STORIES TELLING STORIES

My mother has been moved to hospice care to spend her remaining days. I've been spending as much time with her as I can. I decided to read her stories and share it over livestream. This is "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote.

It's been a difficult few weeks but we're doing the best we can as a family right now. After discovering that the hospice house has really good internet speeds I decided to try livestreaming last week. For my test, I did a reading of "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote. For those of you that don't know, I played Truman a few Septembers back in the one-man show "TRU" and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I picked up a first-edition of this book to use as a prop on stage but I never properly read it... just the bits that made it into the dialogue for the show. But even though it's been a few years, from the start to the end of the read, you can hear me slipping into a lighter version of my TRU accent.

Anyway, I can't necessarily say there will be more of these, but if time and energy allow I may see about doing a few more. The musical season finale is currently up in the air, but I'm giving myself between now and new years to see if I can pull it off. But I'm not putting pressure on myself to make sure it's done.

Sending my love and best holiday spirits to you and yours as we close in on Christmas and New Years. 2020 was a hell of a year... let's hope 2021 brings us brighter days.

“This week on LOCKED IN A VACANCY we’re celebrating a milestone… having hit 25k downloads for the STORIES TELLING STORIES podcast! It may seem like an unusual metric to celebrate, as most social media looks for nice, round numbers to mark as milestones… but 25 is my lucky number and we’re going to make it count. In celebration of the occasion, I’ve got a special guest joining us this episode… She’s an actor, television presenter, content creator, dog mom, and Professional YouTuber with over 140k subscribers and counting. Her content runs the gamut from the weird to the wonderful and I’ve had the absolute pleasure getting to know her over the past few years. From Dublin, Ireland, please welcome “certified lovely human” Diane Jennings!”

Diane and I sit down over the course of an hour for an unscripted chat; asking questions and sharing our personal stories about acting, content creation, comparing and contrasting our different processes and methods, the struggles we’ve faced as fairly introverted people during lockdown and our pandemic experiences as a whole. This episode captures just a small fraction of our conversation which may be released down the road as a Patron-exclusive reward.

And after our chat, Diane and I act out a dramatic reading of THE LANDLADY by Roald Dahl.

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

I Don't See the Branches, I See the Leaves by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/dtv/

Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

As of release, today is Thursday, November 12, 2020. It is notable for being the birthday of a relative and patron of the podcast so I am wishing you a wonderful one, Holly, and I hope that despite 2020 being how 2020 is, that you are able to enjoy it wholeheartedly as you enter your third decade on this Earth. You deserve it!

Looking around at the very real prospect of a “third wave” taking hold across America and across the world, we sit here still, locked in a vacancy, wondering if and when it will ever get back to normal… but until people start taking personal responsibility for themselves and those around them we’re still a long way off… and it’s looking like it’s going to be a cold, dark, lonely winter…

We tend to focus on older works on this series, due primarily to logistics, and legality when it comes to sharing works. Today, we’re taking a look at a piece by a relatively new and fresh-faced author, in the grand scheme of things. Andy Weir is best known for his novel “The Martian” that was made into a Matt Damon-led Blockbuster directed by Ridley Scott but he’s far from being a one-trick pony. Perhaps his best-known work is the subject of today’s reading… a short story called “The Egg” that has to date been translated into over 30 different languages and presented in various forms across all sorts of media. The Egg tells the story of a man who dies rather suddenly and is brought face-to-face with God; taking the opportunity to glean the answers to life’s biggest questions. And given the state of the world right now, we at STS decided to offer our listeners a nice egg in these trying times…

This is… THE EGG by Andy Weir… on LOCKED IN A VACANCY...

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Holly

Tamara

Tom

Maddy

Carrie

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

It’s that time of year again to get SPOOKY! I am DJ Bland and welcome to this very special episode of Stories Telling SCARY Stories! ooOOOOooo! Today we’re bringing you three super short tales of terror and fear, drug up from the depths of the unnamed internet, sure to send a shiver down your spine, just like the Simpsons apparently still do, but let’s be real, who even cares what happened beyond season 10?

