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toloveawarlord · 5 years

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Red Army- Older Generation (Toddlers)

You can find my masterlist in my bio!

These are the Red Army kids that exist in the universe when Eden is 3 years old. They are the older generation because there are few more red army kids (like Zero’s kids, and younger siblings) that haven’t been born yet.

I will be adding information to these whenever I discover more about them!

Tagging some peeps @plumpblueberry @christmaswarlock @youreawizardharr

I added a read more because this is very very long! Please excuse any mistakes because my brain is fried from working on this.

Enjoy!

Lancelot Kingsley:

Status: Married to Victoria Buckley

Home: Owns a large home near Red Headquarters; kids visit often but mainly live at their home

Kids: 2

Atticus Kingsley

Age: 6 Years Old

Appearance: Fair skinned, red hair, rich blue eyes. A little shorter than average for his age.

Some Facts:

Spends most of his time out of school at Headquarters with his sword instructor. This is his favorite pastime and he wants to grow stronger so that he can inherit the King of Hearts position from his father one day.

Hates any other lessons, like etiquette or dance, but he masters them quickly so he can go back to sword play.

Extremely smart and manipulative. He believes because of his status that he can boss every one else around, especially his staff at his home. Though, it typically only works on new workers.

He’s sent many nannies away over the past few years. They all tend to find him too hard to handle and quit within days.

His current nanny has become the exception. Annalise Perry has been the only successful nanny to corral the young Kingsley. Atticus adores her. She doesn’t chastise him for his pranks, instead usually finding them funny, but she does not let him boss her around either. Annalise will play swords with him and doesn’t mind getting out in the woods. She is one of the few adults he listens to.

Thoughts/Interactions with other Red Army Kids

Lyra Kingsley:

His baby sister that he doesn’t really care for. She can’t speak or play with him so she bores him easily. He doesn’t care for how everyone coos at her for being cute either, but secretly likes when he makes her giggle and smile.

Caroline Clemence:

Atticus likes Caroline for how easily bossed around she is. She always jumps at an opportunity to sword fight with him, despite her never beating him without him giving it to her. The two have been together since they were born. His least favorite thing about her is how stuck to the rules she is.

Jude Clemence:

Like his own sister, he is bored with babies and tends to avoid them if at all possible. He rarely sees the younger Clemence, unless Caroline drags him along.

Eden Bright:

When Eden was first brought to headquarters, Atticus was immediately interested. Since Eden is much younger and more timid than Caroline, he vowed to protect her, especially since she gets sick so easily. He refers to her at the Princess of Headquarters since she lives there full time. He hates to see her cry and wants to do everything he can to make her smile.

Beckett Ash:

Immediately sees him as a rival. Until Beckett arrived, he was the only boy with the two girls. He tries to assert his status over Beckett as soon as they meet. Atticus finds his niceness as weakness and picks on him often. Since Beckett is so level-headed and shy, he doesn’t fight back, giving Atticus the control and power in their relationship.

Sadie Ash:

Atticus really doesn’t know what to make of her, at first. He’d never experienced a girl like her. She always surprised him with how she defended her brother from his antics. Unlike Caroline, Sadie doesn’t care that he is the son of the King of Hearts and that is entertaining to him. He enjoys how angry she gest at him, and he often pins her to the floor during a physical fight and taunts about what she is going to do.

Thoughts/Interactions with Black Army and Neutrals:

Castor Oswald:

Occasionally sees him on the playground or at assemblies. Since he isn’t in his immediate circle of friends or his grade, Atticus pays little attention to him. He does think that Castor is boring since he rarely sees him with other children.

Sasha Hyde:

Atticus thinks that Sasha is very strange because of how often he sees her reading big, old books. He can’t boss her around like the rest of the class, nor does she fawn over him like the other girls, so Atticus is generally frustrated with every interaction he has with her. He wants her attention so badly that he tends to follow her around practically begging for it.

Valen Tweedle (Dean):

Not in his class, but plays with him at recess. His second in command during school hours. Enjoys having him around to follow his orders and play sword games or pirates. Atticus drags him into his shenanigans that land both of them in trouble. Even when sitting in time out, they make funny faces at each other and goof around.

Lyra Kingsley

Age: 1 Year Old in present

Appearance: Whispy blonde hair and sky blue eyes; most say she looks exactly like her father

For the purpose of telling her personality, the following information is based on Lyra being around 4 or 5 years old.

Some facts:

The reserved child, but still understands her status. She is nice to everyone and willing to help out.

Hates the idea of fighting and would never pick up a sword. Instead, she would rather solve problems by talking about it.

It rarely happens, but should another child pick on her, she always runs to her brother to protect her.

Doesn’t make friends easily because of her shyness.

Red Army Thoughts/Interactions:

Atticus Kingsley:

She see Atticus as her protector and often follows him around, much to his displeasure. Their age gap puts a strain on their relationship at this age. She likes for him to tell her stories before she goes to bed.

Caroline Clemence:

Lyra believes that Atticus and Caroline are going to get married. She likes to let Caroline dress her up and play house with her. Although they are four years apart, Caroline dotes on her like she did when Eden.

Jude Clemence:

Being nearly the same, the two were always put together when the elder siblings went to school. They are best friends and go everywhere together. She finds him incredibly sweet and would rather play with him than anyone else. They are constantly playing hide and seek together in HQ and Jude brings her a flower every day as “a gift for the lovely lady”.

Eden Bright:

Closer in age than Lyra is with Caroline, the two don’t spend much time together. Lyra is similar to Eden in being a little clingy to her parents, but not quite so drastic as the young Bright. If Caroline is not around to get all the girls together, Eden and Lyra don’t play together. But, when all the girls get together, they can get along.

Beckett Ash:

Lyra likes Beckett a lot because he is so nice to her all the time, but Atticus doesn’t like the two of them being together. Beckett reads to her a lot and tells her about the things he is learning.

Sadie Ash:

Since Eden and Sadie become very good friends, Lyra doesn’t spend a lot of time with her. She doesn’t like how much Sadie and Atticus fight with each other, and she fears they’re going to hurt each often, making Lyra upset.

Other Interactions:

Since Lyra is so sheltered, she doesn’t see any of the other kids enough to have an opinion of them (at this age), but she is polite to every person she meets, but rarely talks unless she has to.

*****

Jonah Clemence

Status: Married to Eleanor Atlas

Home- Owns a home near Red Headquarters; the kids live part time between home and HQ, due to Eleanor traveling overseas often.

Kids: 2

Caroline Clemence:

Age: 5 years old

Appearance: A mini Jonah. She has little features from her mother. Mint hair and amber eyes. The only difference in her and Jonah is that her mole is under the opposite eye, like Luka’s.

Some Facts:

Similar to Atticus in knowing exactly what her family name means and can do, but she isn’t very manipulative about it. She takes her surname very seriously and always follows the rules that are set for her. The only exception to this if she is approached by one of Jonah’s Heart Defenders, then she might abuse her power as a Clemence.

Unlike Jonah was raised, Caroline has a lot more freedom than he did. She gets plenty of attention, despite not being the current choice for the Queen of Hearts. Jonah is very protective of her, but also spoils her a little too much sometimes.

Enjoys being girly and rich- spends money as easily as her father.

Caroline has a fondness for sword fighting, but mostly because it’s one the only ways she can get Atticus’s attention.

She typically mimics Jonah and tries to speak in the way he does sometimes.

Red Army Thoughts/Interactions

Atticus Kingsley:

Caroline adores Atticus and would do anything he asked. She has never beaten him in a sword fight but pretends that she has. All her skills come from his instruction. He told her it was because he wanted a sparring partner, but she took it as him saying she was special.

Lyra Kingsley:

As a baby, Caroline loves to take care of her along with her own baby brother. She is very motherly towards Lyra, even as they grow older. She tries to get Lyra to be more outgoing and always makes the others listen to her when she wants to speak.

Jude Clemence:

Her little brother might as well have been her own child. Caroline fully took her mother’s place anytime she was away. She memorized Jude’s schedule, knows what foods he can eat, and thoroughly loves sitting in the rocking chair and holding him while he falls asleep. As the two get older, she finds him to be meek but charming.

Eden Bright:

Her little sister. Caroline loves Eden so much. Any time she can spend with her, she’s there. She teaches Eden things that she learns at school and likes to read books to her when Eden is feeling sick. Before Beckett and Sadie arrived, Caroline had Eden following her around everywhere. Despite Eden spending time with Sadie a lot, the two remain close.

Beckett Ash:

Caroline doesn’t really mind him, but also goes along with whatever Atticus tells her, so she typically shuns him when Atticus is around. She admires how smart his is and when he joins her class in school, Caroline looks out for him.

Sadie Ash:

The enemy. Oil and water. Sadie stands up to Atticus and talks about him. Caroline isn’t fond her at all. Especially once Eden and Sadie start playing together. She sees her as disruptive, because Sadie doesn’t let her boss around Eden when all the girls are playing together.

Black Army/Neutral Interactions:

Caroline also only sees those in her school grade as Kindergarten doesn’t play with the older kids. The only other kid that Caroline knows well enough in the present is Finley.

Finley Godspeed:

Her biggest rival for Eden’s attention before Sadie arrived. Eden talks about Finley a lot because of all the presents she receives from her. Caroline greatly dislikes that and tells Eden that Finley is lying to her because they cannot get married. Her reasoning is that they live in separate territories. She bickers with Finley any time she sees her.

Jude Clemence:

Age: 11 Months

Appearance: Dusty brown hair and hazel eyes, very much like his mother has the porcelain complexion of Jonah.

For the purpose of this section, like Lyra, I’m aging Jude up to around 4 or 5 to give insight to his personality.

Some Facts:

Bashful child, unless he is with Lyra. He finds talking and interacting with the other kids tiring and would rather be alone with Lyra.

He brings Lyra a flower every day because he says that she is angel and he wants to see her smile.

Jude doesn’t like to talk, and his family thought that he was late in learning how to speak but he just chose not to.

Sometimes he is confused for being a girl, especially when he was a baby because of he took after his mother. He grew used to it, and because he didn’t speak up, many still refer to him a “she” by mistake.

Terrified of swords and fighting. He does not want to take lessons in learning swordplay, typically hiding away or sitting on the floor to protest.

