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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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Why do you like Lore Olympus? I'm genuinely curious because I've seen a lot of harsh criticisms toward the comic, from its inaccuracies regarding its use of Greek Mythology to the plethora of harmful queer stereotypes. I tried reading it myself but honestly, if you took out all the Greek Mythology references and naming, it just seems like another "far older man courts a barely adult woman" love story with bad queer rep thrown it.

Happy to explain! Let’s tackle what’s perhaps the most complicated aspect first.

As a former Classics major I can tell you that there is no “Greek Mythology.” Meaning, there is no singular Greek Mythology that can be referenced and consulted in any uniform way. Which is a really difficult thing to conceptualize in an age of print publications and careful record keeping. Unsure about whether Harry ever cursed Draco with such-and-such hex? Re-read the Harry Potter books to find out. Want to claim that Sherlock was horrible to Watson and frequently insulted him? We can comb through Doyle’s shorts stories and novels, tally every insult, and find out. These are canons and, as messy as the term “canonical” has become with more adaptations and transmedia storytelling, most characters have a set, fixed existence that we can return to and use as evidence. Not so with Greek Mythology. Born of oral storytelling, there are a hundred different versions of every myth, some changes more stark than others. Some of those versions were written down. Then written down again (differently). Then written down again (differently still). Then we realized they were almost all being written down by men and huh, I wonder if that has any impact on how they framed the story (spoiler: it absolutely does). And all of this doesn’t even take into account the issue of translation. Regardless of what Ovid may have put down on the page, you’re going to get a different experience depending on whether you read Melville or Gregory. There’s a reason why everyone was so excited over Emily Wilson being the first woman to translate The Odyssey into English. Her perspective and her experience as a woman by default changes the way she approaches the text. Even something as simple as a single description can have a HUGE impact depending on how it is translated. Take this excerpt from a NYT article:

“The prefix poly,” Wilson said, laughing, “means ‘many’ or ‘multiple.’ Tropos means ‘turn.’ ‘Many’ or ‘multiple’ could suggest that he [Odysseus] is much turned, as if he is the one who has been put in the situation of having been to Troy, and back, and all around, gods and goddesses and monsters turning him off the straight course that, ideally, he’d like to be on. Or, it could be that he’s this untrustworthy kind of guy who is always going to get out of any situation by turning it to his advantage. It could be that he’s the turner.”

Is Odysseus a poor victim turned around by monsters and fate, or is he a schemer capable of turning it all to his advantage? It all depends on how it’s translated and whoever wants to make a case for Odysseus being a “good” or “bad” guy can point to this translation as evidence… or another. Or another. There are just too many versions for anyone to definitely say what these gods and others are “really” like.

I put so much emphasis on this because the biggest criticism I’ve seen leveled against the comic is the characterization of Apollo. He would never rape Persephone! How dare you twist his character like that! Except Apollo isn’t a character that exists in a fixed canon. He belongs to an overwhelming corpus of complicated, contrary, contrasting myths… and yes, in some of those he raped. Arguably. It, again, comes down to translation and interpretation. Take this excerpt from Nancy Rabinowitz’s paper “Greek Tragedy: A Rape Culture?”

Creusa, raped by Apollo years ago, conceived a child and abandoned him… For the purposes of this paper, I have to address the question of whether Creusa was in fact raped by the god. Hermes mixes the terminology in the prologue; he asserts that the god Apollo “yoked the daughter of Erechtheus in marriage (γάμοις)”, but he also says “by force (βίᾳ)” (10-11). Ion later (1524-25; cf. 341, 325) wonders whether Creusa was really raped, or whether she was just alleging that the god took her by violence to cover up an indiscretion of her own – a similar situation could be imagined in our own day, where false allegations may arise from young girls’ fear of confessing consensual relations to their parents. Lefkowitz argues that women tend to cooperate in their seduction by a god. While it might seem obvious that Ion is simply wrong, there is the further implication that though Apollo raped Creusa, she also desired him” (11-12).

So if we’re looking for evidence that Smythe’s interpretation of Apollo is the “correct” one, it exists… depending on what you read and how you choose to interpret it: whether a mortal woman can ever truly give consent due to the power difference between her and a god, whether it was safe to say no, whether she might have lied to protect herself, whether it was something a part of her desired but perhaps didn’t entirely want, etc. It’s that last bit in particular—those difficult questions—that Smythe explores in her comic. Persephone wants to explore her sexuality. She wants a way out of her virgin obligations. But she’s also pressured into sex by Apollo. He doesn’t stop when she expresses discomfort. She doesn’t feel safe asserting herself and telling him to stop. It’s rape, but it’s a far more complicated situation than the rape scenario of “Evil man forces himself on woman in the back of an alleyway” and Smythe treats the tragedy with nuance and respect, even in a comic filled with so much humor.

The people I see most upset about Lore Olympus are those who talk about the gods and their associated mortals as if they’re characters out of a book. They read one version once—or maybe two—and, as is natural in the 21st century, decided that This Is How The Story Goes. Even though every academic would be losing their mind over such definitive statements as, “Such-and-Such would never do this.” That’s simply not how records this ancient, sporadic, political, and downright messy work. So as someone with some knowledge of how Greek Mythology functions, I’m not at all put off by the comics’ “inaccuracies.” Because they’re simply not inaccuracies, just interpretations. Not liking those interpretations is fine, but that doesn’t mean Smythe was wrong for providing them.

As for the rest, I’ll try to limit myself to bullet points:

The age difference between Persephone and Hades is definitely A Thing and I admittedly didn’t realize that was the case when I started reading. I assumed that Persephone, like most of the cast, was hundreds/thousands of years old and just had a child-like personality. I basically realized around the time Hades did that she’s so young. That being said, the issue of age differences changes for me once you reach such insane ages. That’s why I still ship Ozqrow: Ozpin is hundreds of years older than him but at that point he’s going to be older than everyone. Always. Limiting his ships to only those who are close to Ozpin’s age means you can’t ship him at all (unless you ship him with Salem post-grimm pool and… no). It’s a similar situation with Hades. Yes, there are plenty of gods his age that he could date (and indeed he does) but he is always going to be thousands of years older than Persephone. She can literally never catch up to him, so if someone has an issue with the age gap then they have to accept that it will simply never go away. They can never be a couple in which case yeah, then the comic just isn’t your thing.

Really, I think the bigger issue is not the gap itself but Persephone’s age, period. Again though, I appreciate that Smythe treats the situation with a great deal of respect. This isn’t a story of a much older man hunting a younger woman. It’s the story of a much older god who, like me the reader, assumed he had fallen for a slightly younger goddess… and then freaked out when he found out he was wrong. He’s called out for his ignorance. Others are incredibly protective of Persephone. They both try to stay away from one another and find themselves struggling. Which, to be frank, is an interesting dilemma to me. And it’s one I’m more interested in with gods as characters as opposed to humans. Because it feels less predatory to me. A man going after a much younger woman is threatening in part because we’re mortals who have so much to lose, including our youth. If you enter an abusive relationship that alone is horrible enough, but it also means you’ve lost all those years and all that experience to toxicity. When a god goes after a much younger goddess… they’re kind of static. They have eternity stretching out before them. Persephone potentially “losing” ten years to a relationship with Hades just isn’t the same thing as a mortal losing ten years to a relationship of their own. Gods, though they seem quite human, simply aren’t and thus for me questions of morality and what’s ethical in any given situation changes. We have a cast who, when Eros gets upset and murders a whole bunch of humans, Zeus shrugs and says they’ll just make more. Their concept of right and wrong differs from ours and it invites the reader to apply that to every situation: is it as wrong for an older god to go after a 19yo goddess as it would be for an older man to go after a 19yo woman? Many readers may decide it is—to some extent the text decides it is—but the story still possesses ambiguity and invites the reader to grapple with it. That’s compelling.

Connected to this, I like how much agency Persephone has throughout the series. She’s very much a character who defies expectations, particularly when it comes to her sexuality. Far from being a meek, vulnerable woman who is preyed on by Hades, she is making constant, active decisions about her own romantic and sexual encounters. Even if that decision is just acknowledging how unsure she still is: does she want to remain a virgin? Does she want Apollo? Does she want Hades? Is it okay to make out with Ares? Wear this very short dress? Get drunk? Explore a city? Invite this person over? Have feelings for your boss? Persephone is grappling with a lot of questions that don’t have easy answers and the fact that the story gives her the room to do that grappling is fantastic. I’ve spoken before about my dislike of the Strong Female Character—someone who is not just physically intimidating but who also never, EVER hesitates. She knows precisely what she wants and she’s going to take it! Which is a great portrayal of one kind of woman… but I’m not that kind. I hem and haw and am anxious like Persephone. So for me it’s refreshing to see a story that paints uncertainty as strength. She’s allowed the space to be unsure and confused and is never belittled for that.

Honestly I’m not sure what the issue with the queer rep is? Beyond the fact that Lore Olympus doesn’t seem to have any (unless I’m forgetting some. Very possible). Which, admittedly, is far from great, but if I dismissed every story due solely to a lack of queer characters I would limit a lot of my potential media. So for me, personally, that’s not a deal breaker. Taking a stab in the dark, I’ll make an assumption that people are upset about certain characterizations like Eros? Which, fair. But we also have the flip side that effeminate, flamboyant men do exist. It’s another complicated, touchy subject, but there’s a fine line between enforcing stereotypes and acknowledging that those stereotypes often do arise out of something. Some people hate the media image of the queer kid decked out in rainbows. Other people look at their own wardrobe and backpack and go, “Actually… yeah. That can be accurate.” For me stereotypes are primarily an issue given their prevalence. It’s an issue when that’s the only way queer characters are portrayed, but Lore Olympus doesn’t have that problem because, again, it’s focused on het relationships. Eros might potentially be a (non-confirmed?) queer stereotype… or he’s a battle-hardened warrior who also likes to gush about gossip while baking, the sort of complex gender portrayal that people claim to want. It depend on how you approach it. So no, Lore Olympus isn’t breaking any ground with queer rep but, as said, I do appreciate how it treats sexual assault—among other sensitive, relevant issues. It’s a trade-off. No piece of media is going to be perfect. I could say the same thing about so many great stories. The Mandalorian doesn’t have any queer rep! No, it doesn’t, but it is giving us a fantastic story about a bounty-hunter turned dad that challenges a number of Western gender assumptions so… trade-off.

I likewise enjoy that characters call one another out on shitty, toxic behavior without completely losing who those characters are. (Again, supposedly who they are based on the lecture I gave at the start lol). Meaning, it would be kind of weird if Zeus wasn’t a womanizer. That’s what we expect of him, so changing that would likewise change one of the most fundamental aspects of what makes Zeus-Zeus in the general public’s perception of him. But we still have scenes of Hera and others calling him out on that shit, so it’s a balance between modern sensibilities and character expectations.

The characters overall are just wonderfully complex. Persephone doesn’t seem so at first glance, but that’s partly the point: she’s nothing like what everyone assumes she is and it’s those assumptions that she’s learning to push back against. But overall Smythe has a real knack for emphasizing the human (or god) complexity. We hate Eros for helping Aphrodite punish Persephone. Then we feel bad for him because of his sob story. Then we pull back because he’s called out for being a dick and making himself look like the victim. Then we come to the realization that his side of the story was still accurate in many ways and finally end on… he’s flawed. He’s just a flawed person. He’s not a saint. He’s not the devil. He’s a guy who screwed up one moment and did something good the next. Perhaps it’s just me coming out of the nonsense that was Volume 7 of RWBY, but it’s refreshing to read a story where that complexity is emphasized and (most) flaws are forgiven while still being acknowledged.