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Holly

Tamara

Tom

Maddy

Carrie

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

Horror as a media genre relies on the subterfuge of normality to achieve its goals… drawing from basic fears derived over millions of years of human evolution and experience. The collective “we” learned to fear things that can, have, and indeed do cause harm to our person and our fellow humans… things that creep in the darkness, large teeth, claws, falling from great heights, living things deceased seemingly returning to this mortal coil, things that suck our blood, eat our flesh, and stalk us relentlessly. But some of the greatest sources of suffering and fear are not external, and instead dwell within us… disease, famine, illness, plague and pestilence. But none perhaps more fear-inducing than that exercised upon our consciousness by our own minds. The terror invoked by a towel draped over a chair in the dead of night. A pile of leaves come to life in vivid detail injecting adrenaline into our bloodstream as the fight-or-flight instinct takes over reasonable thought. The end of logic and reason on the backbone of the will to survive.

The masters of horror carefully crafted tales of mystery and mystique, tapping into subtle and abstract human fears, casting a wide net to invoke a response in the greatest number of people. But as all things do, the iconic tropes and ideas of generations past have worn down the intended response of an aging population, calling for even greater and grander ideas... obscene and obscure tropes, trials, and tribulations, and ridiculous effects to invoke the coveted response. Fear of the unknown has been usurped by the jump scare… monsters of the mind have been pulled into ultra high definition focus, revealing all their secrets and leaving nothing to the imagination. The greatest source of horror and dread resides within the human mind… not within the instant gratification of an on-screen reveal… not with a character coming face to face with the object of their adversity… and not with a physical monster, regardless of how many tails, teeth, or tattered tears in blood-stained skin they may have.

Stop showing us what to fear… let the thing that goes bump do it in darkness. The horrors of the unknown corners of the unwilling mind are far greater, far darker, and far more personal than any personification of fear that could grace the stage, screen, or page…

What would you do if this evil lived inside you? Unseen. Unknown. An insidious disease so deadly and disastrous that it eradicated the majority of humanity in a matter of months? A pandemic with an unknown source and an unknown cure? A painless but assuredly fatal condition that robbed your body of the very bones that hold it all together? And what would you do if you and your child were somehow immune, secret survivors of this condition, watching on as a population desperate for a cure is tearing apart others in search of a solution? Would you speak up and help, or resign yourself to becoming the last human being on earth?

This is our story… crafted by F. Paul Wilson, a contemporary master of modern horror and suspense whose work has appeared across print media for nearly 40 years. His story SOFT tells the story of just such a pandemic that robs its victims of the calcium in their bones… turning a body into a puddle of muscle and mush in a matter of days… a condition with no cure… and no immunity… or so they thought…

This is… SOFT… by F. PAUL WILSON… on LOCKED IN A VACANCY, STS SPOOKTOBER 2020.

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Holly

Tamara

Tom

Maddy

Carrie

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

In 1842, transcendent author of romanticism and godfather of american horror Edgar Allen Poe released “The Masque of the Red Death,” a short story that follows prominent fictional character Prince Prospero and his lengthy attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms.

The story has been a ripe source of interpretation and exploration in the years since it was published, with movies, tv shows, novels, and other stories based in little or large part on the elements that Poe presented in the original piece sharing their own vision for the mystic and disconnected world in which Prince Prospero resides.

ALLEGORY

At the date of publication for this episode, October 6th, 2020, the globe is still mired in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. The American President, Donald Trump, himself the world’s largest driver of coronavirus misinformation, as per a study released by Cornell University, has just walked out of the Walter Reed Medical Center where he was dosed with a mysterious cocktail of therapeutics after he and his wife tested positive for the virus just days before. Based on his cavalier attitude towards the virus, it’s no surprise he eventually contracted it. And in the coming days it has been revealed that an abundance of White House staff, security, and individuals who attended unmasked events have also come down with the virus.

Prince Prospero, in his auspicious castle, built walls and barriers to separate himself and his chosen elite from the common people, to party and drink and commune without fear. But the Red Death found an entrance… whether by deliberate sabotage or a false sense of security and undiagnosed infection from an asymptomatic individual we may never know… this invisible enemy… this great disease… pandemic… one that “should not be feared” and yet can seemingly be quelled or at least comforted by access to a team of doctors and experimental medication that no insurance company would dream of paying for… it’s so simple… it’s not a bad virus… I’m wincing in pain with each breath as I stand aside the White House doors but after only three days and a cocktail of steroids, narcotics, and antivirals... here I am! A hero! A beacon of hope for all who contract this condition. One that should not be feared - - nay, I dare say I am BETTER now for having had it… stronger… faster… 20 years younger… and better able to lead and to serve with my first-hand knowledge of the true effects of this disease…

The Prince retreats to his castle… with all the pomp and circumstance of a high school prom… all but certain of himself and his decision. Except now the Prince himself wears the Mask of the Red Death, bellowing clouds of death and disease from his damaged lungs with each uncovered breath… sending his microscopic minions home with all who work inside the walls of his hallowed castle…

Now I am become death… destroyer of worlds…

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Holly

Tamara

Tom

Maddy

Carrie

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

What started as a silly idea of mine a little over three years ago has morphed into something I could never have anticipated. In episode 1 I finished the silly submarine story that Mrs Hazeltine shared in the film that inspired this podcast. I wanted to tell stories. I wanted to write. I wanted to flex my artistic muscles during my theatrical off-season. And now as the STS podcast is on its 50th episode, I’m taking a moment to reflect on just how far this series has come.