Red Army Thoughts/Interactions

Atticus Kingsley:

Jude finds Atticus’s outgoing and bossy personality scary and he tends to avoid him if at all possible. With their age difference, he doesn’t mind that Atticus that ignores him.

Lyra Kingsley:

The love of his life. Even at a young age and he doesn’t understand what love is, he is enamored by Lyra and would do anything to stay by her side. He likes to hold her hand and the two often run off together to play without other kids.

Caroline Clemence:

His big sister that he adores. Jude and Caroline play a lot at home together, and she is a good teacher to him. She is always willing to help him learn big words in the books he is reading.

Eden Bright:

He doesn’t spend much time with Eden when he gets to the toddler age. She is in school and tends to stick with Sadie. He doesn’t understand why she gets sick or why she gets angry when other kids want to be around her dad.

Beckett Ash:

As he grows older, Jude begins to see Beckett as the older brother he never had. The two are both on the shy side of the scale but share a love of reading. Jude doesn’t mind spending time with Beckett whenever he is around.

Sadie Ash:

Her brash and honest way of speaking scares him as much as Atticus does. He doesn’t like fighting so Jude is always the first to go running for help when Atticus and Sadie get into a physical fight, after he makes sure Lyra isn’t going to be hurt in the process.

Black Army/Other Neutrals:

Like Lyra, Jude is very sheltered in who he can be around at the toddler age, so he doesn’t know many of the other children in Cradle at this age.

Ezra and Valarie Clemence:

Unlike his big sister, Jude has never known a time before his cousins weren’t around. Since Ezra and Valarie were a secret for the first 4 years of their life, Caroline never knew them until she was older. Jude doesn’t mind his cousins but he still finds their personalities to be strong.

*****

Edgar Bright

Status: Single

Home: Red HQ

Kids: 1

Eden Bright

Age: 3

Appearance: Brown hair and matching Jade green eyes, fair skin, very much like Edgar

Some Facts:

Her mother kept her until she was 2 years old, leaving her Edgar’s care for only a little over a year at the beginning of her story.

She is extremely clingy to Edgar, and jealous if any other kids take his attention away. It gets worse when she is sick.

Eden has weak lungs, so Kyle gives her breathing treatments. Her immune system is also low, making her sick more often than a normal child.

Overall, the sweetheart of the Red Army. She interacts with the other soldiers and in turn, they all dote on her. Eden is very polite and doesn’t get into much trouble.

Eden loves candy as much as her father and will sweet talk her way into getting sweets from the kitchen staff on a daily basis.

Red Army Thoughts/Interactions.

Atticus Kingsley:

Her big brother figure. Once she settled into HQ with Edgar, Atticus would visit her with Caroline. She found him to be really nice and she likes when he pretends she’s a princess. The only things she dislikes is how fast he plays, and she tends to get left behind until Atticus notices her lagging.

Lyra Kingsley

Complete opposites. Eden doesn’t like Lyra when she is a baby because of jealousy. Any time Eden is in a room with Lyra, she will not let Edgar put her down to hold Lyra. It takes a long time for the jealously to subside.

Caroline Clemence:

Big sister figure. Eden loves Caroline to visit her and read her books. Caroline’s personality intimidated Eden at first but with time, she grew to like it. She spends the most time with Caroline and likes for the older girl to dress her up and fix her hair.

Jude Clemence:

It’s not often that Eden sees Jude unless Caroline takes her to him. She has mixed feelings about him, but in the end, she wouldn’t like for Edgar to give him any attention, so she stays away.

Beckett Ash:

Mostly friends by default. He stays with Sadie, therefore he spends a lot of time with Eden until he goes to school. Eden doesn’t mind him because he is typically very reserved and kind to her.

Sadie Ash:

Once Sadie arrives at HQ, Eden begins to play with her the most. Since Caroline has school, and Sadie is only 3 like Eden, the two get to spend a ton time together, especially since Kyle often looks after Eden. The two become really close. Eden likes the Sadie is patient and never forces her to play things that she doesn’t want to.

Black Army/Neutrals

Finley Godspeed:

Eden was absolutely terrified of Eden the first time that they two met. She grew to like Finley because of the attention and her persistence. Seeing how excited Finley gets to see her, the two begin an odd friendship. Eden looks forward to seeing Finley in town.

*****

Kyle Ash

Status: Single

Home: HQ

Kids: 2

Beckett Ash

Age: 5

Appearance: reddish-brown hair and blue eyes

Some Facts:

Beckett like his father, is incredibly gifted. He taught himself basic first aid and treats all his sister’s wounds that their mother inflicts. He is typically spared her wrath because of his timid nature and he complies easily.

He has saved his mother from an overdose on many occasions despite her constant neglect of them.

Had to become the “parent” figure to his little sister and make sure she gets meals and bath every day.

Does not like to start trouble. Beckett is considered a suck up to adults because he does not want to rock the boat.

Red Army Thoughts/Interactions

Atticus Kingsley:

Beckett finds Atticus to be overbearing and he tends to avoid him at all possible. He doesn’t like how much Atticus can rile up his little sister, but he rarely comments on how the Kingsley torments him.

Lyra Kingsley:

As a baby, Beckett doesn’t spend much time with her. But as she grows older, Beckett begins to like her because she is the opposite of her brother. She listens to him talk about his day and things he is learning at school. He is her honorary big brother.

Caroline Clemence:

Beckett has no ill will toward Caroline despite her mean behavior toward her when Atticus is around. He can see that she holds onto Atticus’s every word and he admires her for being so devoted to him. At school, he is always grateful for her assistance with his peers.

Jude Clemence:

When Jude grows older, Beckett becomes quite close to him. He was not surprised that Jude is as dedicated to Lyra as Caroline is to Atticus. He takes on Jude as his apprentice and teaches him big words and all the names of the flowers so he can impress Lyra.

Eden Bright:

He feels bad for Eden because of how easily she gets sick. He tends to follow Kyle around and help tend to her. He likes to take care of others so Eden is no exception. He takes extra precautions when they are playing outside to make sure Eden doesn’t overdo it.

Sadie Ash:

His little protector. Beckett adores his baby sister and chastises himself for not being able to keep her safe at their home. He wants to protect his little sister but typically she ends up protecting him, whether it be from their mother or the other kids that like to pick on him. He admires that she is so strong despite their situation. He wants her to find a place where she doesn’t have to fight for her right to live and for her to finally feel safe and loved by a parental figure.

Black Army/Neutrals

Lux Genetta:

He is fascinated with her, never met anyone with magic much less magic like hers. Beckett tags along with Kyle on his days out for working with patients just so that he can try and find Lux out and about. It isn’t often the two meet up.

Finley Godspeed:

He finds her to be most entertaining and genuinely a good person. He’s seen a lot of fakes in his life, but he is always astounded with how much Finley genuinely cares for those around her and makes an effort to make everyone happy.

Sadie Ash

Age: 3

Appearance: reddish-brown hair and golden eyes. She looks identical to Kyle. Some facts:

Her appearance being so similar to Kyle is why their mother hates Sadie so much. She resents Kyle and therefore takes it out on Sadie.

Strong willed and stands up to anyone who opposes her or her brother. She has issues with authority because of her terrible mother. Adults tend to set her into a spiral of rebellion.

She has burn marks and permanent scars from her abuse on her back and torso.

Sadie doesn’t like reading or studying like her brother. She would enjoy learning to wield a sword because it would be another way to protect herself.

Red Army Thoughts/Interactions

Atticus Kingsley: Oil and water. Sadie does not like him one bit. She wants to wipe that smug smirk right off his face and she tries her hardest. She fights dirty with him landing her trouble often. Lyra:

Sadie isn’t too fond of babies because of her 3 half triplet half siblings that keep her awake at night screaming and crying. She steers clear of her for the most part. As they grow older, the two don’t get along because of Sadie’s behavior towards Atticus.

Caroline Clemence:

Her arch-nemisis. Sadie and Caroline tend to fight quite often, either over Eden’s attention or Sadie is trying to let Eden get a word in and let her make her own decision. Sadie can’t stand that Caroline leads Eden around like a puppy. She also dislikes that Caroline sides with Atticus when Beckett is getting picked on. Sadie has smacked her more than a few times.

Jude Clemence:

Like Lyra, Sadie avoids him as a baby. As the grow older, Sadie still doesn’t have much to do with him. But, she dislikes that he always runs and tattles on her and Atticus when she is fighting with him.

Eden Bright:

She didn’t quite understand at first why Eden got sick easily, but once the two began spending time together, Sadie grew fond of her quickly. She teaches Eden how to speak up for herself with the other kids and not let them walk all over her.

Beckett Ash:

Sadie loves her big brother, and she does everything she can to protect him, even at only ¾ years old. Her mother doesn’t pick on Beckett because of his compliant attitude and Sadie is happy for that. She does wish that he would stand up for himself, but until he does, she will defend him with everything she has.

Black Army/Neutrals:

Finley Godspeed:

Not allowed to be alone with her. The first time the two met in Central Quarter, they caused a ruckus and destroyed a fruit stand by startling a horse. Fast friends, and partners in crime. They bond over their adoration for Eden and love of causing mischief.

I will definitely be updating this as I explore more of their relationships with each other and delve more into their stories. Stay tuned for a breakdown of the Black Army kids and the Neutral kids! ^_^

Please feel free to ask me questions or comment on the munchkins!

#whew this took ages #but i love my next gen #it all started with eden #it's been a full year since I wrote her first chapter #red army next gen #older gen #they have siblings later in life #atticus kingsley #lancelot kingsley #lyra kingsley #jonah clemence #caroline clemence #jude clemence #edgar bright #eden bright #kyle ash #beckett ash #sadie ash #zero is the only one not a thot in this universe it seems

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paralysis-comic · 4 years

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yourocsbackstory week 1: parents

|| @yourocsbackstory ||

gettin this in niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice and early. tw for vaguely implied child abuse

Baby Blues Act 1, or Gina Takes A Deep Dive

You’ve come to use the phrase “my dad” interchangeably for them both now.

As always, you’re never sure how confusing it is for anyone who’s not, for example, John or Diane; but you maintain that the word for man who raised you and man who (allegedly) had a part in creating you are, at least in English, one and the same. ‘Stepdad’ sounds a bit…

Uptight?