Overall I just find it to be a fun, entertaining story! lol. The artwork is beautiful. The humor is great. There’s a nice balance between plot and introspection. There are issues with the series, sure, but none thus far have kept me from enjoying the experience of reading it. I fully support anyone’s right to go, “Nope. Not for me.” For any reason. But I also feel like Lore Olympus is a good example of Tumblr’s recent emphasis on pure media: it must be PERFECT. Otherwise chuck it in the bin. Lore Olympus does a lot of the things that people on this site call for. Respectful depictions of assault. Emphasis on mental health. Storytelling from a woman’s perspective. Numerous types of woman characters. Being careful about who engages with sensitive material and how (each chapter that contains such issues has a trigger warning at the start, impossible to miss). Lore Olympus does a lot right… and some things wrong. Which is what we would expect of any good story. So it feels disingenuous of me—if not outright dangerous—to paint it as worse than I actually think it is. I want media to continue to improve, but I also don’t want to scare off authors from even trying because they were raked across the coals for not creating perfection. Smythe, to my mind, is definitely trying and that should be acknowledged.

#Anonymous #rape tw #lore olympus #greek mythology #mymetas

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lionheart49er · 4 years

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My Thoughts on The Boys Season 2 Finale

*This Post Contains Spoilers for “The Boys” Season 2 Finale*

First off, before I get into spoilers, I just want to saw how much I love what “The Boys” have been doing. I loved Season 1 and I feel Season 2 is just as fun and crazy with more in-depth social commentary, especially with the character of Stormfront and her satirizing of alt-right conservative media. Overall, I love how the show combines dark humor with poignant satire of superhero media, celebrity culture, and large corporate conglomerates. And in many ways, the finale was just as good.

The show takes its imperfect social material and elevates it. Turning the macho grim-dark superhero parody that only barely deconstructs superheroes and never deconstructs the just-as-toxic macho characters like Billy Butcher into a show that is just as willing to deconstruct Billy’s toxic masculinity as Homelander’s fascist superhero antics. I think the show does a good handling these serious topics with sprinkles of anti-capitalist ideology. And yeah, the irony of an show with anti-capitalist themes being streamed on Amazon Prime does not escape me.

However, I read The AV Club’s review of the finale and it raised some points that I simply did not agree with. And I’m going to argue them here.

The AV Club had a big issue with the reveal that Victoria Neuman was the head-exploder who was working for Vought. They came out with it the belief that this was somehow the show attacking “both-sides” and conflating progressive politicians like AOC with literal nazis. To be frank, I am just not agree with this take.

First off, I don’t the show did a good job showing how wrong Nazism and fascism is through the characters of Homelander and especially Stormfront. In particular, Stormfront was a character I was initially worried about. There is a risk in portraying Nazi characters where they came off as likable enough to where they can appeal directly to white supremacist and real-life Nazis. And Stormfront’s goofy portrayal as a Tiktok-using millenial-type was certainly running that risk initially. But the show cleverly pulled the covers to show the dangerous ideology that was powering the seemingly innocent meme-exploiting superhero to show how real-life white supremacists and alt-right groups use playful memes and social media to spread hateful ideology. And the show never condones Stormfront’s hateful ideology and always portrays her as in the wrong. Hell, even Homelander is weirded out by her blatantly racist beliefs.

I say all of this to show how Stormfront is portrayed in the show is way different from how Neuman is and probably will be portrayed. Obviously the fact she is based on progressive AOC and Iihan Omar, so we immediately are on her side, especially when it comes to the matter of regulating superheroes since we’ve seen how messed-up superheroes like Homelander and A-Train abuse their powers without consequence. Then, it comes the twist that Neuman was secretly working with Vought the whole time. Now, the AV Club believes this means that Neuman is going to be presented as just as bad as Stormfront. Which I simply don’t agree. I don’t see this as the show implying that progressive politicians are worse or even just as bad as Nazis. And I believe the reveal makes sense when looking at Vought and how Stan Edgar runs his business.

I think the reason why Neuman works for Vought is explained in the dining scene between Billy Butcher and Stan Edgar. In that scene, Stan explains why he is willing to work with an awful white-supremacist like Stormfront. Obviously, Stan Edgar as a black man hates the living hell out of her but the man is business-minded as hell. He sees how useful Stormfront is in causing divisions in society. And those kind of divisions are profitable as hell as we know in real-life how much media can prey on said divisions. Even though Stan personally hates Stormfront’s blatant racism, he is willing to tolerate it because her endeavors ends up aligning directly with Vought’s goals to simply make as much money as possible. The scene really shows Edgar’s thinking and reasoning when it comes to how he runs Vought. And it’s a great scene in general especially when Edgar calls out Butcher for his own white privilege. But this scene also shows why Edgar would want someone like Neuman on his side.

The fact is we don’t know yet how genuine Neuman is or was for her progressive superhero-reform goals before joining Vought. We don’t really have a handle on her backstory yet. So whether she is a genuine progressive who is forced to work for Vought or simply a Vought double-agent is not known. However, either way I don’t think it implies Neuman is worse than Stormfront. In fact, more so this is just a brilliant move on Stan Edgar and Vought’s part to curb the superhero narrative in their favor. Just like how Vought benefits from Stormfront’s racist beliefs, they could equally benefit from Neuman’s progressive beliefs. In fact, Vought has already been doing shady stuff under the guise of progressive ideology this entire seasoning (the blatantly pandering “Girls get it done” campaign, the co-opting of Queen Maeve’s gay status for LGBT+ brownie points, etc.) In many ways, it is a reflection of pink capitalism and how much corporations want to appear “woke” while still benefiting from a corrupt capitalist systematic status quo. Essentially, Edgar knows he’s going to get backlash for Vought’s attempts to take-over the world by distributing Compound V. So he wants to control the narrative by having someone on his side pretending to be working against the man but really working for it. This also parallels a lot of brands who claim to be fighting against a capitalist system but is merely paying lip-services to such changes and just another extension of a major corporation’s capitalist endeavors. Just look at all the Che Guevara and Karl Marx merchandise you can buy online. I believe Edgar is working that exact angle with Victoria Neuman.

And there was genuine foreshadowing for this too. This twist did not come out of nowhere despite what some people like the AV Club would have you believe. The fact that Stan Edgar is constantly watching news coverage of Victoria Neuman on TV. During the head-exploding courtroom scene, you can see every person Victoria stares at explodes soon after. After the first time we see someone’s head explode in the beginning of the season, it immediately cuts to Victoria Neuman. So this wasn’t just some twist the writers pulled out of their ass in the last minute. This was clearly planned. Besides, it is entirely possible that Neuman is or at least was a genuinely progressive before being forced to work for Vought against her will. She does mention her daughter multiple times in the season. It is almost a cliche how much sympathy the show pulls from its asshole characters by giving them a kid (just check the Honest Trailers video). But that could very well be the case. Regardless, I do think we will get some understanding as to why Neuman is working for Vought in the next season for whatever reason. And I am genuinely looking forward to it. Besides, this doesn’t even ruin her character and we could see her human side explored in the next season. One of the things I praise this show for is going in-depth into even its worst scumbaggy characters (Homelander, The Deep, A-Train, etc.) to explore their human sides while still presenting them as awful people.

Also, I think the reason why Neuman takes longer to explode the Scientology guy’s head in the last scene while she easily explodes heads quickly in the courtroom scene is just to show to the audience that Neuman is the head exploder. Besides, there is no reason Neuman has to be quick to explode his head since there is no threat that she’ll be exposed for it. I’m sure she can explode heads much quicker when Season 3 comes around.

So really that was all my thoughts on the whole Victoria Neuman reveal. I just wanted to give some more praise for The Boy’s awesome finale. The episode was full of fun, awesome moments that were super satisfying. The three female superheroes kicking the shit out of the Nazi, Homelander being rendered completely impotent by the end, Billy Butcher deciding to do the selfless thing to protect the child for once (right after nearly trying to murder him), Edgar pointing out as a black man how little he can lash out, The Deep getting cucked out of The Seven, etc. I loved what the Season 2 finale did. I am looking forward to Season 3. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts.

#the boys #the boys season 2 #the boys season 2 finale #victoria neuman #the av club #stormfront #the boys theory #the boys spoilers #the boys season 2 spoilers

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wiiired · 4 years

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Season 2 Awards

We’ve finished Season 2! Like last time, I thought it’d be fun to make a bracket of my favorite and least favorite moments, once again relying on Way Down in the Hole for the categories. So, without further ado, the best and worst of Season 2.

Best and Worst Boss: I’m going to give both of these to Frank Sobotka. There’s nobody more invested in the well-being of his union -- from bribing politicians to ratting on the Greeks to keep his men away from criminal charges, Sobotka was willing to do anything to protect IBS Local 1514. Over the course of the season, we see him be incredibly generous with union workers, gifting them cash when they’re in a hard spot, and drinking with them at the local bar. But Frank is also the reason that police attention falls on the union; while you can’t blame him for Stan Valchek’s personal grudge, he’s absolutely blameworthy for getting in deep with a criminal organization. Ultimately, Frank was too short-sighted to be a good boss, and his insistence in maintaining the status quo rather than looking for ways to adapt was ultimately his downfall. Of course, his downfall also cost the union its freedom -- in the final montage of S2E12, we see that IBS has been taken over by the feds.

Best Couple: My favorite couple is one that never happened -- Frank and Beadie (making my case: 1, 2). I’m a sucker for yearning looks, and there were definitely some looks traded between the union boss and local cop. They seemed to genuinely care about each other, beyond a friendly smile at the port or in the bar. One of the most memorable scenes of Season 2 is when Beadie confronts Frank and asks him to talk to the cops. Frank confesses to her that he thought he was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, and Beadie says, “There are different types of wrong.” I feel like they could’ve been a couple that mutually supported each other -- Frank the stable union presence for Beadie’s kids, giving Beadie more flexibility to find the career she’s looking for. Alas, the Greeks ruined that one for me.

Worst Couple: Nick Sobotka and Aimee. Nick just isn’t ready to settle down. He isn’t making enough money to support a family, and while he loves his child he isn’t enough of a presence to be there for her. Not to mention, he abandons Aimee in his parents’ home and spends the night with Prissy rather than seeking comfort from his significant other. Aimee deserves better than this man who brought trouble onto himself, and consequently made her life more difficult (the three of them got dragged into Witness Protection thanks to Nick’s Greek connections). I say time to move on.

Favorite Quote: Any of the nicknames for Jimmy while he was riding the boat. Sailor Boy, Little Man in the Canoe, Captain Chesapeake, McNulty the Sailor Man, and my favorite, Prince of Tides.

File This Away for Later Moment: Stringer’s encounter with Brother Mouzone. The way that Brother Mouzone sees straight through Stringer -- remember that. Mouzone will be making an appearance in Season 3.

