

Realizing the position he had me in, feeling the pressure of his thighs against my hips, his weight resting partially on my lower body, I must’ve blown a synapse. My thought process ground to a halt. It didn’t help that the first place my mind went was interpreting his ‘start’ as being this position leading to something else.

Golly, Taylor, keep your mind out of the gutter, will you? This is not the time to indulge in fantasies, hahaha. Oh well. Also Lisa arrives and teases them about it, something I expect will fly right over Brian’s head. Yup, it did. ‘Let Taylor have her fun’ indeed.

The reason why Taylor is focusing on all this physical stuff is to keep her mind busy with it instead of with other things. This is the day after her argument with Dad Hebert, so she’s going to be staying at the Undersiders’ hideout for a while. Contacting Dad Hebert from time to time, I hope.

“I love my dad. I never really had that phase others did, where I felt embarassed to be around him, where we didn’t understand each other. I thought we were closer than that, until last night.”

I don’t...think so? I mean, as a reader I could see very well that Dad Hebert and Taylor love each other a lot. They care, they want to understand each other, but I always had the impression they weren’t close to each other. It was always this distant parent-daughter relationship, and now with that Taylor has this supervillain activity on the side, they’re going to get even more distant. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the cost of secrecy. Dad Hebert wouldn’t approve Taylor getting involved in any of this, after all.

Trying to stop thinking about that, Taylor gets into sparring again, asking what to do when she’s at a standstill against a foe, and when Brian moves, well, she loses again, but she is learning. Someday she’ll be a worthwhile opponent in a physical fight, but it’s going to be tough. Almost every other cape in this city will have a lot more of experience than Taylor.

Oh, don’t worry so much about being sweaty or smelly, Taylor, I’m pretty sure Brian is like that right now too.

So, once everyone is reunited, they start talking about Coil’s offer. First things first: give yourself some characterization, Alec, talk about who your father is. Turns out Alec’s father is a big-time villain in Montreal. Canada? Huh, that’s neat. And by the sounds of this all, it seems he’s quite the formidable supervillain.

Turns out Heartbreaker is some kind of villainous Don Juan. He seduces a lot of women with his power, and they do everything he wants, because he manipulates emotions. As expected, this also means Heartbreaker has a lot of children, and here’s one of them.

“Details,” Lisa said, “C’mon. Talk.”

“I’m not a talkative person.”

“Talk or I kick your ass,” she threatened.

Oh, sheesh! Everyone really is serious about making sure nobody about their pasts or themselves will come back and bite them in the ass. Hey, I’m not complaining, if it means getting backstory about one of the less developed Undersiders then I’m all for it.

As expected, Alec wasn’t exactly in a loving family. The women only cared about Heartbreaker, but they did give the children what they needed. When he bothered to acknowledge the children’s existence, it was to look for powers in them. Arranging trigger events and all. Alec was one of the...hm...I’m not sure if call him one of the lucky ones, or one of the unlucky ones. So he started working for Heartbreaker.

He started to get on my case. I think maybe he was having trouble affecting me the same way he did before my powers kicked in, so he compensated for that by riding me. Pushed my limits, made me do stuff that was dangerous, stuff that was hard on my conscience.

If Heartbreaker manipulates emotions, and he had problems manipulating Alec, should I take that as a sign of psychopathy in Alec? Not full-blown psychopathy, yeah, but notable enough for Alec not to be as affected by Heartbreaker as everyone else he targets.

And he ordered me to kill this foot soldier for a group trying to push us out of their territory. After I was done, he told me I did it wrong, that I had to do it again with a captive we’d taken, and I knew no matter what I did, he’d make me keep doing it.

There we go, there’s the person you were looking for, Taylor, the other killer in the group. It really was Alec. And the circumstances were more or less what I expected, it wasn’t him killing someone just because he felt like it. And so after that, Alec changed his villain name to Regent and arrived to Brockton Bay. Nice, finally some backstory. Thanks, Mr. Wildbow.

Taylor is rather conflicted about if what Alec did was forgivable, even if it was under his father’s orders. The fact he was like twelve years old and he describing it so coldly doesn’t help, in her opinion. Well it’s not like that changes anything, Taylor, he’s still your teammate and even if you’re not close to him in any way, I doubt he or you will treat each other differently now that this is in the open. Don’t think too hard about it. Now that the backstory was delivered, it’s back to the topic at hand. Any objections to working for Coil? Questions?

Alec is pretty much willing to do it, and Taylor has a few concerns. First, the possibility many teams of heroic parahumans will descend on them at some point. Like it happened to the ABB? Completely possible. Maybe it’ll be fine as long as the teams of villains are kept subdued. The Undersiders won’t be able to do much about that, I’d say, so it’d all rely on Coil. Why doesn’t that make me feel any better about the Undersiders’ odds of not being attacked.

Brian has concerns too, because so far the Undersiders do well when they’re on the offensive, but by having control of an area they’d need to be playing defense. Lisa isn’t worried about that, because they have the possibility of bugs to work as sentries, and she can gather information.

Besides, Coil didn’t say we couldn’t hire other parahumans, just that anyone who wanted to work in Brockton Bay had to bend the knee to him. So we could theoretically recruit other parahumans, if we needed to, bulk our forces.

...no way! Is that a possibility? Cool! It’ll be a long while before anyone is hired – if that ever happens – but the possibility of the Undersiders expanding a bit more really appeals to me. That could be interesting!

“I do have my reservations,” Brian spoke, “But I get the impression Coil’s going ahead with this regardless of whether we’re in or not. I’d rather be in on this than sitting on the sidelines, watching it happen.”

He’s got a point there. I mean, I’d sit on the sidelines and hope for the best because I’m a bit of a coward, but from the perspective of a capable and experienced cape, I’d say getting into the game would be a better option, if only because it’d mean having an idea of what Coil does and will do.

Time to vote. Everyone except Rachel is willing to team up with Coil.

Bitch explained, “He talks too much. Only reason people talk like he does is if they’re covering something up.”

Well...yeah? That’s pretty much a given. Of course he’s covering something up, everything does sound too good to be true and I seriously doubt someone like Coil doesn’t have a secret or two about his intentions with the Undersiders. What matters here is how bad for the Undersiders it is. Not that they’ll be able to do anything about it if they sit on the sidelines. Rachel refuses to vote and take the deal, so the meeting is adjourned. As long as Rachel disagrees, they can’t accept Coil’s deal. They let Rachel go do whatever she wants, but Taylor asks if she can go too. Bonding time?

“Fuck you,” she spat the words.

Guess not.

...okay, Rachel really doesn’t want anyone trying to convince her to change her mind, and that’s why she’s pushing Taylor away. You know, I have noticed that Taylor is calling her ‘Bitch’ instead of ‘Rachel’, she’s the only one Taylor is doing this distinction with. I guess this means Taylor doesn’t consider appropriate to call her by her name. That’s a nice touch in the narration, if intentional.

Golly, Taylor is so willing to connect with Rachel she’s going to make a deal: if she makes Rachel angry at all, at the end of the day Rachel can punch her or do whatever she wants. One free hit. That’s not going to be fun. Brian tries to intervene so this doesn’t happen, but Taylor makes him stop. That’s—that’s daring, Taylor! Rachel has hair-trigger temper, the odds of her not getting a punch later are not in Taylor’s favor. But I applaud her willingness to put herself in risk if it means connecting with Rachel.

She looked me over, “Whatever. If you’re that eager to get hit, it’s your funeral.”

Why do I feel like Taylor earned that punch already, in Rachel’s opinion.

That’s the end of the chapter. Okay, I think I can see how this arc is going to go. It’ll start like this, and it’ll end with the Undersiders making their decision. I suppose there won’t be any big fights, which is no problem at all. A moment of calm at the right time is good – relative calm, yeah. Besides, I see some opportunities for further characterization here, that’s always nice to have. All in all, I expect this arc to be calmer than others. I’ll start the next chapter now.

Calm time, walking her dogs.

Glancing at her, I could see how she was more at ease, like this. When she was walking with the dogs at her side, I could see that the lines of her face were softer, there was less tension in her body. She wasn’t quite so guarded.

That was to be expected. She loves those dogs; she’d feel less guarded when she’s just with them. But Taylor is here and therefore the nice time is not so nice. Even though Taylor isn’t saying anything. You can’t win here, Taylor.

Not that she won’t try! She tries to make conversation, admiring how Angelic is so obedient despite being abused before. Dogs learn from the pack, and the other dogs in the pack are obedient. Makes sense to me.

So, when Rachel goes out she goes to a building where she’s storing her dogs. There are all sorts of breeds, sizes, everything. It’s amazing Rachel isn’t overwhelmed! One single person dealing with all these abused dogs...even when some of them start fighting she isn’t worried, just telling Taylor to let her know if the newest dogs draws blood.