Stilted?

Crass?

No, you reserve stepdad for teachers and police officers. Or – in times where you feel the need to throw all mention of long-dead folks out the window and focus on the more-recently-dead – when mum’s boyfriend is too many syllables to fit into one conc- ah.

No, no, put it down. No, on the sofa. Now stand up. Never mind if you look like Bambi on the ice, no one’s here. Mum’s at work, Dad’s in America, fuck knows where John is, Dad’s in America, remember? Not identifying bodies, not being questioned, not (FUCK!!!!!!) holding this in front of you.

Now stand up.

Pick it up.

Sit down.

Breathe.

Actually, no, get the other one.

You’ve never properly looked through it.

What did you come here for again?

The first one is a bit tatty. That’s how it’s always been. Black, red corners, looks like a photo album you’d see on TV, like in The Simpsons or something. Wait, isn’t that how something from 90’s America should look?

On the inside cover, a tiny “1980-1999” in the top left corner, a normal-sized “To Mimi & Nate, happy anniversary!!!! love Glad & Atticus” (ugh) and a large cut-out message of general condolence that you never bother to read.

And on the first page, before the album proper, two portrait photos taped in.

On the left, in black and white, a thin teenage boy in a suit, and an old lady in a long dress and headscarf. You flip it up, as careful as you’re physically able. There’s some Russian on the back, then some Welsh in the same handwriting. You know neither. Shit. Fuck– And below it, what looks to be the English counterpart:

Just after Sam’s Bar Mitzvah. Never went to another one. Only photo I’ve got of her. D x

You wish you’d had a Bar Mitzvah. Ceri did, but Auntie Lettice didn’t let you go.

Ceri still keeps asking you why.

You bite your nail. God, if you get this emotional over every one, you’ll be here forever. And you can’t even remember why you got them down in the first place. The one on the right, in full 90’s colour, that’s your dad and some guy you don’t know. No one’s told you about him yet. He’s sitting on your dad’s lap, attempting to drum, like you used to do to Charles. It looks professionally done, like a photo of Queen. Blurry hands in the foreground and all. Oh, you never noticed Cadz there at the piano. Adorable.

Theres a note under it. All in English, thank fuck.

Hello boys, found this when I was rummaging around in Mikey’s room, thought you’d like to have it. Give my love to Althea and the kids. Love from Sue xxx

You have never heard those names in your life, although now you’re never sure what you mean by that. It may well be that you and John (and Beth and Gel and Ronnie and Llew and Renée and Meic (and Hector)) have been sat down and told all of this in great detail. You try not to let the name Sue get in your head. You try and think nice thoughts. You don’t have a lot of nice thoughts at this time of year.

You’re not fussed with most of these. You were once, before the novelty of having one very famous, very dead parent wore off for the second time.

The ones at the beginning, you got bored of those ages ago. There’s only so many times you can see a photo on tumblr and still want to reblog it. @fuckyeahgoosnargh never got back to you when you told her to take them down. You like the way their hair looks — Cadz in pigtails, your dad with a vague approximation of Brian May. Reminds you of you, in a mad way.

Some more early ones. The three of them, the four of them, the funeral, the three of them again.

Then a few from gigs. They don’t impress you much. Sure, Cadz is a serviceable musician – he did give you your first banjo, after all – but as a frontman? Come on. And you wish they’d have focused in on one of the others; between the aggressive drummer with black greasepaint over his eyes (still in a suit, by the way) and the tiny guitarist in drag (think John Travolta, not Ru Paul), you can see why you and John turned out the way you did.

The ones in the graveyard are your favourite. Most of them are in black and white, which you’re not a fan of, but there’s one of the whole band, in colour: your dad, Cadz, the woman with the drawn on eyebrows, that Mikey guy, your other dad (he had drawn on eyebrows as well in those days, and his hair was straightened and slicked back), and some other bloke. He kinda looks like your dad but with real eyebrows. Maybe thats the Uncle Gaylord that Nana was on about. He’s not in any of the other photos. Gotta ask her what happened to him next time you see her. If you see her.

Some of your dad and Auntie Al. You like the one of him in the front doorway with the sun coming through, looking over his shoulder at all the boxes on the floor. You wonder why they split up. You wonder– oh, now you remember why youre here. All the ones of Ronnie and Llew must be in another album. Shit.

The next ones are of him in hospital. You’ve no desire to know what was wrong with him – medical stuff makes you cringe now – but he’s very pale and thin, and so is his hair. He looks way too young to be totally grey, even as haggard as he is. At least, with the curl back in, he doesnt look too dishevelled, if you disregard the missing eyebrows. There were ones of Mikey in hospital earlier, but you skipped past those. You don’t want to think about him anymore.

A lot of magazine and newspaper clippings. You’ve read them all before. You’re not in the right mood to read them again, but you do look at the pictures. As you turn the page, a newer and shinier piece of paper falls out. It’s from that one notebook article about you, with the covers of your and your dad’s first (only) solo singles. You’re making the exact same face. You suppose the effect would have been lost now, what with your bleached hair and ruined nose.

Then some of your parents — all four of them. They must have met at the same time. The ones that aren’t in Canada (you don’t need to see those, there’s enough of them on the walls) are in various parts of Wales: Great-Nain and Great-Taid’s village in Glamorgan, Nana’s house in cardiff (not many of those), John’s place, the big house you sometimes call home, the normal-sized house you currently call– huh.

It ends there.

gina: so yeah idk

diane: dude

diane: you know you were just away for 3 hours

diane what the heck were you doing

gina is typing…

#writeblr #writerblr #writing community #paralysis tiwh #yourocsbackstory #mariums

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gx-rivalshippingmonth · 6 years

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Day 24: A day at the beach

*casually submits something again* I’m so sorry :’D

Alright, that should be my last entry for this year!

Thanks for having me, it was a honor! (No joke, it makes me so happy to see my posts here^-^)

———

Jaden was definitely a fan of summer, but this August was just too damn hot.

The heat was insufferable and the air felt thick enough to crush him.

He desperately fanned himself, hoping to get at least some kind of cooling from that, however, there was little point in fanning himself with hot air, so he just let himself fall back into the sand.

Nobody was at the beach at this ungodly hour except himself and Chazz and since it was already so unbearable, he didn’t want to know what it would be like at noon.

“Chazz, are you up for going into the water?”, he asked, fully expecting the other boy to decline.

“Sure, just let me finish this chapter.”

Jaden looked back at him, surprise clear on his face as he examined Chazz who sat under a sunshade with a book in his hands.

He didn’t wear his usual black coat – by the gods, he would have died already – but instead a shirt and shorts and he totally rocked this look.

He rocked every look, but that was beside the point.

The point was, he’d never agreed to come into the water when Jaden had been at the beach with him, he’d always insisted on sitting under a tree or sunshade to keep his natural paleness.

To have him agree was a different situation, but the brunette couldn’t say he wasn’t happy about that, in actual fact it was quite the opposite.

He would get a chance to splash Chazz with water, see his wet skin sparkle in the light, maybe even watch his hairspray wash out and see him in his natural beauty for once.

“How long is this going to take?” His voice was full of excitement and Chazz noticed because he looked up with a smug smile on his face.

“Twenty minutes, it’s a long chapter.”

Jaden groaned.

Twenty minutes was basically an eternity.

“And what am I supposed to do while you finish the chapter?”

“I don’t know, build a sandcastle?”

He said it jokingly, but Jaden was immediately taken by the idea, jumping up in motivation.

Sure, he didn’t have a bucket, but how difficult could it really be?

He moved to a location a bit further away from the water since he didn’t want his creation to be destroyed right away and began piling up wet sand with his hands.

Chazz was torn between laughing or sighing, but eventually opted for the latter.

“What are you, twelve?”

“Yeah, on a scale of one to ten.” He stuck his tongue out childishly before turning his attention back to building the sandcastle.

While he was doing so, he made up a story in his head to go along with it and soon, he let it completely engulf him.

Once upon a time in a medieval kingdom, there was a noble family by the name of Princeton that lived in a castle high on a hill.

The King and Queen of the fine country Domino…nian… had three sons, Slade, Jagger and Chazz Princeton, who were in charge of the country until the King and Queen returned from their vacation.

Jagger was responsible for handling the family’s finances while Slade’s duty was to report about the political situation and relationships of Dominonian to its neighboring countries Battlecity…ford and Duelistkingdomwick.

What the hell kind of names are these anyway?

The youngest son, Chazz, was forced to take over the cardgame- uh, the church.

He took his task very seriously and was a very dedicated follower of the church in hopes of becoming a priest in the future.

Even if that wasn’t what he himself wanted, he needed the approval and appreciation of his brothers more than anything else.

It just so happened that one day, while he was celebrating Holy Mass with other followers he noticed a young boy with brown hair in the crowd of people and he decided to strike up a conversation with him about the holy spirit.

The boy’s name was Jaden and he came from a very poor farmer family that had to pay a lot of taxes to the King and Queen.

Chazz felt pity for this boy as he thought about his castle and the wealth that his family possessed, but before he could make Jaden an offer, a blond priestess by the name of Alexis dragged him away and talked to him about her brother who needed an exorcism done on him.

By the time Chazz had finished scheduling the exorcism, Jaden was already gone.

A few days passed in the kingdom and Chazz couldn’t stop thinking about the brunette boy, so he took a walk through the town, asking the townspeople if they had seen him to which most of them replied no as they were too busy with their own lives to care.

After some more walking, he arrived on a farm with cows and pigs and he politely knocked, certain that this was Jaden’s farm.

It took a while before his parents opened the door, their clothing merely some rags, and asked what they could do for him.

Chazz replied that he would like to see Jaden, but his parents told him that they had already sent him away because they didn’t want to care for him- no, fuck, I mean… they couldn’t afford to buy food for him.

Chazz was shocked to hear this, gave them enough gold to build a new existence and took off to find Jaden.

His search lead him all the way to Battlecityford, the kingdom of Aster Phoenix, where he was captured by border security and thrown into a dungeon.

Meanwhile, back in Dominonian, Alexis failed to exorcise her brother all on her own which caused him to go berserk and invade the Princeton castle.

