Some things simply must be known...

...and this is one of them.

Firefly

The TV show Firefly is unique: whatever you can say about it, and why it was canceled halfway through its first season, you certainly cannot deny that fact. Unlike other science fiction shows, Firefly has no aliens, no worm holes, no black holes, no time travel, and no light speed travel. In fact, despite the oddness of the match, Firefly is a marriage of two genres: science fiction and western. From the twangy guitar theme song to the vast plains of certain planets, to the horses and guns that still exist 500 years in the future, the western influence is not something easily missed. And yet, it is well integrated, with the plot line being that when humans “outgrew” Earth, they formed other planets, but did not provide the settlers with much more than the bare necessities to start life with, giving the “Core” planets a more futuristic and modern look, while leaving the “Outer Rim” planets with a more historical Western feel.

Another area where Firefly is different from other shows is its focus. Though the plot seems fairly simple and action-centered, a crew of mercenaries dealing with various jobs that always seem to go wrong in some way, action is not the point of each episode. Instead, the focus of Firefly is love. The love of spouses towards each other, the love of a captain for his crew, the love of a crew for their ship, the love of siblings for each other, and even the love of one man for his collection of guns. Character and relationships are key, and though each of the various elements may or may not be unique by itself, when put together they make Firefly very special indeed.

The first of these elements is one of the main characters, a man of God, a “Shepherd”. Religious characters are not new to media, of course, but rarely are they so palatable to a Christian as is Shepherd Book. Here is a man who is a strong believer in the Lord and his Word, who is always the voice of peace-making and love, and yet who is neither weak nor with religious doubts. He can fight when lives must be saved, but does not wish for the death of any, even those who seek to kill him. Not only this, but his character is treated with respect by the others, even though none of them seem to be anything but atheists (and one is bitterly against religion), and he is beloved by all. Perhaps he does not bring a true influence of religion to the whole show, but for a piece of modern media, made by non-believers, the positive portrayal of Shepherd Book is a deep breath of fresh air.

Another element rarely seen, a healthy happy marriage that stays together through the whole show. As is shown many times throughout the show, Wash and Zoe are bound to each other by more than affection, though that isn’t lacking, but a commitment to each other that is able to stand all disagreements and spats. There is no talk of divorce between them; this marriage is firm and solid, something that would be nice to see more often.

And lastly of the elements that I will mention, one of the main focuses of Firefly is on the loving relationship between a brother and sister. Loving siblings have been portrayed in books and movies before, though certainly less than siblings who irritate each other, several examples being Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, and, more recently, The Series of Unfortunate Events. However, these stories almost always focus on the effects of outside events on the relationships, not on the relationships themselves alone. In Firefly, however, we are given a rare treat.

Simon and River Tam have always been close to each other, as is shown in flashbacks, but the test of their relationship comes when River begins sending her brother coded letters from the special government school where she is at, letters that say “they are hurting me". On his way to the medical elite, Simon drops everything and spends years and his entire fortune to rescue his sister, to find only after he has done so that scientists have been playing with her unique brain for reasons unknown to him. Apparently their reasons were important, though, because now both brother and sister are on the “most wanted” list, and Simon must take River, who is left with extensive mental damage from their experiments, with him on the run. And so we meet them in Firefly: River, a genius who is mentally ill, and her brother Simon who, it seems, will do anything to keep her safe from those who tortured her. Throughout the series Simon shows an incredible selflessness in his relationship with his sister, who is left so unstable that she needs constant attention and care, and though things are hardly perfect for them, their relationship (to someone who has a deep bond with her siblings) feels more "normal" than the easier but more dysfunctional relationships usually shown among siblings. This is love as the gospels show it, the truest form that moves a person to give up all selfish desires, all personal goals, simply to serve and even lay down a life for another. We see this love sometimes between friends or lovers, but Firefly shows us that media has forgotten that siblings can show it as well. And for those who don’t fall into the sibling rivalry that is portrayed as normal, Simon and River Tam will warm your heart and maybe move you to tears.

Moving from the more meaningful to the merely entertaining elements, there is more to Firefly than the characters. The show abounds in witty writing—even the most dramatic episodes have more than a few quotable lines, and a listing of all our favorites would take several pages, and many of them would not be half as good out of context or I would offer some choice gems here. Another interesting aspect, though small, is the fact that Firefly seems to be the only science fiction show or movie that recognizes that there is no sound in space.

But as much as there are positive elements to this show (and its sequel movie, Serenity), it is unfortunately the product of popular culture, and is not without unnecessary parts. There is a great deal of bad language (though thankfully due to the show’s nature much of it is in untranslated Chinese) and fairly often innuendos or uncomfortable scenes of a steamy or violent nature, though nothing that is very difficult to edit. On the broader scheme, there is an element of law-breaking on a similar scale to the piracy in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. For our family, though, the editing was a price we were willing to pay, and we very much enjoyed this series, and are quite astounded that it was canceled.

Quote

I'd post about the fact that I am legally able to vote today, but I do not really know what there is to say about it, so instead I'll post this completely non-relevant thing. I've never read the source of it, but was intensely tickled:

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it's hard for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel." -Queen of Wands webcomic

Writing fan-fiction and criticism

Though I am a writer, I spend most of my time in the fan-fiction community, writing continuations, prequels, gapfillers, etceteras, to works that I enjoy. Though in a way this is taking an easy way out, using a prepackaged world and characters, it is also more difficult as you are directly following in the footsteps of a "great" author. Yes, all original writers are following some genius in whatever genre they choose, but the connection is more vague and the pressure to equal greatness less prevalent. However, when writing a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, though Jane Austen may have given you the characters, you have to work hard to keep them within her world and vision to some extent so that your readers do not feel cheated and protest. Keeping characters "in character", following "canon", and catching a certain "tone" are of grave importance to most fan-fiction writers. Because there is that burden, then, fan-fiction communities overflow in advice and tutorials for writers. There are essays ad infinitum ad nauseam on how to keep your characters from becoming too perfect, how to avoid deus ex machina, and other such helpful advice. Any mistake that any writer could ever make will be warned against there.