To calm herself down, Taylor focuses on her power, tracking down all the bugs in the area. Makes her focus on something else. Doing that she finds out...well...

My eyes snapped open, and I saw the culprit, placed my hands on him, the dark furred lab. It wasn’t fleas, either, or ticks or anything like that. It was a denser mass. The closest parallel I could draw would be a wasp nest. Or maggots in a trash bag.

...parasites? And not of the everyday variety. Looks like Rachel has a feeling of what it is, and it doesn’t sound good. Worms above the dog’s heart and along the arteries. Definitely not good.

It’s heartworm. I don’t really know about dog diseases, but it seems shelters have to give dogs medicine to prevent this, and the shelter this dog came from didn’t do that. That’s outrageous! Anyone would be pissed off at that!

“What are you going to do with him?” I tried to ignore the dogs milling around me, to keep moving forward and follow Bitch.

“We are going to help him.”

Wait what? Here? Right now? You—have you done this before, Rachel? Because parasites hanging around in a dog’s bloodstream doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that can be solved here!

Things are going to get ugly in here. Rachel gets Taylor to bring her a chain and her backpack, and once the dog is restrained and chained, she uses her power on him. That—that works? Uh, Rachel does say that her power burns through things like tranquilizers and other dogs, so maybe it’ll do that to the worms too? Hopefully? It’s not pleasant and the dog doesn’t like this, but if it’s necessary...

Rachel eases up the chain and orders Judas and Angelica to restrain the new dog while Brutus keeps everyone else at bay. Yeah, turns out Rachel’s power will get rid of the heartworms and of the disease. Everything will be fine by the next day. That’s...good. I kind of expected that, all the harm the dogs suffer while transformed disappears once they return to normal, but it’s not like the heartworms are going to return. Doesn’t make this any less startling, though.

“Have you done this before?”

She shook her head. “I’ve used my power on most of them, but only a little, to keep them healthy. Sirius is the only one I’ve made this big since Angelica, Brutus, Judas and Rollo.”

Good use for her powers, I guess...and Rollo is the first dog she ever transformed, the one that killed someone. Wise move, not asking about that, Taylor. Not that it means things are going very well here, Rachel pretty much tells Taylor she’s unwanted and that if she wants to be useful then she can go pick up the dogs’ waste. Oh, jolly day. Taylor is not going to take that lying down, of course.

...

...I said of course, huh. I suppose by now I’m expecting Taylor to fight back everything she won’t like, by now I don’t have doubts she will. That’s great, I like main characters with a spine! Even if it means getting hit later, Taylor’s not going to let that be an excuse for Rachel to treat her like a slave. Good! And it works, because Rachel yields and doesn’t insist. Now that things look a bit calmer, Taylor offers to go get lunch for them, since Rachel will have to stay here to watch over the new dog. Thankfully, that’s the end of that, for the moment they’re in...well, not good terms. But they’re not ripping each other’s heads off right now, and that’s progress. Baby steps.

That’s the end of the chapter, so I think I should end the update here. Befriending Rachel is going to be a tough thing to do, and I suppose it’ll be a few more arcs before it truly happens. Oh well, perseverance is the key here. Taylor will be able to do it, I’m sure of it.

Next update: four updates

#worm #worm liveblog #serial novel #book liveblog #story liveblog

8 notes · View notes

peterwknox · 8 years ago

Text

Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus by Matt Taibbi My rating: 3 of 5 stars Given the amount of media noise on the 2016 Presidential Campaign, it's not surprising that Taibbi wasn't the loudest. But he should be heard and this collection of his dispatches for Rolling Stone from 2015-16 is your second chance. I would have enjoyed the book more if the ending were different, but it's not something to fault Taibbi for, as he was speaking the truth throughout and this book is proof. It's painful to read in retrospect, something Taibbi works to overcome with a fantastic introduction and epilogue and a few footnotes throughout. It's cliche to point out that Taibbi is the new HST at Rolling Stone, but his writing is so sharp (and he's more academic, which is a necessary upgrade for a HST today in this Fake News world) and insults so original, we shouldn't take it for granted. He's still must-read in today's inflated oversaturated media landscape. Better than most, he saw Trump coming, explained it clearly but also explained it away, and I commend him in publishing this collection so we can relive the highs and lows and see where America went so very wrong. Let's hope Taibbi has much more to say on the subject. I don't recommend that everyone look back over the last two years of campaign hell (I wanted to quit many times, but he reminded me that this WAS funny in the moment - although I would've left out the liveblog debate & casting segments for not aging well), but there's no better guide for these dark times. Here's some of my favorite highlights: Donald Trump’s innovation was to recognize what a bad TV show the campaign was. Any program that tried to make stars out of human sedatives like Scott Walker and Lindsey Graham needed new producers and a new script. ... Editorially the press denounced him, but it never turned the cameras off. ... in the modern Republican Party, making sense is a secondary consideration. ... Trump is striking a chord with people who are feeling the squeeze in a less secure world and want to blame someone—the government, immigrants, political correctness, “incompetents,” “dummies,” Megyn Kelly, whoever—for their problems. ... Donald Trump, if elected, would find a way to turn being the president into a moneymaking operation. ... Like autoerotic asphyxiation, supporting Donald Trump is an activity many people prefer to enjoy in a private setting, like in a shower or a voting booth. ... Trump found the flaw in the American Death Star. It doesn’t know how to turn the cameras off, even when it’s filming its own demise. ... If you could somehow run simulations where Bush was repeatedly shipwrecked on a desert island with 20 other adults chosen at random, he would be the last person listened to by the group every single time. ... Trump’s naked disdain for the less-glamorous American flyover provinces he somehow keeps winning by massive margins continued to be one of the livelier comic subplots of the campaign. ... If this isn’t the end for the Republican Party, it’ll be a shame. They dominated American political life for 50 years and were never anything but monsters. They bred in their voters the incredible attitude that Republicans were the only people within our borders who raised children, loved their country, died in battle or paid taxes. They even sullied the word “American” by insisting they were the only real ones. ... Trump has turned the new Republican Party into high school. It will be cruel, clique-y and ruled by insult kings like himself and Ann Coulter, whose headline description of Cruz (“Tracy Flick With a Dick”) will always resonate with Trump voters more than a thousand George Will columns. ... Trump is going to lose this election, then live on as the reason for an emboldened, even less-responsive oligarchy. And you thought this election season couldn’t get any worse. ... Pence redefines boring. He makes Al Gore seem like the Wu-Tang Clan. ... How Giuliani isn’t Trump’s running mate, no one will ever understand. Theirs is the most passionate television love story since Beavis and Butt-head. Every time Trump says something nuts, Giuliani either co-signs it or outdoes him. They will probably spend the years after the election doing prostate-medicine commercials together. ... As always, the Republicans acted far too late in disavowing vicious and disgusting behavior in their ranks. Then again, it’s hard to keep the loons out when you’re scraping to find people willing to sell rich-friendly policies to a broke population. ... Trump can’t win. Our national experiment can’t end because one aging narcissist got bored of sex and food. Not even America deserves that. ... Those of us whose job it is to cover campaigns long ago grew accustomed to treating The People as a kind of dumb animal, whose behavior could sometimes be unpredictable but, in the end, almost always did what it was told. ... From a personality standpoint, Obama is everything Trump isn’t. He’s in control of his emotions, thick-skinned, self-aware, ingratiating, strategic and temperamentally (if not politically) consistent. A striking quality of Obama as president is that he did his job without seeming to need to take credit for things all of the time, which kept the political price down on many of his decisions. View all my reviews

3 notes · View notes

internsinbarca · 8 years ago

Text

Chapter 110: The good and the bad

For those of you that just want to read the chapter, read and enjoy :)

For those of you that want to know where I went etc, it will be after the chapter :)

Love you all and wishing you an amazing 2017 filled with amazing memories and hopefully some of your wishes coming true ;)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JADE POV

I could feel the tension in the air. We all stood in the boardroom. Demi was running late and that was not a good sign. This was our one shot to clear our name. The video idea initially sounded like a great plan but we didn't take into account it would be one that the board would have to approve. We knew they would never let us just be in the video with the players. It would only add suspicion that we got special treatment.

Still they had agreed to a video. Over the past day or so we managed to get basic footage but I still didn't know how it would help us. Demi mentioned last night that she had an idea and none of us had heard from her since.

"Where is Demi?" Elena asked me nervously.

"I'm not sure," I said picking at my nails. I was starting to get agitated.

"Try calling her," Matt said trying to stay calm but I could tell he was starting to get worried.