Guards tried to stop him, but he was too strong for them to defeat, so they had to make way if they didn’t want to get killed.

Atticus broke into the other Princeton brothers’ rooms and cursed them so that they could never pressure Chazz ever again with anything.

A nice side effect of the curse also caused them to rethink their decisions and find something besides world domination to be passionate about.

As a result, they took a trip to Duelistkingdomwick to discover their true selves and they stayed there for the remainder of their lives.

Well, mostly, I do hope they attend our wedding… Should we marry in summer? It’s kinda hot, maybe-… Oh, wait, the story!

As for Chazz, he was still stuck in a dungeon and Dominonian caused a riot because its people were confused and couldn’t think straight without a ruler.

Get it? Ruler? Straight?

So, anyway, it was very hot in the dungeon and Chazz finally started to take a look around and discovered Jaden who was very dizzy from sitting in the sun for so long and making up stories in his head and he was about to fall unconscious when Chazz suddenly chucked water in his face- AH!

Jaden snapped back into reality when he felt something wet hit his body and he tried focusing on his surroundings, only to realize that he was unable to right now.

Everything was strangely distorted and he brought a hand up to his head which had begun throbbing violently.

Ugh, why did he feel so nauseous all of a sudden?

“Jaden? Jaden! Hey!”

Once again, cold water hit him in the face while he was being dragged somewhere.

“Dammit Jaden, how can you not notice a heat stroke?!”

A heat stroke? Was that what was happening?

But his story hadn’t concluded yet…

He wanted it to conclude with something romantic… A kiss maybe?

“Kiss me…” His voice sounded weak and far away.

His world hadn’t stopped spinning yet, so he couldn’t see Chazz’s reaction, but in his mind he was giving him a worried look.

“We have to get you away, now’s not the time!”

Chazz helped him get on his feet and supported him while leading him out of the dungeon.

“Are we going to your castle?”

“What?”

Water began to surround his feet and then his knees.

The ocean? Was there an ocean in Battlecityford?

It went up to his waist and then his chest, small waves gently nudging him while Chazz made sure that his head stayed overwater in case he did fall unconscious.

It was so cold, it felt so good on his heated body, but he still wanted that kiss.

“Kiss me… Kiss…”

There was a moment of hesitation before Chazz leaned forward, but he never closed the distance fully, instead just caressing Jaden’s face softly.

“Let’s do that in the castle when you’re feeling better, okay?”

He nodded, relaxing in Chazz’s arms while trying not to pass out.

“Mhhh… as you wish, your majesty…”

And the prince and the farmer boy lived happily ever after in the castle and adopted two cute puppies.

The end.

#submitted by: inorumarufuji #day twenty four #OH I LOVE THIS....very creative!#and glad to have you participate!!^^#submission

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thephantomcasebook · 6 years

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Wanted to spend another week with Chapter four of “The Wayfaring Stranger” so here’s a Preview.

County of Grantham March 1936

In the Season of 1936 there were many topics of fascination that percolated through London. The Spanish War, the coming grandeur of the Berlin Olympics that the Third Reich was planning, and of course, the Grantham County Power Plant. It seemed a strange topic, all things considered, but it was the details that most people were interested in. It was the first, fully modern, electrical plant in all of Yorkshire, which was a feat in itself. But the more interesting aspect had been that the power coils and generators, which cranked out a much more powerful and efficient charge, had been designed by Ms. Sybil Branson herself.

Never before had such a thing been attempted by a grown woman, much less, by a girl who was yet to have even been presented to the king … which ever brother that might be these days. There were many that doubted the validity and safety of these mad plans presented. Some called it the very apex of what it is to spoil a child. What qualifications did Sybil Branson have to take on such an experimental task? They warned Lord Grantham of the perils. He being, not only the grandfather, but one of the patrons of the new plant, along with his daughter Mary and Grandson George Crawley, who also had his reservations.

But George’s troubles were for other reasons than a lack of faith in his best friend.

It had been an uphill battle for the girl. She worked long and hard on her plans and blueprints, living in the quiet exclusivity of Crawley House, away from the distractions of Downton Abbey life. There were many long nights, George hunched over the study table pouring over medieval maps and texts, while over at his desk a lovely girl scribbled her formulas and calculations. She sipped coffee, pencil behind her ear, soothing her doubts in the smiling picture of both her mommy and mama on George’s desk. Every time she had misgivings about the enterprise, feeling that George wasn’t voicing some objection, if only to spare her. She only had to see the two women that were everything to her, and remind herself that if they could be revolutionary in their time, than so could she. The only thing she wished was that there was someone to tell her she was on the right track. The old professors, like all good Englishmen, were afraid of change. The board of directors was biting their nails in anticipation, good or ill, of the young girl’s designs.

Her family wasn’t any help either. George had some idea of what she was talking about, but recused himself of opinion, much to her anger. Donk pretended he knew about what his gorgeous genius was talking about. And mama just smiled and blinked, making it seem all so encouraging by kissing her on the cheek with as much enthusiasm as Lady Mary Crawley showed anything. But Daddy didn’t hear a word. Tom Branson would soon glaze over at his daughter’s passion, spending more time glowing proudly at his rare and special girl rather than the plans spread out before them. God, in those moments, had he wished Sybil had been there to see what a marvelous creature she gave her life to bring into this world. But when he began stroking her hair, the girl would only huff and bump his chest with her shoulder in chastisement of his distracted mind.

When the time came to present to the board, she was going up against two other firms in the whole Empire. She fretted all night, wondering what she should wear. She had kept her Aunt Rose, Mrs. Baxter, and Granny up half the night, raiding her, Aunt Rose, and even their Granny’s wardrobes for just the right clothes. Just when it seemed all hope was lost, she came into her room to find that Mama and Anna were laying out a new outfit for such an occasion. Lady Mary told the girl, with great arrogance, that she might not know how her daughter’s “Contraptions” might work, but she jolly well knew how to dress for success. Both her mama and Anna swore it as “the ticket”, the secret weapon she needed to get over the top. It was true that when she stepped out of her daddy’s car with Thomas Barrow, her temporary assistant, there was not a snappier looking young engineer in the world. With legs born for those high heels, body meant for that satin skirt, and combination of sun glasses and hat that oozed young and professional.

When she arrived with Donk’s suitcase, rolled blue prints under arm, and coolly confident smirk, she was the talk of the Ripon office building.

The words of the day were affordable, modern, and easy to maintain. Sybbie, with Thomas’s help, presented her new machine to the world. Every weapon at her disposable was used on the board. She smirked at Donk, used Mama’s familiar turn of phrase to entice her. She near abused her credit as a daughter of a ‘working class bloke’ on those who valued such things. And for everyone else … well, Sybil Branson had been and would always be quite the fetchingly beautiful thing. But it was her charm that won the day, for it was considerable and inebriating once she got going. A girl raised by Ladies Cora and Mary Crawley was born to turn heads with her wit and social skills that rivaled the queens and princesses of old. But in the end, she found that the only hold out was George. He sat quietly, forefinger curled under nose, thumb under chin, elbow propped on the arm rest. He was a sphinx, unreadable, hardened to every trick employed by the lovely and fashionable girl. And when she was done, soaking in the standing ovation with a relieved smile, her heart sank to see that George was the only one still sitting, the weight of the world in his eyes.

For two days, the girl showed up to wait outside the deliberations. She paced the hallway, idly played a walking game of hopscotch with the linoleum tiling, and sat with her hand intertwined with Thomas’s in her lap as they stared at the door. But on the final day, suddenly, the door flew open to the sound of George matching shouts with their Donk and a waspish Lady Mary.

“Then, I’ll see you in Hell!”

The Earl and his pale and sleek business woman daughter looked shocked and deeply insulted at George’s final retort to Lady Mary’s parting words. Sybbie was also shocked watching a dark and furious George stalking away. His goggles were already on his forehead, while he shoved his hands into his long and supple leather gauntlets in disgust. Suddenly, papers and plans fell to the linoleum floor of the Ripon office building when Freddie Moorsum pursued the younger man down the hall. His glasses were obscured on a face in distress. He walked fast after George, though he was unable to keep up with the young racer.

“You can’t walk away, M’Lord! The county, the boys, they’re all counting on you to hold those toffy, high society, bastards, accountable! If you walk away from this you’ll damn yourself and it’ll haunt the county for generations! You know I’m right, you fool! Come back and fight damn ya! TAR YOUR HEELS COWARD!” He roared at the young man that disappeared around the corner, bumping a secretary whose files and papers went fluttering everywhere.

“Sir, I believe His Lordship is quite done with this conversation …” Thomas Barrow, ever the butler, and ever the guardian of Downton Abbey’s nursery, no matter how old the former occupants had gotten. He halted any further pursuit of a clearly enraged Master George.

“Get off me, Chump!” The pencil of a man with parted dark hair and his mother’s face under glasses slapped the svelte and athletic butler’s hand off his shoulder. He then turned to Sybbie who was watching in silent confusion. “Congratulations, and long live Morgana Le Fey, Queen of bones!” He snarled at the girl.

“I think that’s quite enough of that, Mr. Moorsum!” Lady Mary Crawley said with a dark look of rancor as she exited the room. It looked as if she might have left the conference room in order to go after George to continue their argument in private. But in his absence, and very outraged that someone would talk to her daughter in such a manner, Mary was cold and angry when the rest of the board exited.

“You’re all fools! You are all damned fools! They’ll die and all for a young girls pretty smile and tight arse in silk!” He shouted.

“How dare …!”

“Barrow, might you escort Mr. Moorsum out!” Lord Sinderby immediately bared Lord Grantham, who had made to aggressively stride forward in defense of his cherished and beloved little girl.

But there was not a hint of remorse in the man’s eyes for saying what he had. Somehow he thought, even for the friendship of his late mother, that Lord Grantham would see things clearly. Instead, he was infatuated with his genius granddaughter, believing that she could do no wrong. He took it as a slight and a betrayal to his mother’s memory.

“This way, sir!” Thomas Barrow’s hands were made out of iron in his angry grip on the lapels of the Engineer.

“You fools! The whole lot of ya! You’re all fools!” He raged in tears as he was dragged away by Mr. Barrow, Lord Sinderby following to make sure the accoster of his niece and nephew was truly gone.

