#jill langston

[rubyloops]

david & jill edit cause they mean a lot to me // 🎼pasilyo - sunkissed lola

[cowboy-heart]

also, i recently gathered all of my favourite poems (by other writers) into a single PDF for myself and decided to share it on my ko-fi!

it’s 106 pages, 62 poems, with an index, and links and credits to all the writers! and it’s free!

it’s a mix of published poets, blog excerpts, and internet poets, covering themes of love, grief, living, butch-femme, LGBT, nature and justice! - full list of contents in read more :)

it’s free since it’s not my own original work, but if you wanna tip for making the PDF then it’s much appreciated!! 🧡

(sidenote: if you/your work has appeared in this and you want it removed or edited, let me know and i’ll do so immediately!)

After The Threesome, They Both Take You Home’ - Sue Hyon Bae

‘Come, And Be My Baby’ - Maya Angelou

‘Witness’ - Crystal Wilkinson

‘lady macbeth-macbeth’ - @two-bees-poetry

‘how to spend an august afternoon in love’ - @cheruib

‘Chocolate Chip Pancakes’ - Caitlyn Siehl

‘The Teapot’ - Robert Bly

‘Little Weirds’ (excerpt) - Jenny Slate

‘Writing Prompts for the Broken-Hearted’ (excerpt) - Eden Robinson

‘Perhaps The World Ends Here’ - Joy Harjo

‘The Serious Downer’ - Jill McDonough

‘Summer Was Forever’ - Chen Chen

‘For Grace, After A Party’ - Frank O’Hara

‘A Vow’ - Wendy Cope

‘Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back’ - Natalie Dunn

‘Watching you talk on the phone, I consider the empty space around atoms-‘ - Rhiannon McGavin

‘Gram Loves You. Please Call’ - Amy Gotliffe

‘The Quiet World’ - Jeffrey McDaniel

‘the undone cowboy writes to his sweetheart’ - Silas Denver Melvin ( @sweatermuppet )

‘Song of the Anti-Sisyphus’ - Chen Chen

‘RURAL BOYS WATCH THE APOCALYPSE’ - Keaton St. James

‘A Possible Exit’ - Jarrett Moseley

‘poem on my fortieth birthday to my mother who died young’ - Lucille Clifton

‘ANSWERING HER QUESTION’ - Alice White

‘when the one you thought, finally, wouldn’t, does’ - Marty McConnell

‘fourth grader’ (excerpt)

‘Poem’ - Langston Hughes

‘For M’ - Mikko Harvey

‘A Drink of Water’ - Jeffrey Harrison

‘Cold Solace’ - Anna Belle Kaufman

‘Boot Theory’ - Richard Siken

‘Love letter as an autism diagnosis’ - Arden Kowalski

‘Tea’ - Leila Chatti

‘Night Walk’ - Frank Wright

‘Don’t Hesitate’ - Mary Oliver

‘For A Student Who Used AI To Write A Paper’ - Joseph Fasano

‘Rain’ - Raymond Carver

Unnamed/‘who’s afraid of hoverflies?’ - @a-chilleus

‘The Orange’ - Wendy Cope

‘Failing and Flying’ - Jack Gilbert

‘Can’t Get Enough Of My Love’ - Shuyler Peck

‘Invitation’ - Mary Oliver

‘Dead Rat’ - Mervyn Peake

‘Wild Geese’ - Mary Oliver

‘I Imagine The Butch’s Stripper Bar’ - Jill McDonough

‘FEMME SHARK MANIFESTO’ - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Unnamed (fake interview) - @llovely

‘Butch Please: A Letter To Baby Butches’ - Kate

‘ROUND TWO: the body as protest’ - Joelle Taylor

‘ROUND SEVEN: the body as uprising’ - Joelle Taylor

‘Angel’ - Joelle Taylor

‘Catallus 16’

‘15. Fan Letter’ - James Crewes

‘Make Out Sonnet’ - F. Douglas Brown

‘Hey Cowboy’ - Silas Denver Melvin ( @sweatermuppet )

‘Fat Top/Switch’ - Emilia Phillips

‘On a Night of the Full Moon’ - Audre Lorde

‘The Gardens’ - Mary Oliver

‘Want’ - Joan Larkin

‘Social Skills Training’ - Solmaz Sherif

‘Bullet Points’ - Jericho Brown

Unnamed - Marwan Makhoul

[grandhotelabyss]

What are the most novelistic, readable-as-literature biographies and histories (or, indeed, autobiographies and memoirs — I’m also tempted to add something about autofiction on one end, and historical novels about real figures on the other, but then it becomes a different question)?

You should ask someone who keeps up better with histories and biographies, someone who could speak intelligibly to you of Gibbon and Macaulay and God knows who! Reflecting my particular academic background, I will recommend again as I've recommended before Richard Ellmann's great trilogy of bios on the Irish moderns: Yeats: The Man and the Masks, James Joyce, and Oscar Wilde. What's especially impressive is that they're so different from one another: the Yeats is interpretive and essayistic, the Joyce discursive and dialogic, and the Wilde—yes!—reads like a novel. More broadly, I did enjoy Jill Lepore's recent massive one-volume history of the U.S., These Truths. It was absorbingly narrative, with a persuasive thesis about technology and national self-representation, and she struck the right political balance given the incendiary period of composition. On the intellectual history side, I liked Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club, a group biography and rich contextualization of the American Pragmatists. A favorite memoir, which, considering its idiosyncracy, is probably an example of why I'm the wrong person to ask: Love's Work by Gillian Rose. Favorite novel about a real historical figure? You know I have to say Libra.

(I just finished Come Back in September, Darryl Pinckney's long and exhaustive memoir of Elizabeth Hardwick, the New York Review of Books set, and the downtown NYC avant-garde in the '70s and '80s. Very rich gossip. Pinckney even quotes a defense of gossip in its pages: Hardwick and Barbara Epstein used to say that gossip is only analysis of the absent person. The climax, if such a diffuse book can have a climax, comes when Susan Sontag realized on the Kantstrasse a few months before the Wall came down that Pinckney kept a diary. She decided to tell him for posterity's sake a story about the time Robert Lowell, then married to Hardwick, made a pass at her, with the excuse that "One can't have one's wife writing Madame Bovary in the kitchen." Sontag or Pinckney—the voices aren't always distinct in this group memoir—observed that Cal and Lizzie employed domestic service of the type eulogized or matronized in Sleepless Nights, so she wouldn't have been writing in the kitchen. She would have been writing in the study—just like him. Nevertheless, the two real geniuses they knew, Hardwick and Epstein conclude after thinking about it for a while, were Lowell and Arendt. Pinckney is good on the paradoxes of being educated out of one's class, especially in an America where race and ethnicity can be proxies for class; he can only talk about James Baldwin insightfully with this old Southern white woman of extraordinary literary cultivation, not his black bourgeois parents with their too-middle-class investment in respectability. The climax of the book might be Baldwin's funeral, come to think of it. There, Pinckney, who has presented himself throughout as a reticent and deferential protégé, takes no prisoners: "Maya Angelou sounded like a Hallmark card. Toni Morrison spoke mostly about herself. Baraka ranted about white people. The relief of a choir." This book put a couple more memoirs and biographies on the notional to-read list: The Big Sea by Langston Hughes, Safe Conduct by Boris Pasternak—though I should probably read Dr. Zhivago first—and Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess by Arendt herself.)

[losspeaks06]

BLOG POST #1 (Introduction)

Greetings,

I am a graduate student presently enrolled in poetry writing class. I am very excited to dive deep into poetry writing. I think it is a great escape and form of expression.

A few things about me: I am an Atlanta native, a kidney transplant recipient and foodie. I enjoy traveling, live music and concerts, cooking, Cosplay, DJing, hip hop music, learning about Black history, watching movies (especially horror movies), volunteering, mentoring youth, positive energy and spending time with friends and family. If you decide to follow my page, then you’ll see me blogging and writing poetry about some or all of those things.

Some of my favorite poets include Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Claude McKay and Paul Laurence Dunbar. One of my absolute favorite poems is Invictus by William Ernest Henley. I had to learn this poem and recite it many years ago for a special project that I was involved in. For that reason, it has deep meaning to me.

Because I am huge music lover, I also enjoy music artists who use and have used their platforms to create poetry. Some of those amazing talents include Tupac Shakur, Jill Scott, Kate Bush, Kendrick Lamar Gil Scott Heron and Joni Mitchell.

I plan to keep a pen and pad, my cellphone and other devices close, as I never know when I’ll be inspired to write.

Thanks for reading!

Wishing you peace, love and good energy.