Rookie of the Year: Ziggy. On Way Down in the Hole, Van Lathan pointed out that Ziggy is a character who always provokes an emotional reaction; love him or hate him, you feel some kind of way when he shows up. Personally, I found my growing tolerance for Ziggy growing over the course of the season, and on a rewatch I was more attentive to the way he’s treated by Nick and Frank. It’s hard not to feel sorry for the class clown who just wanted some respect, and couldn’t get it, stuck in a job where he couldn’t succeed and ignored by his own father. Over a single season, Ziggy evolves from union jester to booster extraordinaire to convicted murderer, all because he couldn’t find his spot. Hopefully he’ll have time to change in prison, and he’ll be able to start over once he gets out.

Six M(e)n of the Year: Jemele Hill and Van Lathan picked Herc and Carver, and I have to agree. No one was a more consistent B plot than Police Brutality 1 & 2 (Jemele’s nickname for them): Herc’s pestering of Kima to join the team, and then getting Daniels to bring Carver on board, too; the bug-tennis ball-Fuzzy Dunlop subplot; those brief seconds where the two of them struggled to bring that air conditioner up the stairs; constant car surveillance and that amazing scene with the french fries (”You think I’m fat?”). I’ve always liked Herc and Carver because I think they’re funny, but I felt guiltier about it last season because they were unquestionably the cops most likely to beat someone up. This season, they’re the perfect combination of scheming yet inept and well-positioned as comic relief.

Favorite Scene: It’s either D’Angelo’s death in S2E6 or the scene in S2E11 where Beadie asks Frank to talk to the cops. First, D’Angelo’s death is dramatic because it’s so sudden -- everything is going well, and then thirty seconds later D’Angelo’s on the floor with a belt around his neck. The first time I watched S2E6 I didn’t actually believe that D’Angelo had died -- it wasn’t until the next episode that I understood he’d actually been killed off. Not to mention, D’Angelo was season 1′s moral compass, so losing him was pretty upsetting. Second, the scene between Beadie and Frank -- well, I’m just a romantic for them. Whether they should’ve been together or just good friends, you can’t deny how well Amy Ryan and Chris Bauer act emotional. I felt Frank’s regret for everything he’d done, even more so because I knew what was going to happen to him. And, yes, I think this scene is proof why Beadie and Frank would’ve been a good couple. While Beadie was there for a reason, she was the only person who was able to comfort Frank and understand why he made the choices that he did, and Beadie was the only person Frank was able to open up to. Maybe in an alternate universe, Frank comes clean, helps the cops nab the Greeks before they sail off on fraudulent passports, and Beadie drives him home, where with Ziggy in jail he decides he’s going to start anew. The two of them load his truck with suitcases, pick up Beadie’s kids, and drive off into the sunset.

Best Performance: Nick Sobotka. It’s hard to make a thieving, racist dockworker sympathetic, but Pablo Schreiber did it. Jemele Hill points out that Nick is the most openly racist of the dockworkers; despite working with and seemingly befriending black fellow dockworkers, Nick consistently uses the n-word, and in S2E7 gives an infamous speech to Frog, reminding them that they’re both white. Yet we also see Nick struggling to survive: living in his parents’ basement, giving money to his girlfriend when he can, and being affectionate with his daughter. He turns to crime because he can’t make enough money at his straight job. Nick Sobotka’s character is a masterful ruse to get white audience members, who may have resisted empathizing with the Barksdales, to see drug sellers as human. I also have to shout out Pablo Schreiber for being (a) very cute, (b) 6′5″, and (c) apparently very talented at playing believably nasty characters -- he won an Emmy for Orange is the New Black as George “Pornstache” Mendez, an abusive corrections officer who exacts sex from inmates in return for drugs he smuggles in. I guess post-Emmy he’s in demand, most recently playing Mad Sweeney on American Gods.

Stringer Bell Fuckboy Award: There are two options, both of them defensible. It’s either the scene where Stringer seduces Donette, or when he’s over there later playing with D’Angelo’s kid while Donette makes him dinner. Personally, I’d pick the latter. Not only are Stringer and Donette holding hands in front of D’Angelo’s son, but Stringer actually picks up the (world’s cutest) baby and bad-mouths D’Angelo to him! Classic fuckboy.

Favorite Trivia: Apparently, Lance Reddick (Cedric Daniels) hated Dominic West (Jimmy McNulty). In real life, Reddick and West are somewhat like their TV personalities -- Reddick is quieter and more reserved while West is very chatty and extraverted. In All the Pieces Matter, Reddick admitted that he found West rather annoying and avoided him outside of work.

MVP: Beadie Russell. Instrumental to the plot, growing exponentially from day-jobber in S2E1 to certified good police in S2E12, and maybe the kindest character on the show. A single mother supporting herself and two kids, it’s hard not to root for Beadie, who became a cop after realizing she couldn’t feed her family on a toll-taker’s salary. She also gets a disproportionate number of the season’s most quotable lines, from “What they need is a union” to “World just keeps turning, right?,” probably because she represents the viewer’s perspective (taking over from gone-too-soon D’Angelo Barksdale). While her weakness for McNulty will get her in trouble, I’m glad we’ll see the return of Beadie in Seasons 4 and 5.

That was fun y’all. Here’s my bracket for Season 1.

#season 2 awards #s2 #mine #text #the wire

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qqueenofhades · 6 years

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alone, i fight these animals [alone, until i get home]: ii

I.... have no clue if this qualifies as a proper multichapter, but I discovered myself wanting to do a second part to this, so that is what I did. It was mostly an excuse to write some Frank/Madani and Frank/Matt frenemy BROTP, because I have a need for that.

If this turns into a real fic, I will post it on AO3. I have no idea at this point, and have not actually done something sensible like plotting it out, but yes.

The engine dies with a rumble, as Frank switches it off and leans back in the driver’s seat, watching the docklands with a wary eye. The car is an old beater of a Chevy, outwardly indistinguishable from any other low-slung growler that might be cruising around here, but he doesn’t go to meetings like this without enough horsepower to make a fast getaway. Frank modified it himself and keeps it in the garage with the battle van, which luckily he hasn’t had to bust out for a while, and it’s a little less eye-catching than that big black beast. Serves the same purpose, though. He tends to change up the paint job, add or remove accessories. Doesn’t want to get distinctive, identifiable.

He’s said that he’ll be here for ten minutes exactly and then he’ll leave, so Madani, if she’s coming, better be fuckin’ punctual. He doesn’t know that he trusts her to look like anything other than a federal agent rolling up to a clandestine meet with a confidential informant, but she must have climbed the ladder by not being an idiot. There’s still the chance that she’s going to spring handcuffs on him for that scene the other night, but Frank doesn’t think so. She needs his help with catching the rest of the ring, whether or not she’ll admit it. That’s the reason for this. Everything else is brass tacks and haggling.

It’s minute seven and forty-three seconds when Madani, having apparently decided that she doesn’t want to time their arrivals to coincide exactly, but conscious of the deadline, turns in. Frank can’t tell it’s her at first, which is a good sign, but does make him reach momentarily for his gun. Then the other car parks with a crunch of gravel, a slight figure in a jacket, hooded grey sweatshirt, and jeans gets out, and strolls across the icy pavement to his. He clicks the door to unlock it, and Madani ducks into the passenger seat, wrinkling her nose. “You ever heard of Febreze, Castle?”

“Don’t think you came here to complain that my shit stinks, huh?” Frank glances at her, trying to judge her temperament for being difficult. Her dark curls wave out of the hood, she probably has her badge clipped right under her sweatshirt, and he can just feel her longing to brandish it in his face. “Or if that’s your opening line, you already know you’re backed into a corner, and you need to act like you can throw your weight around before you ask for a favor.”

Madani gives him a searing look. “I have no idea why I came here.”

“You asked for it.” Frank leans back in the seat, hands behind his head. “And I think we’re past you pullin’ rank on me, acting all fuckin’ superior, aren’t we?”

Madani chews that over for several moments, which means she can’t dispute it. “Fine,” she says at last. “I still don’t necessarily think you’re a good man, Frank, but you don’t give a rat’s ass whether I think that or not, and in this job, you don’t get the luxury of working with Mother Teresa all the time. You were, admittedly, effective with breaking the pedophile ring. We did run some diagnostics on their computers, and we have more names.”

Frank snorts – breaking the pedophile ring is the most goddamn government-jargony way he has ever heard to say blew their fucking brains out, and he used to work for an actual black-ops hit squad. “You’re welcome,” he says, since she’d probably choke on it. “Told you.”

“Yeah, all right, fine.” Madani waves an irritated hand. “Anyway, there has been a lot of red tape in the office recently, bullshit with the budget, obsession with going after softer targets. You know this administration and the kind of people it thinks are a threat. So – ”

“And you, as Special Agent in Charge, don’t always agree with the strings they pull to make you dance?” Frank could gloat over this a little more, but there will be time for that later. “Going rogue? You want to talk to me because you know I get results, when those dickheads just sit there with their thumbs up their ass and do jackshit to actually help?”

“Something like that.” It’s clear that Madani has plenty of frustrations, whether or not she’s going to let on to him. “I still believe in our institutions, no matter who’s running them, but it’s true that things are taking a… turn right now, and I’m under a lot of scrutiny. If I can’t even push through an operation to take a bunch of child abusers off the street, then…” She trails off. “I still don’t know whether to thank you for that or not, by the way. They’re dead, but it looks like I blew it and once again, a vigilante had to wipe the U.S. government’s ass. They want an excuse to fire me, Frank. I’m asking you to help not give them one.”

Frank takes that in without answering, He can guess that Madani is too female and too ethnic to make the douchebags of record very comfortable; as the daughter of Iranian immigrants, even a thoroughly Americanized one, these chickenshits are constantly going to be looking for an excuse to pull the trigger, so to speak. And if Madani goes, whatever tenuous protection he has from DHS reopening his case goes as well. There are plenty of assholes jockeying to take over her chair, and all of them would love to make a big splash by catching the Punisher. Normally, Frank thinks, they bend over fuckin’ backwards to defend white men with guns, but not when he won’t play ball with you. That’s different.

“Fine,” he says. “And to save your ass, you’re the one here asking for more help from me. What do you think I’m going to do?”

“I can transmit the intelligence to you,” Madani says. “Names, aliases, assets, last known whereabouts, everything the analysts have managed to piece together. These guys are nasty, Frank, they aren’t just making kiddie videos on the Deep Web. They’ve got a lot of other interests, and all of them are equally bad. I need you to track them down.”

“And?” Frank stares at her, one eyebrow cocked. “What do you think I’m gonna do next? Give them fuckin’ milk and cookies?”

“Of course not.” Madani sounds exasperated. “You really think I don’t know what you do, Frank? But as it happens, yes, I’m asking you not to kill them. Track them down, capture them, hurt them if you have to, but don’t kill them. I need them, I need them physically to show the brass and to prove that I succeeded. After that, all the stuff they’re in, the prosecutors can probably push for the death penalty. They’ll die one way or another, if that’s what you want. But if I don’t get them alive, it all falls apart.”

“I’m not a goddamn bounty hunter,” Frank snaps. “I’m a killer. I don’t take prisoners, Madani. I’m supposed to – what, get on a plane with these assholes tied up in a line behind me? If you’re asking me to go outside the rules and get them, you want them dead.”

“It’s not like I’m defending them!” Madani barks back. “I know they’re terrible! But if they just die mysteriously, I have pretty much no shot at keeping my job, and then there are going to be people looking for you, Frank. Looking for you and Karen. How much do you want to risk that? It seems like you’re a little more settled these days. Have something to lose.”

“You threatening me?” Frank whirls on her. “You threatening me, huh?”

