#fpblog

[fandompitfalls]

Prodigal Son and why Living Shouldn't Be Controversial

Originally posted 1/27/2021

After my last post I wasn’t sure what I would write about.  Several of my upcoming posts are research intensive and potentially controversial so as far as I’ve gotten on them was to put them in my book for blog post ideas and that’s about it.

And then Season Two of Prodigal Son aired. So what am I doing?  A research (not so intensive) and potentially controversial post.  At least I’m on brand.

For those who don’t really know the show: In its second season Prodigal Son is the story of ex-FBI profiler Malcolm Bright who was fired for his risk-taking habits and came back to the NYPD at the request of Captain Gil Arroyo.  Malcolm Bright is also Malcolm Whitly, the son of the influential and extremely wealthy Whitley family.  The Patriarch of the Whitly family, Dr. Martin Whitly, a convicted serial killer known as “the Surgeon”, is currently in a secure psychiatric facility. His son Malcolm put him there.  Malcolm now works for the NYPD under Gil’s team that includes Detectives JT Tarmel, and Detective Dani Powell and Medical Examiner Edrisa Tanaka. While not solving crimes, Malcom must deal with his tenacious television reporter sister Ainsley Whitly and their wealthy, hovering mother Jessica Whitly.  As well as his father who is trying to make his way back into his family’s life via Malcolm by assisting via telephone with certain cases.

Except for the Whitly’s (who while wealthy are probably not very good role models), the entire main cast is made up of people of color:  Filipino, Black, Asian.  While the first season was introductions to everyone and dealing with Malcolm’s lost memories regarding his father, the father/ son dynamic, cultivating a loyal fanbase and potentially starting some ships both purposefully and accidentally (I’m looking at you Brightwell and Maldrisa shippers), this second season started off with a bang.  Something that might have been relegated to a side plot, I feel, had become larger than this season’s overarching plot and will end up and absolutely deserved to be in equal standing.

In the first season, we are introduced to JT, the by the book detective who doesn’t like Bright in the beginning but by the end of the first season, they’re…okay. We also meet JT frankly adorable wife Tally and discover that he’s going to be a dad.

In season two, months have passed, and JT is acting Captain while Gil is out on medical leave.  He brings Bright in on a case involving a justice killer. At the end while back up is being sent to Bright’s apartment for the final conflict, Dani rushes up while backup is on its way and JT is right behind her.  He arrives moments before the back up and when they arrive, he directs them up to the apartment.  What happens instead is something we’ve all seen on the news this past summer. The first cop that arrives tackles JT and presses him against the wall, baton at his throat telling him to stop resisting.  The terror in JT’s eyes is startling as he realized that these officers, the one holding him and the other five who have their guns trained on him are not going to let him explain that he’s a cop.  It isn’t until Dani runs out holding her badge and Malcom following close behind, both of them yelling to stand down, that he’s a cop does the office let go of JT and step back.  Back at the station, Gil is furious and wants to take it to I.A., but JT insists it won’t do any good and he needs to think about it.  He has a family now and he doesn’t want the retaliation.  The scene ends with Gil, Dani and Bright supporting his decision and telling him they have his back.  JT is emotional and for good reason.  The people who are supposed to be working with him just tried to kill him.

Episode two didn’t let up; in the middle of a chase, Gil tells JT to call for back up and what happens is enraging.  As JT calls on his police issued walkie for backup, the person manning the other end tells him that the line if for police use only and uses the term “boy” before disconnecting.  Later, it shows JT and Dani standing outside the office watching Gil yell at the dispatch for not sending officers for a potential hostile situation.  JT decides to not file a report mentioning that he has a family to worry about and he must work with these people. It is harassment and emotional terrorism at its worst.

In the first episode this season, Dani and Bright are talking and Dani mentions the institutionalized racism she’s been dealing with. With this show being categorized as a police procedural, showing this sort of dangerous institutional racism within the police force is both tricky and important.  While police shows have mentioned an episode or two of racism within the force, it’s usually an episode and the one bad cop is taken to task by the white Captain and the entire thing is brushed over.  The good thing about this show is so far, all the people in power we’ve seen on the force have been people of color.  It also makes it harder to pull the “white savior” role as Bright, while on the team, has no real standing with the NYPD and could be kicked off cases in a heartbeat. Jessica, with all of her wealth and ties (or not, make up your mind Jess) to Gil, can’t really do anything expect throw money at the issue.  The brunt of the conflict will lie between Gil and his team facing the police force including these cops who “are just doing their job” and the veil of secrecy that lies within the Thin Blue Line. It’s not something that can be erased in a five-episode arc and I really hope it’s not.  The racism within the department has been established, it can’t be erased with the firing of the cop who attacked JT and it can’t be addressed with the Commissioner coming in to make everyone go to training to make it all magically go away.

The showrunners spent the entire first season introducing us and making us love these characters and given the current climate of the world, this was a bold and correct decision, one that needed to be addressed.  I know there is talk on message board stating that this season is too “political”.  Black Lives Matter, is not political, institutionalized racism within the police force is not political. Men and women of color that are on police forces are risking their lives to do good and make streets safer and do not deserve to wonder if they’re going to take “friendly” fire from one of their own.  This year we’ve heard too many stories of officers who were threatened out of uniform and officers who spoke up only to be removed from duty. This isn’t a new thing. Nobody should be murdered for living their lives, for sleeping, for complying with proper police requests.

Personally, as a white person, watching these scenes hurt.  Watching JT’s reactions hurt. Hearing someone who was supposed to have his back use a term that has racist undertones when said as it was, made me furious.  Which is what it’s supposed to do.  But this is also a dangerous road the showrunners are taking.  There is no clean and easy way out of this, to have it discussed and “fixed” isn’t reasonable nor believable anymore, to ignore it after three episodes isn’t doing it justice. I don’t know how this will turn out, but it absolutely needs to be addressed this season.  To the extent of having it a plot equal to Malcom’s covering up a murder and hiding the body without getting caught.

If you want more information or want to get involved, please look at the websites linked. It shouldn’t take a television show to spread awareness, but if it does, so much the better. People are starting to get involved with activism because media and it’s good (sometimes).  Television should start a conversation, that’s when it’s working best.