✌🏾&🖤&⚡️

[indelicateink]

curious to read this book the IWTV writer’s room posted on twitter. looks wonderfully promising

maybe feeling the Armand vibes in this clue?

maybe possibly? the armand-louis-fine art trifecta. is the Russian a coincidence with book!Armand's background...? bit more about this clue (from amaz*n lol):

During the 1920s and 1930s, American minority artists and writers collaborated extensively with the Soviet avant-garde, seeking to build a revolutionary society that would end racial discrimination and advance progressive art. Making what Claude McKay called "the magic pilgrimage" to the Soviet Union, these intellectuals placed themselves at the forefront of modernism, using radical cultural and political experiments to reimagine identity and decenter the West. Shining rare light on these efforts, The Ethnic Avant-Garde makes a unique contribution to interwar literary, political, and art history, drawing extensively on Russian archives, travel narratives, and artistic exchanges to establish the parameters of an undervalued "ethnic avant-garde." These writers and artists cohered around distinct forms that mirrored Soviet techniques of montage, fragment, and interruption. They orbited interwar Moscow, where the international avant-garde converged with the Communist International.

The book explores Vladimir Mayakovsky's 1925 visit to New York City via Cuba and Mexico, during which he wrote Russian-language poetry in an "Afro-Cuban" voice; Langston Hughes's translations of these poems while in Moscow, which he visited to assist on a Soviet film about African American life; a futurist play condemning Western imperialism in China, which became Broadway's first major production to feature a predominantly Asian American cast; and efforts to imagine the Bolshevik Revolution as Jewish messianic arrest, followed by the slow political disenchantment of the New York Intellectuals. Through an absorbing collage of cross-ethnic encounters that also include Herbert Biberman, Sergei Eisenstein, Paul Robeson, and Vladimir Tatlin, this work remaps global modernism along minority and Soviet-centered lines, further advancing the avant-garde project of seeing the world anew.

"A highly engaging exploration. . . . While Lee is a professor of English, his book reflects prodigious archival research in diverse source material on literary, political and art history, including extensive research in Russian archives." -- Allison Blakely ― The Russian Review

"Meticulously researched and elegantly written, Lee’s work is notable for the author’s fluency in both Slavic and Anglophone literatures. This range is particularly stunning in the use of previously unknown archival materials, translated by Lee, that will shift our understanding of both fields in the years to come." -- Jill Richards ― Modernism/modernity

[mrsreginagold]

David Sandstrom/Jill Langston

[scentedchildnacho]

Yea i liked the exhibit on the YWCA architect founder Morgan......I was happier though to hear a YWCA was torn down ....and forgotten though....it's these lists by Gloria Steinem of all the severe over work disability and welfare women experience.....and the just strange toxicology research in YWCA buildings till I more approve second wave feminism you give to men these wildernesses to create homeless settlements and they could give these energies to us also

FDR. And Jill Stein on a green new deal they give to men re forestation projects based off foreign indigenous women's leadership but not for us for us nothing but hacker fuckos

I can't breathe....

I think the Morgan exhibit was suppose to be interesting because you can multiply the amount of facets on buildings until it's very ornately mid eastern instead of western desolate....

But if you ask me it's just more cigarette company.....convince the esoteric passavist they don't need a tree to grow bring the honey in so taffers stops going to dark parties

I'm a feminist and I don't really care about trapped in box about threat of nuclear attack more then it's like a nuclear attack out there and people need to go inside

They hack down the trees with all sorts of obscure amputation threats and use jobs as a place to fuck people over in jails if their selected prostitutes aren't paid off ones death

Those trespassing signs are a virus everywhere that are direct threats to fuck people over in jails if you identify that you can read....

If you were an African you wouldn't know how to you would just do as your told

So I think that's what maga is....they were wealthy enough to birth and choose abortion if needed that means they were invested in business fucking women up and mass graveing them from a jail and maga I think directly acts in retributive ways

General Lee ness or myth of eternal return is going to get him though for unjust retribution

People do actually have to do something to be implied involved in mass grave jails

I have a peace corps syndrome after seeing the third world jails shelters projects and homelessness to women....and it's severe need to force do nothing toxicologies I do really recommend to fortunate people only two kids or you will have to keep leaving her in jail without a family of her own and the humans will keep turning into The Race

Color issues are kind of irrelevant truth is the human species here does look like all one huge mono homo family

That and four kid families and abortion disallowed is some of the worst masculinities for male workplaces

Women have to be included in work and desired living a full life or male work spaces are very cancerously male

Riverside I find four kid mommy fashion some of the worst emancipated ideas for how to reinvent masculinity as a woman's fashion

The mommies were grieved in some way though they don't have feelings by those images

Its the feminine that allows women the stove burner is hot and will burn you pull your hand away.....if their very masculine tribal turned out I suspect four kid mommy of having babies they didn't actually feel well and healthy enough to desire

I think this is about the American strength.....but pink flamingo theory in birth and these willowly small types continuing to have technologized adrenaline rush births to me is not actually Mary who could hold Jesus after the cross or a pieta

Milwaukee was also an important immigrant port.....and to have a basilica like this Morgan lady suggests would be nothing at all for needy families so I think the exhibit was to explain who the actual monster on women's rights and homelessness was

That's me about left alone outside in rural Wisconsin and those families that do reside out there warning us if you don't follow these Langston Hugh's folk constructions the monster will come into the settlement village and leave ya out to the bears

What is this monster the parents are always warning us of.....Morgan...

That's why I find religious modesty beautiful....it's just western and that means children were housed

The ywca does require that concentrated women have some of the most feral smells.....it's very difficult to figure how to ask people to tolerate shut in smells

Its a ywca and it's not knowing how long some women have been in there as all they do.....

The blue room artist was more interesting with Morgan introduced......she had a fascination with why her father would control her to these fair stereotypes.....and it's a beautifully interesting house

But if it's commodified Morgan will stop arriving to enlist you....this beautiful hommage to the ethnographic artifact

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 2.1

Beer Birthdays

Johann Schiff (1813)

John Thomas (1847)

Leo van Munching (1901)

Drew Ehrlich (1982)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Fritjof Capra; physicist, writer (1939)

John Ford; film director (1895)

Langston Hughes; poet (1902)

Terry Jones; actor, comedian, "Monty Python" (1942)

Vivian Maier; street photographer (1926)

Famous Birthdays

Paul Blair; Baltimore Orioles CF (1944)

Exene Cervenka; rock singer (1956)

Edward Coke; jurist (1552)

Elsa the Lioness; from "Born Free" (1956)

Don Everly; pop singer (1937)

Sherilyn Fenn; actor (1965)

Clark Gable; actor (1901)

Michael C. Hall; actor (1971)

Sherman Hemsley; actor (1938)

Victor Herbert; composer (1859)

Richard Hooker; writer, "MASH" (1924)

Rick James; singer (1948)

Jill Kelly; pornstar (1971)

Brandon Lee; actor (1965)

Del McCoury; bluegrass musician (1939)

Garrett Morris; comedian (1937)

Bill Mumy; actor (1954)

George Pal; animator, special effects artist (1908)

S.J. Perelman; screenwriter (1904)

Stephen Potter; writer (1900)

Lisa Marie Presley; celebrity (1968)

Joe Sample; jazz pianist (1939)

Jessica Savitch; television journalist (1947)

Muriel Spark; writer (1918)

Stuart Whitman; actor (1926)

Boris Yeltsin; Russian politician (1931)

[edgessunflower]