The biggest change in the last three years was the introduction of the pandemic-induced LOCKED IN A VACANCY series… What was originally intended as a mini-series that documented my personal journey through covid lockdown week by week, sharing classic stories about solitude and isolation rather than crafting my own, has become in a way more of a flagship series than the original STS idea. This marks episode 20 of LIAV. I can’t believe it’s come this far, but I also can’t believe the pandemic has lasted this long… with no end in sight. LIAV has brought in a massive influx of new listeners and become such a gem in its own right that I foresee it outlasting the pandemic and carrying on in its own right well into the future.

I’ve also spent a great deal of time working on ways to continue to expand the quality and variety of content that STS can offer. With new shows in the development stage that explore new formats and styles, from new material to deep dives with the creative minds behind the work I’m excited for what the next 50 episodes are going to bring our way.

That being said, we’ve still got a few months to go before we wrap up season 3… so far the biggest season yet! As we shift into October there’s going to be a renewed focus on the terrifying and the maccabe as we build towards our annual halloween special. And as we pass from November into December the holiday season will take hold, whether we like it or not, and I’ll be doing some deep dives into the literary and dramatic archives to make season 3 extra special. And as is tradition, we will end Season 3 as December draws to a close with our very special musical episode (but you’ll have to wait and see what I’ve got up my sleeve this year!).

It’s hard to believe that the year is already beginning to wind down. In a lot of ways I still feel trapped in a perpetual state of March, when I began working from home and adjusting to a life lived mostly within my own four walls. Weeks turned into months and now we’re staring down the end of the year. 2020 has been a year for the ages… one that united a lot of the world, but not in the way we would have liked. A year that has brought challenge after challenge, month after month, each seemingly more upending than that last, but also not coming as a major surprise to anyone at this point. We will be telling the story of the pandemic years… of 2020 and beyond and what it was like to live through it. Decades from now it will be relegated to the annals of history, with preserved elements of social media becoming almanacs of the human experience. This podcast has become, in a way, my oral history of the year that was 2020, as told through pop culture and literature for a global audience. Will a podcast still exist decades from now? What is the value of social history through data centers that could one day be shut down? Without a living, breathing oral history, how can we hope that our stories will survive? A century from now, when I’m gone, I’m sure my story will disappear with the memory of my person. Unless I’m able to tell something profoundly important, that can move enough souls to engrain it into the collective consciousness. The internet can be shut down… books can be banned, burned, buried, and forgotten… but an idea can live forever as long as we continue to share it.

If you look back through civilizations across history, the common thread of shared knowledge is the oral storytelling tradition… passed down from generation to generation… that’s how we learn, grow, teach, entertain, and develop as a people. I’ve mentioned in the past my affinity for the storytelling traditions of some of my ancestral people of Ireland and Scotland, but I share a deep bond with another string of storytelling in my blood, as a descendent of the Abenaki nation; a collection of tribes native to the northeast region of the united states and canada. I was exposed to the stories of the Abenaki at a young age and they have always stuck with me, being the sources of projects and reports in school, and stirring my imagination to become a storyteller in my own right.

One of my favorite stories is a tale set around the Abenaki demigod Glooscab, or Gluscabi depending on the tribe, who was known to be something of a trickster. So today, to celebrate 50 episodes of storytelling, I’m going to share a story from the culture of my native american people… this is “GLOOSCAB THE TRICKER,” an Abenaki Legend, on LOCKED IN A VACANCY…

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Holly

Tamara

Tom

Maddy

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died. She was a trailblazer. An icon. A hero and an inspiration to generations of young women. Through sheer will, tenacity, and some may say an abject bitter hatred that affixed her soul to her aging bones, she fought through multiple cancers, chemotherapy, and surgeries that would bring most people to their knees and yet she persisted. Call her a hard-ass. Call her a bitter old bitch, I’ve seen it all. The tenacity of this woman, strong in her convictions and compassionate in her dissension, is unparalleled in the history of the United States Supreme Court. There is nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said… So for that I will say simply this… let her words be a beacon of hope for the hopeless, a rallying cry for the oppressed, and a thorn in the side of all who would work to roll back the rights she spent a lifetime advancing.