"I did, she's not answering," Nate said trying his best to keep his composure.

More people were filling in including some of the players. They all simply greeted us with their eyes. Now was not the time to act friendly and we all understood that. I noticed Alexis taking a strategically long cut to make sure to pass by us.

"Where's Demi?" he whispered but Elena and I simply shrugged our shoulders. He nodded at us nervously and I watched as he walked directly to the head of the board. The head was getting ready to start the session but Alexis had stopped him, starting to make small talk. He was helping us, trying to delay the start. I just hoped Demi would get here soon.

I saw a message from Cesc

Where is she?

I sent him a message back.

I don't know.

I looked up to see him and I could tell he could sense the worry in my eye.

I watched as the head of the board went to start the session. We were going to be screwed.

"Hello everyone, please settle down and take your seats," he said in a professional tone from the front of the auditorium. I watched as the players tried their best to take their time to sit down but there was not much else they could do.

"Where is she?!" Elena said softly to me but I could tell she was freaking out.

"As you all know, this club has been going through a trying time regarding the press," the head said," We have been looking into ideas as to how we can decrease the negative attention that has covered the club. We are here to discuss that and be shown a very special presentation. As you know-," the head said but I was panicking too much to actually hear what he was saying. Where was Demi?

"Now for the main reason we are here, can Miss Marquez please come to the front."

We all turned to see if Demi was here but she was nowhere to be seen. Everyone is the room looked to see where she was.

"If Miss Marquez could please come to the-," the head was saying but he was cut off by Alexis. We all looked to see him now standing in the room.

"If I may say something," he said in a serious tone but we all know he was trying his best to save us. The head gave him an irritated look but nodded.

"I think we can all agree that in these past few weeks, it has been difficult for all of us," he said, "And this would have been very hard to get through, had certain people not be present," he said honestly but we could feel everyone's eyes rest on us.

"Sometimes we are not fully aware of what one person does, because to someone else it seems small. The great thing is that it is all these small acts that help us. As a team we are able to get through it and I want to thank everyone that has helped, even in the smallest way. We must remember that if we stick together and support each other instead of pointing fingers and placing blame, we will always find a way to win."

It was clear his speech was referring to us but he managed to speak the words so naturally, it matched the tone of the board.

"I had no idea he could speak like that," Nate whispered to me.

"Me neither," I said just as surprised.

"Finally!" Elena hissed and we all turned to see that Demi had finally arrived.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Elena screamed softly so no one would hear.

"I'm sorry! It took longer than planned," Demi said with a shrewd smile and we all knew she had a plan.

"Thank you for that Alexis, now could we please have MIss Marquez come to the front," the head said. It was clear in the tone of his voice that he was losing his patience.

All the players looked towards us and you could see the relief on their faces that Demi was here.

Demi walked to the front and stood confidently in front of everyone.

"As we all know it has been difficult time and I feel like we've all only had time to focus on the negative side of things. I thought it might be a good idea, to remind not just us but all the fans of Barcelona around the world, that we are still a team and we're the happiest when we stand as a team," she said as she stepped back to switch off the lights and we all looked to see a video play.

"Wait, were we not supposed to just discuss the full concept today?" Matt asked as I wondered the same thing.

"Shh! Watch the video," Elena shouted him softly.

We all watched as the video took clips from the field, to the hospital wing, the cafeteria, everywhere. It was a mixture of the players, clips of us but of everyone else as well. She put in clips with fans, how the team inspires them but more importantly she made it seem as if we gave some inspiration to fans. That they believed if we could work here, so could they but she made sure to still keep it focused on the team. She mixed it with the perfect emotional and uplifting background music. She was a genius.

After the video ended I quickly glanced around the room, it seemed people were impressed.

"Well Miss Marquez, that certainly was a very uplifting video," the head said and I could tell by his tone, the message of the video had gotten to him too.

"But I am not sure if it is professional enough," he said and we all felt our hopes shatter. This was our last shot and it didn't work.

"What?" Pep asked and everyone stared at him in shock. Was he challenging the head of the board?

"It is not supposed to be professional, it's supposed to be real," he carried on speaking, "They are professional athletes yes, but the emotions they feel are real. They play with their hearts and souls and the video captures who we are as a team, as Barcelona," he said passionately.

Many people around the room nodded but the head didn't seem entirely convinced.

"Let's vote," he said simply and I could feel my nerves go into overdrive.

"Those who do not feel we should show the video," he said and I could feel my hopes dashed as I saw many raised hands in the air. He counted and then nodded as he made a note.

"Those who feel we should show the video," he said and I was shocked to see how many hands went up, it was going to be close. Once again he counted and took a note.

"Well," he said with an irritated sigh, " It seems that we will show the video."

"Yes!" Demi shouted a bit too loudly.

The head glared at her through his glasses but you could see the players were hiding their smiles.

"I'm sorry for that," Demi said quickly but I couldn't have had a bigger smile.

Maybe things were slowly getting better.

CESC POV

I got home feeling better than I thought I would. After Nate made me realise just how important my performance in this match was, I was putting all my focus into it.

If I could have the best performance of the season, everything would work out. Especially with the board agreeing to the video, Jade wouldn't be blamed, she could keep her job and not have to work for Real Madrid.

"Cescy?" I heard Daniella's whiny voice say.

Who was I kidding? As long as Daniella was in my life, nothing would ever work out.

"What?" I snapped at her. Today had been a long day and I did not have time to deal with her.

"Is that how you treat your pregnant girlfriend?" she asked acting hurt. I stayed silent, I was not in the mood for her games.

"Well?" she insisted.

"No," I sighed but I didn't fully mean it. It was bad, but I was finding it difficult to treat her nicely.

"That doesn't sound genuine Cescy," she said unapprovingly.

"That's cause it isn't," I said irritated under my breath.

"What was that?" she said coming into the bedroom.

"Nothing," I said.

"I feel so tired," she said falling on to the bed dramatically, "I did so much today."

It took all my strength for me to not laugh at her. She was tired? What had she even done?

"Cesc, love, go get me some food and make me tea," she delegated.

"Daniella I-," I began to complain.

"Our baby is hungry," she said rubbing her belly. I knew it would be more trouble to argue with her so I stood up stiffly and walked into the kitchen.

I leaned on the counter my thoughts wandering. I saw Jade's angry and hurt face flash through my mind. I thought about how I betrayed her trust. She was right, I was out of line and I needed to apologize to her.

I took out my phone and called her hoping she would answer. As I waited for her to pick up, I set the kettle to boil. I heard her pick up but she didn't say hello.

"Shut up!" I heard her say giggling in the background.

I could hear the smile in her voice and I wanted nothing more than to be there with her.

"Hello," she said now clearly not as friendly as normal.

"Jade, I'm sorry," I said quietly so Daniella wouldn't hear me. Jade stayed silent on the other end.

"Look I shouldn't have shouted at you like that, it's just," I paused, "I don't want to lose you."

She stayed silent for a while.

"Cesc-," she said not sure how to react, "You'll never lose me," she finally said and I felt a smile form on my lips.

"Ow! Stop it!" she said to someone on the other end.

"Jade who is hurting you?!" I shouted. Was someone hurting her?! I was getting ready to rush over already grabbing my keys.

"What?" she said a bit dazed.

"Jade I'm coming over now," I said seriously about to leave the house.

"For what?" she asked confused.

"Someone is hurting you," I said protectively.

"No, it's just Elena attacking me with stuff," she said and I felt relief even though I had no idea why I tensed up initially.

"Oh," I said almost sad that I didn't have a reason to go over.

"Look I'll see you tomorrow okay?" she said.

"Yeah, okay," I told her, "Oh and Jade?"

"Yes," she said sensing something important.

"I-, but before I could say anything the phone was snatched out of my hand.

"Why are you talking to that whore?" Daniella said with my phone in her hand.

"Daniella," I said irritated.

"Why don't you talk to me like that?" she asked.

"Daniella I don't have time for this," I said beginning to lose my patience.

"Oh but you have time for her?" she asked venomously. Just then my phone rang again.

"Can the whore leave us alone!?" she shrieked. I managed to glance at my screen and saw it was Gerard calling.

"Give me my phone," I said to her through gritted teeth.

"No," she said hiding it behind her immaturely.

"It's GERARD!" I screamed angrily at her. She actually seemed taken aback and looked at my phone.

"Oh," she said flatly. I snatched the phone out of her hand and called him back.

"Gerard, what?" I asked a bit rudely.

"Someone is in a great mood," he said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," I said immediately feeling bad.

"It's okay, I need you to meet me, it's important," he said and I could tell by the tone in his voice he wasn't playing games.

"Okay," I said, "Where?"