“No.” Madani, to her credit, keeps her composure, though her nostrils flare. “I’m warning you. If I’m not in charge of DHS, it’ll look for you. Whoever you’re with is going to come into the firing line too. I’m sure you don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Frank doesn’t answer, though his finger twitches so violently that his entire hand jumps on his thigh. Goddamn it, Madani. She has his balls in a fuckin’ vise, has him bent over a barrel, and the worst thing is that she probably knows it. He can’t play games with Karen’s safety, even if every one of his natural instincts is to just cap the bastards in the head and call it a day. Madani needs them alive for her little stage play, and Frank – whether or not he wants to admit it – needs Madani where she is right now. It’s at least in some part due to her that he can walk around New York as a free man, even one ostensibly called Pete Castiglione. That’s a flimsy alias, and any digging, or anyone even looking too long at his face and a newspaper front page, would be able to piece it together. If he wants to keep this life, whatever it is, he can’t just charge in, blow shit up, and charge out. He needs to be strategic about this. Long-term. Fuck.

“So what?” he growls at last. “You give me the intel, I track down these bastards, I give them to you for a Christmas present? You do Christmas?”

“Yeah.” Madani rubs under her eyes with both fingers. “My parents thought it was an important part of an American upbringing. Any other questions?”

“And after you show them to the bosses, you check whatever godforsaken boxes you have to check, you prove you’ve run the operation, they die.” Frank is willing to help her, if it contributes to keeping Karen safe, but he isn’t going to budge on that point. “They don’t get some cushy life in protected custody. You’re going to arrange it somehow that they die, and I don’t mean waiting ten years on death row. Got it?”

Madani’s cheeks flush a dull red. “I really don’t want to be an accomplice to extrajudicial murder, Frank. No matter how terrible they are.”

“Well, that’s what makes you and me different.” Frank grins mirthlessly. “Besides, you play your cards right, it doesn’t stick to you. You know you’re taking a hell of a chance here, don’t you? All these under-the-table arrangements with me come out, you’re finished one way or the other. But you think you can do it on your own, you’re welcome to run back to your department and sign all your paperwork and follow procedure. Have fun.”

The silence is briefly and overpoweringly enormous. Then Madani says, “Fuck you, Frank.”

“Take that as a no?” It’s starting to get chilly in the car, with the engine off and the temperature below freezing, and Frank blows on his hands. “No, you can’t do it alone?”

“I obviously would not be here if I thought things were going well on my end.” Madani sounds like she would prefer to have her fingernails ripped out rather than admit it, but she doesn’t have a lot to lose now. “Obviously, I’m sure I can trust you to total discretion. If you need money or something else, I can arrange it. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I can handle money.” They’re obviously not living on Karen’s newspaper/paralegal salary alone, and David gave him a nice chunk of change a while ago, which is kept in a bank in the Caymans. “But last time one of us sent the other some kind of sensitive information – when David sent you the Zubair video – we know what fuckin’ happened next. If anything, if any bit of this, catches up to Karen in any way, we’re done, Madani. We’re done. I will rip anyone who comes after her to fucking pieces, and I don’t give a shit if they’ve got a government badge or not. I’ll help you stay in DHS if DHS is going to mind its goddamn business. But if you get some other kind of conspiracy going, anything like Rollins, I’m warning you right now. I will kill all of you. I am not fucking joking.”

Madani takes that without answering, though her lips tighten. “I’m aware,” she says at last. “You’re a loose cannon, Frank, but we want the same things, the same people taken down. Let’s start there. You let me handle my end of the BS, I let you handle yours. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Frank grumbles, even though he still has plenty of misgivings. Maybe he should leave, should move out and get his own place somewhere, even if he doesn’t want to move back into that goddamn basement with David again. It feels like it’s too unforgivably dangerous to keep living with Karen, but letting her alone is even worse. Jesus. “Send me the information and be careful with it. I’ll maybe talk to Lieberman, see if he wants to help, but he’s got his family back. I’m also telling you now, nothing happens to Sarah and those kids. They’ve been through enough. See to it.”

Madani pauses, then nods. They reach out, shake hard enough as if trying to break each other’s fingers, and then she jerks the door open and climbs out, striding back to her car. Frank scans to see if anyone’s parked on a rooftop or has been loitering too long by the underpass, but their meeting looks to have been unobserved. He swears again under his breath and switches back on the engine, firing up the heater, and waits until Madani’s car has vanished down the alley before he throws the Chevy into reverse and peels out in the other direction. Well, that was a whole bunch of shit, and he doesn’t even know how far he’s already dug himself into it. Maybe if he had just left it alone to start with and never went after the ring, but that’s more than he was prepared to countenance. Makes him see red every time he thinks about it. Frank doesn’t see himself as some kind of sainted protector of the city. Far from it. But he was born in Long Island, he grew up here, he left for the first time at age eighteen on his first deployment, and while he’s been plenty of places since, there’s still something about New York that has a hold on him, broken and blackened and painful as it’s become. He loves this place, even if it hates him. He wasn’t letting them live in it.

Frank guns it down the service road back to the main thoroughfare, turns out, and drives back to the out-of-the-way garage where he keeps this car and the battle van. He pulls in, unlocks the chain link fence, rolls through, and parks, then can’t help searching for any signs of intrusion or forced entry. He has no idea who he would expect to be here, if anyone, but that long-ingrained urge to look over your shoulder, to check your six, that never goes away. Madani said the pedos had plenty more nasty friends. Could be any one of them.

Everything, however, looks ordinary. Frank makes a note to ask David for some more cameras, keep more of an eye on this place from afar, and wonders if he can really ask him to strap back on and wade into the shit again. David isn’t a soldier, and he got involved in this to start with to clear his name and be reunited with his family. He got that. Not much incentive to risk them all over again, much as he might personally want to help Frank out or feel indebted to him. Frank has some tech know-how, but he’s probably overall comparable to David trying to fire an AK-47. In other words, totally fucked.

Frank thinks that the lack of a partner has never bothered him before, the fewer people he can involve in this low-level shitstorm the better, and he’ll work out what he needs to. Having finished his sweep, he locks up, battens down, and catches a bus into midtown, briefly tempted to stop by Nelson, Murdock, and Page just to make Foggy choke on his tongue. Stroll in and bring Karen lunch, just because. But now, he wants to be cautious about going straight from a meetup with Madani to the office. He hasn’t told Karen about this new wrinkle yet, and he still doesn’t know whether he should. Probably. They just had a fight about it, and he can’t just disappear for days or weeks without an explanation. It’s always easier to do this work when you have no one to account yourself to, but he can’t lose her.

Still coming up with no apparent solution to his dilemma, Frank buys a hot dog from a sidewalk cart and sits on a park bench to eat it, scattering the remains of his bun to a flock of ravenous pigeons when he’s done. It’s cold but clear, New York running around and getting ready for Christmas, and he once more feels that impulse, that wish that he could kick back and enjoy it. But who knows. Who fuckin’ knows.

Frank sits there a moment more, then growls, “Shit.” This doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t even really make him feel better, but it’s an acceptable reaction to what he has to do. David is a glib son of a bitch who’s great with a keyboard – and has admittedly saved Frank’s ass a couple times – but if this is going to come down to brass-knuckle diplomacy, which it almost assuredly will, Frank needs someone who can fight, who is just as annoyingly dedicated to getting bad guys off the street and out of New York, and is equally insane enough to keep running full speed into punches. Yeah, they have some pretty major philosophical oppositions, but still. This looks like a two-vigilante job, at fuckin’ least, and besides. Maybe they should be, you know. Friends. For Karen’s sake.

Frank swears again, then pulls out his phone, scrolls through it to “R,” and hits the number. He swiped it from Karen’s, and the recipient doesn’t know he has it, so this is going to be a surprise, and could of course horribly backfire. But he waits a few more moments until it’s answered. “Murdock.”

“Uh.” Frank blows out a breath. “Hey, Red.”

There is a very long silence on the other end, as Frank realizes that they’ve never had an actual conversation where he’s made it clear he knows the deal. But come on. He ain’t fuckin’ stupid. (Plenty of people would disagree, but nearly all of them are dead.) He sat up there on that rooftop with Red yammering at him, then he sat in court with Murdock going on just as annoyingly, he put two and two together. He’s always acted like he didn’t know, just because Red has a bug up his ass about the secret identity shit, and besides, Karen knows, Karen told him anyway. Not that Frank would say that, because he figured it out himself, and he’s not gonna throw her under the bus if Murdock gets pissy. Well, this is already fun.

“Frank,” Matt says at last, sounding… well, let’s just say, not goddamn thrilled. “Why are you calling me?”

This is a fair question, and Frank hunts for some kind of explanation that won’t immediately make him hang up. “Karen’s fine, Karen’s fine,” he says, in case that’s what Matt thinks would be the only reason to make him get in touch. “Not any of that. I actually had a suggestion. For some work. If you were interested.”

“Work?” Matt sounds leery. “What the hell kind of work, exactly?”

“The kind you and me both do, Red. Take some bad people off the streets.”

“I didn’t realize you – ” Matt starts, then stops. “I didn’t know you… knew.”

“Yeah, well, we already established you were a dense motherfucker.” Frank switches the phone to the other shoulder, even as it belatedly occurs to him that maybe he shouldn’t be insulting the guy whose help he is, regrettably, asking for. “You were my goddamn lawyer, think I don’t know how you talk?”

There is another mulish silence as he can hear Matt chewing over that, wanting to ask how long he’s known, if he’s told anyone else, all that. Murdock might be tangentially aware that Frank and Karen are knocking boots, but does not want to have to actually refer to it in any capacity, and Frank is tempted to make a smart remark on that topic, just cuz. But he’s not going to be a dick to Karen, even in absentia, to score a couple cheap macho asshole points on a blind lawyer in a Halloween costume. Instead he says, “You want to know more or not?”

“Does this involve murdering the bad people? Because if so, you know I can’t agree to that.”

“Jesus, Red. They’re about as bad as you can get, even you don’t want to hand-hold these bastards and take them to Sunday school. I can send you the details once I get ‘em, but either way, they need to be stopped. Doing some fucked-up shit, a lot of fucked-up shit, actually. So?”

“Fine,” Matt growls, as Frank figured he eventually would. “Let me know the intel whenever you get it.”

“You need some Braille shit or something?” Frank asks. “Or you have something that reads your email for you?”

“I got through Columbia Law, you know I’m not actually an idiot. Just send it, I’ll work on it from there.” Matt pauses. “You told Karen about this?”

Frank feels like Matt Murdock is the least qualified individual to give anyone advice on this subject whatsoever, especially about this woman, and it’s only with difficulty that he bites himself back from something designed to cut. “No,” he says. “Not yet.”

It’s hard to tell what Matt thinks of that, especially over the phone. Then he says, “Obviously, I think the one thing we can agree on is that we don’t want this to spill over onto her. So whatever we’re chasing here, we need to keep her safe.”

Frank knows that wanting to keep Karen out of this has worked exactly like jackshit in the past, and he knows too that she’s strong and capable and no wilting hothouse flower, would probably shoot some of the dicks herself if she had half a chance. But he understands what Matt’s saying, given that he just outright threatened Madani to be sure none of this touched Karen, and doesn’t want to torpedo their alliance at this preliminary stage. “Yeah,” he grunts. “She stays out of it, much as we can. That’s not a problem. Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Matt says. “You’re still a total asshole.”