Micheleamidalajedi's fanfiction and moodboard masterlist! 💫

Bruce Banner

Natasha Romanoff

T'challa

Kate bishop

Bucky Barnes

Shuri

Thor

Okoye

Luke Cage

Carol Danvers

Peter Parker

Jessica Jones

Sam Wilson

Pepper Potts

Clint Barton

Nakia

Tony Stark

Emily Prentiss

Spencer Reid

Jennifer Jareau

Derek Morgan

Penelope Garcia

Matthew Simmons

Tara Lewis

Luke Alvez

Kate Callahan

Aaron Hotchner

Ashley Seaver

Cedric Diggory

Luna Lovegood

Ron Weasley

Hermione Granger

Remus Lupin

Ginny Weasley

Harry Potter

Sirius Black

Katie Bell

Neville Longbottom

Minerva Mcgonagall

Blaise Zabini

Nymphodora Tonks

Rubeus Hagrid

Pansy Parkinson

Draco Malfoy

Jill Valentine

Leon Kennedy

Helena Harper

Carlos Oliveira

Claire Redfield

Jake Muller

Sherry Birkin

Chris Redfield

Alice

Piers Nivan

Sheva Alomar

Nick Stokes

Sara Sidle

Greg Sanders

Catherine Willows

Warrick Brown

Mia Dickerson

Gil Grissom

Riley Adams

Raymond Langston

Julie Finlay

Tifa Lockhart

Hope Esthiem

Oerba Dia Vanille

Cloud Strife

Aerith Gainsborough

Snow Villers

Lighting Farron

Vincent Valentine

Oerba Yun Fang

Zack Fair

Yuffie Kirasagi

Prompto Argentum

Serah Farron

Squall Leonhart

Erik Lehnsherr

Jubliee

Peter Maximoff

Ororo Munroe

Charles Xavier

Raven Darkholme

Warren Worthington

Kitty Pryde

Kurt Wagner

Gambit

Rogue

Logan Howlett

Magik

Alexx Woods

Ryan Wolfe

Natalia Boa Vista

Horatio Caine

Marisol Delko

Jesse Cardoza

Calleigh Duquesne

Walter Simmons

Eric Delko

Kyle Harmon

Mordin Solus

Liara T'soni

Garrus Vakarian

Jack

Thane Krios

Tali'zorah nar rayya

Urdnot Wrex

Suvi Anwar

Liam Kostas

Kasumi Goto

Jaal ama darav

Pelessaria B'sayle

Leia Organa

Finn

Padme Amidala

Din Djarin

Ashoka Tano

Poe Dameron

Rey Skywalker

Galen Marek

Jyn Erso

Obi wan kenobi

Bo katan kryze

Luke Skywalker

Cara Dune

Hunter

Omega

Tech

Cere Junda

Echo

Aayla Secura

Crosshair

Shaak Ti

Wrecker

Mission Vao

Cal Kestis

Barriss Offee

Qui gon jin

Miscellaneous

Don Billingsley

Celine Naville

Santiago Garcia

Kimberly Corman

Bam Margera

Mahtilda

Alex Law

Monica Long Dutton

Wally West

Kara AX400

Robert Lewis

Wendy Christensen

Frank Mccullen

Beverly Marsh

Connor RK900

Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan

Ahkmenrah

Kairi

Christopher Robin

Aqua

Mike Hanlon

Leliana

Terra

Haruhi Fujioka

Koujaku

Tauriel

Ben Miller

Galadariel

Peter Pevensie

Mason "Mace" Brown

Ventus

Susan Pevensie

Will Miller

Judy Alvarez

Gavin "Spinner" Mason

Callie Adams Foster

Frodo

Tori Spring

Kaldur'ahm

Jane Vaughn

Murphy Macmanus

Panam Palmer

Ryan Dunn

Eowyn

Harland Mckenna

Artemis Crock

Adam Banks

Emma Nelson

Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce

Lucy Pevensie

Connor Kent

Peyton Sawyer

Edmund Pevensie

Connie Monreau

Kung Jin

Carol Peletier

Guy Germaine

Brooke Davis

Johnny Knoxville

Emily Fields

Ben Hanscom

Jacqui Briggs

Charlie Conway

Beth Greene

Luis Mendoza

Amelia Sheperd

Elliott Alderson

Heather Mason

John Wick

Azula

Takashi Takeda

Beth Dutton

Aragorn

Cassie Cage

Kazuma Kiryu

Megan Morse

Chris Pontius

Ellie Nash

Legolas Greenleaf

Mariana Foster

Dick Grayson

Lara Croft

Frankie Morales

Sera

Mark Renton

Julia Salinger

Rip Wheeler

Pixie O'brien

Casi

Foxy Cleopatra

Austin Powers

[godzilla-reads]

100 Days of Poetry: Guide

Day 1: The Woman in the Moon by Carol Ann Duffy

Day 2: The Fate of Inuipaq-like Kingfisher by Dg Nanouk Okpik

Day 3: Waterlilies by Ma Hsiang-lan (tr. Kenneth Rexroth & Ling Chung)

Day 4: Ah Vastness of Pines by Pablo Neruda (tr. W.S. Merwin)

Day 5: Lullaby: For Khudejha by Fatimah Asghar

Day 6: The Tyger by William Blake

Day 7: The Woods by Louise Erdrich

Day 8: Snail by Langston Hughes

Day 9: Love Is by Nikki Giovanni

Day 10: Deer Park by Wang Wei (tr. James J.Y. Liu)

Day 11: On Mediating, Sort Of by Mary Oliver

Day 12: Spring Poem for the Sake of Breathing, Written After a Walk to Foster Island by James Masao Mitsui

Day 13: Love Poem: Chimera by Donika Kelly

Day 14: Crows by Arthur Rimbaud

Day 15: Summer Freezes Here by Hsiung Hung (tr. Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung)

Day 16: Rain by Kazim Ali

Day 17: Chimera by Vievee Francis

Day 18: Saint Francis and the Birds by Seamus Heaney

Day 19: Different Ways to Pray by Naomi Shihab Nye

Day 20: Hearing an Oriole at the Palace by Wang Wei (tr. David Hinton)

Day 21: Don't Bother the Earth Spirit by Joy Harjo

Day 22: The Mortician in San Francisco by Randall Mann

Day 23: Gay Pride Weekend, S.F., 1992 by Brenda Shaughnessy

Day 24: Prayer/Oracion by Francisco X. Alarcón (tr. Francisco Aragón)

Day 25: Freedom by Langston Hughes

Day 26: 'Hope' is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson

Day 27: For Assata by Audre Lorde

Day 28: Death by Crisosto Apache

Day 29: Night Moths, Vapor by Olivia Maciel (tr. Kelly Austin)

Day 30: The Kraken by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Day 31: Living in the Summer Mountains by Yü Hsüan-chi (tr. Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung)

Day 32: If We Must Die by Claude McKay

Day 33: The Lyric in a Time of War by Eloise Klein Healy

Day 34: The Crows by Kenneth Rand

Day 35: Caged Bird by Maya Angelou

Day 36: The Flowers of Scotland by James Hogg

Day 37: One Girl by Sappho (tr. Dante Gabriel Rossetti)

Day 38: Mountain, Stone by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Day 39: To One Coming North by Claude McKay

Day 40: The Orange by Wendy Cope 

Day 41: The Northern Cold by Li Ho (tr. A.C. Graham)

Day 42: Spring Coronal by Hyejung Kook

Day 43: Haiku by Masaoka Shiki (tr. Hart Larrabee)

Day 44: August Night by Elizabeth Madox Roberts

Day 45: Moss-Gathering by Theodore Roethke

Day 46: Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Day 47: A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde

Day 48: Mask of Dance by Dg Nanouk Okpik

Day 49: The Sadness of the Moon by Charles Baudelaire (tr. F.P. Sturm)

Day 50: Ode to Teachers by Pat Mora 

Day 51: Hello, Baihua Mountain by Bei Dao (tr. Bonnie S. McDougall)

Day 52: Silverweed’s Poem by Richard Adams

Day 53: Jungle Kill by Cecilia Vicuña (tr. Suzanne Jill Levine) 

Day 54: Childhood Among the Ferns by Thomas Hardy

Day 55: The Wolf by Imru al-Qays (tr. Kareem James Abu-Zeid) 

Day 56: Sisyphus and the Ants by Jennifer S. Flescher 

Day 57: Contemplations at the Virgin de la Caridad Cafeteria, Inc. by Richard Blanco 

Day 58: Names by Teresa Mei Chuc 

Day 59: Thanksgiving 2006 by Ocean Vuong 

Day 60: Blizzard by William Carlos Williams

Day 61: Samhain by Annie Finch

[girlactionfigure]