For my global audience members, you may not understand the significance of the United States Supreme Court… unlike any other elected office, a Supreme Court justice is not bound by term limits and election cycles. Outside of confirmation in the United States senate, once a justice is seated, their position is held for life… pending death, retirement, or impeachment. The constitution states that justices shall hold their offices during good behavior and historically only one justice has ever been impeached; Samuel Chase in 1905. And the right to fill a vacant supreme court position falls to the president, to make a nomination to the senate, who then have to confirm (or vote on) said nominee. This has turned what was traditionally a bi-partisan affair into a hyper-partisan circus in recent memory to “skew the court” in favor of the left or the right. You would think at their core a Justice would be an individual who is beholden to no party and is independent of partisan politics, like a referee at a sports game. But playing politics more like a game of strategy has led to Presidents digging deep into party roots to nominate justices for lifetime positions that best suit their parties best interest.

And some may say Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was just as much a pawn of President Bill Clinton in that regard… a liberal choice by a relatively liberal president who would see to it that the policies of the left were kept in place. Just as recent nominees to the court have been hyperconservative choices meant to skew the court to the right in the hope of striking down or at least rolling back the effects of the American Care Act, Roe v. Wade, Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act.

Within the checks and balances of American Democracy, no one branch is meant to hold any more power than another branch. For example, both houses of congress can pass a bill that they wish to become a law. The President has the power of VETO which allows him to reject the bill, preventing it from becoming law and returning the bill to Congress. Congress can then choose to vote on it again, and if it passes with a ⅔ majority, then the bill automatically becomes a law and overrides the VETO. And if we have an existing law, it can be challenged in court as being unjust or unconstitutional. That lawsuit can make its way as far as The Supreme Court, who have the power to strike down a law for being unconstitutional, essentially acting as a check against the President and Congress. And finally, Congress has the power to modify the Constitution itself through amendments which can then act as a check against the supreme court, whose responsibility is to determine if a law is in violation of the constitution.

This may seem confusing, but a circle of three that keeps itself in check is something that exists across pop culture as well, like the triforce from The Legend of Zelda, and the three ancients from Eternal Darkness. It’s not quite the same thing, but you get the idea…

And that brings us back to the significance of the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. If the current administration works at unprecedented speed to push a new nominee through congress before the election (or even before inauguration day) it will lead to a conservative super-majority in the court that, given the ages of the current justices, will stand for a generation. This means that cases in regards to a woman’s right to choose, election interference by foreign bodies, challenges to the Affordable Care Act, and many more that have been at risk for years will be placed upon the chopping block. Women seeking abortions for any reason will once again be forced into the shadows… to back-alley clinics, with physicians who perform them once again subject to arrest and imprisonment… the tenets of the Affordable Care Act that opened up health care access to millions of Americans will be stripped away, leading to millions more uninsured Americans that will clog emergency services and cause an unimaginable burden on health and human services in the time of covid… congressional gerrymandering will continue to expand unencumbered… the fundamental right to vote and access to polling stations will be limited or even restricted to certain classes of Americans, based on anything from immigration status or race, sex, or color. The amendment mandating term limits for President will be overwritten, setting the stage for a “president for life” like those so admired in China and North Korea by our current commander in chief. And if this all seems far-fetched and unlikely, the wheels are already in motion… committees are already in place… a third term commission is already hard at work… These are real, casual facts and we know this because they told us exactly what they want to do.

The November election may be the last of its kind in American politics. Or the first of its kind, depending on how you look at it. Do we allow the despots to operate in plain sight and return America to a great state of cold war fervor, of housewives, Jim Crowe and back-alley abortions? Or do we stand upon the shoulders of fallen heroes like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg who fought tooth and nail, until her dying day, to preserve the American ideal from tyranny? Do you want blood on your hands, or just shaving soap?

This is “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Telez… on LOCKED IN A VACANCY… dedicated to the fierce, immortal spirit of Ruth Bader Ginsber… may her memory be a blessing.