“Get that a lot.” It is not, Frank feels, entirely inaccurate, even as he rolls his eyes, because Christ, it’s rich coming from this prick. “Talk to you later, Red.”

With that, feeling as if it’s better to get out of there before things go any more south, he hangs up and stares at the phone, not sure he feels a whole lot better. He’ll go to the safe house tonight, where David still keeps his computers and surveillance setups, since that’s where Madani will be transmitting the information, and Frank likes to periodically check for signs of interference anyway. He gets up, chucks the hot dog paper tray away, and heads out. Takes a different route than he did in. Gets off a stop too early, and doubles back a few times. Once he’s finally satisfied that nobody followed him, he reaches the safe house, unlocks the chains, and heads inside. They’re not actually living in this shithole anymore, thank God, but it still gives him a momentary shudder.

Frank switches on the monitors, scans his retina, and waits until everything has booted up. There are about five passwords he has to enter before he can access the message that there’s a new file waiting for him, and he approves; Micro doesn’t fuck around with cyber security, especially given that there’s gotta be a lot of fishing for this. It’s a plaintext ASCII file, scrubbed of all identifiable electronic traces, and Frank pauses, then clicks to open it. It’s a list of names, social security numbers, addresses, email and phone numbers, known aliases and associations, everything that DHS has pulled from the servers on the remaining members of the pedophile ring. A separate file contains any mugshots on record, grainy jpegs, or driver’s license photos or anything else on public record.

Frank plugs in an encrypted flash drive, types more passwords to unlock it, and transfers everything onto it. He considers sending some kind of acknowledgement back to Madani that he got the information, but she can probably fuckin’ guess, and he doesn’t want to leave too many digital fingerprints. He checks that the files have copied over correctly and haven’t glitched, then deletes all the originals and clears every kind of cache he can think of. Obviously, he doesn’t think anyone is going to be in here working over these machines, and good luck getting through David’s firewalls, but better safe than sorry.

Having finished the retrieval, Frank figures the best way to hand the information over to Matt is probably in person – maybe he can drop by tonight after dark, see if Red wants to slap on that stupid fuckin’ horned helmet and they can go right away. Some of these bastards still have to be in town, right? They can’t all have made it out of New York. They’ll have guessed it’s too dangerous to travel under their real names, with an APB out for them, and fake identities take at least a little time to process, even if they have a good hookup. Try to stay hidden and wait for the smoke to blow over, feel like moving’s more dangerous. Frank’s counting on that, anyway, but if they’re backed into a corner, this won’t be pretty.

Frank pauses, then ejects the flash drive, puts it into a zippered pocket on his jacket, and powers everything down. He locks up, leaves everything as he found it, and heads out. It’s getting on in the afternoon by now, the day short and chill, and he wonders if Karen’s heading back to the Liebermans’ place tonight. At least it will keep her distracted from wondering where he is, but it admittedly feels a little like cheating. He should tell her, right? They’re trying to do that now. Not everything, maybe, but more.

Dusk is falling over the city by the time Frank makes it back to central Manhattan, a few stops more on the subway, and steps out into Hell’s Kitchen, which looks beautiful at this hour, all the lights coming on and Christmas trees glowing in windows and people hurrying by eager to be somewhere warm. Frank’s breath steams in the chill as he walks up to the apartment, lets himself in, and heads upstairs. Karen should be home by now. He’ll do it, he promises, he will maybe even ask her help. She’s a goddamn good journalist, she’s like a dog with a fuckin’ bone. She’ll gnaw and gnaw until she finds out whatever she needs to. But if he does that, he makes her a legitimate target, and when he’s promised himself this is the last one, the last mission, before he really settles down and tries to make a new life with her, he can’t quite shake the fear. Everyone knows what happens to the cop who takes this one last job before he’s supposed to retire, or whatever. He always gets killed.

The apartment, however, is dark and quiet, and it doesn’t look like Karen’s there. Frank wonders if he should call, just in case, but he doesn’t want to act like her goddamn babysitter; she’s a grown woman, she can look out for herself. Still, the ever-present prickle of anxiety whenever he doesn’t 100% know that she’s safe is difficult to dispel, he has often had reason to pay attention to this instinct, and he groans, pulls out his phone, and hits her number. Just pick up, Karen, Jesus Christ. Don’t give me a fuckin’ heart attack.

She doesn’t; it goes over to voicemail. Frank hangs up, reminds himself there are plenty of non-nefarious reasons for this, and struggles not to immediately jump to the conclusion that she’s been kidnapped by a lot of angry perverts and they’re holding her for ransom – or worse – against the death of their fellows. He rubs both hands over his face. It’s not that far to Red’s place from here. Ten-minute walk, less if he runs.

Frank gets together a decent selection of guns, throws them into his bag with extra boxes of ammo, straps a nine-millimeter to his ankle holster, and shoves his Ka-Bar into its sheath at his hip. Then, with a final look around, and wondering if he should just get David to install a tracking device on Karen’s phone (he did once tell David that Sarah would cut his nuts off if she discovered the Lieberman house spy cameras, but still), he heads back out. He jogs down the stairwell, and emerges into the chilly evening, glancing around once more just in case the subway was late or something and Karen’s getting home now. Jesus, this relationship shit is stressful. Can’t deal with his heart always walking around somewhere else again. Especially when that heart is as feisty and independent and fuckin’ reckless as Karen. He isn’t the right man to tell anyone to take a goddamn chill pill, but jeez.

It’s eight minutes later when Frank reaches Matt’s street, turns in, and leaps up the steps two or three at a time, reaching the hallway and banging on the door of his apartment. He better be in, or Frank’s really gonna have a problem, and indeed, Matt jerks it open a moment later. “Frank? What the hell? I thought you were going to send an email.”

“Plans changed.” Frank shifts tensely from foot to foot. “Look, throw on your pajamas and your fuckin’ hat with the horns, huh, Red? Let’s go, yeah?”

Matt raises both eyebrows. After a moment he says, “Your heart rate’s off the charts. What’s wrong? Are you sure Karen’s okay? Frank, Jesus, you know I don’t like this, whatever it is, with you two, but if you can’t even look after her – ”

“Yeah, because what we really needed was your goddamn opinion.” Frank clenches both fists, reminds himself that he has no solid evidence that anything is awry at all, and takes a deep breath, trying to steady himself. A soldier who runs into the middle of a fight frantic and haywire and not focused usually gets shot in the first few seconds, and he’s definitely not letting Matt see (or whatever, echolocate, he doesn’t know exactly how all that works) him at less than his best. “We can probably get to some of these assholes tonight, that’s all. Checked the addresses, a dozen of ‘em live in a ten-block radius in Queens. I take one half, you take the other, we could close the book. You up for it or no?”

Matt hesitates. It’s clear that his first instinct is also to rush in and take on the baddies, even if he is leery about doing it with Frank. At last he says, “If you’re putting Karen in danger, you know the right thing to do would be to walk away.”

Frank starts to say something, then stops. It’s worse that he’s had that idea himself, that he keeps having the impulse to bail out and disappear and never be seen again, but if that’s what Matt thinks he should do, well, it’s clearly wrong. Same guy who lied to Karen for months and months, keeps dropping out of her life and then reappearing and expecting that things will just be the goddamn same between them, jerking her around and causing her heartache and worry and still too unable to realize that there’s a cost to living this way, there’s a cost. Frank isn’t gonna judge Matt on the vigilante thing, though for goddamn sure he judges him on a lot of others. He knows that compulsion to do what you know is right, no matter if anyone else understands it that way or not. But he’s never been under any illusions that it’s compatible with a normal life, with keeping people in it, with thinking they’ll see it the same way and you can just split into two halves, two halves that will always stay separate from the other. He called Matt on it before. Was it you that did those things, or was it the mask?

“Yeah,” Frank says. “I didn’t come here for your bullshit romantic advice, Red. You can help me or not, but either way, I’m going.”

Matt once more starts to respond, then stops. “Still not sure when you worked out it was me.”

“Come on. First thing I ever said to you, when you walked into my hospital room, was that I knew who you were. You think I only meant your shitty fuckin’ law firm?”

Matt chews over that, and (wisely) decides not to rebut. Finally he says, “Meet me in the alley. Five minutes.”

Frank rolls his eyes, guesses that there’s some mystique that has to be preserved, can’t see Murdock shimmying bare ass into his fancy long johns or whatever, and takes his leave. Five minutes later, he’s in the back alley as instructed, when Red leaps down in full devil glory and jerks his head. “Let’s go.”

They wend their way through the shadows, across some rooftops, then get a cab part of the way. Frank imagines that even this is not the weirdest thing the driver has seen in his life, waiting at a red light like everything’s normal with goddamn Daredevil and the Punisher sitting side by side in the backseat and determinedly not looking at each other, but it’s probably close. He does keep trying not to steal glances at them in the rearview mirror, though. Finally says, “You boys out for the evening?”

“Just drive,” Frank orders him. “Yeah?”

Wisely, the guy does so, reaches Queens in another fifteen minutes, and as they get out of the cab, Frank shucks out a big tip and hands it over with the fare. “Don’t need to tell you that you saw nothin’,” he reminds him. “So you keep your trap shut.”

“Yes, sir. Got it.” The driver takes the money and nods awkwardly. “Have a – good night.”

With that, he lays rubber getting out of there, Frank watches him go with a sardonic expression, and then hefts his bag of guns with a clunk. “This way,” he informs Matt. “Stay sharp. One of them had a .38 last time, and I’m guessing they’re waiting for someone to turn up and try to sic ‘em. Feds or otherwise.”

He can feel Matt wanting to say something about the guns, wanting to ask how they’re going to deal with this, exactly, or maybe sensing that if they’re going to split this half and half and make any success of it, they’re just going to have to turn a blind eye (literally) to what the other’s doing. Frank snaps the stock on his carbine into place, and glances ahead. There’s a light on, in the first floor of the somewhat seedy office park. That matches the intel, where they had another meet-up spot. If the pedos are in there now, Red better not get in his way.

He glances sidelong at his – for the moment – ally. Matt raises a hand, listens, then – whatever he hears, Frank can’t tell, but he’s deciding to trust it – nods once.

Time to go.

#mcu #netflix punisher #the punisher #kastle #kastle ff #(though it's mostly frank talking about karen with other people in this installment)#frank x madani #frank x matt

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faces-in-unexpected-places · 3 years

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How did you come up with the names in “do you have the time?”?

Hi there! I'm finally getting around to answering this. Super excited because the name choosing-process took little while and did have a lot of thought behind it. Get ready for a NOVEL, ANON.

We'll start with Jeremy since he's the easiest. The character was loosely inspired by ANOTHER character named Jeremy from a French animated TV show called Code Lyoko that aired on Cartoon Network for a spell back in the day. This character served as inspiration for his physical design (hence the long blonde hair and sweaters. I have plans to give Jeremy glasses in the future as well), as well as temperament. Jeremy in the show is characterized as the "brains". Of course, many of my characters are known to be highly intelligent because the story mostly takes place in a university scientific research building, but Jeremy (my character) tends to identify more closely with this trait than the other characters (to the point that if he feels his intelligence is being threatened or challenged, he becomes defensive and critical of himself). Also, the name Jeremy sounded kind of academic and nerdy to me.

His last name being Brilliant is pretty self-explanatory, I think. He is commonly seen by others as a quick learner and astute thinker.