They have names. They were attending church that Sunday. One of the girls was Carol Denise McNair (pictured here). She was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1951. She was 11-years-old when she and four other young girls went into the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963 to prepare for a sermon, entitled "The Love That Forgives." Denise McNair and the three other girls, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley would die in the church after a bomb planted by the KKK exploded in the church. The sole survivor of that group was Sarah Collins Rudolph, then 12, the sister of Addie Mae Collins. She remembers, "Denise walked over to Addie and said, ‘Addie, would you tie my sash?’. We all was sitting there watching her [get ready to] tie her sash and all of a sudden I heard this sound. Boom!” Her sister, Addie Mae Collins, 14, and friends, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Rosamond Roberts, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14, all had lost their lives in the bombing. Collins Rudolph later was rescued from the rubbish of the bombing with the loss of sight in her left eye. "Tomorrow marks 56 years since the murder of four young girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. "During his eulogy for McNair, Robertson, Wesley and Collins, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the attack 'one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetuated against humanity,' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Some white political leaders before the bombing had encouraged violent acts toward African Americans. Dr. King had sent a telegram to then-Alabama Gov. George Wallace, telling the state’s top segregationist: “The blood of our little children is on your hands.” Ten days before the bombing, Wallace had railed against the civil rights movement to The New York Times, saying, “What this country needs is a few first-class funerals.” President John F. Kennedy would say, "If these cruel and tragic events can only awaken that city and state - if they can only awaken this entire nation to a realization of the folly of racial injustice and hatred and violence, then it is not too late for all concerned to unite in steps toward peaceful progress before more lives are lost." The perpetrators of the bombing at the time received a $100 fine and a suspended 180-day jail sentence. Charles Morgan, Jr., a young, white Alabama lawyer, would deliver a passionate and powerful speech, asking, "Who did it? Who threw that bomb?" and answer "We all did it . . . Every last one of us is condemned for that crime and the bombing before it and a decade ago. We all did it. "The 'who' is every little individual who talks about the 'nig**rs' and spreads the seeds of his hate to his neighbor and his son. The jokester, the crude oaf whose racial jokes rock the party with laughter. The 'who' is every governor who ever shouted for lawlessness and became a law violator. It is every senator and every representative who in the halls of Congress stands and with mock humility tells the world that things back home aren't really like they are. It is courts that move ever so slowly, and newspapers that timorously defend the law." Dr. King would say, “[T]his afternoon, in a real sense [the four girls] have something to say to each of us in their death. They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows. “They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. … They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers.” In a story by the Washington Post, Denise McNair's parents shared that Denise had "a comfortable, enriching life, with a piano and dance lessons." Addie liked to play hopscotch and was often the peacemaker for arguments among her seven brothers and sisters. Cynthia did really well in reading and math, was constantly laughing and "just full of fun all the time." Carole was involved in Jack and Jill of America, the Girl Scouts, the marching band, the choir and the science club. If Denise had lived, her sisters say, she "would have been awesome." Before the bombing, Denise had organized fundraisers to fight muscular dystrophy and would get the other neighborhood children together to read poetry. Her sister said she remembers stories of Denise standing up for others, and says, she would have been "a doctor or lawyer or politician." Denise, however, did not understand the hate she would sometimes face. Her parents tried to teach her that not all whites were racist but could not spare their child the indignities of Jim Crow segregation. "Denise cried . . . when Mr. McNair took her to a five-and-dime store and was forced to explain why she could not sit at the counter for a hot dog," according to the Washington Post. “Remember, baby, what we told you about those few mean white people?” her father told her. “Well, those few people don’t want you to buy a hot dog in a five-and-ten-cent store in Birmingham, Alabama.” For months after his daughter’s death, her father said, he did not cry. “I was angry,” he later told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But I had a sense of balance. People were asking me, ‘Why don’t you leave?’ I said, ‘Where else can I go and not still be black in the United States?’ My intent was to try to make this a better section of the world.” Rudolph, who has been speaking out, said recently about the bombing she survived, “We shouldn’t think of doing people like that. You don’t know them, and you want to do harm to them? It’s time for this whole nation to really love each other and stop all the killing.” Rudolph said the biggest lesson she learned from her traumatic experience was to love. “That was the name of the sermon,” she said. “That’s what they were talking about that Sunday," she said in an article from The Press of Atlantic City, June 2019. Today, a memorial named “Four Spirits” stands across the street from the church with the inscription “A love that forgives” – the title of the pastor’s undelivered sermon on Sept. 15, 1963. Langston Hughes would also write: “Four little girls Who went to Sunday School that day And never came back home at all– But left instead Their blood upon the wall… …Might be awakened someday soon By songs upon the breeze As yet unfelt among Magnolia trees.”

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

[rubyloops]

“We will order room service and we’ll have it sent here.”

“You’re a very clever man.”

ReGenesis, Season 1 Episode 5 “The Oldest Virus”

[davidcarner]

Chuck vs Truffaut Industries Ch 2, Complicated

A/N: So, most of you like it, some of you are a little irritated at Sarah (some of you all are flat mad). So, let's see what we can do about that. Backstory time. Sit back, get in your car, head up the 5 to Stanford, find your Arvil Lavigne CD (you know you had it), and put on Complicated. (you might need tissues) Ch 2, Complicated

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, but I'm hoping someone makes a movie soon.

Stanford, August 2002

"Are you and Jill coming to the party tonight?" Bryce asked.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Chuck replied. "I've got class, Buddy, see you later."

Bryce headed back across the quad when he was stopped by a man in a dark suit and sunglasses.

"Bryce Larkin," Langston Graham said. Bryce stopped short.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" Bryce asked.

"This is too important to trust to anyone else," Graham said. "I have an assignment for you."

"Sir, I have class," Bryce said, wanting to do his job, but knowing he couldn't get behind in his classwork. Graham smiled.

"The assignment is on campus," Graham said. "We have reason to believe that Fulcrum has infiltrated parts of the CIA and is already recruiting. We fear that one of your classmates may be an agent."

"Who?"

"Jill Roberts," Graham said, watching the color drain from Bryce's face.

"That's nuts, Sir," Bryce said. "All due respect," he added quickly. Graham nodded.

"Let's be sure," he said, handing him small electronic devices. "Plant these bugs in her purse, phone, residence, wherever you can. Let's be safe rather than sorry." Bryce nodded. "Bryce, above all else, keep Chuck Bartowski safe."

"Chuck, sir?" Bryce asked. "Why would he be in trouble?"

"I don't know that he is, but when we recruited you we also checked out Chuck," Graham explained. "We don't need him going through any more tragedy." Bryce nodded. "I don't want to keep you, Son, but you have to know this is the highest priority."

"I understand, Sir," Bryce said. Graham nodded and Bryce left. He watched him walk away, and pulled out a cell phone.

"Orion, it's done," Graham said. "You'll be surveilling as well? Fine, just get me my Intersect."

Three weeks later

"I can't believe it," Chuck said, taking a swig of another beer. "We got through the summer, that's what I was worried about. I mean I get it, I'm a nerd," he paused and his brows furrowed. "She's a nerd too, but a brainy nerd, you know?" he said, turning to Bryce. "I mean she's kinda outta my league, she's so smart," Chuck said, dreamily. "But to tell me she was doing half the football team, that's just harsh."

"Hypersexuality is such an unknown in the world of medicine," Bryce said, nursing his second beer. Bryce had lost count of how many Chuck had drank. The bug had found Jill was indeed a part of Fulcrum, and in an interesting twist, Graham agreed to keep Jill out of a hole if she would break up with Chuck. He said it had to be something that gave him no chance of ever wanting her back. Bryce wasn't sure her telling Chuck that she was having sex with half of the football team was necessary, but it had done the trick.

"I mean how does she even know some of those guys?" he asked, blowing air out of his cheeks.

"I have no idea, Buddy," Bryce said. He loved Chuck like a brother, but this was the third night of this, and it was enough. Bryce's phone rang. "I gotta take this man." Chuck grinned.

"AHHHH," Chuck said, grinning sloppily. "I know, is it Heather Jenkins, no, I know, Rebecca Stephens." He sat up quickly. "I know, I know, it's Suzie Pfephercorn."

"I don't know Suzie Pfephercorn, Chuck," Bryce said. Chuck thought a second, and then turned back to the bar.

"Yeah, you wouldn't," Chuck admitted. "She went to my high school. She had pretty eyes."

"Eyes, Chuck," Bryce said chuckling. "You can speak freely here," he said, as he patted Chuck's back standing up.

"Thanks, Buddy," Chuck said. "She had the greenest eyes," he said, his glossing over thinking back. "It was like looking into a field of grass in the spring after the rain." Bryce shook his head at his friend, grinning.

"Never change, Buddy, never change," he said walking outside. He called back the number. "Larkin, secure."

"Graham, secure," Graham answered.

"Please for the love of God, Sir, get me out of here," Bryce begged.

"That bad," Graham asked.

"Worse," Bryce answered.

"Hang on tonight, and I'll get my best agent there to watch him over the weekend," Graham answered. "I need you to take out that cell, Larkin, they may be targeting Bartowski."

"Understood, sir," Bryce answered. "Do I need to hand him off?"

"Negative, Bryce," Graham answered. "Leave tomorrow like planned. I have other eyes on him, but I need my best on him. She'll take care of him." Bryce was uncomfortable.

"Sir, no disrespect, but with everything Chuck's been through," Bryce began.

"Larkin, she's not going to seduce him," Graham answered. "She's good enough she doesn't have to do that."