#FPBlog #Prodigal Son #racial tension #televison #blog

[fashionpotluck]

There's something romantic-retro about taking a road trip 🌹 Have you ever been to Bulgaria? Explore its beauty through Chelf’s retro snapshots 📷

#bulgaria #photography #sofia #roadtrip #snapshots #fashionpotluck #fpblog

[frontporchlit]

Agency for Sale

The following is the third in our weekly December blog posts exploring both the gifts of writing and the many struggles of being an artistic creator in a heavily monetized society. At age 23, I married a much older man against my family’s advice. That same year, I entered a doctoral program at Yale University, the youngest student in my program. I was not there long before I announced I was pregnant. My colleague’s mouths dropped. Soon thereafter, I received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship -- Yale’s only winner that year. It came with a generous scholarship, which I forfeited the following year, hoping that by doing so and moving from New Haven, I might salvage my marriage. My adviser begged me to not to abandon the scholarship. She was right. A few years later, I was divorced anyway.

What decision had I not screwed up?

With little plan and no job prospects, I moved with my two boys to Dallas. I found a job selling books at Barnes and Noble. I made coffee for customers and put books on shelves and thought, I could do that. I could write a novel.

I told my family my plans to apply to a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. The news was not warmly received. An arts degree for a single mother of two struggling financially. Good plan! Had I ever written a short story? No. Had I taken a creative writing class in any of my six years of higher education? No. But as an eight-year-old I had written a twenty-page essay about a panda bear.

People I cared about whispered about my poor judgement, while I hid my hurt and my genuine understanding of their concerns. But there are little truths that your heart whispers, things your body figures out without you, and mine was saying: Be a writer. You’ll like it. You’ll be good at it.

I almost didn’t listen.

That January, I sat at my kitchen table and somehow wrote my first short story. I also filled out applications. I had to get into a Texas school because I had no money left for a major relocation. By March, I was accepted to five programs.

One moving van and several miracles later, we were in San Marcos ready to start the school year, but I was hardly out of the woods. I had so much doubt about my own decision-making ability, I couldn’t even decide whether to wear a scarf that day. “Do you think it’s cold enough to wear this?” I would say to my friend / neighbor / repairman. It didn’t matter who. Anyone would know better than me.

My boys would fight and I would be called upon to dispense punishments. What was the correct course of action? Was I too soft? Too harsh? Was not the dispute my own fault as I had been doing [insert utterly necessary house chore here]. Surely there was someone more qualified to make this call.

My life was one long apology. I let other people correct me. I listened to them tell me how I could be a better wife, a better mother, dress better, cook better, clean better and then thanked them for it.

Yet at school, I was required to write stories about characters who make decisions; characters who pursue goals. Since I wrote about soldiers, writing from the male perspective made the most sense. Male soldiers would be closer to the action. Yet I felt unable to access the male protagonist’s mind. What were his concerns? How did he feel about his responsibilities? About how others thought about him? How did he think about women?

Strange things began to happen on the page. My male protagonist picked fights. He cared little what anyone thought. He made mistakes, big ones, ones which cost the lives of others, and he still considered himself capable of leading his men. He was feared by others. He never, ever apologized.

I must have stumbled upon some repressed alternative version of myself. What astonished me more was the reception from others. My professors and fellow students told me how interested they were in this man. They wanted more.

As this fictional character mastered his life, I learned from him how to master my own. A family member who was unkind to me for 25 years is no longer part of my life. I was able to look at a new boyfriend and say, I think I need something different. Not all self-doubt is gone. I can still spend hours staring at two different shoes in a store and leave with neither, unable to decide which was better. But when my little boys look to me for leadership, I remember that my protagonist looks at the Lebanese battle field riddled with Hezbollah fighters, and knows exactly which assault he will take.

When I began this writing journey only 18 months ago, no one told me that it was possible to live within words on pages, that it was possible to grow strong within a story. I have. Sandra Sidi writes military fiction. She worked with the U.S. military in Iraq (2007, 2008) and the Israeli Defense Forces in Israel (2006, 2009). She is an MFA Candidate at Texas State University San Marcos, and holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Yale University.

#marriage #yale #mfa #creative writing #txstate #writing #writer #fiction #sidi #journey #new beginning #beginnings #alter ego #dallas #fpblog #december #christmas #holidays

[mwuhhahahaha]

We need to take action!! 

Edited! Made all links clickable as well as added more information. I will continue to edit when someone post other important information so everyone can see it!! So its all easily found in one location. 

Edited once again!!! Added more pics and more details. Because it seems its not syncing in. Or not seeing the bigger picture. 

If you don't know about Net Neutrality well you need to know about it now. This is no joke or a game because if we don't do something living expenses are going be harder to meet.

What is Net Neutrality:

It allows internet providers such as Verizon, AT&T and etc from controlling/limiting the public to access the internet. Currently they are only allowed to charge Americans internet speed but otherwise we have access to the internet without limits. 

Without Net Neutrality:

Instead of just paying the basic speed internet you’ll have to pay packages which give you access to certain things. 

If you thought being a college student is expensive bc of books and tuition imagine what you'll be paying just to do a research paper.

If you were against paying for YouTube red well it won't matter bc you'll have to pay just to access the website. This goes for all social media sites as well. You'll have to pay to access your email.

Forget paying for basic internet speed you'll be paying for packages that will only allow you to access certain websites. It's these packages is the reason why many cut cable and only pay for Netflix. To access the internet will become more expensive and controlled. Let that sink in if it hasn't already.

Don’t believe check out this site: 

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

And as of privacy it seems not a lot of people isn’t aware about the new online privacy law that was passed around March which allows internet providers to sell your browser, streaming and download logs to 3rd parties. 

http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/28/technology/house-internet-privacy-repeal/index.html

I highly recommend looking into Dish and Kodi 3rd party add-ons law suit. Its a good example why vpns are important. 

As for those outside of US you should be concern as well. 

youtube viewings will drop alarmingly fast. Popular youtubers will no longer provide the creative content you love and enjoy. 

fandom will also produce less. fan art, fanfics, etc. that a lot enjoy. Sites like tumblr won’t be the same. 

you may not need to pay like we do but the internet content will decline. So best to reblog this and help spread the word. 

That is why we need to take action. And this post will make it easy for you to do that. 

Sign this petition: 

https://www.change.org/p/save-net-neutrality-netneutrality

been told Non-Us can sign as well. 

Fill our FCC comment Form 

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express

Filling # is 17-108 according to @profanefame

in the comment section just use the Letters section of this post to use a template. I’m being told they are getting rid of any letters or response that is copied.  