Here's a picture of Jeremy from Code Lyoko.

With Madison being his sister, the last name Brilliant worked really well. In her case, it represents her struggles in academia and tendency to compare herself to Jeremy in the present day and what she can remember of him when he was her current age. It represents the daunting pressure she has placed for herself in her own mind that she must "live up to her name" by also being just as "Brilliant" as Jeremy is. As for her first name... I don't actually remember how I chose Madison. I think the main reasons were 1.) I liked it. It's a nice name, in my opinion, and 2.) I needed a name that could be shortened to a common nickname (like Maddie) to show that Jeremy addressing her as Madison was a very deliberate thing he did to seep her at arms' length. The first time he calls her Maddie in the present day is a big deal for their relationship because it represents the beginning of their relationship healing, after it had been tense and emotionally cold for months/years.

The name Leslie was inspired by yet another character. Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation. Not so much in the way of looks, but the general predisposition to be eager to help people and express her affection for people. Especially people who appear closed off demo others and their emotions (Jeremy) or vulnerable (Leopold) or are in need of guidance whether they know it or not (Madison). Leslie Knope as a character was phenomenally written and one of the best examples of a "strong female character" that I can think of. (I have a whole thing on what it means to be a "strong female character" and how most writers/directors are doing it wrong, but that is a post for another day). Leslie (my character) much like Knope, is strong in her convictions revolving around the people she loves, loves her work and is extremely competent in it. This is due to her constant over-achieving can go unnoticed or under-appreciated because of how CONSISTENT she can be in her diligence. She also has the tendency to lose track of herself and her identity by focussing to much on the needs of others and not enough time introspecting and capitalizing on self-care, though she'll be the first to preach self-care to the ones she loves.

The last name Goodchild is also pretty self-explanatory (most of the last names are, which I've grown to cringe at a little over the years). She was a very GOOD CHILD. Followed all the rules, always punctual, went above and beyond, and has carried those habits into adulthood. Most of the time, these traits serve her well, though is has been hinted at and will be explored later that these traits could be born out of fear and/or the need for validation from others.

The name Leopold stuck out to me pretty early on in the conceptualization of his character. I wanted something that was different/unique and a little older sounding (because... he's an old man lmao). One of his defining character traits is that he's... kinda weird. He's rather unconventional and doesn't tend to do many things "by the book" (working on the floor, using colored pencils to take notes, etc.) and has been shown to be actively stressed out or depressed when working at a desk and computer or chalk board, etc..

The last name Looney is meant to represent his growing mental/emotional instability over the course of the story and also give some of the minor antagonists an easy way to target him and further exacerbate the decline his mental health by ridiculing him. It serves as an easy way for him to be dismissed by his peers, which is especially difficult in science (since research must be peer-reviewed in order to be accepted) and distressing when he is studying a complicated but also stigmatized topic like time travel.

Side note: when I was a kid, I had very short, blonde hair. Almost like a buzz cut. In the right light/angle, I often looked bald. And since my last name is Baldridge, lots of kids used that as an opportunity to tease me, asking me "if my last name was Baldridge because I was bald". It's kind of like one of those rather unfortunate last names that does seem to have some kind of reality to it and is unfairly abused by others. I ended up giving Leopold the same problem. It's something that if you can't do anything about it, you'll hear about it for your entire like. Similar to how I've been told "I am your father" for 24 years because my first name is Luke. More on that and how it connects to Sophia's character in... right now!

I chose Sophia because it is a very soft sounding name to me, implying that she has a softer side to her, despite being a prominent antagonist to the above four characters for the time being. With her given name being Xuan, Sophia is a more common and Americanized name that she's identified with and prefers to be addressed as. The reason for this has not been stated, and I'm not sure if it will be. I'm not sure how important the reason is. This dual-name situation is the little piece of me that prefers to be called Isaac instead of Luke. I don't go out of my way to explain why to people unless I am directly questioned about it.

I think that it should be normalized to be called whichever name you wish to be called and that is should not have to be an expectation to have a "valid" enough reason to prefer one name over another. Attention of the duality of her name is brought to light when you see that everyone addresses her as Sophia except for her father, Chi, who unwaveringly calls her by her given name. This highlights the lack of respect Chi has for his daughter in the present time of the story when juxtaposed to Leopold and the remaining cast who address her as Sophia, despite her still being an active antagonist.

Andre, meaning brave, was chosen because Andre is rather comfortable in his place in life both academically and professionally speaking. While not brave in the "protect-your-family-from-an-angry-bear-with-your-bare-hands" kind of way, he is shown to be brave in that he cares very little of what other people think, which is shown to be a secret weakness of Jeremy's. He lives freely with few inhibitions, which is a difficult thing for many other characters. A large part of this stems from Andre's optimism because he is a first-generation college graduate (like yours truly) and has already accomplished more than he ever imagined or thought possible for someone who grew up with little/no exposure to higher education or professional guidance. This also serves as an interesting comparison to Jeremy and Madison's relationship with education where their success was contingent on so many judgements and preconceptions and expectations of their parents, whereas Andre's success was accepted just by attending college and was simply further supported/awarded by his graduation and attainment of a relevant job

Those are all of the main characters that had a lot of in-depth thought put into them that I can touch on at the moment. Thank you again so much for asking! It means the world to me that someone would be interested enough to ask questions about this, especially since it is a very rough first draft that has been in the making for years and is uploaded at extremely inconsistent intervals. To be frank, I'm surprised I've gotten questions or comments about the story at all, at any time! Please feel free to ask more if it strikes your curiosity. And be prepared for ANOTHER NOVEL lmao.

#do you have the time?#anon ask

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kacydeneen · 6 years

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Can Philly DA's Radical Approach Protect the City?

Constance Wilson is angry. She’s angry that her grandson is no longer with her. She’s angry that his accused killers still haven’t been convicted. And she’s angry at Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for the role that she believes he played in delaying justice for her family.

“I don’t trust him,” she said. “He put the same people back on the street.”

Philly District Attorney Stands By Meek Mill in New Filing

Her grandson, Philadelphia Police Sgt. Robert Wilson III, visited a North Philadelphia GameStop on March 5, 2015 to buy a video game for his son. Two gunmen entered the store and announced a holdup. Wilson tried to thwart the robbery and died after a shootout with the suspects.

More than three years after Wilson’s death, Constance Wilson is still waiting for the men accused of killing him to go to trial. Both Carlton Hipps and Ramone Williams are charged with murder, conspiracy, robbery and a long list of related charges.

Last month, the accused men's defense team asked a Philadelphia judge for additional time to prepare their case. Prosecutors did not oppose the request and a new pretrial hearing was set for June with a two-week jury trial expected to start in November.

The delay outraged Wilson’s family.

"They need to take [Krasner] by the seat of his pants and take him out of the city," Constance Wilson said.

"What good is he doing?"

That question triggers dramatically different answers depending on who you ask. And it’s a question that Krasner answered himself during an interview with NBC10 as he reflected on his first 100 days in office.

During his campaign for district attorney, Krasner promised to change the system by reducing mass incarceration, to fight corruption by bringing transparency to his office and to battle injustice by ending cash bail for low-level offenders.

But several families of victims question whether Krasner's crusade interferes with his duties as the city's chief prosecutor, the top official in charge of punishing crime.

Krasner argues that his continued commitment to social reform is, in fact, the most effective way to fight crime.

"We have to be willing to be smart, not just political, when it comes to crime,” he said. Being smart, according to the district attorney, includes investing money into education and drug and mental health treatment rather than placing people in jail for non-violent offenses. “The 16-year-old who is still in school is not the one who is most likely to go pick up a gun and go kill somebody,” he said.

Upholding the law while working toward social reform has been a central theme throughout Krasner's career. The walls of his office, on the 18th floor of The Widener Building in Center City, mostly remain undecorated except for large black and white photographs of Martin Luther King Jr.

When asked if the artwork was recently displayed for the commemoration of King's death, Krasner's spokesman, Ben Waxman, answered simply: "They're always there."

Born in 1961 in St. Louis, Missouri, to a World War II veteran father and a Christian minister mother, Krasner attended public school in Philadelphia. He received his Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Chicago and then attended Stanford Law School, where he focused on indigenous rights, homelessness and poverty. After graduating in 1987, he returned to Philadelphia and became a public defender.

In 1993, Krasner opened his own law practice in Center City that specialized in criminal defense and civil rights. He sued the Philadelphia Police Department more than 75 times on corruption and physical abuse charges. His reputation as a social justice activist was one reason for Krasner's 75 percent margin of victory in last year’s closely watched district attorney race.

Krasner vowed to bring sweeping reforms and transparency to an office plagued by the scandal surrounding former District Attorney Seth Williams, who was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to prison time.

He wasted no time reshaping the 600-person strong office. More than 30 staff members were either fired or resigned within three days of Krasner's tenure.

He also implemented new policies, including ending cash bail for low-level offenders, requiring prosecutors to reveal the cost of incarceration before sentencing and dropping criminal charges on 50 marijuana possession cases. Those policies, he said, were part of a larger goal to end mass incarceration.

In March, a leaked memo showed Krasner instructing prosecutors to stop charging for "any amount" of marijuana possession and some cases of prostitution.

Krasner's policies drew national headlines and praise from left-leaning progressives — as well as criticism from hard-liners who labeled him an enabler of criminals.

But speaking to NBC10, Krasner emphatically rejected the notion that he was soft on crime.

“Come on now — the criticism you’re repeating is coming from people whose administration had a higher rate of violent crime last year than we have right now,” he said.

Despite his reputation as an impassioned reformer, Krasner is calm and composed in person, already comfortable in the media spotlight having drawn the attention of prominent leaders throughout the country.

At the mention of Gerard Grandzol, however, he choked back tears.

The 38-year-old community activist was shot and killed in front of his 2-year-old daughter in September. Krasner described Grandzol’s "horrifying" murder as an "absolutely crushing tragedy."

The accused shooter was 16 years old at the time of Grandzol’s death. In March, the suspect’s defense attorney requested that he be tried in juvenile court.

Grandzol’s widow and family supporters pleaded for Krasner to prevent that from happening.

“I understand how she feels,” Krasner said. “But, no decision has been made in that case.”

Two days after his interview with NBC10, Krasner filed a motion calling for the teen murder suspect to be tried as an adult. He will not face the death penalty, however.

"The United States Supreme Court has said that the death penalty is not an option for juveniles," Krasner said. "Neither is a life sentence."

During his campaign, Krasner pledged he would never seek capital punishment, calling the death penalty "expensive, ineffective and racially biased." It's this kind of rhetoric that angers Sgt. Wilson’s family.

Yet despite his personal opposition to the death penalty, Krasner reassured the Wilsons that the case would remain a capital one. It is currently under review by a committee that will determine the most appropriate sentence to seek. That committee will send Krasner their recommendation and he will make a decision, though it won’t be a political one, Krasner said.

"I have a duty here that I will complete," he said. "But there’s nothing inconsistent about pursuing your duty and having a personal opinion that the death penalty is a bad thing."

Krasner is part of a current wave of elected officials nationwide who are rethinking the ways their offices pursue justice. At the beginning of 2017, New Jersey essentially ended cash bail, a move that Krasner implemented here in February. He argued that requiring people to post bail for minor crimes — like driving under the influence and retail theft — unfairly targets those who can’t afford to pay to keep themselves out of jail.