"Thank you, sir," Bryce said. He heard a dial tone. He sighed and walked back in, and Chuck was still talking about Suzie's green eyes."

Simi Valley

Sarah stood in front of her mother's house, and just stared at it. How hard was it to walk up and ring a doorbell, or knock on a door….or better yet, hop in her Porsche and drive off? She sighed, walked up to door and rang the doorbell. The door opened.

"Sa-" Emma began. "What do I call you?"

"It's probably best to call me Sarah," she answered. Emma nodded and pulled her into a hug.

"Come in," Emma said, after they broke the hug. Sarah came in and joined her mom at the kitchen table. "So, what's your mission?"

"No, mission, Mom," Sarah answered, shaking her head. "I'm here for the football game, and to see you."

"Football?" Emma asked grinning. Sarah sighed.

"I mean I do like it, but…Harvard's not that great," she said, sighing. "I've been gone on the weekends for so many CAT Squad missions that I need to do something with the student body." She was silent for a second. "I could use the time to study," she grumbled under her breath.

"How is real school going?"

"Good, I'm going to graduate on time, maybe even early," she said grinning. Emma returned the grin, and then it left. "Mom, please don't," she said softly.

"What did he ever do for you?" Emma spit out. Sarah sighed.

"I have a deal with Graham," Sarah said. "He lets dad out on parole after five years, he clears his name after ten."

"Sweetie, your father doesn't deserve what you're doing for him," Emma said.

"He's my dad," Sarah said softly, tears in her eyes.

"I know, Sweetie, I know," she said, putting her arm around her. "I just hate this."

"I'm getting a college education, dad gets out, and you're okay," Sarah said. "I made the best with the hand I was dealt." Emma held her daughter close, and just looked up at the ceiling.

"I hate this," Emma said softly. Sarah gave a laugh.

"There's days I do too," she admitted. Her phone rang, she groaned, and rolled her eyes. "I've got to take this." Emma nodded, let her go, and Sarah walked to her room.

"Walker, secure," Sarah said.

"I need you to go to Stanford," Graham said.

"I'm going for the game Saturday," she said.

"I need you to go now," Graham said. "We have a high priority target. He's a civilian and he may be in danger, I need you to get close to him and keep him in your sight for the next several days."

"Sir," Sarah began, bile rising in her mouth.

"Sarah, I'm not suggesting what you're worried about," Graham said. "You know me better."

"I know, Sir, it just sounded…yes, Sir, I understand," Sarah said.

"I'll text you the substation address there and the code of the day, they'll have your dossier ready," Graham said. "Sarah, this is a good guy. He is a citizen that's had a terrible hand dealt to him in life, and he needs your protection, that's why I'm sending you, you're my best."

"I'll protect him, Sir," she replied. With that, the call ended. Sarah walked back into the kitchen. "I've got to go." Sarah saw her mom's face. "I'm going to go protect a civilian, it should be little danger." Emma hugged her.

"If you let him rot, no one would blame you," she said.

"I would," Sarah said softly. Emma hugged her tighter.

"You're a better daughter than he ever was a father," Emma said. Sarah laughed as she pulled away.

"Mom, that we can agree on," she said. They said their goodbyes, she climbed into her car, and off she went to Stanford.

The next morning

Chuck was sitting on a bench just looking over the campus. It was Thursday. There would be a lot of parties tonight, and tomorrow night, and Saturday after the game. His plan was to partake of all the free alcohol he could. His brain and stomach wasn't agreeing with that idea right now. He was watching the blonde walk across the quad. She had a map and she had crossed it twice already. It was possible she was lost. He was going to say something to her the next time she passed, but he hadn't seen her again, so he didn't worry about it. He gave a deep, contemplative sigh.

"I mean I passed by twice, you could have said something," the voice came behind him. "Are all you Stanford guys jerks?"

"I'm sorry," Chuck said, never turning his head. "I've been nursing this amazing hangover all morning, and I'm processing on about one quarter speed." She came around him, and plopped on the bench, she studied him for a minute. She sniffed the air, and Chuck laughed.

"Nope, no vomit, and I showered," Chuck said.

"You still smell of alcohol," she said.

"Probably three straight days of drinking," he said. She raised an eyebrow. There was silence for a moment.

"Now see, you can't do that," she said. He turned slowly towards her and lifted his sunglasses, a curious expression on his face. She grinned at him, and Chuck forgot about why he had been drinking. There sitting in front of him was a real life angel. He thought Suzie whatsherface had amazing eyes, they were nothing compared to the girl in front of him. They were blue…a stormy blue, like they would change with her mood, and the grin….he could get lost there forever.

"Chuck Bartowski," he said, offering his hand. She raised an eyebrow. "My parents were sadists." She laughed and shook his hand. Chuck was really wondering why he had been drinking. This amazing woman was laughing at his joke. He just stared at those eyes…and then he realized he might be seen as creepy. "Sorry," he said, as he quit staring into her eyes. "Hung over, not processing."

"I think that's the first time I've ever had my eyes stared at," she said, a smirk on her face. Chuck shrugged.

"What can I say, they're a gateway into the soul," he said. She studied him for a minute.

"Jenny Burton," she said. "I'm supposed to be here with a bunch of friends from Harvard to see the game, and they ditched me." Chuck looked shocked. "Vegas," she said with a grin. Chuck nodded. "So I have no idea where I'm going. Any chance you could show me around?" He looked at her in surprise. "You intrigue me, Chuck Bartowski, and you can finally tell me why you've been drinking for three days."

"My ex-girlfriend was banging half of the football team," Chuck said. Sarah didn't know how to respond. "I'm not sure why just half," he said, and glanced over at Sarah. She couldn't help herself, a fit of laughter burst out of her.

"I mean she only did half the job," Sarah said, giggling.

"Right?" Chuck replied. "She's probably not worth the drinking."

"Probably?"

"She's not," Chuck said, nodding. Sarah stood up and offered him her arm.

"Take me to breakfast," she said. "You could probably use some food that's not liquid form." Chuck stood and took her arm.

"You're exactly right," he said.

}o{

Sarah was trying to not fall out of the chair laughing.

"So, wait," she said, trying not to snort. "You actually call him, Awesome."

"Oh, yeah, everything he does is awesome. Climbing mountains, jumping out of planes, flossing," Chuck said, as Sarah fought off another fit of giggles. "Wait until you meet him." Chuck realized he was assuming a lot. Sarah just smiled. "So what about your closet and skeletons?"

"I am relatively free," she said.

"That's good, I have so much baggage I need my own personal baggage handler," he said.

"Maybe I could be your baggage handler," she said. Sarah kept her face neutral but inside, she was losing it. What was she doing? She was part of the CAT squad, this was a just a civilian, true, a civilian that life had taken a dump on, but a civilian. He wasn't being suave, or trying to get in her pants, and she was caving from honesty? Was she cut out for the CIA life? Chuck was grinning at her.

"You would be the most attractive baggage handler I've ever seen," Chuck said.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't let it go to your head," he said, grinning. "Have you seen some of them?" She threw a napkin at him, grinning. "Seriously, you have the perfect life?"

"My dad," she said shrugging. Chuck nodded. "I mean nothing as bad as you, your sister raised you."

"But," Chuck said. Sarah grinned, nodded, and thought why not? She'll never see him again after this weekend.

"My dad and I have problems, and it's caused problems between me and my mom," she said. Chuck looked at her. "What?"

"We both know that's not the full story, but that's okay," he said, his smile on full blast. "I've got to earn that story." She leaned forward resting her chin on the back of her hand.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" she asked.

"By showing you every guy at Stanford isn't a jerk," he said. She grinned at him, and then her smile fell. "What's wrong?"

"Well, my friends and I all had hotel rooms booked, but now…" she said, shrugging.

"You trust me?" he asked. "I know you barely know me, but my roommate is gone for the weekend, and if you can handle me being in the same room with you, you can have his bed," he said. She began to smile. "Before you do, he's a bit of a player, so maybe we should find some different sheets." She laughed out loud.

}o{

For the next two days, the two were inseparable. Sarah retrieved her bag from her beat up car provided by the CIA substation. They went to the party Thursday night, Chuck didn't drink, and he and Sarah talked all night. They dozed off in Chuck's bed, on top of the covers, fully clothed, watching a movie, Thursday night. Chuck skipped classes again Friday (he was going to have to kill himself the next few weeks making up all he had blown off) and he and Sarah hung out all day. Friday night was the big fraternity party, and Sarah constantly had someone give her a fresh drink. All the guys were so thankful that someone had pulled Chuck out of his funk. They all were calling her Chuck's girl, and she was playing along, teasing him, and loving every time she caught a blush on his cheeks. She was feeling all the effects of the alcohol, Chuck, and his friends encouraging her, that when she made her way to their room that night, she didn't have it in her to deny herself.