For a long moment the raven haired young woman watched with a frown as her competitor disappeared with the strong arming Thomas, and a glaring Uncle Atticus with his hands behind his back. When she turned back her Donk looked incredibly rattled by the whole situation. But when she asked what had happened, Lady Mary only told her not to worry about it. But the girl saw that her mama’s eyes were cast down the hallway to the sound of George Crawley’s Indian Motorcycle revving angrily in the distance. They all flinched when they heard him speed off in a terrifying lit.

Sensing the trouble that was entering the girl’s mind, Lord Grantham ensured her, unconvincingly, that it was just the usual “Greek Drama” of the losing side of these local contract disputes. However, she had certainly not thought that George was one of these sore losers. But when she voiced this opinion, no one said a word for a long moment. Till, Lord Grantham assured his granddaughter that George wasn’t not on her side, it was only a question of something else entirely that had nothing to do with her. But she could tell that whatever George and Freddie Moorsum had fought with them over, for the last two days, had penetrated their Donk’s mind. And his heir’s point of argument, in particular, was entombed at the very center of his thoughts. Possibly, it even found incredible validity in the receding tide of the infighting. But Lord Grantham only smirked when catching Sybbie’s tenuously inquisitive eyes.

The old man took her in his arms paternally.

Suddenly, a big, toothy, grin came over the young woman’s pallid face when her grandfather whispered the word “Congratulations” in her ear while in their deep embrace. When she slipped back in his arms, mouth agape in shock, the old lord only nodded his head. It was just in time for Atticus and Thomas’s return. The girl gave a squeal and leapt into the butler’s arms, shouting to the roof tops that they did it. But Barrow only smoothed the girl’s hair back and corrected that she was the one who did it. To that the man got a kiss on the cheek. In fact, they all did, even those who were not her family. But when Lady Mary, half-teasingly, reminded her daughter that an excess of joy was as vulgar as an excess of tears, the girl jovially pounced on her mama. She swept her off her feet, pelting her entire face in a cascade of kisses in her arms as she rushed down the hall. The girl looked like a Hammer Film monster with its bride as she shuffled awkwardly with her mama in her arms. Before turning the corner, a resign but clearly annoyed Mary made a motion for everyone to follow.

When they got back home from Ripon, both family and staff were there to throw Sybbie a surprise celebration. The girl had never been so touched, getting suddenly weepy to see her granny standing with Marigold, Rachel, Aunt Edith, and Aunt Rose, along with all the faces of her happy childhood. All of them there to cheer and celebrate what she thought, at the time, would be her greatest accomplishment in her entire life. There was cake and punch, and a celebratory dinner planed with all of her and Marigold’s new friends for later. Her Donk stopped the festivities, momentarily, so that he might say a few words of his genius granddaughter. But all he could find in the moment, looking at her with such love, was that her mommy would be proud. She would be so very, very, proud of this day.

It was the only thing that Sybil Afton Branson had only ever wanted to hear all of her life.

#Downton Abbey #George Crawley #Sybbie Branson #Mary Crawley #Robert Crawley #Sorry for the Length #George has long hair because he just came back from years in Depression America #He is an extremely disheveled teenager #With a lot of issues with Mary and Robert

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thesnhuup · 5 years

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Pop Picks – November 25, 2019

My pop picks are usually a combination of three things: what I am listening to, reading, and watching. But last week I happily combined all three. That is, I went to NYC last week and saw two shows. The first was Cyrano, starring Game of Thrones superstar Peter Dinklage in the title role, with Jasmine Cephas Jones as Roxanne. She was Peggy in the original Hamilton cast and has an amazing voice. The music was written by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, two members of my favorite band, The National, with lyrics by lead singer Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser. Erica Schmidt, Dinklage’s wife, directs. Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play is light, dated, and melodramatic, but this production was delightful. Dinklage owns the stage, a master, and his deep bass voice, not all that great for singing, but commanding in the delivery of every line, was somehow a plaintive and resonant counterpoint to Cephas Jones’ soaring voice. In the original Cyrano, the title character’s large nose marks him as outsider and ”other,” but Dinklage was born with achondroplasia, the cause of his dwarfism, and there is a kind of resonance in his performance that feels like pain not acted, but known. Deeply. It takes this rather lightweight play and gives it depth. Even if it didn’t, not everything has to be deep and profound – there is joy in seeing something executed so darn well. Cyrano was delightfully satisfying.

The other show was the much lauded Aaron Sorkin rendition of To Kill a Mockingbird, starring another actor at the very top of his game, Ed Harris. This is a Mockingbird for our times, one in which iconic Atticus Finch’s idealistic “you have to live in someone else’s skin” feels naive in the face of hateful racism and anti-Semitism. The Black characters in the play get more voice, if not agency, in the stage play than they do in the book, especially housekeeper Calpurnia, who voices incredulity at Finch’s faith in his neighbors and reminds us that he does not pay the price of his patience. She does. And Tom Robinson, the Black man falsely accused of rape – “convicted at the moment he was accused,” Whatever West Wing was for Sorkin – and I dearly loved that show – this is a play for a broken United States, where racism abounds and does so with sanction by those in power. As our daughter said, “I think Trump broke Aaron Sorkin.” It was as powerful a thing I’ve seen on stage in years.

With both plays, I was reminded of the magic that is live theater.

Archive

October 31, 2019

What I’m listening to:

It drove his critics crazy that Obama was the coolest president we ever had and his summer 2019 playlist on Spotify simply confirms that reality. It has been on repeat for me. From Drake to Lizzo (God I love her) to Steely Dan to Raphael Saadiq to Sinatra (who I skip every time – I’m not buying the nostalgia), his carefully curated list reflects not only his infinite coolness, but the breadth of his interests and generosity of taste. I love the music, but I love even more the image of Michelle and him rocking out somewhere far from Washington’s madness, as much as I miss them both.

What I’m reading:

I struggled with Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo for the first 50 pages, worried that she’d drag out every tired trope of Mid-Eastern society, but I fell for her main characters and their journey as refugees from Syria to England. Parts of this book were hard to read and very dark, because that is the plight of so many refugees and she doesn’t shy away from those realities and the enormous toll they take on displaced people. It’s a hard read, but there is light too – in resilience, in love, in friendships, the small tender gestures of people tossed together in a heartless world. Lefteri volunteered in Greek refugee programs, spent a lot of interviewing people, and the book feels true, and importantly, heartfelt.

What I’m watching:

Soap opera meets Shakespeare, deliciously malevolent and operatic, Succession has been our favorite series this season. Loosely based on the Murdochs and their media empire (don’t believe the denials), this was our must watch television on Sunday nights, filling the void left by Game of Thrones. The acting is over-the-top good, the frequent comedy dark, the writing brilliant, and the music superb. We found ourselves quoting lines after every episode. Like the hilarious; “You don’t hear much about syphilis these days. Very much the Myspace of STDs.” Watch it so we can talk about that season 2 finale.

August 30, 2019

What I’m listening to:

I usually go to music here, but the New York Times new 1619 podcast is just terrific, as is the whole project, which observes the sale of the first enslaved human beings on our shores 400 years ago. The first episode, “The Fight for a True Democracy” is a remarkable overview (in a mere 44 minutes) of the centrality of racism and slavery in the American story over those 400 years. It should be mandatory listening in every high school in the country. I’m eager for the next episodes. Side note: I am addicted to The Daily podcast, which gives more color and detail to the NY Times stories I read in print (yes, print), and reminds me of how smart and thoughtful are those journalists who give us real news. We need them now more than ever.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead has done it again. The Nickel Boys, his new novel, is a worthy successor to his masterpiece The Underground Railroad, and because it is closer to our time, based on the real-life horrors of a Florida reform school, and written a time of resurgent White Supremacy, it hits even harder and with more urgency than its predecessor. Maybe because we can read Underground Railroad with a sense of “that was history,” but one can’t read Nickel Boys without the lurking feeling that such horrors persist today and the monsters that perpetrate such horrors walk among us. They often hold press conferences.

What I’m watching:

Queer Eye, the Netflix remake of the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy some ten years later, is wondrously entertaining, but it also feels adroitly aligned with our dysfunctional times. Episode three has a conversation with Karamo Brown, one of the fab five, and a Georgia small town cop (and Trump supporter) that feels unscripted and unexpected and reminds us of how little actual conversation seems to be taking place in our divided country. Oh, for more car rides such as the one they take in that moment, when a chasm is bridged, if only for a few minutes. Set in the South, it is often a refreshing and affirming response to what it means to be male at a time of toxic masculinity and the overdue catharsis and pain of the #MeToo movement. Did I mention? It’s really fun.

July 1, 2019

What I’m listening to:

The National remains my favorite band and probably 50% of my listening time is a National album or playlist. Their new album I Am Easy To Find feels like a turning point record for the band, going from the moody, outsider introspection and doubt of lead singer Matt Berninger to something that feels more adult, sophisticated, and wiser. I might have titled it Women Help The Band Grow Up. Matt is no longer the center of The National’s universe and he frequently cedes the mic to the many women who accompany and often lead on the long, their longest, album. They include Gail Ann Dorsey (who sang with Bowie for a long time), who is amazing, and a number of the songs were written by Carin Besser, Berninger’s wife. I especially love the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the arrangements, and the sheer complexity and coherence of the work. It still amazes me when I meet someone who does not know The National. My heart breaks for them just a little.

What I’m reading:

Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad through the lens of a captive Trojan queen, Briseis. As a reviewer in The Atlantic writes, it answers the question “What does war mean to women?” We know the answer and it has always been true, whether it is the casual and assumed rape of captive women in this ancient war story or the use of rape in modern day Congo, Syria, or any other conflict zone. Yet literature almost never gives voice to the women – almost always minor characters at best — and their unspeakable suffering. Barker does it here for Briseis, for Hector’s wife Andromache, and for the other women who understand that the death of their men is tragedy, but what they then endure is worse. Think of it ancient literature having its own #MeToo moment. The NY Times’ Geraldine Brooks did not much like the novel. I did. Very much.