John Hollway, the executive director of Penn Law's Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, said Krasner is embracing a “21st-century role of prosecutors as crime reducers.”

In the 1980s and 1990s, the prevailing trend for law enforcement was based on the so-called "broken windows theory" developed by two criminologists. The theory is that stemming the rise of minor crimes, from subway turnstile jumping to burglary, could lead to suppression of more violent crime.

The approach evolved following decades of police departments, including Philadelphia’s under police commissioner and Mayor Frank Rizzo, aggressively hunting criminals and pursuing tough prison sentences.

Now, however, the theory has been criticized, and lawmakers such as Krasner are taking a more holistic approach by focusing on the big picture before sending offenders to jail.

Some people, the thinking goes, could be better served through social services than prison time.

"If you’re going to send somebody away for two years, it should be worth it," Krasner said. "If you’re going to send them away for 50 years ... it should be worth it."

This can seem counterintuitive to victims of crime who want to see harsher forms of justice.

“It’s a very natural, emotional reaction to want to punish people for committing crimes,” Hollway said. “Sometimes an eye for an eye seems just. The question is whether incarcerating somebody will reduce crime.”

Krasner doesn’t necessarily believe so, which is why he is now requiring prosecutors to reveal the cost of sending an offender to prison during sentencing. The policy, Krasner argued, actually supports victims because it reveals "the social cost" of a crime and helps focus resources on violent offenses.

It's too soon to tell whether his reforms will change Philadelphia's criminal justice system.

From July 2015 to December 2017, Philadelphia’s jail population decreased 25 percent, according to the city’s Office of Criminal Justice. Officials attribute that success to policies rolled out after Philadelphia received a $3.5 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2016. The money went towards decreasing reliance on cash bail, implementing police diversion programs and providing early bail review for pretrial defendants, among other initiatives.

Since Krasner took office, the jail population fell 9 percent. It is currently hovering around 5,500, according to the city's Office of Criminal Justice.

"This could be attributable to a number of factors, including new policies and initiatives across the city’s criminal justice system," Julie Wertheimer, from the Office of Criminal Justice, said.

Like the prison population, Philadelphia’s homicide rate is down from this time last year. Philadelphia Police Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, the department's spokesman, credits many things “working in tandem,” such as building a better relationship between communities and law enforcement. That relationship extends to the district attorney’s office. Kinebrew told NBC10 he speaks with Krasner’s staff at least once a week.

Yet one of Krasner’s harshest critics is Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby, who labeled the district attorney as "anti-police."

After Krasner spoke to cadets about the use of unnecessary force, McNesby accused him of endangering the lives of officers through his “ridiculous and dangerous presentation.” The statement was refuted by Krasner’s spokesman in a series of tweets.

McNesby did not respond to multiple interview requests for this story.

During his interview with NBC10, Krasner denied being at odds with law enforcement, saying he has an "excellent relationship" with Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross. He also cited his efforts to keep more officers on the street.

Kinebrew confirmed that Ross and Krasner have met, and that the two offices continue to work closely together.

Yet the anti-police accusations leveled against Krasner have been bolstered by the recent criticisms from Sgt. Wilson’s family. Not only did they accuse him of slowing down the murder case, they also questioned his previous relationship with Michael Coard, a defense attorney for one of the suspects and a member of Krasner’s transition team.

The district attorney’s spokesperson said that Coard and Krasner have not spoken about the case since he took office.

“Let’s understand, [the case is] three years old,” Krasner said. “The prior administration had all those other years and they did not succeed at getting it to trial despite all the chest-beating.”

Krasner added that his office will be careful to not go to trial unprepared, which could lead to a case being overturned. He also insisted that he met with Wilson’s family members personally to speak with them.

Ultimately, Krasner believes the impact of his social reform will lead to justice for Wilson, Grandzol and other victims of violent crime.

“We have to do things that actually work," the district attorney said, "not just talk tough.”

Krasner’s activist approach to crime reduction is ambitious. It’s long-term effectiveness remains to be seen, however, and will not only define his legacy, but also Philadelphia’s future.

“What he’s trying to do is really exciting and really difficult,” John Hollway from the Quattrone Center said. “He’s trying to improve and modify the culture. Not just the district attorney’s office but the entire criminal justice system. To the law enforcement side, he has to show that he can protect.”

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. Can Philly DA's Radical Approach Protect the City? published first on Miami News

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torreygazette · 7 years

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Provision for the Barren Foreigner

Ruth has always been a study in contradictions to me: a woman out of place and out of time, who merits an entire book of the Bible.

This chapter of Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible tackles the most glaring issue immediately: she's a Moabite, a tribe who descended from Lot sleeping with his own daughters. The Israelites were not to marry foreigners, and her husband broke God's law by doing so.

We're never told how the brothers and their father, died, but as Israelites in Moab, it's not hard to imagine death by violence, or perhaps simply the privation that had driven them initially from Bethlehem to Moab.

Orpah—the other daughter-in-law—bails pretty quickly into the narrative, and while it's easy to paint her as selfish, considering that Ruth stays, it's hard to blame her. She must have had SOME family to go back to, some system of protection and provision. As women without husbands or children, they had no social standing or worth. They would still have no standing or worth if they returned to their family of origin, but at least there they'd be guaranteed food and shelter.

Sounds bleak, right? It is. Your options were limited, and your greatest hope was that your dead husband had a brother who could step up and marry you and bear an heir in your husband's name. Since the family line had ended, Ruth and Orpah didn't have that hope, and Naomi points out wryly that there's no way she's having more sons in time.

And yet God provides. In this case, causing Ruth to choose faithfulness to her mother-in-law rather than seeking her own good, giving Ruth a purpose and Naomi a provider. This chapter of the Vindicating the Vixens points out something I hadn't thought about before: in choosing to return to Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth was effectively denouncing her Moabitish (pagan) heritage and deities.

We can safely assume Naomi was too old to be out gleaning in the fields, but Ruth turns to this hard work eagerly, and we get to see God's provision for Ruth in the person of Boaz, a distant relative (which she does not know when she stumbles across his field).

I'm going to be frank here: if you're a single Christian woman, you'll have heard about Boaz a lot. He's become the standard, the personification of "The One" (which is a stupid 21st-century Western concept, for starters) you're supposed to be holding out for. THE BOAZ AND RUTH STORY IS NOT NORMAL AND IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE TRYING TO BASE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS ON. (Also, where are the books admonishing guys to look for a woman like Ruth? Hardworking! Faithful! Good at gleaning!)

But I kind of get it: God plainly put Ruth in the right place at the right time when she wound up in Boaz's field. Sexual harassment would have been par for the course for an unaccompanied woman—particularly a Moabite, who could have been viewed as disposable. But Boaz warns the workers to not go near her, makes sure she has food and water (it's not a stretch to read between the lines: in the early days of the harvest, Ruth didn't have the means to pack a lunch, since she saved the leftovers of her lunch with Boaz to bring home to Naomi), instructs the workers to leave extra grain behind above and beyond the "gleanings"—It's amazing that they were even to drop some of what they were carrying away. Yes, God's law required that "gleanings" be left in any field. Harvesters were not to strip the fields bare, and widows, orphans, and foreigners were to get first dibs on these gleanings, which is what Ruth was doing there in the first place. But in a place recently experiencing drought and a lack of food, extra scraps aren't something easily left behind.

Ruth collapses at Boaz's feet, asking why he's been this kind to her, and he essentially says "your reputation [of faithfulness and hard work] has preceded you."

There's enough to stop and think about right here, without continuing: yes, God's laws can at times seem harsh and unbearable, and yet, He never leaves us without provision.

That provision may not be what we had in mind, and we might not even be happy about the way God chooses to provide, or when, but it is there, whether we're faithful or not.

The next portion has always confused me. It's bizarre. Boaz, his heart "merry with wine," asleep on the threshing floor—Ruth, washed and anointed at Naomi's instruction, uncovering his feet, and asking him to "redeem" her—to purchase Elimelech's land, to become the inheritor his dead sons were supposed to be, to take Naomi into his home and provide for her, and yes, to marry Ruth and raise up an heir. I, like the author of this chapter, have a hard time concluding that this is a blatant sexual advance, particularly given the deliberate use of words as outlined in this chapter. She's in a tremendously precarious position, asking for something huge, and I think this speaks to both of their characters—that she trusts enough in his discretion to make the offer, and that he respects her enough to not abuse this privilege, even sending her away while it's still dark and everyone's asleep, to prevent gossip.

Ruth asks Boaz to step up, to go above and beyond, AND HE DOES. I'm always amazed by how vastly honorable he is, because she is young, desperate, and very much at his mercy, and he doesn't take advantage of any of this. His acceptance of the arrangement she's proposing even considers the fact that there's a closer relative, who has first right of refusal. (In a fascinating twist: we're not told whether Ruth knew this other guy or just picked Boaz.)

Boaz consults the closer relative, who takes a pass, and the story moves forward.

Boaz & Ruth are married, and in time she bears a son: Obed, father of Jesse, father of David.

Naomi, now ensconced in Boaz's home, given the honored place of a mother, cares for the child, getting to mother again in her old age after the grief of losing her sons, husband, and home.

Ruth, the foreign widow who is barren, becomes a citizen, a wife, a mother, a direct genealogical link to Christ.

God provides. Even for vixens, for the unfaithful, for those of us who are foreigners, for those of who cannot marry or have children. What an encouragement Ruth is for us to faithfully do the work set before us while we wait for God's provision.

#Vindicating the Vixens #Ruth

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stephaniefchase · 8 years

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Bajan Newscaps 1/23/2017

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is your daily newscap for Monday 23rd January 2017. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Today (BT) or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

LOOKING TO BARROW - Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says he will be guided by founder leader Errol Barrow’s principles and lead the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to its third straight general election victory. Stuart, who is leading Barbados through two terms of economic difficulty, said even though Barrow died 30 years ago, for the DLP he still lived because the things he stood for were deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of party faithful. And so when they felt challenged by the pressure of events, they looked to Barrow’s examples. Speaking to his Cabinet colleagues and party members attending the annual Errol Barrow Memorial church service at the Crab Hill New Testament Church of God in St Lucy yesterday, Stuart said to loud applause: “Do not get distracted by the incoherent noises you hear from time to time. Those issues are going to be settled on a date that I will determine and we will root out adversaries and put them to flight.” He used the example of a race horse preparing for competition and looking very fast while training by itself. However, he said on race day when the animal came face to face with real competition, it was realised that the horse was nothing at all. (DN)

BNTCL SALE A STRATEGIC MOVE - The Freundel Stuart administration has outmaneuvered its opponents once again, and will soon be able to focus solely on winning the next general election. That’s why Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler was so strident in the House of Assembly last Tuesday as he declared that the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) would not devalue the Barbados dollar, and he would resign first rather than oversee such. He also denied that Government had engaged in, or authorised any approach to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout programme. The question, though, is whether this DLP victory was part of a well-planned strategy that was in the best interest of the party, but not necessarily in the interest of Barbados’ long-term financial health? Sinckler brims with such confidence because of the US$100 million in foreign exchange Government is set to earn from the sale of the Barbados National Terminal Company Limited (BNTCL) to the Sir Kyffin Simpson-led Sol Group. (DN)