"Jenny, what are you doing?" Chuck asked.

"I'm going to show that idiot ex-girlfriend of yours how stupid she was for cheating on you," Sarah said, slightly swaying, trying to line up his lips for another kiss. How did this nerd kiss so well? Chuck took a deep breath.

"Jenny, you're drunk and we can't do this," Chuck said.

"Why not?" she asked. "I know how, and if you don't know I can teach you," she said, waggling her eyebrows.

"Jenny, not like this," Chuck said, hating his moral code. "Not like this."

"You're right, I've got too many clothes on," she said, grinning. Chuck blew out a breath.

"Okay, let's try this, you go over there, wait for me under the covers," Chuck said. "I'm going to go brush my teeth and I'll be right back." Sarah smiled.

"That's the spirit," she said, patting his cheek. "Hurry back," she said, stumbling into the bed. Her shirt was flying off, as Chuck sprinted out the door. He shut the door and turned and saw one of his fraternity brothers smiling at him and shaking his head.

"She's drunk, wants to, and you won't," he said. Chuck nodded. "Dude, if you ever want to date my sister, I'm cool with it." Chuck laughed softly.

"For the record, I hate myself," Chuck said. His fraternity brother laughed, patted him on the arm, and headed downstairs. Chuck wondered how long he should wait, when he heard a sound coming from his room. He grinned and opened the door, and there was Jenny Burton, snoring. She had one leg sticking out from under the covers. He stared at it, and then jerked his eyes away, refusing to follow it to its eventual end. He walked over, and managed to get the leg in bed without seeing anything. He walked over to his bed, thought about changing clothes, but decided against it, just in case. He crawled into bed, and went to sleep.

}o{

Chuck woke up, hearing Sarah tossing and turning. Sunlight was starting to pour into the window. Sarah suddenly sat up with the blanket held tightly against her.

"Oh, God," she said, looking under the sheet. She turned and looked over at him. "Chuck," she said, her face frantic.

"For the record, that's the first time you uttered that phrase in this room today," Chuck said, shaking his head no. She took a second to process what he was saying, and then the giggles began. They turned into full fledge laughter from both of them.

"Funny," she said. Chuck shrugged. "About last night," she began.

"Please don't apologize," Chuck said. She looked at him. "You have pulled me out of the biggest funk in the world, and I should have watched out for you better last night, my frat brothers…they were hoping I'd…you know." She grinned at him.

"Thank you for being a gentleman," she said, grinning shyly. Chuck nodded.

"I need to take a shower…a cold one," he said.

"Was that necessary?" she asked.

"You offered to teach me last night," Chuck said. Sarah hid her face in her hand. "Jenny, it was fine, it happens, but I need to be totally honest with you, if you weren't drunk last night…" Sarah stared at him, and then she winked. "And Bob's your uncle!" he yelled shutting the door, Sarah laughed.

}o{

They had spent the day around campus, holding hands, and Sarah found herself finding ways to wrap Chuck's arm around her where she could. She was falling for him, and she knew she couldn't, she shouldn't. She was. During the game she found Chuck's arms around her from behind, and after it was over they walked to the frat house. The party was in full swing, but they ignored it and went upstairs. She shut the door, and locked it. Chuck looked at her nervously.

"Jill, was an idiot," she said, grinning.

"Yeah?" he asked. She closed the distance between them quickly and attacked his lips. This was what she wanted to do. A part of her hated herself. They had no chance at a future, and she wanted one. She wanted a life where she could meet Chuck Bartowski, date him, fall in love, marry him, and have 2.5 kids and a white house, red door, and a white picket fence. She hated her dad so much right now, and she loved this man in front of her. A little girl today had lost her balance, fallen, and spilled her drink. After Chuck made sure she was okay, and they found her parents, he had gotten her another one. She hated her dad so much.

"Chuck, I'm not drunk tonight," Sarah said.

"I'm not either," Chuck replied, grinning, she returned the grin.

}o{

It was around 4 when she heard her text go off. She unwrapped herself from Chuck and gave him a long look. What had happened last night…magical. She hated what had to happen next. She got her phone, saw that the threat had been neutralized, and she could come home. She had thought about how this would happen for a long time, and while she hated it, it had to happen. She got dressed, wrote a note, kissed Chuck softly on his head, ran her fingers through his curls, and then said the words she needed to say.

"I love you, Chuck Bartowksi," she said softly. She grabbed her bag, slipped out the door, and headed to the CIA substation.

When Chuck woke in the morning, he knew she was gone, he could feel it. Part of him ached. Ached like he never had before. He saw the note, and picked it up.

Chuck,

I hate leaving, but what I hate more is not letting you know how to contact me. Jill is an idiot, never forget that. Never forget that you are loved. I will always carry a piece of you with me. I know one guy at Stanford who is definitely not a jerk.

Love,

Jenny Burton

Chuck held the letter next to him. He carefully folded it and put it in his wallet.

"I love you too, Jenny," he said.

}o{

2 week later, Stanford

"Bryce, I'm in," Chuck said, happy as could be. He was going to find her.

"All right, Buddy, I knew you could do it," he said. Bryce had a feeling he knew what had happened. Some poor CIA agent came into Chuck's life, and had got turned upside down. She hadn't been prepared for the heartwarming that this nerd possessed. Chuck's fingers stopped typing. "Found her?" he asked with a smile.

"Jenny Burton doesn't exist," Chuck said dejectedly. "There is no Jenny Burton at Harvard," he said, turning to Bryce. "Why would she lie about her name?"

}o{

6 week later, Langley

"Walker, good to see you," Graham said. "Have a seat."

"I'm pregnant, sir," Sarah said.

"How did this happen?" Graham asked. Sarah was in no mood.

"Well, when a woman and a man-" she saw the look on his face and stopped. I blame Chuck for that. I wonder if his kid is messing with my mind. Part of her smiled at that thought. "My assignment at Stanford."

"Sarah, that was a great sacrifice," Graham said, struggling to keep his emotions.

"Sir, it was my choice," she said. "I want to keep this baby."

"And the father?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I don't know," she said softly.

"Why don't you give it a week and then we'll talk, but as for now, you are an analyst." She nodded and left. Graham picked up the phone and made a call. "Orion, you should know, the agent I sent to watch your son, they…she's pregnant." He listened for a minute, and his mouth fell open. "You don't know that she's like your wife! You've never met her." He sighed and blew out a breath. "I understand Orion, he'll not be told, but I better have that intersect soon, or I'll call him personally. Do you understand? Goodbye." Graham hung up his phone, sat there a second, stood up quickly, and with an arm knocked everything off his desk in a rage. He sat back down with his head in his hands. "They don't deserve this."

}o{

A week later

"Sarah, have you decided about Bartowksi?" Graham asked. She shook her head. "Sarah, he's a civilian. You didn't tell him your name, you're a CIA agent, and your family's past, do you think he'd want to be a part of that?" She shook her head, tears coming out of her eyes. "I think deep down you know." She nodded.

"I won't tell Chuck," she said. She left a few minutes later. Graham pulled out a flask.

"Of all the things I've done in this job, this feels like the worst," he said.

}o{

One year later

Sarah stormed into Graham's office.

"What the hell!?" she screamed. "He got expelled from Stanford!?"

"Sarah, calm down," Graham said.

"Calm down!? I have that man's child, who he can't know about and you want me to be calm because one of your agents got him expelled!?"

"How do you know about this anyway?" he asked his eyes narrowing. Sarah realized she was caught.

"He's my child's father, I can't not know," she said. Graham's face softened.

"Sarah," he said softly. She was near tears.

"She lives an hour from his sister's apartment," she said, crying. "I only get to see Molly a little each month, he could be there with her."

"You know it's not for the best," Graham said, sick to his stomach.

"I know," she said. "I made a deal with you, one I will honor." Graham nodded.

"He's already out," Graham said. Sarah looked up at him. "We had a deal, I honored it. Now, it's time for you to go to the Farm and finish your training.

"What about the CAT squad?" she asked.

"Without you, it wasn't the same," he said. She nodded and left.

}o{

One year later. Ice Cream shop, New York City

"I'll have a scoop of Butter Pecan," the man said.

"And two scoops of Rocky Road in a cup," Sarah said, behind him. He turned around and grinned at her. He turned back to the cashier.

"You heard my darlin'. Two scoops," he said. They went and sat. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Dad," Sarah said.