Send Letters to your Representatives: 

Email the Chairman Ajit Pai himself

http://act.freepress.net/call/internet_pai_nn/?source=FPblog

These sites will do all the work all you have to do is fill in your information.

https://act.eff.org/action/tell-congress-quit-trying-to-sabotage-net-neutrality

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

You can also use Resistbot. it will tell you what to do.

https://resistbot.io/index.html

or text RESIST to 50409 and follow the text steps.  

Don't know what to write in the letter well I got you covered, already pre-written. But I’ve been advised by @501arceus that you shouldn’t copy n paste but use these as a template!!!

They are trashing the ones that are copy pasted!! Be more original. Remember more personal the better!! Use them as a template. Put it in your own words. 

this site has it all written out and all have to do is sign your name

https://www.battleforthenet.com/letter/

Or copy n paste this wrote, and lots of thanks, by @gothamess​ is pretty good as well.

I am writing to express my support for Net Neutrality. The internet is and has been such a vital tool for so many people, and we must ensure equal access to the internet, and equal access to knowledge. 

Various companies such as Facebook and Google are also against this act, as they acknowledge that the repealment of Net Neutrality will allow telecom companies to play favorites with their customers. That is not fair. How many more services and institutions must fall victim to elitism, to classism? Simply because some detached wealthy people in high places want to restrict access to an extremely valuable and revolutionary resource?

Are people not already paying for Internet access? Why must we restrict them further? 

This is not just about the consumer; it is about companies as well. Smaller companies will not be able to keep up in this proposed environment, as they will be charged more by telecom companies for faster connection speeds. 

Repealing Net Neutrality restricts access to knowledge, restricts our freedom, hurts small businesses, and has the potential to further the economic divide in American society. 

I urge you, as our representative, to take our interests to heart and act against Ajit Pai and his plan to destroy Net Neutrality. Just take a moment and think, think about how practically every single aspect of our lives ties back to the Internet. Your decision will impact millions of lives. Thank you 

Call:

I cannot express enough how important it is to call your representatives!!! This would be the most important one. And do it multiple times, preferably daily.  

Not only does this site gives you all you need to know about Net Neutrality but helps you contact Congress and gives you a script on what to say.

https://www.battleforthenet.com

Here is more information provided by @profanefame 

Call your Rep. https://whoismyrepresentative.com/

Call the FCC: 888-225-5322

Call Ajit Pai himself: 202-418-1000

Use this script when calling

“I'm calling to tell Chairman Pai that I will not stand for any attacks on Net Neutrality or my rights as an internet user. We need an FCC that will protect everyone's access to open, private and affordable broadband. Thank you.”

Not a talk on the phone type of person well fear not you can pre-record your message by downloading the STANCE APP

Download from Itunes/App Store 

Download from Google Play Store

Protest!

On December 7th there will be a protest in from of various Verizon locations. 

http://verizonprotests.com/

put on your Sunday best, get out there and protect our rights!! 

Tweet: 

No matter your age or where you are from spread #NETNEUTRALITY 

we need this to trend everyday 

If you're not from US:

Singal boost this. Reblog this and spread it like wildfire. Because if they get rid of Net Neutrality it will affect you as well.

You can also trend on Tweet: #NETNEUTRALITY

We only have until December 14th, 2017. You have no excuse not to take action I've gave you many different options how to take action. All the research is done for you. This is important and for the best results contact daily.

Singal boost this! Spread this like wildfire. Take action!!

#net neutrality #internet #fcc #donald trump #spread this like wildfire #if youre not american reblog this anyways #singal boost #save the internet #takebackthenet #ajit pai #battle for the net

[brothersontheblvd]

Just a little Thursday inspiration from @freepeople check out the article http://ift.tt/2j8MLzs • • • • #freepeople #fpme #blog #fpblog http://ift.tt/2jVM89G

#IFTTT #Instagram

[a-run-of-the-mill-blog]

Once upon a time, all human beings were gods. But they abused their divinity, so Brahma decided to take it away from them. Brahma called a council of gods to help decide where they should hide it.

“We will bury it deep in the Earth,” said the Gods, but Brahma thought humans will dig into the earth and find it. “We will sink it into the deepest Ocean,” the Gods said. Brahma suggested that would not do because humans will learn to dive into the ocean and find it there. “Then let’s take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it”. Brahma replied that would not do either, because humans will eventually climb every mountain and take it back. The Gods gave up and agreed they did not know where to hide it because it seemed that there was no place on earth human beings would not eventually reach. Brahma thought for a long time and then said — “Here is what we will do. We will hide their divinity deep in the center of their own being, for humans will never think to look for it there”.

Sometime it is easy to forget, just as Brahma did, that the only place to find divinity is in one’s self

#enligtenment #spiritual #fpme #fpblog #wisdom #growth #brahma #inner peace #personal growth #divinity

[mineraliety]

So delighted and honored to be featured by Free People today on their blog bldg25. Check out Brigette Muller (@hummusbirrrrrrrd)'s interview with us. We love Free People.

#free people #fp #fpblog #free people blog #mineraliety #crystals #mineral #crystal #minerals

[fandompitfalls]

Prodigal Son: The Story of Fan Activism

Originally posted: 5/21/2021

On September 23rd 2019, Fox television premiered a new kind of crime drama. A disgraced FBI profiler asked to work with the NYPD on major crimes committed in the city.  The profiler’s name is Malcolm Bright and he was responsible for the police capturing noted serial killer “The Surgeon” at the age of 10.  The serial killer who also happened to be his father.  Being the son of a serial killer, Malcolm has the unique ability to view crimes from the point of view of the killers, giving the NYPD the edge and the information needed find and capture their target.

Rounding out this show is a cast of amazing actors.  Malcom’s father, Martin aka The Surgeon is played by Michael Sheen. Malcom’s surrogate father, the man who mentored and now has Malcolm assisting him, is Lieutenant Gil Arroyo played by Lou Diamond Phillips.  The cast is rounded out by Malcom’s family, played by Bellamy Young and Halston Sage as mother Jessica and sister Ainsley respectively as well as Gill’s team of Aurora Perrineau as Dani Powell, Frank Harts as JT Tarmel, and Keiko Angena as Dr. Edrisa Tanaka, (in my opinion) one of the best medical examiners on television since 2017.