"Our cafe," he said as I headed towards the door.

"On my way," I said as I put down the phone.

"Where are you going Cescy?" Daniella asked whining.

"Out," I said slamming the door as quickly as possible so I didn't have to deal with her.

XXXXXXXXX

I was waiting for Pique at our favorite cafe. He sounded serious on the phone and that was a tone that I was not used to from him so it must be important.

I saw him walk in and give his goofy smile at the staff. They all knew him and returned the smile. He saw me and the way his face fell, I knew something was really wrong.

"Gerard are you okay?" I asked him worriedly. He gave a laugh.

"I'm fine, it's you that's not," he said grimly as he sat down.

"Look Ger, I'm working on myself. I'll be ready for the game, I promise," I said. I knew I had been worrying the team with my outbursts but I knew I was capable of giving an amazing performance. I just needed to focus and push everything with Daniella out of my mind.

He gave me a sad smile.

"I know," he said genuinely, "But that's not the issue." I gave him a confused look, what else could it be?

"It's Daniella," Pique said.

"Geri look-," I said but for the first time he took a serious tone with me.

"No Cesc, you need to listen to me this time. I spoke to her ex, you have no idea what she is capable of," he said sadly.

"I'm pretty sure I do," I told him sighing.

"And I screwed up, I know that. I wish that I could take it back but-," I said thinking how she was carrying my child. I shook my head at how I ended up in this mess.

"It's my fault, I did this," I finally admitted.

"Not completely," he said his eyes full of regret. I waited for him to go on.

"She made sure to get pregnant so that you are forced to stay with her," he said and immediately I felt as if I was hit with a bus.

"What," I said but it made sense. It sounded crazy but it wasn't that far fetched from who she was.

"I don't understand," I said more to myself than to him. How did I fall for the oldest trick in the book?

I was still unsure how speaking to her ex could have revealed this. He then told me everything that her ex said and I knew no one could make that up. I felt my mouth go dry as Geri kept talking. By the end of it, I was speechless. He looked at me sadly.

"Cesc, I-," he paused, "I don't know how to help you this time," he said helplessly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Firstly I apologise to those that don't read my other fanfic, I put an Author's note explaining a bit but I'll explain here for those that want to know :)

For those of you that don't know, I got a new job but this included moving countries. It was the first time for me to live alone and because my visa was late, I was already behind everyone else from the get go. I still had to find an apartment etc. It was stressful and from there on I kind of let work take over my life.

I was barely talking to my friends from home, let alone my own family. I barely watched any tv, or did much to take a break. I was skipping meals, having crazy insomnia, migraines, my ulcers were coming back, my carpel tunnel was starting up again and I constantly felt stressed. In other works I became what I told myself I never would, I just put all energy into work and it was not worth it. I'm still working at the same place but after the December holidays, I made a promise myself to still live this year. I do have crazy amounts of work, I barely have any free weekends, cause I'm working weekend's and overtime through the week. It's because it's not just a job, it's a job combined with a grad program so it's crazy.

However like I said, this year I'm back to focusing on me so although the updates might be slow, they will come :) The sad thing is there is a just a few chapters left for this story and I never got to complete it last year:/ But ahh well, I'll do that this year.

And I have come with some really cool other ideas that don't include players but just general characters, in a romance/highschool flashback idea, maybe another unique romance story idea, a mixed family idea...let me know if you want more details :)

I'm thinking of people like Robbie Amell, Anna Kendrick, Emma Stone, Dylan O'Brien, Ansel Elgort, Lucas Till, Crystal Reed, Josh Hutcherson, Zac Efron etc

Anyway I hope you guys will forgive me, I really love writing. It makes me feel like I'm part of a different world for a while and I hope to always keep writing :)

If you're still supporting me, thank you and I love you :)

Mimi

#fanfiction #Internsinbarca

0 notes

non-sequitura · 4 years ago

Text

Favorite players of Survivor: Season 39 (Island of the Idols) with explanations

1 Janet 2 Kellee 3 Lauren 4 Dean 5 Jamal 6 Elaine 7 Molly 8 Tommy 9 Vince 10 Jack 11 Chelsea 12 Jason (I dislike most people below this line) 13 Karishma 14 Tom 15 Ronnie 16 Noura 17 Aaron 18 Missy 19 Elizabeth 20 Dan

Ronnie -This guy was ridiculous lmao. You generally shouldn’t try to play huge moves from the very beginning unless there’s a great reason and you have the talent to pull it off. He did not pull it off.

Molly -I really liked her! It’s unfortunate that she wasn’t aware of the tides turning against her, but it did seem like a massive blindside. Something about her eyes and smile just capture a viewer’s attention, and I think she could have played a great social game based on charisma alone. Maybe she was a bit too much in her + her allies’ world, but I think she was mostly really unlucky.

Vince -He seemed like a good guy, if a bit too driven by emotions to get far in the game. I really appreciated his relationship with his identity.

Chelsea -Dang, people made such a big deal of her thing with Dean, which I think was unfair to her. Also, there were so many vote-outs with idols in this game. Besides the vote out being kind of unfairly blindside-y, nothing about her super stood out to me.

Tom -He was fine - a bit too upfront and blunt.

Jason -I don’t remember him at all

Jack -Seemed like a sweet guy, if a bit naive.

Kellee -Gosh. I really loved her. She gave me kind of Yul Kwon vibes. Unfortunately, the moves she made were too scrutinized for her to be able to play off. She seems so smart and such a woman of character, and comes out as one of my favorite people to play this game. Aaron -Kind of a dick. Sorry.

Missy -I liked her strength and her attitude, but I didn’t really find her behavior to Kellee an appropriate line to cross. All in all, she struck me as kind of contemptuous.

Elizabeth -One of my least favorites in the game. Besides the Kellee drama, she socially was just like 0_o the entire time and did not seem in control of strategy at all.

Karishma -Ehhh… she seemed bitter to me. I felt for her, and I understood where she was coming from, but she came across as so unlikeable and unwilling to even try. She only really got involved when she had strategic power drop into her lap. But she’s super pretty, which is a shallow reason to like someone, but it helps.

Elaine -What a cool lady. Genuinely funny, and incredible at in-the-moment awareness. People said she was never aware of the moves, but I think her social game actually kind of contradicts that.

Dan -Why did no one vote him out earlier? He had nothing compelling. Wrongs don’t define an entire person - bad people can do good things - but doing the right thing doesn’t erase past mistakes, either. He’s going to try to work his way back into the public’s good graces, but we shouldn’t allow ourselves to forget what happened.

Janet -Favorite player, hands down. She was an excellent survivor, had the chance to put ethics over gameplay, and did it. Her main strategic mistake was chilling in her final vote out, because even with an idol, you don’t want to purposefully aim votes your way. Nullifiers are a rare, stupid thing, but they are a thing.

Lauren -I didn’t really see what was special about her right up until the end, but then Noura betrayed her and for a few moments, I feel like we got to see Lauren for who she really was and how she really felt. Even after that betrayal, she was able to collect herself and use being magnanimous toward Noura as a social tool. I used to think that being liked by everyone like Elaine was the key to a great social game, but Lauren worked her way to the top through subtle comments and witty remarks. I’m not sure how I feel about her as a person, but I really respect her as a player, and I think she should be a top pick to bring back.

Noura -I found her annoying at first, then I was glad she was around because she became really entertaining and an exciting challenge player, but then she became annoying again because of how delusional she was. Lauren was on the money when you said you can’t have a No. 1 who you betray. And she came across as super entitled at the end.

Dean -He was kind of unexciting in the early game, but man, in late game he really shined. People made a big deal of him not using his advantages, but merely by finding them all he helped tip the game in his favor. His strategy did have an overall story arc of an excellent opportunist who slipped under the radar only to bust out with unexpected moves toward the end (which he kept a secret until the jury!), but he lacked the foresight and storytelling to convince anyone that that was part of his plan all along.

Tommy -Tommy is one of those people who seems to gain trust from people around him effortlessly. He wouldn’t have been my top pick to win, but he was definitely top 5. I think a major weakness in his strategy was that there were many plays that he didn’t see coming despite his connections, and without those alliances he could have been blindsided several times. He made it out like he was on top of everything all the time, but things fell through for him, and he wasn’t quite as opportunistic as he could have been. But he had vision, he had charisma and drive, and he had the ability to tie every move he did into a unified “long game” more than Dean or Noura (MUCH more than Noura.) I also like how there weren’t many lines he wouldn’t cross in terms of survivor strategy, but he had definitive guidelines in terms of staying kind to people and not letting the negative emotions of the game color how he treated others. Ultimately, he seems like a stand-up guy (keeping your public teaching job after winning 1M? Awesome!), and I think it’s hard to argue that (given the final 3) he wasn’t the right choice for sole survivor.