What I’m watching:

The BBC-HBO limited series Years and Years is breathtaking, scary, and absolutely familiar. It’s as if Black Mirrorand Children of Men had a baby and it precisely captures the zeitgeist, the current sense that the world is spinning out of control and things are coming at us too fast. It is a near future (Trump has been re-elected and Brexit has occurred finally)…not dystopia exactly, but damn close. The closing scene of last week’s first episode (there are 6 episodes and it’s on every Monday) shows nuclear war breaking out between China and the U.S. Yikes! The scope of this show is wide and there is a big, baggy feel to it – but I love the ambition even if I’m not looking forward to the nightmares.

May 19, 2019

What I’m listening to:

I usually go to music here, but I was really moved by this podcast of a Davis Brooks talk at the Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/david-brooks-quest-moral-life. While I have long found myself distant from his political stance, he has come through a dark night of the soul and emerged with a wonderful clarity about calling, community, and not happiness (that most superficial of goals), but fulfillment and meaning, found in community and human kinship of many kinds. I immediately sent it to my kids.

What I’m reading:

Susan Orlean’s wonderful The Library Book, a love song to libraries told through the story of the LA Central Library. It brought back cherished memories of my many hours in beloved libraries — as a kid in the Waltham Public Library, a high schooler in the Farber Library at Brandeis (Lil Farber years later became a mentor of mine), and the cathedral-like Bapst Library at BC when I was a graduate student. Yes, I was a nerd. This is a love song to books certainly, but a reminder that libraries are so, so much more. It is a reminder that libraries are less about a place or being a repository of information and, like America at its best, an idea and ideal. By the way, oh to write like her.

What I’m watching:

What else? Game of Thrones, like any sensible human being. This last season is disappointing in many ways and the drop off in the writing post George R.R. Martin is as clear as was the drop off in the post-Sorkin West Wing. I would be willing to bet that if Martin has been writing the last season, Sansa and Tyrion would have committed suicide in the crypt. That said, we fans are deeply invested and even the flaws are giving us so much to discuss and debate. In that sense, the real gift of this last season is the enjoyment between episodes, like the old pre-streaming days when we all arrived at work after the latest episode of the Sopranos to discuss what we had all seen the night before. I will say this, the last two episodes — full of battle and gore – have been visually stunning. Whether the torches of the Dothraki being extinguished in the distance or Arya riding through rubble and flame on a white horse, rarely has the series ascended to such visual grandeur.

March 28, 2019

What I’m listening to:

There is a lovely piece played in a scene from A Place Called Home that I tracked down. It’s Erik Satie’s 3 Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1, played by the wonderful pianist Klára Körmendi. Satie composed this piece in 1888 and it was considered avant-garde and anti-Romantic. It’s minimalism and bit of dissonance sound fresh and contemporary to my ears and while not a huge Classical music fan, I’ve fallen in love with the Körmendi playlist on Spotify. When you need an alternative to hours of Cardi B.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel Washington Black. Starting on a slave plantation in Barbados, it is a picaresque novel that has elements of Jules Verne, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, and Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad. Yes, it strains credulity and there are moments of “huh?”, but I loved it (disclosure: I was in the minority among my fellow book club members) and the first third is a searing depiction of slavery. It’s audacious, sprawling (from Barbados to the Arctic to London to Africa), and the writing, especially about nature, luminous.

What I’m watching:

A soap opera. Yes, I’d like to pretend it’s something else, but we are 31 episodes into the Australian drama A Place Called Home and we are so, so addicted. Like “It’s AM, but can’t we watch just one more episode?” addicted. Despite all the secrets, cliff hangers, intrigue, and “did that just happen?” moments, the core ingredients of any good soap opera, APCH has superb acting, real heft in terms of subject matter (including homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexual assault, and class), touches of our beloved Downton Abbey, and great cars. Beware. If you start, you won’t stop.

February 11, 2019

What I’m listening to:

Raphael Saadiq has been around for quite a while, as a musician, writer, and producer. He’s new to me and I love his old school R&B sound. Like Leon Bridges, he brings a contemporary freshness to the genre, sounding like a young Stevie Wonder (listen to “You’re The One That I Like”). Rock and Roll may be largely dead, but R&B persists – maybe because the former was derivative of the latter and never as good (and I say that as a Rock and Roll fan). I’m embarrassed to only have discovered Saadiq so late in his career, but it’s a delight to have done so.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Marilynne Robinson’s Home, part of her trilogy that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning first novel, Gilead, and the book after Home, Lila. Robinson is often described as a Christian writer, but not in a conventional sense. In this case, she gives us a modern version of the prodigal son and tells the story of what comes after he is welcomed back home. It’s not pretty. Robinson is a self-described Calvinist, thus character begets fate in Robinson’s world view and redemption is at best a question. There is something of Faulkner in her work (I am much taken with his famous “The past is never past” quote after a week in the deep South), her style is masterful, and like Faulkner, she builds with these three novels a whole universe in the small town of Gilead. Start with Gilead to better enjoy Home.

What I’m watching:

Sex Education was the most fun series we’ve seen in ages and we binged watched it on Netflix. A British homage to John Hughes films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, it feels like a mash up of American and British high schools. Focusing on the relationship of Maeve, the smart bad girl, and Otis, the virginal and awkward son of a sex therapist (played with brilliance by Gillian Anderson), it is laugh aloud funny and also evolves into more substance and depth (the abortion episode is genius). The sex scenes are somehow raunchy and charming and inoffensive at the same time and while ostensibly about teenagers (it feels like it is explaining contemporary teens to adults in many ways), the adults are compelling in their good and bad ways. It has been renewed for a second season, which is a gift.

January 3, 2019

What I’m listening to:

My listening choices usually refer to music, but this time I’m going with Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast on genius and the song Hallelujah. It tells the story of Leonard Cohen’s much-covered song Hallelujah and uses it as a lens on kinds of genius and creativity. Along the way, he brings in Picasso and Cézanne, Elvis Costello, and more. Gladwell is a good storyteller and if you love pop music, as I do, and Hallelujah, as I do (and you should), you’ll enjoy this podcast. We tend to celebrate the genius who seems inspired in the moment, creating new work like lightning strikes, but this podcast has me appreciating incremental creativity in a new way. It’s compelling and fun at the same time.

What I’m reading:

Just read Clay Christensen’s new book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. This was an advance copy, so soon available. Clay is an old friend and a huge influence on how we have grown SNHU and our approach to innovation. This book is so compelling, because we know attempts at development have so often been a failure and it is often puzzling to understand why some countries with desperate poverty and huge challenges somehow come to thrive (think S. Korea, Singapore, 19th C. America), while others languish. Clay offers a fresh way of thinking about development through the lens of his research on innovation and it is compelling. I bet this book gets a lot of attention, as most of his work does. I also suspect that many in the development community will hate it, as it calls into question the approach and enormous investments we have made in an attempt to lift countries out of poverty. A provocative read and, as always, Clay is a good storyteller.

What I’m watching:

Just watched Leave No Trace and should have guessed that it was directed by Debra Granik. She did Winter’s Bone, the extraordinary movie that launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. Similarly, this movie features an amazing young actor, Thomasin McKenzie, and visits lives lived on the margins. In this case, a veteran suffering PTSD, and his 13-year-old daughter. The movie is patient, is visually lush, and justly earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (I have a rule to never watch anything under 82%). Everything in this film is under control and beautifully understated (aside from the visuals) – confident acting, confident directing, and so humane. I love the lack of flashbacks, the lack of sensationalism – the movie trusts the viewer, rare in this age of bombast. A lovely film.

December 4, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spending a week in New Zealand, we had endless laughs listening to the Kiwi band, Flight of the Conchords. Lots of comedic bands are funny, but the music is only okay or worse. These guys are funny – hysterical really – and the music is great. They have an uncanny ability to parody almost any style. In both New Zealand and Australia, we found a wry sense of humor that was just delightful and no better captured than with this duo. You don’t have to be in New Zealand to enjoy them.

What I’m reading:

I don’t often reread. For two reasons: A) I have so many books on my “still to be read” pile that it seems daunting to also rereadbooks I loved before, and B) it’s because I loved them once that I’m a little afraid to read them again. That said, I was recently asked to list my favorite book of all time and I answered Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. But I don’t really know if that’s still true (and it’s an impossible question anyway – favorite book? On what day? In what mood?), so I’m rereading it and it feels like being with an old friend. It has one of my very favorite scenes ever: the card game between Levin and Kitty that leads to the proposal and his joyous walking the streets all night.

What I’m watching:

Blindspotting is billed as a buddy-comedy. Wow does that undersell it and the drama is often gripping. I loved Daveed Diggs in Hamilton, didn’t like his character in Black-ish, and think he is transcendent in this film he co-wrote with Rafael Casal, his co-star. The film is a love song to Oakland in many ways, but also a gut-wrenching indictment of police brutality, systemic racism and bias, and gentrification. The film has the freshness and raw visceral impact of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. A great soundtrack, genre mixing, and energy make it one of my favorite movies of 2018.

October 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We had the opportunity to see our favorite band, The National, live in Dallas two weeks ago. Just after watching Mistaken for Strangers, the documentary sort of about the band. So we’ve spent a lot of time going back into their earlier work, listening to songs we don’t know well, and reaffirming that their musicality, smarts, and sound are both original and astoundingly good. They did not disappoint in concert and it is a good thing their tour ended, as we might just spend all of our time and money following them around. Matt Berninger is a genius and his lead vocals kill me (and because they are in my range, I can actually sing along!). Their arrangements are profoundly good and go right to whatever brain/heart wiring that pulls one in and doesn’t let them go.

What I’m reading:

Who is Richard Powers and why have I only discovered him now, with his 12th book? Overstory is profoundly good, a book that is essential and powerful and makes me look at my everyday world in new ways. In short, a dizzying example of how powerful can be narrative in the hands of a master storyteller. I hesitate to say it’s the best environmental novel I’ve ever read (it is), because that would put this book in a category. It is surely about the natural world, but it is as much about we humans. It’s monumental and elegiac and wondrous at all once. Cancel your day’s schedule and read it now. Then plant a tree. A lot of them.