The show gained popularity quickly because of both lead stars; residual popularity of Michael Sheen from his recent run on Good Omens and The Fold, the online fans of Lou Diamond Phillips eager to see their favorites on the small screen once again. Once in, fans quickly realized that there was more to this show than the initial star power.  As I personally stated once “come for Michael Sheen, stay for Tom Payne.”

It's the truth.

The interaction between Martin, who now resides in Clairmont Psychiatric Hospital, and Malcolm, who is not only dealing with the notoriety of his father being a famous serial killer but his own fears and anxieties that he will become just like him is jarring at times.  Sheen plays the line between loving father and intelligent psychopath brilliantly. We all have issues with our parents, but they aren’t nearly as chaotic as Malcolm’s. Between a serial killer father, a high society, alcoholic mother, and an ambitious younger sister who is determined to make her way up the ladder by any means necessary, it’s easy to understand why Malcolm ties himself to the bed to keep him from sleepwalking from hurting himself from waking nightmares.

With Gil’s team, he has a different interaction.  From JT, a detective who never know what to think of Malcom to Dani, who immediately takes a sympathetic role towards what The surgeon is doing to Malcolm’s psyche to finally Edrisa, the ME who has a huge crush on Malcom and is the only one who is able to understand and connect with his weird sense of amusement, (getting excited over headless bodies while the rest of the team looks on in concern is prime Malcolm and Edrisa content).

Over two seasons, Prodigal Son has held its own on Fox.  Their loyal fanbase, lovingly known as #Prodigies, rallied in the beginning of Season One to let the broadcasting network know they wanted a Season Two.  A global pandemic couldn’t keep them down, the fans continually going onto Twitter to keep the name and interest alive, holding watch parties, keep the hashtags going.  When Season Two came on in January 2021, the fan base was ecstatic and immediately began their push for a Season Three.

On Monday May 9th, 2021, Fox announced it was cancelling Prodigal Son with the final two episodes of the season being the last.

Immediately the fans rallied to save this beloved show. First with a petition, then, led by twitter users @tinkerbritt @ProdigalSaviors has become an organized effort to not only bring awareness to the plight of the show but to convince another network that the show is a viable and comes with a fan base that will follow it to another network or streaming site.  With catchy hashtags such as #SaveSunshine (referencing Malcolm’s bird)  and #BewaretheHeels (Jessica is deadly with heels) this grassroots campaign has been getting traction and has been helped by members of the cast and crew as well.  On May 18th word circulated that Warner Bros was looking into the possibility of taking over the show.

Prodigal Son is an uncut gem.  In its Sophomore season, it can only get better.  There are still so many questions to be answered, not only between Malcom and Dani (Brightwell shippers unite), but JT and the problems he is dealing with as a black man on the police force.  There’s the question of if Ainsley is the one who will truly follow in her father’s footsteps and of course, will Gill and Jessica finally get together (Gillica shippers unite). Story lines and threads ranging from Malcolm’s past and the lingering effects of being a child of a serial killer, the missing victims of The Surgeon, the repercussions of what happened in the end of Season One, so many things to draw from.  And come on, if you haven't seen the Season Two finale, the networks cannot leave us like this! Malcolm Bright fans worldwide shouted at that ending!

Prodigal Son deserves to have it story told. It is one of the prolific shows on television and it deserves to have a chance to shine.

If you want to join the other Prodigies in our fight to Save Prodigal Son, just follow the link below and embedded within this post.

Fan Campaigns work, we’ve seen it multiple times, from shows like Lucifer, who was cancelled by Fox after three seasons and moved to Netflix where it is currently on its 5th season, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which was cancelled by Fox after its 5th season and picked up by NBC for three more seasons, to Sense8, a Netflix series that was brought back for a 2 ½ hour finale to wrap everything up.

Prodigal Son deserves to have it’s name on this list as well.

#SaveProdigalSon

#FPBlog #Prodigal Son #Fan activism #it's still going strong #save prodigal son #fandom #Blog Post

[fashionpotluck]

Scrubee Delicious Review 🎊

Everyone is talking about Scrubee 🔝

Referred to as the newest buffer on the block, Scrubee is a blend of hydrating honey and cocoa butter which moisturizes your skin, contrasted by its exfoliation notes, ground coconut shells and ground almonds 👅

❓What is all the fuss about? Find out on FashionPotluck.com🌿

#scrubee #scrubeereview #lush #lushproducts #fashionpotluck #fpblog #scrubeedeliciousreview #skincare #exfoliation #bodybutter

[frontporchlit]

The Economics of Creativity

The following is the second in our weekly blog posts for December exploring both the gifts of writing and the many struggles of being an artistic creator in a heavily monetized society. It’s December, and I spend weekends working for the richest man in the world. I box roughly 205 units of merchandise per hour, which is 45 items short of the team goal. I calculate my rate of failure and leave my 10.5-hour shifts bruised and sore. Last week, a children’s book slipped from my hands onto my face. I bled. I kept packing. I’m still scabbed.

While the blood was beading near my nose, a young man standing a few stations away came over to give me a high five. He exclaimed, “You’re doing awesome! You’re awesome! Thank you for your great work!” This reminds me of my freshman year of high school, during which dropping a glass in the dining hall earned a person a hearty round of applause, but this guy wasn’t kidding. I squinted from his face, hanging earnest and open, to his raised arm. He actually wants me to feel better, I thought. My hand met his in the air. I blushed.

People who work in places like this cannot be summed up. There are college students, single mothers, high school dropouts, former servicemen, musicians, retired teachers—the list goes on. There’s a man whose daughter is attending the University of Virginia for graduate school. Upon hearing the name of my undergraduate institution, he blurted, “How did you end up here?” He didn’t just mean how did I end up working for this company; he wanted to know how I ended up at Texas State University, a second-tier state school, for my graduate degree.

Stung, I rattled off facts about the Creative Writing program’s national standing and its incredible faculty. “Oh. I didn’t know,” he said.

In truth, I don’t have a satisfactory answer to this man’s question. This was a good program that took me. This was, of the small number of places I applied, the only program that took me. This program gave me a tuition waiver and a job. I was in a serious relationship with a Texan and wanted to move here. I was depressed. I was directionless. I was only good at writing. I wasn’t even that good at writing. I wanted to be a writer.

I don’t know what I want anymore.