-3/31/21

#blog #non-sequitura-blog #2021 #list #longform #3/31/21 #march 2021 #silliness

0 notes

firstumcschenectady · 6 years ago

Text

“Discerning” based on 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

This story is often used to lift up the virtues of Solomon and encourage others to be like him. That is, it is read to say we should all be seeking God's wisdom, and the capacity to discern what is right. Of all the ways that Bible stories get treated like fables, this is one I don't particularly object to. After all, I like wisdom, I think it is important, and it seems worthwhile to seek it.

I like the point people draw from this story, but I think it is important to acknowledge that the original story as it was told functioned as pro-Solomon propaganda. It establishes his right to the kingship, it indicates Divine favor in support of his leadership, and it proclaims him as wise. On top of that, most ancient wisdom traditions hold that wisdom is the most important virtue. It means that in naming Solomon wise it names him a “good” man AND it functions to validate everything else he does. After all, “in the ancient wisdom traditions, longevity, honor, and material possessions are all seen as benefits that derive from wisdom.”1 The Bible likes to present Solomon as wise, it is probably the first thing you think about when you think of Solomon (if you ever do). He may well have been wise, that story may come from some factuality. However, I think the story is mostly USED as a way to claim and keep power.

Solomon's “wisdom” is the given reason for why he gets to build the Temple. Solomon's Temple was build by conscripted labor of Jews. Solomon's wisdom used to explain why he oversaw the largest nation in ancient Israel's history. Of course, what that actually means is that he had very high tax rates, a successful military, and the capacity to build an empire through violent attacks on Israel's neighbors.

Solomon's wisdom is somehow also tied up with his “wives,” although I can't really figure out the connection. I think the idea may be something about political power, and indeed he is said to have had many (MANY!) wives and concubines. Those wives and concubines were political pawns, used to attempt to negotiate with Solomon and keep his military power from doing further harm.

So, I get why the Bible needs to present Solomon as wise, but what I really see when I look through it is that Solomon functioned to acquire power, money, and might, and this story implies that those actions were GOOD. It seems shockingly unreflective, since the Bible emphasizes the care of the poor, the orphan, and the widow, but Solomon's actions as king created more poverty, not to mention more orphans and widows. Solomon enriched himself at the expense of his people. That is actually NOT what I think wisdom looks like.

Now that we are done with that, I can get back to the primary point. What Solomon is presented as saying IS pretty good, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9, NRSV) Taking the story as written, that's great! The named goal is a worthy one. A respect for the people sounds good! So does a wish to understand the best way to govern, and a wish to be able to figure out good from evil. I do worry about leaders who believe prayers like this to be answered, who then believe that whatever they decide must be divinely blessed. However, if it simply came with humility and openness, this could be a solid request.

One of the great challenges of leadership, and even just life, IS discerning a good way forward. Decisions have so many consequences that aren't anticipated at the outset, making it very difficult to figure out what should be done. Recently I've been in a long series of conversations that have emphasized for me just how difficult discernment can be. Just so you are ready for it, I'm only going to give you the problem, not the answer. I don't have the answer. That's the struggle with discernment ;) This is a story of wishing for Solomon's fabled wisdom and God's wise guidance, in this case for the church.

In February of 2019 the United Methodist Church is having a Special Session of General Conference to act on the recommendations of The Way Forward Commission. So, let's unpack that a bit, and look at the history. In 1968 the Uniting Conference of the United Methodist Church merged the “Methodist Church” and the “Evangelical United Brethern Church.” At that time it adopted the former Methodist Church's Social Creed temporarily (because the EUB didn't have one) and Social Principles Study Commission to bring forward recommendations to the 1972 General Conference.

The recommendation the Social Principles Study Commission came up with included a statement on “Human Sexuality” that ended with:

“Although men and women are sexual beings whether or not they are married, sex between a man and a woman is to be clearly affirmed only in the marriage bond. Sex may become exploitive within as well as outside marriage. We reject all sexual expressions which damage or destroy the humanity God has given us as birthright, and we affirm only that sexual expression which enhances that same humanity, in the midst of diverse opinion as to what constitutes that enhancement. Homosexuals no less than heterosexuals are persons of sacred worth, who need the ministry and guidance of the church in their struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and emotional care of a fellowship which enables reconciling relationships with God, with others, and with self. Further we insist that all persons are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured.”

At that General Conference, it was amended to instead end with “Further we insist that all persons are entitled to have their human and civil rights ensured, although we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching." (1972 Book of Discipline) Thus, since 1972, progressives have been working to undo that amendment and its subsequent impact on our denomination.

Every 4 years, which means every time General Conference meets, debate over this language comes to a head. For many years, slow progress was being made towards removing it, as the votes seemed to get a little bit better each time General Conference met. Then, in 2012 the progress stopped. In fact, it actually got a little bit worse. At that moment, we realized that we were not going to get the change made through traditional channels. Time alone was not going to bring victory. The United Methodist church mirrors the governmental structure of the United States. None of the avenues of change were available to us to in order to bring justice. The Judicial Council – our judicial branch - keeps ruling in favor of the discrimination in the Book of Discipline. The executive branch Bishops, for the most part, take it as their duty to enforce the rules in the Book of Discipline. And the legislative branch, the General Conference itself, was not going to change the Book of Discipline, at least not in this generation. (The details as to why are likely more than most people want, but I'd be happy to discuss them if you'd like.)

In 2012, it became clear that another strategy was going to have to take precedence. At the end of that Conference, Bishop Melvin Talbert instructed us to engage in “Biblical Obedience”, which happened to be church law disobedience, and to perform marriages in the regular course of our pastoral duties, for people of all genders and expressions of mutual love. The courageous and strategic leaders of MIND – Methodist in New Directions from the New York Annual Conference – had already started this with a campaign called “We Do!”, but in that moment it expanded dramatically.2 The strategy of Biblical Obedience encouraged clergy and churches to lead with God's love at the forefront, love rather than fear. It also raised tensions with those who wanted to control the ways God's love is shared.

Which is to say, it REALLY ticked off the conservatives. ;) In 2016 at General Conference, the tensions that had been intentionally raised created space for a different way of moving forward, called “The Commission on the Way Forward.” The Commission was charged “to do a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph of the Book of Discipline concerning human sexuality and explore options that help to maintain and strengthen the unity of the church.”3 Their preferred recommendation, and 2 alternative options, will be on the table for the 2019 Special Session of General Conference, that will be convened to deal with those recommendations. Other solutions from other bodies have also been submitted. The preferences of both the Commission and the Council of Bishops is “The One Church” plan, in which official statements condemning homosexuality will be removed from the Book of Discipline, while careful protections will be put in place give homophobia deciding power and influence in locations where it is dominant. Thus, in this plan, the church has a whole stops being institutionally discriminatory, but localized discrimination is not only permitted but empowered.

This is how I get to “discernment is hard!” There is another plan, a better one, created by the Queer Clergy Caucus that simply removes the statements condemning homosexuality and does not protect homophobia. It is called the Simple Church Plan. (There is not actually a plan on the table that removes the statements condemning homosexuality and replaces them with the affirmations that God's love is not bound by sexual orientation nor gender identity, which is unfortunate.) The problem is that the “One Church Plan” which is ugly enough to make my stomach hurt, is very far from being guaranteed to pass, and nothing better evenhas a shot. I believe that the Queer Clergy Caucus plan is not politically viable in our current church. Clearly this is my opinion, others believe that the Holy Spirit can move even the stubborn delegates to General Conference. I haven't struggled with this discernment alone. Many conversations have been had. There is not any clarity within the LGBTQIA+ community either about the best way forward. There is agreement that the other two plans are much worse.

In the words of the scripture, where is the line “between good and evil”? What is the appropriate role of compromise? Whose lives are being compromised? Are small steps forward enough? Will we as a church get stuck in the first place we move, and would it be better to do NOTHING than to get stuck there? Since the alternative plans are much worse, is it better to seek what we can get? What if we are able to pass the One Church Plan, and it then means that the far right will exit and leave the church in peace, able to move things forward – does that make this worth it to make such a compromise?

I may not believe Solomon's story happened as it is written, but I resonate with the desire for God's help in knowing the best way forward – or maybe just the least evil way forward. Even knowing that God's love extends fully to people of many sexualities and gender expressions, and that God wants a church that includes all of God's people FULLY and celebrates people AS THEY ARE, (duh), how does God want us to act in this moment? Where should our energy go?

And what if we're wrong?