JAMAICANS INVEST HEAVILY IN QUEST TO REACH U.S. - Jamaicans paid over $5 billion in non-immigrant visa fees to the United States Government last year, based upon a calculation of data provided by the US Embassy in Kingston. This comes at a time when newly sworn-in US President Donald J Trump has said that he will review immigration laws in that North American country with a view to clamping down on illegal immigrants, many of whom gain entry by using non-immigrant visas and then overstay their time. Last year, Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy Joshua Polacheck said that the Embassy had been swamped with an excessive number of applications for non-immigrant visas that was putting a strain on its system. The US diplomat revealed that the Embassy was processing an “unprecedented number of non-immigrant visas”, and was handling up to 1,000 a day in some instances. The cost that goes with a non-immigrant visa application is US$160 (about $20,480), meaning that if 1,000 such visas are processed per day, it would amount to $20.5 million daily. For a week at the same rate, the overall cost would be nearly $102.4 million. Based upon what Polacheck described as the rapid growth in demand for US visas, which he said had zipped from 85,000 applications in the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) of 2013, to 185,000 up to the middle of last year, the annual overall spend on trying to procure US non-immigrant visas would jump significantly. Over 52 weeks, the total cost would be $5.3 billion. That sum does not include fees for student visas, crew members, or temporary workers. It would represent around one per cent of Jamaica’s annual budget. (BT)

SHEEP SKIN GOODS –A major breakthrough has been made involving the Barbados Blackbelly sheep, which has the potential to revolutionise the industry and rake in significant sums. The skin is now being transformed into leather, an initiative led by the Centre for Food Security and Entrepreneurship of the University of the West Indies (UWI). Samples of the finished products for shoes, bags, belts and other items – are on display at the centre’s base in the CARICOM Research Building, Cave Hill. “In the commercial production there would be the widest possible assortment of leather goods. These are really just a sample. In the context of the display, what you have are some sheets of leather in different colours that were polished and treated differently for different things. It’s just to give Barbadians an idea of the possibilities,” Professor Leonard O’Garro told the DAILY NATION. (DN)

SICK LEAVE CONCERN - Workers in Barbados should never exploit the privilege they enjoy of paid sick leave and uncertified sick days. Chairman of the Productivity Council Dr Akhentoolove Corbin said abuse of the long-held legal requirement that workers be allowed a certain number of uncertified sick days each year as well as paid sick leave, was a matter that should be addressed. His call came after the Productivity Council started its period of awareness with a church service at St George’s Parish Church yesterday. Calling for re-education of workers, the University of the West Indies lecturer in management told the DAILY NATION that too many workers believed they had “a right” to take the full number of uncertified sick days they were allowed in a year, even if they were not sick or incapacitated. Workers in the private sector are afforded six uncertified sick days annually, while in the public sector some get up to 21. (DN)

UNION CELEBRATES SHOP STEWARDS - Shop stewards of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) were recognised for their contributions at the annual Errol Barrow Day celebrations on Saturday at the Frank Walcott Labour College in Mangrove, St Philip. Calling them the union’s backbone, eyes, ears, hands and feet within workplaces as it fought to strengthen workers’ protection, BWU general secretary Toni Moore said the awards would become an annual event. “I am sure that all our shop stewards can identify that being bold and standing up for what they believe has often cost them promotions, has cost some of them their jobs and therefore it impacts significantly on their livelihoods.” “Often these sacrifices are made for their peers who don’t even value the sacrifices, who often want things but who don’t stand by your side to effect the change. (DN)

GOSPEL FETE - Over 5 000 PEOPLE gave new meaning to “people like sand” when they thronged Brandons Beach, St Michael, on Saturday to enjoy five hours of captivating gospel music. From as early as 4:30 p.m., a sea of people engulfed the Brandons area by all means of transportation and took choice spots to enjoy the Sunset Gospel Show sponsored by the St Michel North West Development Council. When Kritojay Paul took to the stage just after 5 p.m., the crowd was already in a worship mode. Hours later, when Jamaican Junior Tucker closed the event, the worshippers still had enough energy to follow suit in dancing, waving and singing to the contagious lyrics and tunes. The gem of the night was the presentation from the popular Bridget Blucher who interspersed many of her hit tunes with medleys and lifted the crowd when she declared that she could not come to Barbados without going “old school”. (BT)

CARNIVAL IN BOSCOBEL –‘ALL A WE IS ONE’ was the theme of Boscobel Carnival as residents of St Peter revelled under the Saturday afternoon sun. The inaugural festival saw scores making their way along the Diamond Corner to Boscobel Pasture route. The event was organised by resident Sasha Edwards, as a release for the residents who have been subjected to nearly a year without water. Edwards said it was also meant to revive the once close-knit community. “After the water shortages I find the community became disconnected so we wanted to bring the community back together,” she said. Edwards added that she was inspired by her 14-year-old daughter to reach out to the frustrated residents. She indicated she is already planning for carnival for 2018, given the positive response to this year’s event. (BT)

CHARITY SAYS GOVT RED TAPE A PAIN - As the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust rolls out this year’s million-dollar philanthropic works, the principals are bemoaning Government bureaucracy which is stopping them spending their funds. Trustee Derrick Smith, who is also part owner of Sandy Lane Hotel, along with trustee Phillipa Challis, made the comments as they hosted the annual charity auction and dinner last Friday night at Sandy Lane. They were joined by fellow trustees John Lodge, bassist of the Moody Blues, and Julian Sacher. This year, the trust is looking to build a Psychiatric Children’s Centre on the grounds of the Black Rock facility mooted in 2009. It would house children, who required help, in a facility away from the general adult population. Challis revealed the trust had “put in the planning, but we are waiting for Cabinet to approve the project. (DN)

GROUP RAISES FUNDS TO HELP SICK child - Eight men from the Danesbury, Black Rock community are on a mission to change the way society views the fellows on the block. On the sidelines of a donation made to one-year-old Nazari Smith of that St Michael district, spokesman of the Team Bless Family Greg Jones told the DAILY NATION they were determined to encourage other young men to make more positive decisions. The Team Bless Family raised over $5 000 to assist Nazari’s grandmother Felicia Smith with purchasing medication, clothing and other daily essentials she had difficulty acquiring for youngster Nazari, who was born with fluid on the brain and requires surgical intervention. Nazari’s mother Natasha Smith, 29, died in hospital on December 30, 2015, after giving birth. (DN)

FATHER GRATEFUL AFTER FINDING SON - Don Reid’s faith faced the ultimate test when his four-year-old son went missing minutes after school was dismissed last Tuesday evening at George Lamming Primary School. The devout Christian and father of three told the DAILY NATION when he heard the news that his boy could not be found, he immediately called a taxi and left work. “My wife Tamara called me about 3:30 and told me that she and the teacher could not find Jeremiah. “When we got by Belle Gully main road, a guy stopped the car to let an ambulance reverse and a voice told me: ‘Get out and ask a question’, but I didn’t budge, I sat there crying. I was flustered and concerned about my wife who recently gave birth to our third child, ”he said. (DN)

THORNE WANTS NEW ATTITUDE TOWARDS WASTE MANAGEMENT - Barbados Labour Party (BLP) representative for Christ Church South, Ralph Thorne, wants to see a change in the way communities manage their garbage. Speaking at the Atlantic Shores Network (ASN) recycling project, Thorne said that the resources of the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) are overburdened. “We have overburdened the SSA by our own bad attitudes towards waste disposal and waste management. We buy things, we use those things and…we literally put them outside our house…in a barrel and demand the SSA comes every day and twice a day,” Thorne said. “The problem is with us and (the) attitude we hold towards waste management.” Thorne, an attorney, said that the government is incapable of sending a truck to every community across the island. He implied that the role of the waste disposal unit could be modified to a critical response team, saying “the SSA can be a response team in a situation of crisis but where there is no crisis, where there is everyday management, private enterprise can carry it.” (BT)

‘PLEASE USE’ FREE LEGAL clinics - Come talk to us about your legal problems.That is what president of the Barbados Bar Association (BBA) Liesel Weekes encouraged Barbadians to do, as the BBA officially launch the pro bono clinics last Friday evening at its Perry Gap, St Michael offices. Speaking to the media, attorneys and Professor Velma Newton, regional project director of Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean Project (IMPACT Justice) which is funding the free legal clinics, Weekes said only two people attended the clinic at the Alleyne School in St Andrew two Saturdays ago and to date, no one had asked for advice on criminal matters. She said BBA hoped the public would “embrace it and participate more fully than they have in the past [and] take advantage of it.” (DN)

IFILL TO ANSWER FOR $608,000 WORTH IN DRUGS - Police say 28-year-old Jamar Ifill, who surrendered to them last week after he was the subject of a wanted bulletin, has been charged in connection with the discovery of 152 kilogrammes of cannabis, valued at $608,000. This follows a police operation at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex on December 29 last year in which seven packages of cannabis were found in an ice box aboard a fishing vessel. Investigations were conducted which led to Ifill being brought into custody and subsequently charged. The #17 Development 3, Gall Hill, St John resident is due to appear before the District ‘A’ Magistrate Court tomorrow on charges of possession, possession with intent to supply and trafficking in cannabis. (BT)

CANADIAN NABBED WITH $32,000 WORTH IN DRUGS - A 22-year-old Canadian visitor is due to appear in the District ‘B’ Magistrates’ Court tomorrow after he was nabbed on arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport here on Friday with four pounds of cannabis, valued at $32,000. Police say a search by customs officers of Gurkirat Singh Sraa’s luggage revealed 16 transparent vacuum-sealed packages, each containing cannabis, concealed in a false bottom of his suitcase. As he result, the visitor, who arrived from Canada, was arrested and charged with possession, possession with intent to supply, trafficking and importation of the illegal drugs. (BT)

USA: 15 PEOPLE KILLED IN SEVERE STORMS –The death toll from an outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes across the U.S. South has jumped to 15. Georgia Emergency Management Agency officials told the Associated Press that 11 people died in southern Georgia and 23 were injured as the storms hit the area. Agency spokesperson Catherine Howden said Sunday morning that the deaths occurred in Cook, Brooks and Berrien counties. Two of the deceased were killed by a possible tornado early Sunday morning, officials from the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. Both victims were in the same home in Barney, which was displaced onto Highway 122. (BT)

FOGGING SCHEDULE - The Ministry of Health’s Vector Control Unit will continue its fogging programme this week in an effort to reduce the mosquito population on the island.

Monday, January 23, a team will head to St Andrew to spray Savannah Road, Shorey Village, Doughlin Tenantry, St Andrew’s Church, Walkers, Bawdens, Babylon Road and environs.

Tuesday, January 24, fogging will take place in the St Michael districts of Ellis Village, Halls Road, Bibby’s Lane, Marl Hole, School Lane, Belmont Road, Carrington Village, St Hill Road, Alkins Road, Quakers Road, Northam Road, Chadderton Road, Tweedside Road, Arthur Land with avenues and surrounding areas.

Wednesday, January 25, a team will return to St Michael to spray Perry Gap, Harmony Hall, Dr Kerr Land, Greenidge Road, School Road, Springer Gap, Taylor Gap, Brathwaithe Gap, Prescod Bottom and environs.

Thursday, January 26, Atlantic Shores, Coral Drive, Pearl Drive, Spring Terrace, Light House Lane, Oyster Crescent, Seaside Drive, Ocean Mist Close and neighbouring districts in Christ Church will be fogged.

Householders are reminded to open their windows and doors to allow the spray to enter. Fogging will take place between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. each day. (BT)

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