I’m graduating in a couple weeks. Soon, this weekend job will be my only job. Though I hope this won’t be the case for long, sometimes I think it’ll be a relief to have fewer friends and academics tell me that Octavia Butler worked in a factory, too. Facts like this remind me that I probably don’t have the right stuff to make a career of writing. I’m not brilliant like Butler, and I can’t handle economic instability for much longer. I’m tired most of the time, and I feel dimmer because of it.

There are moments, though, that deserve a space in print. Tonight it snowed fat, wet flakes—the kind only possible at the upper threshold of freezing. A house full of students down the street screamed, “Snow! It’s snowing!” over and over, and those screams reverberated up driveways and around trees. Girls outside the grocery store threw snowballs at one another, laughing as they dove behind parked cars. In the courtyard of my apartment complex, a man stood under a set of stairs with his hood up and asked, “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” I wrapped the day’s mail in my scarf and looked up, “Of course it is.”

Maggie Ilersich is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. Her work has appeared in The Austin Review, Queen Mob’s Tea House, and elsewhere.

#txstate #fpblog #front porch #mfa #graduate #college #economics #packing #amazon #texas state #creativity #snow #december #texas #maggie Ilersich

[fandompitfalls]

The Final Bow

Originally posted 3/24/2021

“Make a statement, face your fears” -The Magnus Archives

For the past five years, The Magnus Archives has been weaving its dark and mysterious web of audio tapes documenting the Eldritch like fears in such a way that both captivate and horrify the listeners.  We are unseen voyeurs, acolytes of an offshoot of the Eye, listening as The Archivist begins his position and following his downward spiral into madness and monsters ending in The End, the final episode that will air this Thursday as the final tape heard ‘round the world at the same time where we will all learn the fates of not only our final five but of the world….their world and possibly ours as well.

After Thursday, five years and a day after this show began, nothing will ever be the same.

Rusty Quill, the production company who took a chance on this horror podcast, the writer/creator/voice actor, Jonathan Sims and the director Alexander J. Newall constructed a podcast that originally had the same vibe as The Black Tapes but quickly surpassed and overtook it. The plot, for those who haven’t heard it yet (and why haven’t you?) revolves around the newly minted Head Archivist, Jonathan Sims (yes, the same name, something Sims regretted later), and his curation of his newly inherited job at the Magnus Institute in London, England. He was given three assistants, Sasha James, Tim Stoker and Martin Blackwood. In five seasons, each season hosting 40 episodes each, listeners have front row access to listening to the at first disdainful Sims, trying to make sense of the mess his predecessor left him followed by the rapid paranoia and downfall of Sims, culminating in his transformation and the inevitable conclusion. What at first sounds like a series of random recordings of people giving statements of paranormal and supernatural happenings; bugs that seem to sense fear, doors that appear out of nowhere, people who aren’t quite right, being buried alive or disappearing, listeners quickly discover the pattern and connections with many of these statements no only to each other but eventually to the Whole. There are Fears: fourteen in all with the eventual fifteenth making an appearance later in the series that each of these statements connect to.  All these Fears are interconnected themselves making this a Web of epic supernatural proportions.  Not all of this happens in just London, there are Institutes around the world, as are there statements that are given from other countries. Each of the Fears has an avatar who is the physical representation of their chosen Power; Jane Prentiss, for example is an avatar for the Corruption.  If you have a fear of bugs or trypophobia, she is not the person you want to meet.  Another is Annabelle Cane, the avatar for The Web.  Personally, as someone who is extremely arachnophobia, Annabelle is not my favorite person. The success of this show came about not only because of the amazing writing and intricate weaving of the plot and characters, the producing and sound mixing, but the fans, who connected with this podcast and rose it to almost cult like heights.  Between Reddit, Discord and Tumblr as well as not Tik Tok, fans have spent five years taping up red string ™ but sharing their theories, dissecting the episodes for hints and clues and creating their own Sherlock Holmesque group of fan theorist who discussed the future of the Institute and the inhabitants within. The voice actors such as Sims and Newall who play The Archivist and Martin, everyone’s favorite large tea making assistant, respectively, create characters that fans have connected to, support, and are invested in.  Mike LeBeau, who voices everyone favorite disaster bi, Tim Stoker, quickly became a fan favorite, as did Ben Meredith who voices Elias Bouchard, the boss everyone loves to hate and Alasdair Stuart who voices Peter Lukas, the other boss everyone loves to hate. Not to mention The Admiral, a cat that belonged to Georgie Barker, who became so beloved that at the beginning of Season 5 everyone was worried about the feline’s fate. From the beginning, Jonathan Sims promised us there wouldn’t be a happy ending, so unlike most troupe horror movies, we don’t expect people to live.  Honestly, I expected Martin to die six episodes ago, so I’m blessed he’s still with us, but there isn’t going to be a happy ending for anyone.  And we, the fans accept it.  Which is why this is going out on Wednesday, the anniversary of the first episode back in 2016 and the eve of Episode 200, aptly titled “Last Words”.  That and after Thursday, I know I won’t be in the right headspace to write this article. Episode 200 drops Thursday March 25th, 2021 at 4pm GMT for everyone, so we’ll all experience the pain at the same time.  I hope their servers can hold the bandwidth that’s about to be used for this. So, to everyone at Rusty Quill. 

To Jonny and Alex, to Mike, Lottie, Ben, Evelyn, Sue, Frank, Fay, Lydia, Sasha, Alasdair and all the others who voiced characters we loved, we loved to hate, we want to wrap in blankets and feed tea to, the ones we want to drop off of a cliff, thank you.  Thank you so much for five wonderful years.  Thank you for these characters, this community that popped up around a five-year horror podcast.  We’ll miss you and we’ll be here with you, at The End.

#FPBlog #The Magnus Archives #tma podcast #review #blog post

[fashionpotluck]

Your Spring Outfit Inspiration 🌸

Dressing for Spring is always such a challenge 💪🏻You’re either overdressed and warm, or underdressed and cold 😑 

To make it at least a bit easier for you, we are sharing Anna’s Top & River Island Spring Try On Haul for Spring 2019 🌼🌿

➡️Check Anna’s vlog on FashionpPotluck.com

#topshop #riverisland #haul #riverislandhaul #springhaul #haul2019 #ootd #fashionpotluck #fpblog #stylishmondays #springoutfits

[frontporchlit]

A Structuralist Thanksgiving

The following is the first of our weekly November theme: Inverse Thanksgiving No shit, there I was.