What I’m watching:

Bo Burnham wrote and directed Eighth Grade and Elsie Fisher is nothing less than amazing as its star (what’s with these new child actors; see Florida Project). It’s funny and painful and touching. It’s also the single best film treatment that I have seen of what it means to grow up in a social media shaped world. It’s a reminder that growing up is hard. Maybe harder now in a world of relentless, layered digital pressure to curate perfect lives that are far removed from the natural messy worlds and selves we actually inhabit. It’s a well-deserved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and I wonder who dinged it for the missing 2%.

September 7, 2018

What I’m listening to:

With a cover pointing back to the Beastie Boys’ 1986 Licensed to Ill, Eminem’s quietly released Kamikaze is not my usual taste, but I’ve always admired him for his “all out there” willingness to be personal, to call people out, and his sheer genius with language. I thought Daveed Diggs could rap fast, but Eminem is supersonic at moments, and still finds room for melody. Love that he includes Joyner Lucas, whose “I’m Not Racist” gets added to the growing list of simply amazing music videos commenting on race in America. There are endless reasons why I am the least likely Eminem fan, but when no one is around to make fun of me, I’ll put it on again.

What I’m reading:

Lesley Blume’s Everyone Behaves Badly, which is the story behind Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and his time in 1920s Paris (oh, what a time – see Midnight in Paris if you haven’t already). Of course, Blume disabuses my romantic ideas of that time and place and everyone is sort of (or profoundly so) a jerk, especially…no spoiler here…Hemingway. That said, it is a compelling read and coming off the Henry James inspired prose of Mrs. Osmond, it made me appreciate more how groundbreaking was Hemingway’s modern prose style. Like his contemporary Picasso, he reinvented the art and it can be easy to forget, these decades later, how profound was the change and its impact. And it has bullfights.

What I’m watching:

Chloé Zhao’s The Rider is just exceptional. It’s filmed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which provides a stunning landscape, and it feels like a classic western reinvented for our times. The main characters are played by the real-life people who inspired this narrative (but feels like a documentary) film. Brady Jandreau, playing himself really, owns the screen. It’s about manhood, honor codes, loss, and resilience – rendered in sensitive, nuanced, and heartfelt ways. It feels like it could be about large swaths of America today. Really powerful.

August 16, 2018

What I’m listening to:

In my Spotify Daily Mix was Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman, one of the world’s greatest love songs. Go online and read the story of how the song was discovered and recorded. There are competing accounts, but Sledge said he improvised it after a bad breakup. It has that kind of aching spontaneity. It is another hit from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, one of the GREAT music hotbeds, along with Detroit, Nashville, and Memphis. Our February Board meeting is in Alabama and I may finally have to do the pilgrimage road trip to Muscle Shoals and then Memphis, dropping in for Sunday services at the church where Rev. Al Green still preaches and sings. If the music is all like this, I will be saved.

What I’m reading:

John Banville’s Mrs. Osmond, his homage to literary idol Henry James and an imagined sequel to James’ 1881 masterpiece Portrait of a Lady. Go online and read the first paragraph of Chapter 25. He is…profoundly good. Makes me want to never write again, since anything I attempt will feel like some other, lowly activity in comparison to his mastery of language, image, syntax. This is slow reading, every sentence to be savored.

What I’m watching:

I’ve always respected Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but we just watched the documentary RGB. It is over-the-top great and she is now one of my heroes. A superwoman in many ways and the documentary is really well done. There are lots of scenes of her speaking to crowds and the way young women, especially law students, look at her is touching. And you can’t help but fall in love with her now late husband Marty. See this movie and be reminded of how important is the Law.

July 23, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spotify’s Summer Acoustic playlist has been on repeat quite a lot. What a fun way to listen to artists new to me, including The Paper Kites, Hollow Coves, and Fleet Foxes, as well as old favorites like Leon Bridges and Jose Gonzalez. Pretty chill when dialing back to a summer pace, dining on the screen porch or reading a book.

What I’m reading:

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson tells of the racial injustice (and the war on the poor our judicial system perpetuates as well) that he discovered as a young graduate from Harvard Law School and his fight to address it. It is in turn heartbreaking, enraging, and inspiring. It is also about mercy and empathy and justice that reads like a novel. Brilliant.

What I’m watching:

Fauda. We watched season one of this Israeli thriller. It was much discussed in Israel because while it focuses on an ex-special agent who comes out of retirement to track down a Palestinian terrorist, it was willing to reveal the complexity, richness, and emotions of Palestinian lives. And the occasional brutality of the Israelis. Pretty controversial stuff in Israel. Lior Raz plays Doron, the main character, and is compelling and tough and often hard to like. He’s a mess. As is the world in which he has to operate. We really liked it, and also felt guilty because while it may have been brave in its treatment of Palestinians within the Israeli context, it falls back into some tired tropes and ultimately falls short on this front.

June 11, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Like everyone else, I’m listening to Pusha T drop the mic on Drake. Okay, not really, but do I get some points for even knowing that? We all walk around with songs that immediately bring us back to a time or a place. Songs are time machines. We are coming up on Father’s Day. My own dad passed away on Father’s Day back in 1994 and I remembering dutifully getting through the wake and funeral and being strong throughout. Then, sitting alone in our kitchen, Don Henley’s The End of the Innocence came on and I lost it. When you lose a parent for the first time (most of us have two after all) we lose our innocence and in that passage, we suddenly feel adult in a new way (no matter how old we are), a longing for our own childhood, and a need to forgive and be forgiven. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand. As Wordsworth reminds us in In Memoriam, there are seasons to our grief and, all these years later, this song no longer hits me in the gut, but does transport me back with loving memories of my father. I’ll play it Father’s Day.

What I’m reading:

The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin. I am not a reader of fantasy or sci-fi, though I understand they can be powerful vehicles for addressing the very real challenges of the world in which we actually live. I’m not sure I know of a more vivid and gripping illustration of that fact than N. K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel The Fifth Season, first in her Broken Earth trilogy. It is astounding. It is the fantasy parallel to The Underground Railroad, my favorite recent read, a depiction of subjugation, power, casual violence, and a broken world in which our hero(s) struggle, suffer mightily, and still, somehow, give us hope. It is a tour de force book. How can someone be this good a writer? The first 30 pages pained me (always with this genre, one must learn a new, constructed world, and all of its operating physics and systems of order), and then I could not put it down. I panicked as I neared the end, not wanting to finish the book, and quickly ordered the Obelisk Gate, the second novel in the trilogy, and I can tell you now that I’ll be spending some goodly portion of my weekend in Jemisin’s other world.

What I’m watching:

The NBA Finals and perhaps the best basketball player of this generation. I’ve come to deeply respect LeBron James as a person, a force for social good, and now as an extraordinary player at the peak of his powers. His superhuman play during the NBA playoffs now ranks with the all-time greats, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, MJ, Kobe, and the demi-god that was Bill Russell. That his Cavs lost in a 4-game sweep is no surprise. It was a mediocre team being carried on the wide shoulders of James (and matched against one of the greatest teams ever, the Warriors, and the Harry Potter of basketball, Steph Curry) and, in some strange way, his greatness is amplified by the contrast with the rest of his team. It was a great run.

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alicia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad may be close to a flawless novel. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer, it chronicles the lives of two runaway slaves, Cora and Caeser, as they try to escape the hell of plantation life in Georgia. It is an often searing novel and Cora is one of the great heroes of American literature. I would make this mandatory reading in every high school in America, especially in light of the absurd revisionist narratives of “happy and well cared for” slaves. This is a genuinely great novel, one of the best I’ve read, the magical realism and conflating of time periods lifts it to another realm of social commentary, relevance, and a blazing indictment of America’s Original Sin, for which we remain unabsolved.

What I’m watching:

I thought I knew about The Pentagon Papers, but The Post, a real-life political thriller from Steven Spielberg taught me a lot, features some of our greatest actors, and is so timely given the assault on our democratic institutions and with a presidency out of control. It is a reminder that a free and fearless press is a powerful part of our democracy, always among the first targets of despots everywhere. The story revolves around the legendary Post owner and D.C. doyenne, Katharine Graham. I had the opportunity to see her son, Don Graham, right after he saw the film, and he raved about Meryl Streep’s portrayal of his mother. Liked it a lot more than I expected.

April 27, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I mentioned John Prine in a recent post and then on the heels of that mention, he has released a new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, his first new album in ten years. Prine is beloved by other singer songwriters and often praised by the inscrutable God that is Bob Dylan. Indeed, Prine was frequently said to be the “next Bob Dylan” in the early part of his career, though he instead carved out his own respectable career and voice, if never with the dizzying success of Dylan. The new album reflects a man in his 70s, a cancer survivor, who reflects on life and its end, but with the good humor and empathy that are hallmarks of Prine’s music. “When I Get To Heaven” is a rollicking, fun vision of what comes next and a pure delight. A charming, warm, and often terrific album.

What I’m reading:

I recently read Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, on many people’s Top Ten lists for last year and for good reason. It is sprawling, multi-generational, and based in the world of Japanese occupied Korea and then in the Korean immigrant’s world of Oaska, so our key characters become “tweeners,” accepted in neither world. It’s often unspeakably sad, and yet there is resiliency and love. There is also intimacy, despite the time and geographic span of the novel. It’s breathtakingly good and like all good novels, transporting.

What I’m watching:

I adore Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and while I’m not sure his Shape of Water is better, it is a worthy follow up to the earlier masterpiece (and more of a commercial success). Lots of critics dislike the film, but I’m okay with a simple retelling of a Beauty and the Beast love story, as predictable as it might be. The acting is terrific, it is visually stunning, and there are layers of pain as well as social and political commentary (the setting is the US during the Cold War) and, no real spoiler here, the real monsters are humans, the military officer who sees over the captured aquatic creature. It is hauntingly beautiful and its depiction of hatred to those who are different or “other” is painfully resonant with the time in which we live. Put this on your “must see” list.

March 18, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Sitting on a plane for hours (and many more to go; geez, Australia is far away) is a great opportunity to listen to new music and to revisit old favorites. This time, it is Lucy Dacus and her album Historians, the new sophomore release from a 22-year old indie artist that writes with relatable, real-life lyrics. Just on a second listen and while she insists this isn’t a break up record (as we know, 50% of all great songs are break up songs), it is full of loss and pain. Worth the listen so far. For the way back machine, it’s John Prine and In Spite of Ourselves (that title track is one of the great love songs of all time), a collection of duets with some of his “favorite girl singers” as he once described them. I have a crush on Iris Dement (for a really righteously angry song try her Wasteland of the Free), but there is also EmmyLou Harris, the incomparable Dolores Keane, and Lucinda Williams. Very different albums, both wonderful.