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon…

Jim Ross

Holly

Tamara

Tom

Maddy

Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories

There’s an epidemic affecting content creators that seems to be coming to a head. This issue is not a modern one… but our increasingly interconnected world has seen it increase to millions more than ever before, spanning every platform, and across every conceivable medium. You may not have experienced it yourself, but I guarantee you know someone who has. It can start harmlessly enough… with an unsolicited DM… a quick compliment… a baited hook… And it can quickly devolve into anger… hurling slander… doxxing… death threats… additional messages and attempts at contact across multiple platforms. Showing up at a place of employment. Showing up at home. Knocking on the front door for hours. Sleeping in the back garden. Peeking through the windows. Leaving notes and gifts interspersed with professed gestures of love and explicit details about how they will take your life… your family members’ lives… kill your pets… and that there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

And statistically… they’re right.

99% of online stalking cases that are taken to trial end in the defendant walking free, without being charged. They may be issued a restraining order, which they’ve received in the past and simply walk through. They will continue. And they will either force the creator off the web and into a life of solitude and PTSD, forever looking over their shoulder… even littered with the occasional note “I’m still coming for you,” or, like so many, force them to continue creating in order to support themselves, knowing their stalker is out there, watching and waiting…

If this sounds like a gross over exaggeration then you haven’t been paying attention. In the last week I have had several of the content creators I follow come forward, either publicly or behind community walls, with their own stories of stalking… from persistent and vulgar messaging, to attempts at doxxing, death threats, attempted assault and abduction, and more. This is a problem that predominantly affects female creators, but I know men who have also been victims of these tactics. Most are still creating but a few have been forced away.

The natural reaction is, unfortunately, to blame the victim. “Learn karate… buy a gun… get a dog… move house… get a different job.” Beyond the ridiculousness of those other “solutions” when is the last time you were being stalked at work by someone who was threatening your life and the only solution you were offered was to get a new job? A lot of the creators I’m talking about; streamers, YouTubers, musicians, etc… do this for work. This is their job. They are self employed content creators, making their living online, which these days is absolutely vital. When your work is creating content online, you can’t just walk down the street and “get a new job.”

I’m refusing to name names and I’m leaving information intentionally vague for privacy reasons, but some of the things I’ve been told are disturbing at best and horrifying at its worst. One name I will mention, because of the campaign she started, is “Sweet Anita.” For the unaware, Anita is a Twitch streamer who has been publicly dealing with a stalker that has committed nearly all of the above mentioned infractions against her, including making death threats towards her publically in her livestream chat, and being picked up and questioned by police a block and a half from her house, with the knife in his pocket that he told her he was going to kill her with… and who was released from their custody, then and there, a block and a half from her house without charge. She has detailed the account of her struggle against this stalker in a video on her YouTube channel and I highly encourage you to check it out, as it also includes stories from other creators who share their own stories of stalking and abuse from within their own communities.

A defining takeaway from all of their stories is the shockingly impartial response from police and even the FBI in dealing with their cases. They are met with apathy and indifference from those who are sworn to protect them. They don’t uphold restraining orders, they don’t take these threats against their lives seriously, and even in the rare instance they are arrested and charged only 1% go to jail for their actions or face any sort of significant repercussions.

People will continue to stalk and harass and threaten and KILL content creators at will because there are no repercussions... because until they sink in that blade or pull that trigger or swing that bat at the back of their head then nobody in law enforcement cares. Bianca Delvin was only 17 when she was brutally murdered by an individual who turned around and posted pictures of her decapitated head and dismembered body online for the world to see... Are you paying attention yet??

Perhaps this is a matter of mental health… but when it affects so many people it becomes a matter of public health. But what can I do? I care. I’m a good person. Easy… The next time you write a comment or send a DM stop and think for a second… you have a choice… you can perpetuate this culture that is leading to unspeakable acts of harassment and abuse, or you can not. To paraphrase a fellow creator, “99% of the comments I get are grand. They’re lovely things from nice people and that’s fine… but it’s that 1% that forced me to adopt a policy to never answer my DMs.” If what you’re trying to say in a DM you would be ashamed for your mother to read… or if you wouldn’t dare say it in a public comment section… then don’t say it. Don’t send it. You can appreciate the content and take great pleasure in what they create but a creator doesn’t owe you anything. Let me say that again… A.CONTENT.CREATOR.DOES.NOT.OWE.YOU.ANYTHING. So if it pains you to not say anything, then say something nice in the comment section and leave it at that. A simple “Hey, I love your content, here’s a picture of my dog!” can make a creator’s day. But leave it at that. They are not your friends. They will not date you. They won’t be your tour guide when you come to town. They are people, just like you, trying to make a living and live their life.