The mud pulled my Stryker deep into the earth. All eight wheels spinning, the twenty-nine tons of green armor spit out chunks of wet soil into the eyes of the dismounts trying to guide the vehicles. The rear of the truck swayed back and forth, turbo screaming at my driver who kept his foot firmly pressed on the accelerator, refusing to give up on escape. The truck bucked forward as one of the front wheels hit solid ground. The vehicle crawled out of the puddle onto an island of slightly firmer mud. My driver let his foot relax as we eased forward. When we finally reached the entrance to the wadi north of the COP, we saw the metamorphosis described by radio that morning. The dry ditch of twenty-four hours prior had become a river almost as powerful as the Arghandab into which it flowed. White rapids formed around a large rock that stood salient in the stream.

The Stryker dove nose-first down into the water like a diver realizing that the pool was more shallow than he anticipated. The driver immediately yanked the steering wheel left. A quarter-mile down the wadi, he hit the brakes as hard as he could and pulled the truck left again. The front four wheels connected with the packed-down mud in front of the serpentine entrance of the COP. We powered onto the entrance path and pulled past the gate, parking next to the HESCO barriers stacked on the far side of the base. The driver lowered the ramp as I climbed on top of the truck and unstrapped the mermites from the top. I handed them down to members of Second Platoon who carried them in between the stacks of sandbags to a large OD green tent.  They placed the mermites on top of a folding table stood underneath a chain of heavy duty plastic lights. Soldiers heaped mashed potatoes, green beans, and processed turkey patties onto their cardboard trays. Each man found a spot on ground to sit and enjoy his meal. The mud caked on their cheeks and foreheads cracked apart as they began to smile and laugh at each others’ jokes. 

Small moments like this stand out in the beige blandness of my deployments. Sitting around a damp tent floor while eating a shitty version of Thanksgiving dinner should not be happy memory. This should be reminder of why my heart stirs with excitement every time I look at my discharge paperwork. But, it becomes a moment of peace in a world of nonstop tension. It is the Christmas Truce of 1914 and the pancakes tossed into the foxholes of soldiers at Bastogne. Context goes a long way in determining meaning. For the soldiers in the strong point, a simple gesture such as delivering a terrible Thanksgiving meal through a flooded wadi provided a sense of comradery, a break in the misery of deployment. Their morale lifted despite the unwanted extension of their stay as a result of the rain. Life kicks us in the ass. It can be cruel, sending us down paths that end in desert countries where every step threatens to explode into bloody precipitation. Or it might simply employ student debt to flatten us like cartoon pancakes.

But in our moments of deepest misery, we recognize small gestures much more. When my ex-wife restricts the Skype sessions with my son in Germany, I place more value on the few conversations I have with him. My buddies and I enjoy our conversations more after intense Tuesday night workshops. Hell, we even enjoy our beer more after a difficult workout. Life sucks. It drags us down into the soupy mire of our miserable existences, threatening to drown us as we wallow in futility. It pushes us, drags us, knocks us down, and mule kicks us in the jaw. But those moments of green beans and mashed potatoes on a cardboard tray in a dimly lit tent serve to remind us that the little things matter above all else. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel to be thankful for. It may not always be a large fluorescent bulb, but it does exist, beckoning us towards a positive outcome. Those tiny moments are reflections of that light.

Clayton Bradshaw served in the US Army for eight years as an infantryman. He deployed with 3/2 SCR to Iraq from 2007 to 2008 and to Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011. He graduated from Sam Houston State University with a BA in English and currently participates in the MFA-Creative Writing program at Texas State University. His work can be found in The Deadly Writers Patrol, Second Hand Stories, War, Literature and the Arts, and O-Dark-Thirty.

#mfa #clayton bradshaw #txstate #fpblog #military #thanksgiving #thanks #life #tank #inverse #happy thanksgiving

[fandompitfalls]

Fandom, Misogyny, and the Struggle for "Clarice"

Originally posted 2/24/21

There’s a quote that, summarized, says, in order for a woman to be seen as an equal to men, she has to work twice as hard. And never more what that brought to light outside real life than Valentine’s Day weekend when CBS aired the premiere of Clarice.

In 1991, Silence of the Lambs, a runaway hit thriller staring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins came onto public consumption and introduced the world to the phrase “quid pro quo” and the name Hannibal Lecter became a well-known name.

In 2013, a series by the name of Hannibal staring Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy premiered on television and was immediately embraced by the fandom community.  Dating long before Silence of the Lambs, the show features a BSU consultant by the name of Will Graham who is called into service because of his unique ability to profile serial killers.  He develops a professional and later, a personal relationship with Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

In the beginning the question of Will’s mental state was brought up, the reason Lecter was introduced into the series, he was hired on assess Will Graham after cases to make sure his fragile mental state was not deteriorating.  It allowed Hannibal to get close to Will and manipulate him in an attempt to turn Will into a killer like himself.  The show ended after three seasons and during those seasons, the show’s creator, Brian Fuller, made cinematography magic with his sets and scenes, a lot of them gruesome yet exquisite.

Hannibal became fandom’s gory darling, the relationship between Will and Hannibal being the main fodder. This was furthered by the support of Bryan Fuller’s comment in Collider stating that he saw Hannibal as being in love with Will Graham. https://collider.com/bryan-fuller-hannibal-silence-of-the-lambs-interview/

Just this past week, a new twist on the Silence of the Lambs timeline premiered with Clarice. Clarice takes place a year after Silence of the Lambs and the Buffalo Bill murders. She is pulled from the BAU and sent to a task force run by Ruth Martin, the mother of Buffalo Bill’s only surviving member, Catherine.  Created by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, Clarice is not affiliated with Hannibal, the Series, in any way, rather, it is a telling of Clarice Starling’s story after the events of Silence of the Lambs.

Here’s where it differs. And remember, this is only the first episode.  By the time I post this, there will be two episodes out.