"It's Jack Burton today," Jack replied, winking.

"Ahh, playing the hits," she said, grinning.

"Talk," he said, watching her. She gave him a look. "What? I still know all your tells." Sarah sighed and told him about the deal she made with Graham, Chuck, and the baby.

"And, now, in two months or so, they're going to give me a red test. I have to kill someone, Dad, someone very dangerous, but someone," she said. Tears were in her eyes.

"Sarah, you're not a murderer," Jack said. "That's not you. Cons, protecting people, all the rest, is fine, but killing someone, bad guy or not, that's not you." She smiled and he laid his hand on hers. "You know this, so why come ask me?"

"Because a girl needs her dad," she said. "Even when he is a bad one." She grinned, but he looked at her seriously.

"Then why haven't you told that schnook?" Jack asked. "Because we both know he'd be a better one than I am." Sarah put her hand to her mouth. "Darlin' tell him. I don't think he's gonna care."

"But she's sixteen months old," Sarah said.

"Better late than never."

}o{

The next day, Langley

"Sarah, what can I do for you?" Graham asked, knowing what was coming.

"I can't pass the red test," Sarah said. "Too much has changed in my life."

"I know," Graham said. "And I know why you stayed on. I should have done away with our deal then."

"So, what do we do?" Sarah asked, terrified.

"Stay away from Bartowski for the next four years and your father's record is expunged." Sarah's eyes bugged out of her head. "There's still some heat on him," Graham said. "Stay away for four years, your father stays out of prison." Sarah nodded. "We'll finish all the paperwork tomorrow." Sarah got up and left. Graham picked up his phone.

"Orion, I've gotten what you wanted, but this is sick," Graham said. "You are purposely breaking up another family. Why don't you give them a chance instead of projecting your problems onto them? Fine! Just get me my damn Intersect!"

}o{

A few weeks later, Simi Valley, Christmas

"Look at you, holding your girl," Emma said to Sarah. "Sarah, your dad wouldn't want this." Sarah had tears in her eyes.

"Look, in four years I'll go see him and explain all of it," she said. "Then we'll see."

"Sarah," her mom began. Sarah shook her head.

"There's no chance of an us," she said softly. "I've already messed it up too bad."

"Is he seeing anyone?" Emma asked. Sarah shook her head. "How do you know?" Sarah wouldn't look at her, as she looked away sheepishly. "Have you wondered why?" Sarah didn't want to, but she grinned.

"He's very into his career right now," Sarah answered.

"Didn't you say he worked at the Buy More for $11 an hour?" Emma asked.

"He's working on other stuff," Sarah said. Emma shook her head.

"Dada," Molly said, pointing at the picture of Sarah and Chuck from that weekend.

"He is," Sarah said. "One day, baby, one day."

}o{

Four months later, Echo Park

She slowly opened the Morgan door. She had done this a half a dozen times the last six months. She should just tell him, and damn the consequences. She walked quietly right beside him.

"Jenny," he mumbled, a grin on his face. She felt things move in her. She softly stroked his hair, leaned down, and kissed his head.

"I love you, Chuck. Nothing's changed," she said softly and went to the window. "I'll be back in a few weeks," and with that she left.

}o{

Three months later

"And you're telling me the CIA is telling them if my granddaughter doesn't meet her father, I keep the deal?" Jack asked. Emma nodded. "Screw that."

"Gwanpa," Molly said.

"Do you want to see Dada?" Jack asked Molly.

"See Dada!" Molly yelled, and clapped.

"Jack, are you sure?" Jack reached over and put his hand on Emma's.

"Emma, I've screwed this family up enough, isn't it time I make things right?" Emma smiled at him.

"You were always a schnook, but you're my schnook," Emma said. "And I think I have just the idea."

}o{

This morning

"Ray, Emma Truffaut here. Yes, I know you're coming in, but my IT guy was looking at it, and he says it's a big deal. We're on a time crunch, and I was told about a Chuck Bartowski that is supposed to be the best, do you think there is any way you could get him? Really. Of course I need that for the building. Absolutely we can purchase that. Thanks. Oh, and Ray, don't let Chuck know we asked for him. Thanks." Emma smiled as she hung up and looked at Molly.

"It's time we straighten this mess out, sweetie."

}o{

Now

“I guess you did know where he was all along,” Emma said.  Sarah gave her a sad smile as she brushed his hair with her hand.

“Yeah,” she admitted.  “And I know that you did this on purpose.”  Emma just grinned.

“She trusts him,” Emma said.

“Dada hurt his head?” Molly asked, coming over to brush his hair like Sarah was.

“He’s okay baby,” Sarah said.

“Dada come home?” Molly asked.  Tears were in Sarah’s eyes as she looked up at Emma.

“Perhaps I didn’t think this out,” Emma said.

“Dada wake up,” Molly said, and leaned down to kiss his cheek.  Chuck opened his eyes and looked at Molly and then Sarah. “Dada!”  Chuck looked at Sarah.

“99.2%?” he asked.  Sarah shrugged.  Chuck looked at Molly then to Sarah.

“I think we need to talk,” Sarah said.

A/N: Still mad at Sarah? Until next time.

DC

[theresabookforthat]

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thursday we celebrate Thanksgiving – a time when many will be feasting with family and friends. The original American holiday, Thanksgiving is also a time for connecting with our communities and helping others as we reflect on what we are grateful for in our lives. With this in mind, we give thanks for the harvest of books that improve lives and offer a plateful of books for children and adults that celebrate the occasion: Happy Thanksgiving! 

 POEMS OF GRATITUDE edited by Emily Fragos

Poems of Gratitude is a unique anthology of poetry from around the world and through the ages celebrating thanksgiving in its many secular and spiritual forms. For centuries, poets in all cultures have offered eloquent thanks and praise for the people and things of this world. The voices collected here range from Sappho, to Rumi to Shakespeare and Milton, from Wordsworth, Rilke, Yeats, to Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and W. S. Merwin, Maya Angelou, and many more. Such beloved favorites as Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” and Adam Zagajewski’s “Try to Praise the Mutilated World,” mingle with classics from China and Japan.         

 THANKSGIVING: HOW TO COOK IT WELL by Sam Sifton, Sarah Rutherford

From one of America’s finest food writers, the former restaurant critic for The New York Times, comes a definitive, timeless guide to Thanksgiving dinner—preparing it, surviving it, and pulling it off in style.           

             DAILY GRATITUDE: 365 DAYS OF REFLECTION (National Geographic)

Filled with striking, natural-world photographs and insightful quotations, National Geographic’s latest inspirational book takes on the most timeless and universal of topics: gratitude. Illuminating the diverse elements that make life precious, this book invites readers to savor what’s really important—from friends and family to adventure and success to the simple comforts of home. For anyone interested in celebrating, reflecting on, and sharing the gift of appreciation, this beautiful book will be a keepsake to treasure every day of the year.                          

THE LITTLE BOOK OF THANKS: A GIFT OF JOY AND APPRECIATION by Anne Rogers Smyth

With inspiring words of gratitude, this tiny book with a great big message, helps us recognize the people who make our lives brighter and our hearts lighter. Enlightening quotes and short writings paired with adorable animal photos provide the perfect way to acknowledge everyone who makes a difference: a parent, friend, sibling, spouse, colleague, teacher, mentor, or anyone else who has enriched your life.

 FOR YOUNGER READERS

 SHARING THE BREAD: AN OLD-FASHIONED THANKSGIVING STORY by Pat Zietlow Miller, Jill McElmurry

Celebrate food and family with this heartwarming Thanksgiving picture book. In this spirited ode to the holiday, set at the turn of the twentieth century, a large family works together to make their special meal. “A warm and wonderful holiday treasure." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

 WHAT WAS THE FIRST THANKSGIVING? By Joan Holub and Lauren Mortimer

After their first harvest in 1621, the Pilgrims at Plymouth shared a three-day feast with their Native American neighbors. Of course, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag didn’t know it at the time, but they were making history, celebrating what would become a national holiday.                      

                                                                                                                                                             HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD: CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING by Deborah Heiligman

Thanksgiving is the original American holiday. When the Pilgrims sat down to give thanks for the hard-won bounty of their new world, they continued a Native American tradition that would become a focal point in the calendar of all generations of Americans to come. With stunning pictures, the author relates this holiday to the harvest festivals celebrated by thankful believers of many faiths all over the globe.                     