In words like Solomon's, Loving God, give us understanding minds to know how to support your people, and the ability to discern between good and evil, that your love might be known, that fear might be cast out, and that together we might work towards your kindom. Amen

1Choong -Leong Seow “Commentary on 1 Kings 3:4-15” in 1 Kings in The New Interpreter's Bible Commenatary Vol III Leander E. Keck, general editor (Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1999), 39.

2http://www.mindny.org/mind-initiatives/marriage-initiative/

3http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/commission-on-a-way-forward

Rev. Sara E. Baron

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

Pronouns: she/her/hers

http://fumcschenectady.org

#Thinking Church #Progressive Christianity #FUMC Schenectady #UMC #Schenectady #Discerning #Rev Sara E. Baron #One Church Plan #Simple Plan #Queer Clergy Caucus #Commission on the Way Forward #General Confernece #Institutional Discrimination #Homophobia #God's Love

0 notes

glenmenlow · 7 years ago

Text

3 Brand Lessons From Stranger Things

In a few days, Netflix will release the much-anticipated second season of Stranger Things. The popular, nostalgic homage to 1980s sci-fi/thrillers is part of a growing number of TV-worlds that reflect stand-out traits of the collective journey. Along with shows like Game of Thrones, Westworld, OA and Master of None, Stranger Things is not about the glorious eternal return of heroes, but rather, as Jeff Gomez (creator of the collective journey model) says, “[These stories] are about communities struggling to achieve efficacy through the power of their own diversity.”

We live in complicated times. Just a few days ago, former president George W. Bush said in a speech given in New York, “At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions.”

While Stranger Things is first and foremost an entertaining show, it also has served to unite more than 14 million viewers last year alone. So, what’s behind the storyteller magic that brings so many people together, and more importantly, what might brands learn from their formula? Here’s three possibilities:

1. Move Beyond The Binary

Stranger Things is not about a singular hero defeating a singular enemy. Who is the enemy? Is it Dr. Brenner, is it the Demogorgon? Are Dr. Brenner and the Demogorgon simply the conscious and unconscious manifestations of the same individual?

Collective journey tells us that the classical struggle of good against evil is too highly contrasted to describe the myriad shades of grey that is the actual world in which most of us live. What’s right and what’s wrong? Who’s beliefs are virtuous? While the media used to be largely responsible for telling many people what to think, disintermediation has brought vast numbers of alterative perspectives into the mix. There isn’t always a singular answer.

To seek a savior to rescue us from threats requires an evil that must be defeated. As Jeff Gomez says, “Systemic challenges cannot truly be resolved by one side soundly defeating all others, or by one side solving the crisis by themselves.” Regardless of where you stand politically, the enemy isn’t Trump or the people who voted for him. It’s not Angela Merkel or refugees. It’s not conservatives or progressives.

The real enemy is an ever-evolving and increasingly complex web of real and imagined threats that drive two very basic human emotions – worry and fear.

Back in February, Mark di Somma argued for reasons Why American Brands Should Avoid Politics. He says, “These are emotional times. And brands are powered by emotions. Instead of playing politics, brands should perhaps be looking to meet the wider needs of their customers by providing reassurance, reinforcement, support, inspiration … brands have an opportunity in this environment to do something powerful.”

If we are to fix the system or change the system, we need to come together. The more people, brands, mainstream or fringe media look to battle a singular villain, the longer it will take us to achieve real change. Instead of taking a position that claims to be “on the right side of history”, brands should direct their energies into creating a better present for their customers and the communities they have the power to impact. It’s about doing what’s right, not about being right.

2. There Is An “Upside Down” For Everything

In a fascinating article titled Stranger Things and the Jungian Shadow, Steve Five says, “Quite literally, Stranger Things posits the conscious and the unconscious together in real life by fusing the dark, anti-reality with our reality. The very real physical setting of Stranger Things mimics and can be compared to the mind in its wholeness — Conscious and Unconscious. Whereas we know and understand the initial setting — a small Indiana town in the 80’s — we have no understanding of the upside down. It’s just black, like our unconscious.”

One positive indication that we are on our way to achieving systemic change is the reckoning many brands are having with their own shadow-selves. Airlines have had to face some ugly truths about outdated regulations regarding how they treat their passengers. And change happened fast because people have access to more information with which to hold executive leaders accountable for their actions. Even right now, the Harvey Weinstein scandal is likely the tip of an iceberg for the brand of “Hollywood” to acknowledge its darker side of abuse of power to drive lasting and meaningful change that’s long overdue. Beyond Tinsel Town, the Weinstein Effect has begun to rattle the nerves of many in politics, major media outlets, and major corporations.

Every person, every brand has a shadow-self. In a Psychology Today article, Dr. Steven Diamond says, “Despite its well-deserved reputation for wreaking havoc and engendering widespread suffering in human affairs, the shadow–in distinction to the literal idea of the devil or demons–can be redeemed: The shadow must never be dismissed as merely evil or demonic, for it contains natural, life-giving, underdeveloped positive potentialities too.”

Brands must come to terms with their darker selves. Many are already doing it by putting programs in place to overturn past practices of reckless corporatism, misogyny and racism and other dark-stuff.

3. Cult Branding And Tribal Appeal

On a LinkedIn thread this week, Hilton Barbour shared an interesting article on customer trust. Commenting on that thread was Chris Kneeland, Co-Founder of Cult Collective, The Gathering, & Commun-o.com, who offered, “I’ve often said that cult brands care more about what they stand for than what they sell… We’re witnessing the artificial stimulants of mass media and markdowns failing to work like they used to, and we have more and more examples of brands that overdose on these “drugs” (i.e. Toys R Us, Macy’s, Quiznos, Payless, etc), which will hopefully wake more brand leaders up to the idea that they’ve likely been going about their jobs all wrong and a new playbook is required. Personally, I prefer to copy the plays of cult brands who are doing it spectacularly right.”

Stranger Things is in many ways, a cult-show that found wider appeal than its creators ever imagined. But it uses a cult approach to its fan base which is only helping to drive momentum. By their nature, cult brands are masters of this, but can a global brand or national brand apply some of the tricks cult brands use? Yes. These larger brands need to be thinking tribally to activate the networks formed by shared passions and interests. Frito-Lay did this when they tapped chef/TV personality Ann Burrell to create a pop-up restaurant in Manhattan. They activated the foodie tribe without alienating anyone else.

When shows like Stranger Things manage to captivate so much of the public’s love and attention, brands need to pay attention, because there’s so much more that can be learned.

Build a human-centric brand. Join us for us for The Un-Conference: 360 Degrees of Brand Strategy for a Changing World, April 2-4, 2018 in San Diego, California. A fun, competitive-learning experience reserved for 50 marketing oriented leaders and professionals.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

from WordPress https://glenmenlow.wordpress.com/2017/10/26/3-brand-lessons-from-stranger-things/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

markjsousa · 7 years ago

Text

3 Brand Lessons From Stranger Things

1. Move Beyond The Binary

The real enemy is an ever-evolving and increasingly complex web of real and imagined threats that drive two very basic human emotions – worry and fear.

2. There Is An “Upside Down” For Everything

3. Cult Branding And Tribal Appeal

When shows like Stranger Things manage to captivate so much of the public’s love and attention, brands need to pay attention, because there’s so much more that can be learned.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

0 notes

joejstrickl · 7 years ago

Text

3 Brand Lessons From Stranger Things

1. Move Beyond The Binary

The real enemy is an ever-evolving and increasingly complex web of real and imagined threats that drive two very basic human emotions – worry and fear.

2. There Is An “Upside Down” For Everything

3. Cult Branding And Tribal Appeal

When shows like Stranger Things manage to captivate so much of the public’s love and attention, brands need to pay attention, because there’s so much more that can be learned.

The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

0 notes

heuse1ac · 8 years ago

Text

DREW’S JURY ANSWERS

Whew

If Karen or Isaac had gone, I imagine it would have gone very similarly. Switching you in for one of them would have changed the initial lineup of the villains split but the big factors would have stayed the same. Karen/Isaac (the one who's left) wouldn't want to work with Jordan. Billy would have been scared of Jordan Pines so he would have wanted to work with Means and Karen/Isaac against that group. Jordan likely would have still wanted to play the sapphire idol because unless you were a goddess beast at that flash game, he would have still been immune and he wanted to play it when it couldn't blow back on him. I don't know that much would have changed. I Would have tried for the same strategic position I got because I still think it would have been the best place for me to be.