In the opening scene, Clarice Starling is sitting in a therapist’s office.  The therapist, a man with no name as of yet, is trying to get her to tell him about her feelings regarding the one-year anniversary of the Buffalo Bill murders.  He even has a copy of a magazine that features her on the cover with the title “Bride of Frankenstein.”  The more he pushes the more she holds back, telling him the rots answers that most FBI therapists want to here.  Finally, she mentions the magazine was bought by him as a trigger to see if she would break and he tells her that he thinks she’s not stable enough to go back in the field because she refuses to use to the “survivor” in relation to her encounter with Buffalo Bill.  She is not a survivor, she was never kidnapped, she was an FBI agent doing a job.  He also cites her relationship with Hannibal Lecter, insinuating that it was more personal in nature than he thought necessary.

Before he can put her at a desk, she is called back into the field by Ruth Martin and put under the team led by Paul Krendler, a man who Clarice “upped” in the movie when she was a trainee.  He doesn’t want her there, insists on a profile after seeing the first two bodies and when she can’t give an accurate one because she doesn’t have all the evidence, he tells her she had to tell the press it’s a serial killer.

It’s already shown that Clarice has a bit of trauma with press conferences and this is something that keeps coming back.  The press want Clarice and Paul Krendler just wants her to be the face of his team and tells her that she will say what he tells her to say.  Clarice is not taken seriously by Krindler, by anyone else in the office, (there’s a scene where men from the other unit that share an office, coat her desk drawer with lotion and leave that lotion and a basket in the drawer and then laugh about it).  Clarice is blocked at every turn by men, even her therapist calls Krindler and tells him to bench her because he’s worried about her mental state.

The first time we meet Will Graham, his mental state is mentioned as tenuous, yet the FBI have no problem throwing him right out into the field.  Clarice was a trainee who managed to catch a serial killer, and somehow she’s considered too “fragile” to be put on any cases other than desk jobs.  In fact, throughout the entire first episode, the only person on her new team to take an interest and believe what she says is Thomas Esquivel, an ex-special forces soldier turned agent who believes in what she says.

From the first moment of this show the misogyny was right out on view, there is no hiding that all of the men in this show do not like Clarice because she’s young, she’s a woman and they are intimidated by her talent.  Her only support comes from Agent Esquivel and her friend and former trainee Ardelia Mapp.

I mention the misogyny because it’s not all on the show. It’s from the fans as well. The first time I was reminded the show was on was when I noticed Hannibal was trending on Twitter. The day and time frame Clarice aired its premiere, Twitter was lamenting that they wanted a season four of Hannibal.  While researching for this blog, I used IMDB to get names and plot points.  And came across this comment about the premiere:

“Can we bring back Hannibal, please?

12 February 2021 | by [redacted]

And by that I am of course referring to the excellent series featuring Mads Mikkelsen's amazing portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. That series had great style, fantastic atmosphere, and stellar directing, editing, and acting. They planned to tell the ultimate Hannibal Lecter story but only were able to make three seasons out of a seven season plan. So, here we have a Clarice Starling series that had been in the works for years but didn't get the train running till now. So the premiere - Meh. Rebecca Breeds makes a very good Clarice but nothing else is up to her level. The cinematography isn't bad but the atmosphere is lacking, the characters are none too memorable, and the storyline isn't attention grabbing enough. I give it about a season at least.”

I don’t know the time when this posted, but I’m not surprised by the comment at all.  Comment and review bombing seems to be the way that fans express their “disappointment” about their old shows not getting anything…or rather, their favorite male characters not getting more screen time.

On the same page, the below link was posted.  This was one day after the first episode of Clarice premiered:

Clarice: Season Two? Has the CBS TV Series Been Cancelled or Renewed Yet? 13 February 2021 | TVSeriesFinale

A freshman series about a female criminal profiler who is pushed down, ignored, harassed because of her sex.  It’s almost a case of life imitating art.

I was going to leave this post as it was and post it today but last week the second episode aired which showed Clarice pushing past childhood trauma to face down a cult leader and a corrupt government system thereby earning Krendler’s respect and her position on the team.  And while Thomas Esquivel told her that a team is only good if each of its members understand that they can trust and support one another, thereby hopefully foreshadowing that this team will eventually accept Clarice as one of their own and in turn she will do the same, it took her risking her life by going back inside the compound, disregarding orders and singlehandedly getting the information needed to put both the cult leader and head of the County Sheriff down for the count for Krendler to finally see her worth and decide to keep her on the team.

I liked Clarice.  It was hard to watch at times, not only because of the trauma she is dealing with as well as the survivor, Catherine, calling her and harassing her, but because of the anger I felt watching Clarice get stepped on time and time again by the men in this show, only to get up and do her job.  Her final speech she makes at the end of episode one about her grandmother is inspiring and gives the viewer a bit of a “in your face” to the men behind her, especially Krendler…even though we all know he’s going to make her life a living hell when they get back to the office because she didn’t follow his rules.  That said, this show is very much a procedural, much like CSI or Criminal Minds. The series follows the format of the movie.  This is not Hannibal.  It’s not trying to be Hannibal, It is trying to be Clarice.  And, as the quote goes, it’s going to have to work twice as hard to even get one half of the respect it deserves.

#FPBlog #Clarice #misogyny #fandom #televison #blog post #toxic fandom

[fandompitfalls]

It’s those damn Holmes siblings, always causing trouble. A review of the new movie "Enola Holmes"

Originally posted 9/29/2020

From the first hint that Nancy Springer’s brain child, Enola Holmes, a young adult series in which the lead character is the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes who has her own adventures, was to become a movie on Netflix, the idea had its ups and downs.

The Enola Holmes series, of which there are six books, chronicles the life and adventures of 14 year old Enola Holmes, the younger sister to Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes from the moment her mother disappears to the time when she establishes herself as a educated young woman to Mycroft’s satisfaction.

Millie Bobbie Brown, the actress best known for her portrayal as Eleven on the Netflix series Stranger Things, co-produced the movie and  while there was some controversy towards the end of this, in the form of the Conan Doyle Estate suing for copyright infringement, stating that Sherlock Holmes seems too emotional in this interpretation and that is a direct infringement of the final six stories that are still copyrighted under the Conan Doyle estate. I could do an entire blog post on Sherlock Holmes and emotions but that’s for another time.  As of time of this posting there has been no court date set.

While the movie took liberties with the first book: cutting out most of the first few chapters, expanding the interaction between Enola and the Viscount Tewksbery, the entire scene in the dodgy part of London by the docks, there were things that were added that made the story interesting.  Upping the age of Enola from fourteen to sixteen, adding much more regarding the women��s suffragist movement in London, the breaking of the fourth wall, all of these were things that made the movie entertaining and intriguing for the viewers.