                                                                                                               THE FIRST THANKSGIVING by Jean Craighead George, Thomas Locker

The Pilgrims called the celebration the Harvest Feast. The Pawtuxet Indians thought of it as the Green Corn Dance. But the first Thanksgiving was much more than that. Join Newbery Medalist Jean Craighead George and beloved illustrator Thomas Locker as they trace the passage of time from the melting of the glaciers that created Cape Cod and Plymouth Rock, to the moment the Pawtuxet Indians and the Pilgrims met and feasted on the bounty of the New World.                                                                         

 For more information on these and related titles visit Thanksgiving 2017

[kinglyfe69]

{Born On This Day} ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Happy Birthday to @ReShondaT! We adore you over here at BPT!

Happy Birthday to ReShonda Tate Billingsley! We adore you over here at BPT! May all of you dreams continue to come true.

Bio ReShonda Tate Billingsley always did have an active imagination. From making up stories to crafting award-winning poems, the national bestselling author has maintained a love for storytelling. After numerous rejections from publishers, ReShonda stepped out on faith,…

[ethanalter]

12 TV Shows to Look for at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival

Allison Tolman in ‘Downward Dog’ (Photo: ABC)

Thanks to titles like Manchester by the Sea, Weiner, and Southside With You, 2016 was a great year for movies at the Sundance Film Festival. But it was arguably an even better year for TV, as such acclaimed series like Starz’s The Girlfriend Experience and Hulu’s 11.22.63 played to their first audiences in Park City, Utah. Sundance was also the launching pad for one of the year’s most celebrated works in either film or television: ESPN’s mammoth seven-hour docuseries, OJ: Made in America, which made numerous year-end Top Ten lists (including Yahoo TV’s own Ken Tucker) and is poised to earn an Oscar nod for Best Documentary Feature when nominations are announced on Jan. 24. “We opened our eyes to allow more television,” festival director John Cooper told Yahoo TV last year. “It’s been growing very organically. The creators lead and we try to provide the best platform we can.”

Related: Red Carpet Flashback! 2002 Sundance Film Festival

That platform will continue to expand over the course of Sundance’s 2017 edition, which runs from Jan. 19-29. This year, the festival is hosting screenings for a pair of high-profile network TV shows, as well as an assortment of docuseries, web series, and promising pilots looking for a channel and/or streaming service to call home. Here are the 12 TV projects to keep your eye on during and after Sundance.

Abstract: The Art of Design (Premieres Feb. 10 on Netflix)

In the tradition of Netflix’s hit cooking-themed series Chef’s Table, Abstract provides an in-depth look at some of the men and women who design the spaces, sights, and even sneakers that we see in the world around us. Each of the show’s eight installments focuses on the work of one celebrated designer — from Air Jordan guru Tinker Hatfield to illustrator Christoph Niemann — whose episode will premiere in Park City.

Downward Dog (Premieres midseason on ABC)

Allison Tolman took her time choosing a follow-up to her breakout turn as Molly Solverson on the first season of the FX hit, Fargo. But the wait has paid off with Downward Dog, an inventive adaptation of a popular web series. Tolman plays Nan, a newly single woman who has thrown herself into work since her break-up with Jason (Lucas Neff). The separation hasn’t just impacted her — it’s also wrecking havoc on the once-idyllic life enjoyed by her faithful dog, Martin (voiced by series co-creator, Samm Hodges). The pilot is a strong beginning, and Sundance will screen three additional episodes, followed by a Q&A with Tolman and other key members of the cast and crew. Including, we assume, the dog(s) playing Martin.

Gente-fied (Premieres TBA)

Gentrification: It’s not just for Brooklyn, anymore! America Ferrera executive produced, co-wrote, and appears in this short-form web series set in the rapidly changing L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights. The area’s demographic shift from a largely Latino population to one that includes young, white hipsters is depicted over the course of seven episodes from the perspective of seven different Boyle Heights residents.

The History of Comedy (Premieres Feb. 9 at 9 p.m. on CNN)

Having previously presented decade-by-decade histories of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s over the past three years, CNN now gets serious about the past, present, and future of comedy. Overseen by a team of directors that includes Will and Grace star Sean Hayes, the eight-chapter History of Comedy spans Ancient Greece to modern-day Hollywood, and speaks with such luminaries as Larry David, in its quest to answer the age-old question: “What’s so funny?” The Sundance premiere will consist of two episodes: “Spark of Madness,” devoted to comics who traffic in darker subject matter, and “Going Blue,” which explores the thin line between hilarious and offensive and profiles the comedians — like Lenny Bruce — who gleefully cross it.

Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On (Premieres Spring 2017 on Netflix)

‘Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On’ (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

Two years ago, Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones traveled to Park City to introduce audiences to a documentary she co-produced chronicling young women’s experiences in the pornography industry. She’s returning in 2017 with her directorial debut “Women on Top,” one of several episodes in the Hot Girls Wanted spinoff series, Turned On, which explores love and sex in the digital age. Jones’s episode specifically looks at the female performers and directors who are striving to make porn that empowers, rather than simply exploit, women.

I Love Dick (Premieres TBA on Amazon Prime)

Transparent creator Jill Soloway and her frequent muse, Kathryn Hahn, premiered the pilot for their second Amazon series on the streaming service back in August to strong reviews. They’re bringing that episode, plus two additional half-hours, to Sundance, along with co-stars Griffin Dunne and Kevin Bacon, who respectively portray Hahn’s husband and the rugged object of her affection. Filmed on location in Marfa, Texas, the series retains Soloway’s expertise in creating incisive character portraits that are both compelling and slightly cringe-inducing.

Playdates (Premieres TBA)

Paul Scheer and Carla Gallo in “Playdates’ (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

With apologies to DJ Jazzy Jeff, parents will understand the challenges confronting husband-and-wife team, Bennett and Julie (Paul Scheer and Carla Gallo). Freshly transplanted from Chicago to L.A., the duo confront the peculiarities of California culture while making sure their young kids remain well-adjusted in the land of sunshine and snobbery as well. Screened as part of the Independent Pilot Showcase for TV pilots seeking pick-ups, Playdates should allow Scheer the opportunity to explore the serio-comic territory his former Human Giant collaborators, Rob Huebel and Aziz Ansari, are successfully navigating on Transparent and Master of None, respectively.

Rise (Premieres Jan. 27 on Viceland)

Viceland’s latest docuseries gives full-throated voice to Native American activists seeking to protect their lands and culture. Among the three episodes screening at Sundance is “Sacred Water,” which directly addresses the ongoing Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Expect that controversy to return to the headlines after President-elect Trump takes office.

Shots Fired (Premieres Mar. 22 on Fox)

Husband-and-wife team Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood are behind the camera for Fox’s answer to ABC’s acclaimed crime anthology, American Crime. After the shooting of a white college student by a black police officer inflames racial tensions in a North Carolina town, a Department of Justice investigator (Sanaa Lathan) and Special Prosecutor (Stephan James) are tasked with handling not only that case, but also a past tragedy involving another potentially race-related murder. Stephen Moyer, Richard Dreyfus, and Helen Hunt are also among the ensemble of the 10-episode event series.

Strangers (Premieres in 2017 on Refinery29)

‘Strangers’ (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

If only we had a Rolodex of houseguests this cool; fresh off of a breakup and stuck in a directionless late-20s existence, Isobel (Zoe Chao) rents out her spare room to visitors played by the likes of Jemima Kirke, Shiri Appleby, and Langston Kerman. And when she’s not trying to make those strangers her friends, she’s striving to open her own professional and personal horizons. After all, who says you’re too old to experience a coming of age story when you’re pushing 30?

Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Premieres in 2017 on Spike TV)

Spike TV gets into the long-form documentary game with a six-episode series that’s part Serial and part The Night Of. When he was 16 years old, Bronx native Kalief Browder was falsely accused of stealing a backpack and spent three years in the harsh conditions of Rikers Island despite not being convicted of a crime. Executive produced by Jay Z and directed by Jenner Furst, Time chronicles this miscarriage of justice, which came to a tragic end with Browder’s suicide in 2015.

When the Street Lights Go Down (Premieres TBA)

‘When the Street Lights Go Down’ (Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

Stranger Things fans, here’s your next ‘80s throwback obsession, albeit one that channels David Lynch rather than John Carpenter. Set in small town Illinois in 1983, the pilot for this proposed series — which is currently looking for a home — opens with the brutal murder of the high school’s most popular cheerleader and her older lover. The tendrils of that incident spread outward from there, touching everyone from an aspiring journalist to the town bad boy. Director Brett Morgan effectively weaves touches of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet into an investigation-driven narrative that’s strongly Serial-ized. The best thing you can say about Street Lights is that when the first episode ends, you’ll immediately want to binge the next two, three, or ten chapters.