The only huge factor that might have shifted would be if Jordan felt confident enough in that group of villains, with you on his side, to not tell everyone on the Villains he was playing the sapphire idol. Without Isaac the knowledge of that getting back to us, everything could have changed, Billy probably would have left, bc we wouldn't have split the hero vote, and who knows where I'd be. In my experience, plans made before f7 or f8 are doomed to fail so I'm not going to say I had some master plan that would have seen me through. I'd like to think I'm creative and clever enough, and had enough positive relationships in the start of the merge tribe that I'd have made it through. But I'm glad I don't have to find out.

Rites of Passage…..

Kendall - (more @ this question than anything else)

Ash -

Jay -

Mitch -

JP -

Karen -

Isaac -

Duncan -

JM -

You were voted out because going into merge with a connected group of 5 was better than any plan i could come up with to keep you. I knew that Mitch had the super idol, I knew that the villains would be coming into merge in two factions, and that we couldn’t do the same, we had to be a unified group to force them to split. If we’d voted to keep you, option 1 would have been to vote for Mitch or Duncan, super idol would have been used, you would have left anyway, and we would have lost the pair of them at merge. Option 2 would have been to split the vote between the both of them, send one out, probably Mitch to force the Super Idol (or so we thought would happen), to get rid of it. Mitch leaves, merge hits, Duncan flips in a heartbeat (maybe not on all the heroes but at least to get you and me out). Voting for you was the best way that I/we saw to go into merge 5 heroes strong. It sucks because I was excited to play with you all through tribal phase, but from a numbers perspective, it was the best option. It wasn't that we doubted you’d be with us or that you hadn't been an amazing ally to that point, I don't think we would have saved you on the Jacob vote if we didn't want to work with you. It's just how we felt at the time that it had to be to have the tightest full group at merge.

Is it cheating to say Ampharos?

Hey I’ve been saying from the start I’m no hero, it’s not a secret. If I’d been put on the villains tribe (and for the sake of the scenario, let’s say I replace Ben because he was only there as a follower to Jordan Pines), first things first, I would not have lost that first challenge, putting in the We Are Number One guys was a rookie move and y’all know it. But really though, in the first minute, a chat would have formed with you, me, Jordan Pines, and Kendall. Lily and Stevie would have been brought in for numbers later that night. I’d have also pushed a relationship with Karen/Isaac/Means to situate myself in the middle, probably with Stevie and Kendall, and try to keep everyone together for as long as possible. It played really well on the heroes tribe because everyone wanted to be in that mentality, but regardless of the game and tribe I’m in, my default comfort zone is creating that peace and love tribe and pushing to get the group as far as it can go without fracturing. As far as I’m concerned, that Stevie vote was the end of the Villains’ chances of running the game. You and Jordan could have still done it, or Karen and Isaac could have still done it, had small circumstances changed a little, but Villains would never truly get together for it. I would have fought not to let that fracture happen. You say my gameplay is crazy villainous and in merge tribes, you’re right, I’m more than willing to do whatever it takes to make the situation favor me in the end, and I’m good at figuring out what that means for the given situation. I come off as a villain by the end of the game because that’s when those moves matter, when it’s pushing towards the endgame and when I’m willing to make logical moves without emotional ties. But in tribal phase, I’m all hero all the time, and who I’m with doesn’t change that. I’m all about tribal loyalty going into merge, because those are the bonds we’ve been working on and at minimum for the first vote of merge, those are the people I stay with. I’ve built very successful peace and love tribes with Jordan in Westeros and Burma, with you in All Stars and the swapped tribe in Motu, with Means in Mystic Falls, with Stevie in Divergent, I’ve been doing it with Karen in Island of Shade. The people I’m with doesn’t change the fact that I will always think that’s the best way to get through the tribal phase of the game. So you wouldn’t have seen much of a difference in my gameplay if I’d started on the villains tribe, just a different beach with different friends.

Just as a side note, to say I used Brian, Mitch, and Duncan for their good will to get through the game is honestly just a little ignorant because it ignores the fact that I did what I thought best for them too, for all of us, in the times that we were working together. You act as though I do nothing for allies that I have, as long as I can trust that we have the same goals for the same reasons, as though I align with people for the pure sake of slitting their throats down the line when that couldn’t be further from the truth. I am all for making moves that benefit a group that I’m with, so long as it doesn’t hurt me in the long run. In every game that I’ve made FTC, I make it with at least one strong ally that I’ve had the entire game, sometimes like here, it works out that I can be here with two of them, and I did that along with them, it wasn’t feeding off of their good will. I align with people for the luxury of choice down the line, of being able to find the path that works best for me and gets me where I’d like to be. If that ever changes who I should be with, then yeah, I’ll change with it, I’ll vote out a friend and an ally, I’ll lie my way through the game, I have no problem being the villain in your history books. But if you’re going to treat it as though I only made it to a certain point by them carrying me on their backs, at least acknowledge that for a strong amount of time, as long as I felt our interests coincided, which happened to be merge for Mitchy and Dunc and longer in Brian’s case, I carried them just as far as they carried me.

I want to deal with the other parts of your statement just a little first. To start, I’ve always thought of myself closer to Kim Spradlin in terms of relationships than Spencer (never in the strategic side, that woman could run circles around me). A comparison to the game bot that Cagayan Spencer was I think undersells how much weight and how much of myself I put into the friendships and bonds that I form. No one I’ve ever played with in my life has been a chess piece, everyone is so much more to me than that. Much like with Michael, Jay, and Kat, yeah I’m willing to cut friends that I’ve made if I see the strategic reason, I can put the emotional angle on the back burner and recognize it as the right move for me at the time, but emotionless is never a word I’d put to it. Second, it was never about a lack of trust that what you said you wanted, five heroes strong to the end, was what you actually wanted. We, or at least I, knew the truth in that. As I covered a bit in my opening statement (which I know you didn’t read at the time of writing this since Dunc had just left, so excuse me), I saw a different angle to getting through the middle of merge than going with all five heroes to the end, and it was the move I, and we, went with. I’m truly sorry you and your faith in the group were the casualties of that decision.

For your real question. And please know this is an explanation but not an excuse. You were voted out on a Friday night. That weekend was a trip that I had planned up to my old college town to see friends. I didn’t approach you that night because I didn’t know the Super Idol was out of play and thought we’d have more time, and that at the time, I was the last person you’d want to hear from. When you were voted out, Duncan went off, Brian left the alliance chat, no one wanted to speak, and it was a passive immunity challenge in Touchy Subjects. So instead of dealing with the fallout of anything in that game, including the conversation I really should have had with you, I put my phone away and enjoyed my weekend at my old school with some of my oldest friends. By Sunday night, we’d already gotten to the next tribal council, the game had moved on, and I felt as though I’d missed the window to speak to you specifically about the game and the decisions made without it feeling like trying to influence a member of the jury to see everything in a new light. So outside the game, I made a point to be more social than usual in the gorlley chat, the athena hosting chat, I talked to you about every challenge we got in TAR, things to show more than tell that a move made in a game had no impact on my interactions with you as a friend outside of it. I’m sure it wasn’t enough, it couldn’t have been, I missed the window for it, a combination of poor timing and my own stubbornness that something that happened in the game should stay in the game and should be talked about at jury or at FTC, because that’s how I choose to handle it when I’m betrayed in a game. None of which is on you, hence this being an explanation, not an excuse. As your friend, I hope you can accept a very very VERY late apology for that night, not for the move because as much as it sucked I stand by it, but for how I handled it and the aftermath with you and the emotional outcome of it. Vote with your heart, whatever criteria you need to follow, if it’s me, cool, if it’s not, cool, you’re still going to be one of the best friends I have in the community either way.

FUCK okay ask and you shall receive.

Billy got to merge with the most opportunity of anyone. He had Raikou, two idols, the person who had people from the other side wanting to work with him more than anyone else. And then every move he made hurts his game. First and foremost, he voted in the minority three times, but knew what was happening in each of those votes, which is so much worse IMO than just being left out. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on the Karen vote, I don’t remember Means coming up strongly enough to cast a vote but okay. But I was there at F9 when he asked Brian to trade with him to be a Duncan vote because he couldn’t vote Mitch, and I was there at 10:50 before Isaac’s vote when I double-checked point blank “You, Brian, and Duncan all voted for Isaac, right?” and his response was “Yes. Now vote Isaac.” My personal biggest regret in this season was not wanting to deal with the fallout of the vote I WANTED to cast that night. I still have the voting confessional here in a google doc. “Duncan, my vote is for you, but I do not want you to go home. If I’m wrong, then I’ve thrown my vote away, which is the exact thing I wanted to avoid. But if I’m right, Means is about to or has already gotten a random vote that no one was told about, and my vote is going to force a revote. And someone who has been avoiding playing the core of the game for a very long time is going to have to make a real choice. I wonder which way he’ll go.” Because we all knew what he was doing and it frustrated the hell out of all of us.