I read the first story, The Case of the Missing Marquess, when this movie was first announced, and the story is good.  It’s young adult, more junior young, set for readers between 11-13 years of age. It’s Holmes for younger readers, giving a taste of mystery and cases, introducing young readers to the world of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes through an intermediary. I’ll admit, in the beginning there were a few things I wasn’t sure of.

While Millie Bobbie Brown as Enola Holmes was a breath of fresh air, the introduction of Henry Cavill as the consulting detective was concerning to me. I am not too proud to admit that I was wrong.  Cavill’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes as a side character is perfect support for his younger sister.  Claflin’s portrays the perfect foil, as the older brother Mycroft, the stuffy Victorian male who is more attentive to tradition very anti-suffragist.  What I didn’t like was Mycroft being less intelligent than both of his siblings.  Mycroft Holmes was described by Conan Doyle as equally if not more intelligent than his younger brother, preferring to use his vast intellect for the good of the British Government. Overweight, the eldest Holmes preferred to use his vast intellect in the confines of his office or his rooms at the Diogenes Club.  In this movie, Mycroft was reduced to a stogie, pretentious Victorian male, jealous of his brother’s intelligence and n willing to accept that both his mother and his younger sister had any intelligence whatsoever.

Despite the mischaracterization of Mycroft Holmes, the story itself was engaging, the pacing quick and the acting very well done.  Already there are rumors of Millie Bobbie Brown working with Netflix to turn the other five books into movies and I truly hope this is the case.  This is a series that would be watched by children and adults alike and is destined to join with other works depicting the Holmes family.

#FPBlog #Sherlock Holmes #Enola Holmes #review #adaptation

[fandompitfalls]

Solitary Cyclists and Poker Games

Originally published: 9/14/2020

This past weekend, I attended a Zoom meeting for a discussion of The Solitary Cyclist by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I reread the story, took notes and listened to Stephen Fry read it on my Audible book so I wouldn't miss anything.

This story intrigued me when I first read it because once again, dedicated anti-suffragist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wrote yet another story with a strong female protagonist. It's the Victorian times, so of course, Miss Violet Smith, our cyclist, is only as strong as she allowed to be by society but still, she takes no bunk from the beginning.

Our story opens, as it always does, with Dr. Watson choosing a story for The Strand. Our introduction to Miss Violet Smith is that of a woman who walked into 221B to not only beg assistance from a man who seemed preoccupied and not at all interested in her case but also a man who could only focus on how pretty she was.

Violet is being stalked. She's a single woman living with her mother. Her father's brother has left to find his fortune in Africa. Two men have recently arrived to visit Violet and her mother and inform them that her Uncle sent them to take care of her.

Violet Smith's issue is the guy on the cycle who follows here every Saturday when she leave the train to stay with her mom and every Monday when she is heading towards the train station to go back to her job. On one stretch of road by Charlington Hall, this man stalks her, always staying back about two hundred yards behind her. I mean, I guess he's social distancing. But this is the basis of her coming to Baker Street to see Mr. Sherlock Holmes. There's this creep stalking me on a bike and I rightly want him to stop.

Holmes, much too busy with another case, (until he discovers he gets to fight people and ask questions in public houses) sends Dr. Watson to check out the scene and report back.

Violet, rightfully, as we discover in the end, is creeped out by Mr. Woodley, attitude, stalking and frankly unwelcome proposals. She has a boyfriend and yet, the man cannot take a hint. By the end, the reader discovers that Miss Smith is actually an heiress to her Uncles fortune and the two men Woodley and Carruthers, decided on who would marry her through a card game. Forget Violet already having a suitor or the fact that she wasn't attracted to either of them, these two guys, one who claimed to be in love with her, were bored and decided her fate over a game of cards.

As with all Holmes stories, it's all tied up in a neat little package at the end. The bad guys get their just desserts, the good guys win, Scotland Yard gets their man and Holmes moves on to the next case.

Reading this in a modern setting, with a modern audience, there are a few things that caught my attention. First is Violet Smith's entrance at Baker Street. Watson first states that she came to implore Holmes help but then says, "the young lady had come with the determination to tell her story, and it was evident that nothing short of force could get her out of the room until she had done so." Miss Smith is there because she wants help, she doesn't have time for theatrics nor is she about to be sent off like some helpless schoolgirl. It is this determination that catches Holmes attention and has him listening to her story even if he doesn't do much with it at the beginning and not the fact that Watson is too busy mooning over her and waxing poetic about her beauty.

Second is how, while Watson, being sent by Holmes to keep an eye on Miss Smith as she cycles back to her house, is hidden in shrubbery, Miss Smith is once again stalked by her mysterious cyclist. Instead of pedaling faster and panicking, the woman turns her bike and starts biking towards the man in order to confront him. Violet Smith is not a fainting wallflower, she's tired of being chased twice a week and damn it, if the great detective isn't going to help her, she's going to take care of this problem on her own.

Violet Smith is in trouble, as most women who are stalked are. It's just in this case, it's actually not the man stalking her. He's trying to protect her...in his own completely unhelpful way.

This line from Watson regarding Miss Smith's stalking, is what caught my attention. "I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than dangerous. That a man should lie in wait for and follow a very handsome woman is no unheard-of thing,"

Miss Smith was abducted, forced into a fraud marriage against her will and without her consent all over a fortune she had no idea about and a card game, all while Dr. Watson figured she should be flattered by the attention.

I understand that Conan Doyle and his creations are a product of the Victorian Era. And if I play the Great Game, Dr. Watson himself is a product of the era he was born and raised in. But his good friend, as I've heard mentioned before, is a man out of his time.

Miss Smith's no-nonsense demeanor when she approaches the men for help is what catches Holmes' attention and indeed persuades him to offer assistance. It's Watson's poor attempt at gathering information that spurs Holmes into going to Farnham on his own information gathering mission. Indeed, it's all of this, including Miss Smith's account of the Saturday before that spurs Holmes to realize that this is not a mere harassment or admiration as Dr. Watson seems to think, but a genuine crime that is about to happen. Had Miss Smith never advocated for herself, gone to Baker Street, she might have ended up just another lost woman to the tyranny of cruel men and bad card games.

(Excerpts from "The Solitary Cyclist" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

#Blogging #Sherlock Holmes #ACD #The Solitary Cyclist #FPBlog