What I’m reading:

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece on Christopher Steele presents little that is new, but she pulls it together in a terrific and coherent whole that is illuminating and troubling at the same time. Not only for what is happening, but for the complicity of the far right in trying to discredit that which should be setting off alarm bells everywhere. Bob Mueller may be the most important defender of the democracy at this time. A must read.

What I’m watching:

Homeland is killing it this season and is prescient, hauntingly so. Russian election interference, a Bannon-style hate radio demagogue, alienated and gun toting militia types, and a president out of control. It’s fabulous, even if it feels awfully close to the evening news.

March 8, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We have a family challenge to compile our Top 100 songs. It is painful. Only 100? No more than three songs by one artist? Wait, why is M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” on my list? Should it just be The Clash from whom she samples? Can I admit to guilty pleasure songs? Hey, it’s my list and I can put anything I want on it. So I’m listening to the list while I work and the song playing right now is Tom Petty’s “The Wild One, Forever,” a B-side single that was never a hit and that remains my favorite Petty song. Also, “Evangeline” by Los Lobos. It evokes a night many years ago, with friends at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, when everyone danced well past 1AM in a hot, sweaty, packed club and the band was a revelation. Maybe the best music night of our lives and a reminder that one’s 100 Favorite Songs list is as much about what you were doing and where you were in your life when those songs were playing as it is about the music. It’s not a list. It’s a soundtrack for this journey.

What I’m reading:

Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was in the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list and it is easy to see why. Lockwood brings remarkable and often surprising imagery, metaphor, and language to her prose memoir and it actually threw me off at first. It then all became clear when someone told me she is a poet. The book is laugh aloud funny, which masks (or makes safer anyway) some pretty dark territory. Anyone who grew up Catholic, whether lapsed or not, will resonate with her story. She can’t resist a bawdy anecdote and her family provides some of the most memorable characters possible, especially her father, her sister, and her mother, who I came to adore. Best thing I’ve read in ages.

What I’m watching:

The Florida Project, a profoundly good movie on so many levels. Start with the central character, six-year old (at the time of the filming) Brooklynn Prince, who owns – I mean really owns – the screen. This is pure acting genius and at that age? Astounding. Almost as astounding is Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. She was discovered on Instagram and had never acted before this role, which she did with just three weeks of acting lessons. She is utterly convincing and the tension between the child’s absolute wonder and joy in the world with her mother’s struggle to provide, to be a mother, is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Willem Dafoe rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. This is a terrific movie.

February 12, 2018

What I’m listening to:

So, I have a lot of friends of age (I know you’re thinking 40s, but I just turned 60) who are frozen in whatever era of music they enjoyed in college or maybe even in their thirties. There are lots of times when I reach back into the catalog, since music is one of those really powerful and transporting senses that can take you through time (smell is the other one, though often underappreciated for that power). Hell, I just bought a turntable and now spending time in vintage vinyl shops. But I’m trying to take a lesson from Pat, who revels in new music and can as easily talk about North African rap music and the latest National album as Meet the Beatles, her first ever album. So, I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning Damn. While it may not be the first thing I’ll reach for on a winter night in Maine, by the fire, I was taken with it. It’s layered, political, and weirdly sensitive and misogynist at the same time, and it feels fresh and authentic and smart at the same time, with music that often pulled me from what I was doing. In short, everything music should do. I’m not a bit cooler for listening to Damn, but when I followed it with Steely Dan, I felt like I was listening to Lawrence Welk. A good sign, I think.

What I’m reading:

I am reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not usually a reader of biographies, but I’ve always been taken with Leonardo. Isaacson does not disappoint (does he ever?), and his subject is at once more human and accessible and more awe-inspiring in Isaacson’s capable hands. Gay, left-handed, vegetarian, incapable of finishing things, a wonderful conversationalist, kind, and perhaps the most relentlessly curious human being who has ever lived. Like his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, Isaacson’s project here is to show that genius lives at the intersection of science and art, of rationality and creativity. Highly recommend it.

What I’m watching:

We watched the This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode, the one where Jack finally buys the farm. I really want to hate this show. It is melodramatic and manipulative, with characters that mostly never change or grow, and it hooks me every damn time we watch it. The episode last Sunday was a tear jerker, a double whammy intended to render into a blubbering, tissue-crumbling pathetic mess anyone who has lost a parent or who is a parent. Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones, the surprising Mandy Moore, and Milo Ventimiglia are hard not to love and last season’s episode that had only Brown and Cephas going to Memphis was the show at its best (they are by far the two best actors). Last week was the show at its best worst. In other words, I want to hate it, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, don’t binge watch it. You’ll need therapy and insulin.

January 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Drive-By Truckers. Chris Stapleton has me on an unusual (for me) country theme and I discovered these guys to my great delight. They’ve been around, with some 11 albums, but the newest one is fascinating. It’s a deep dive into Southern alienation and the white working-class world often associated with our current president. I admire the willingness to lay bare, in kick ass rock songs, the complexities and pain at work among people we too quickly place into overly simple categories. These guys are brave, bold, and thoughtful as hell, while producing songs I didn’t expect to like, but that I keep playing. And they are coming to NH.

What I’m reading:

A textual analog to Drive-By Truckers by Chris Stapleton in many ways is Tony Horowitz’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning Confederates in the Attic. Ostensibly about the Civil War and the South’s ongoing attachment to it, it is prescient and speaks eloquently to the times in which we live (where every southern state but Virginia voted for President Trump). Often hilarious, it too surfaces complexities and nuance that escape a more recent, and widely acclaimed, book like Hillbilly Elegy. As a Civil War fan, it was also astonishing in many instances, especially when it blows apart long-held “truths” about the war, such as the degree to which Sherman burned down the south (he did not). Like D-B Truckers, Horowitz loves the South and the people he encounters, even as he grapples with its myths of victimhood and exceptionalism (and racism, which may be no more than the racism in the north, but of a different kind). Everyone should read this book and I’m embarrassed I’m so late to it.

What I’m watching:

David Letterman has a new Netflix show called “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” and we watched the first episode, in which Letterman interviewed Barack Obama. It was extraordinary (if you don’t have Netflix, get it just to watch this show); not only because we were reminded of Obama’s smarts, grace, and humanity (and humor), but because we saw a side of Letterman we didn’t know existed. His personal reflections on Selma were raw and powerful, almost painful. He will do five more episodes with “extraordinary individuals” and if they are anything like the first, this might be the very best work of his career and one of the best things on television.

December 22, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished Sunjeev Sahota’s Year of the Runaways, a painful inside look at the plight of illegal Indian immigrant workers in Britain. It was shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker Prize and its transporting, often to a dark and painful universe, and it is impossible not to think about the American version of this story and the terrible way we treat the undocumented in our own country, especially now.

What I’m watching:

Season II of The Crown is even better than Season I. Elizabeth’s character is becoming more three-dimensional, the modern world is catching up with tradition-bound Britain, and Cold War politics offer more context and tension than we saw in Season I. Claire Foy, in her last season, is just terrific – one arched eye brow can send a message.

What I’m listening to:

A lot of Christmas music, but needing a break from the schmaltz, I’ve discovered Over the Rhine and their Christmas album, Snow Angels. God, these guys are good.

November 14, 2017

What I’m watching:

Guiltily, I watch the Patriots play every weekend, often building my schedule and plans around seeing the game. Why the guilt? I don’t know how morally defensible is football anymore, as we now know the severe damage it does to the players. We can’t pretend it’s all okay anymore. Is this our version of late decadent Rome, watching mostly young Black men take a terrible toll on each other for our mere entertainment?

What I’m reading:

Recently finished J.G. Ballard’s 2000 novel Super-Cannes, a powerful depiction of a corporate-tech ex-pat community taken over by a kind of psychopathology, in which all social norms and responsibilities are surrendered to residents of the new world community. Kept thinking about Silicon Valley when reading it. Pretty dark, dystopian view of the modern world and centered around a mass killing, troublingly prescient.

What I’m listening to:

Was never really a Lorde fan, only knowing her catchy (and smarter than you might first guess) pop hit “Royals” from her debut album. But her new album, Melodrama, is terrific and it doesn’t feel quite right to call this “pop.” There is something way more substantial going on with Lorde and I can see why many critics put this album at the top of their Best in 2017 list. Count me in as a huge fan.

November 3, 2017

What I’m reading: Just finished Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, her breathtakingly good second novel. How is someone so young so wise? Her writing is near perfection and I read the book in two days, setting my alarm for 4:30AM so I could finish it before work.

What I’m watching: We just binge watched season two of Stranger Things and it was worth it just to watch Millie Bobbie Brown, the transcendent young actor who plays Eleven. The series is a delightful mash up of every great eighties horror genre you can imagine and while pretty dark, an absolute joy to watch.

What I’m listening to: I’m not a lover of country music (to say the least), but I love Chris Stapleton. His “The Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” is heartbreakingly good and reminds me of the old school country that played in my house as a kid. He has a new album and I can’t wait, but his From A Room: Volume 1 is on repeat for now.

September 26, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished George Saunder’s Lincoln in the Bardo. It took me a while to accept its cadence and sheer weirdness, but loved it in the end. A painful meditation on loss and grief, and a genuinely beautiful exploration of the intersection of life and death, the difficulty of letting go of what was, good and bad, and what never came to be.

What I’m watching:

HBO’s The Deuce. Times Square and the beginning of the porn industry in the 1970s, the setting made me wonder if this was really something I’d want to see. But David Simon is the writer and I’d read a menu if he wrote it. It does not disappoint so far and there is nothing prurient about it.

What I’m listening to:

The National’s new album Sleep Well Beast. I love this band. The opening piano notes of the first song, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” seize me & I’m reminded that no one else in music today matches their arrangement & musicianship. I’m adding “Born to Beg,” “Slow Show,” “I Need My Girl,” and “Runaway” to my list of favorite love songs.

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