The other mistake in Billy’s game was at final seven, letting Karen leave. If his memory serves, he voted JM because that was the plan at the time, but he wouldn’t have been left out of the loop completely. When I saw the second vote for me, I thought it had flipped back and tried to leave the chat, and he was the first one to come to me saying everything is okay, you’re not going anywhere, he was sure. Billy’s ideal final five for the game he was trying to play should have been Karen and Isaac on one side, Brian and me/Duncan on the other, and him sitting firmly in the middle. This way, he would still betray friends, he would still have to pick a side, but he could argue that he was FIRMLY in the driver’s seat, he was the decision maker, this was his endgame. When you play as much as we do, you’re always going to deal with betrayals and hurt friends, but sending Karen and Isaac out 5th and 4th would have been a much stronger showing for him, and even if he didn’t have their votes at the end, it would give him a hell of a lot more to talk about. When he realized the vote was going to Karen, he needed to fight to stop it. I would have used Raikou, shown Karen and Isaac that JM flipped on them, and then put them and Brian to vote for Means in the revote. He couldn’t join them because he voted Means the first time, but if he threw his vote on Karen, who most of us couldn’t vote for again, the best Means, Duncan, and I could have done was vote for Isaac and force a tie, but I don’t think I would have pulled rocks when it would mean Isaac and Means would both be safe. Billy was immune so the threat of rocks wouldn’t scare him. And if Brian was the one who didn’t want to go to rocks and Isaac went home, he would have at least left seeing Billy try to defend him, and he would have been a Billy warrior in jury, he’d still have Karen firmly on his side in the game. And it would be a big move at the right time. That was the move I was absolutely terrified he would make, because it was the right one for his game. Instead he gave up the last real bit of his power in the game, his connection to the villains, to take the passenger seat to my game and Brian’s game, and didn’t influence anything in the last three weeks.

Brian honestly didn’t play a bad game for what he wanted it to be, which was keeping as many of his friends in as long as possible because we wanted him in the end. This is with the exception of Final Five of course, because if you’re getting to the end on an emotional player heroic loyalty ticket, blindsiding your newest close friendship before his time for the sake of other people’s games, and not telling him, isn’t the way to get there. It kind of undermines the whole storyline, he really needed Means gone at F5 so if Duncan had to leave at F4 (assuming I still won immunity), he could still say he was mostly heroes to the end. But anyway, the problem with Brian’s game was visibility. I didn’t really talk game with Brian until F6 when we were bitching about Billy’s thrown votes, I talked to Billy before that. Karen and Isaac didn’t talk to him, they talked to Billy. Jordans and Jay didn’t talk to him, they talked to me. Duncan talked to Brian but that wasn’t strong enough to hold together when other allies wanted him gone. It’s not enough to believe yourself in power, pulling all the strings to keep your ideal group together. If you’re not speaking to the people you’re sending to the jury, but they are speaking to your allies, you’re not going to be looked at as the puppetmaster, you’re going to be looked at as the extra vote in someone else’s back pocket. To win these games, you have to be seen. Brian wasn’t seen.

Hogwarts houses

Kendall - Hufflepuff/Slytherin hatstall, you’re quirky fun and very very likable but will disregard a lot to get your job done

Ash - Hufflepuff because the only thing their blog confirms harder than their love for Fishbach is their House

Jay - Ravenclaw, bc we’ve talked about it

Mitch - Hufflepuff, very loyal, very friend-driven, but the motivation is more for the friendship than base loyalty

JP - Slytherin, I’m not even gonna explain that one.

Karen - Slytherin because I cheated and took that from the Comoros conversation about it, and that’s where Pottermore put her, and I’m not defying JK

Isaac - Slytherin, lover of chaos

Duncan - Gryffindor, no explanation needed. Loyalty over all.

JM - Hufflepuff, honestly Means isn’t dark or ambitious enough for Slytherin, he’s a good guy, he likes the camaraderie of a good group

Compliment? The fact that I wrote more for you than anyone else is honestly a compliment in itself. Look at all this shit. I did that for you.

I mean if we’re being honest, I didn’t play a less bland game than they did, mine was probably the most bland. I didn’t have any irrational outbursts in the tribe chat, I didn’t fuck with tribal councils to preserve my image, I just played the damn game I was given. That was figuring out where I sat in the pecking order of the tribe and taking the steps I needed to to move up the list until I was #1. The one thing I have to my name is the boot list, I’m the only one that would have dreamed it like that (other than the Mitch vote, but no one could have planned that bc I didn’t think the super idol could be circumvented like that, but whatever). Billy should have never let you go at F7, Brian should have never let Duncan go at F5. I’m the only one who can say every boot was good for me. It got all three of us here, but only one of us with (I think) the fewest enemies and the most authority. None of it was particularly flashy or exciting, true, the two big moves of the season were Jay and Mitch’s boots, and no one person can lay claim to them, but my game was damn effective. I won when I had to, I sat back when I had to, I got my threats out when I wanted them out, I turned a game that was designed for someone else into my best ending.

Songs………….

For added enjoyment, I’m gonna only choose from the 200 songs on my phone right now, which will also be a fun little glimpse as to my flaws as a person for having some of these tracks

Kendall - We’re All Mad Here by SJ Tucker

Ash - Fairytale by Sara Bareilles

Jay - Icarus by Bastille

Mitch - Where No One Goes by Jonsi

JP - Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time by Panic! At the Disco

Karen - Over It by Anneliese van der Pol

Isaac - Grace Kelly by Mika

Duncan - Let Me Be Your Star from Smash

JM - Blow by Ke$ha

Chris - Paperman from the Disney Aminated Short

Allison - Control by Halsey

Andrew - I Want To Be A Slut from the Big Gay Musical

Okay, the without any forewarning part, you're right. I should have been honest enough to have that conversation with him ahead of time, even last minute like Brian had with you. I could blame it on the fact that I was out of town and didn't talk to anyone hours leading up to the vote, but as I said in mitch's question, that's an explanation but not an excuse. I felt the need to move against Mitch and the super idol because it was going to happen with or without me. Jordan brought it up as the most powerful thing left in the game, Karen and Isaac were freaked out that it was there, Billy and I had talked about the problems it posed. This isn't about my relationship with any of them, just that things were already being planned. In my experience with orgs, if you're not a part of the plan, you're open to be one of the victims, and I was not going to let that happen. Beyond that, I didn't see any way the super idol truly benefited me. It's not that I doubted that he'd use it on me if I was blindsided or that he wouldn't do everything in his power to get five heroes strong to the end. That was never a question because you're right, I know Mitchy as a person and a player, his word would have been exactly that. But if I got to final five either hiding behind someone else's power or needing that power and the benevolence of someone else in order to get there, that's not a winning game. It's just not. And if we got to five as a force with the super idol still in play, at the time of consideration for this vote, the thought was that it would be used on you or him, and if I didn't have immunity there's a 50/50 chance of losing, another place I didn’t want to find myself in. Am I particularly proud of the move? No, it's not one I'm going to tell at parties when people ask all the cool shit I've done in games, flipping on a close friend and making him cry and going that dark was never in my bucket list. I'm always going to be the player who, within the context of the game, treats the numbers and the opportunities as higher considerations than pre-existing friendships and bonds. We signed on for a winner take all game with the same cast of characters, every move made is both working with friends and plotting against friends. I saw a flaw in my game that would have cost me any chance at winning, and took steps to fix it, and I have no regrets about that, regardless of who the move was against. If that ultimately costs me your vote to win, or his, or everyone's, I'll be okay with it, because I stand by the move. I’m sorry that it hurt a friend, that’s never the goal, but it was right for the me that was in the game.

The only tribal that I truly feel I needed the necklace was at final five. Oddly enough, as the last remaining villain, you were the safest person there, because you were regarded as the last person to go. That vote became so much more about solidifying the three heroes would would be sitting here. I would like to believe that had I been an option to be voted for, that the outcome would have still been the same. If you’d been immune, I might have gotten Duncan’s vote. But Brian and Billy have told me that they were with me to the end and while I do believe them, I’m very glad I didn’t have to put that to the test when Duncan could have had qualities of his game and connection with them that he could have been sitting here. At final six, as long as he didn’t win, Isaac was leaving, getting the win was more about not getting votes again so soon after being the minority target for the first time in my PI life. At final four, as long as you didn’t win, you were leaving, and if you did win, Brian made it very clear that he would have voted himself off to let Billy and I continue. So while I very much wanted the win, I didn’t need it. In a sentence, yes, I think without the immunity wins, I would still be here, as long as the target of each week didn’t win immunity, but holy fucking shit, am I glad I had them anyway.

#toppercentagesurvivor

0 notes