So let’s work together. Call out hate and abuse when you see it. Demand our platforms like YouTube and Twitch adopt stricter stalking and abuse policies. Advocate for verified accounts so law enforcement can better track down individuals who make threats against other people. And hold your local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies responsible for protecting the people they’ve sworn to protect. Just because someone makes their living producing YouTube videos or streaming on Twitch does not mean they don’t deserve our protection, our support, and our respect. Join the movement at #StopStalking and let’s bring this sort of behavior to an end. The 99% of us lovely humans far outweigh the 1% toxic minority… their aggression will not stand… not anymore…

And in case you think this is a new sort of behavior driven by the digital age… here is a second example of similar levels of senseless aggression in the form of a short story by influential American novelist Jack London… As our introductory story “The Stalker” by Lawrence E. Rogers, told a more contemporary tale of a man stalking a woman and nearly taking her life before ending up convicted and sent to prison (an unfortunately best-case circumstance) “Moon-Face” tells the story of a man with an abject hatred towards his neighbor, driven by nothing, but ending piece by piece as he single handedly dismantles the man’s life before seeing to it that he meets a brutal end… as well as his dog…

The tragic and sudden loss of Chadwick Boseman, after a secret four-year battle with colon cancer has shocked and saddened the world. This is my eulogy for a remarkable man, told in part with his own words, and in relation to Plato telling of The Death of Socrates.

Having been a fan of comic book stories for as long as I can remember, being alive for the rise and supremacy of Marvel at the box office has been an absolute dream. Seeing childhood heroes brought to life outside of cartoons, without the campy suits and low budgets of previous attempts is something I never thought I would see. These films crossed barriers and brought people together from all walks of life… young and old, geek and noob, men and women… it was a good time to be a comic book fan… until you looked around at the assembling avengers and realized that it was a whole lot of white people being the selfless, reckless, and sometimes careless heroes.

When Marvel announced that there would be a Black Panther movie, I was excited at everything that the series could bring to the MCU. Beyond introducing Wakanda and classic comic book storylines that could now be told, I was eager to see what the introduction would do for a global audience that so far has little in the way of representation in the universe. And I recall a great deal of backlash on social media… “oh, they’re just trying to be WOKE,” “Oh, there goes the MCU,” “This will probably be marvel’s “Cat Woman,” and other ridiculous and short-sighted statements seemingly set on sinking this script before it could be shot to celluloid. And coming off the heels of Phase 2 it was fair to be critical at this stage of the MCU, as a few stumbles had been had (Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 to name a few) but if they could get this right, it had the potential to be something special. But even my optimism couldn’t have foreseen a billion dollar blockbuster arising from the origin story of a lesser-known and controversial character so far removed from the existing formula. And the series was made better for it. The fanbase was made better for it. And an entire race of people was given a gift. I can’t personally relate to or understand some of the heritage and the tradition Black Panther displayed but I can certainly appreciate it and know that it’s incredibly important that black people of all ages are able to see something like this. It was not made for me. And I’m perfectly fine with that. I still thoroughly enjoyed it and think it was one of the best films of that phase in the MCU, thanks in no small part to the excellent casting choice of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa.

Losing a hero is never easy… And I’ve lost several from my point of privilege as a mostly white man in America. I’m fortunate in that I’ve got countless icons in every medium in which to draw inspiration. But losing Chadwick Boseman to such a debilitating disease, one in which he struggled so privately yet continued to put out tremendous work, is unfathomable. Four years of a fight against Stage 3 colon cancer… all while filming and working and struggling in silence, with only a small circle of trusted people who knew the truth. A circle who deserve commendation in their own right for respecting his wishes and keeping to his wishes to not divulge his condition to anybody. He wanted to be strong for his community. He wanted little kids to have a hero in his work, to show them the true meaning of being a leader, and what you could grow up to be.

You weren’t just a King for comic book people… You were a King for YOUR people, for all people who have ever struggled to find a fair and powerful representation of themselves on screen. And before we dive into this week’s story, an account on the death of Socrates, written by Plato, as one last homage to a humble and brilliant man, I’d like to share a few of his own words, from a commencement speech he made at Howard University in 2018, to give hope and inspiration to the small but global audience that enjoys this podcast. This is for you Chadwick… Rest In Power… Wakanda Forever...

“Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever you choose for a career path, remember, the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose. When I dared to challenge the system that would relegate us to victims and stereotypes with no clear historical backgrounds, no hopes or talents, when I questioned that method of portrayal, a different path opened up for me, the path to my destiny.

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