However, after spending a good deal of time almost solely in that community, reading, writing, and editing fan-fiction, I started reading published original fiction again. And then I noticed something ironic: some amateur fan-fiction writers seemed to care more about writing well in their non-profit stories than published authors did in theirs. One writing aspect that is very often commented upon in fan-fiction is the art of showing, not telling, and it is a mistake that will be very quickly caught by good reviewers and editors (yes, they even exist for fan-fiction). And yet, I read two different best-selling published works where almost all character information was told to you by the narrator. In fact, in the case of one book, some of the fan-fiction based upon it was better at showing than the original work.

Though this situation at first seems counter-intuitive, it is not impossible to make sense out of it. What it comes down to, I suppose, is who is reading. Someone who reads fan-fiction reads it because they want to know more. They finished the book (or movie) and their imagination saw possibilities and options beyond the end, and they wanted to explore them, whether through their own writing or some other author's. Often, they will have their own ideas of what happened before or after, and most who read fan-fiction will eventually write it as well. How is this different from most people who read original fiction? Though I hesitate to make generalities, I think fan-fiction draws writers almost exclusively, because writers must first and foremost have very active imaginations, and that is what makes fan-fiction what it is.

However, there are plenty of people, the majority I would say, who read original fiction only to be entertained or instructed, and either like what an author said or do not but take their involvement no further. They may or may not understand why they like a story, because much of understanding how fiction works comes through seeing how it is created. The author of original fiction has more control, then, knowing that much of the audience will not know where to look for the wires, and knowing that if the writing is good enough the wires will not be obvious. But when a writer reads something, he or she knows all about wires, because he or she has laid them, and knows more readily when they are poorly or masterfully hidden. With that in mind, it makes sense that an audience composed mostly of writers (like the fan-fiction community) would be more critical, because they are more aware of the process involved. Likewise, an author writing for that audience must be more careful if he or she wishes to please that audience, because the readers are not there simply for entertainment, to soak up what an author has to say, but instead want something very specific: writing that adds favorably (in their often exact specifications) to a work they enjoyed.

Though of course this observation is full of generalities—writers can be poor at judging writing, likewise non-writers can be excellent, and not all fan-fiction communities strive for excellence—it is not without intrigue, to me at least, especially when paired with the fact that writing fan-fiction is most often looked down upon as immature and easy. I won't discuss the former point, but the latter—well, those of us who have done it are disinclined to share that opinion.

Who would guess?

I am in a state of shock...how did I get so high? I'm guessing it was because I stuck through to the end, and that our house has over 3 computers, because I was certainly guessing on a good deal of the questions. Still, I do wish I was computer savvy enough to warrant the term "computer geek", so the score is quite accurate.

Please Excuse Me

Please excuse me
For this blog post
I wanted to write something serious
Speculative and introspective
Something intelligent, so to say

But then our neighbor
Described our family
As quiet

And now you must excuse me
As I roll around the floor
Laughing my head off

(Please excuse the half poetic tone as well)

Rules for quoting

The Sacred Rules of Quoting Movies:

I. Thou shalt not quote from a movie thou hast not seen.

II. Thou shalt not quote the same quote that thy brother or sister has just used.

III. Thou shalt not quote to the extent that thy other brothers and sisters feel nauseated.

Life begins again

We're back, safely returned from our first camping trip without Clankeeper. For this trip we went back to a site we had visited before, a place so wooded that you could wander around through brush for hours without seeing a campsite, yet the campsites themselves were close enough that we could all cook and eat and worship together. Unlike most people, our family camps, not to see sites, nor to hike, nor to tour, but to—well, camp. As city folks who love nature, we find it vacation enough to be away from the airport noise, and as we almost always go with our church family to some place where the boys can run through the woods playing army, who needs site-seeing to enjoy camping? Though I enjoyed myself, I was glad of course to be back home, but not entirely. Being away from the hustle and bustle of life, even the mostly home-bound life we live, was a large part of the joy of camping. It seems a shame still to me that we cannot always live like that, filling our days with simple pleasures instead of running around frantically.

Camping

Wednesday morning we will be leaving so that we might take part in that great family tradition of camping, sleeping under the stars—well, no, we'll have tents. Communing with nature, then—as long as we are dolloped with bug repellant and sunscreen, and have propane cookstoves so that we might eat the same diet as at home. Living simply—with our air mattresses, iPods, special coffee, portable showers, and nail-clippers. Enjoying a break from everyday life—by eating, sleeping, running in the woods with wooden guns (the boys), talking with other homeschooling families, singing, Sunday worship, and doing pretty much everything we do at home.

Hmm.

But then, there will be no blogging, no email, and no internet. What a heavy trial indeed! No wonder we only do this for a few days a year...

Glad farewells

Farewell, oh mine, oh aged computer, farewell. No more thy dim screen shall I behold. I gladly take my leave of thy inconsiderate consistent crashes after the viewing of 50 pages on the web, and thy warped screen which squeezes thin the top and bottom, and makes the left side appear sagging and bowed in. Forever may I have to forget thy nonexistent CD drive, and thy speeds that scarce rival the tortoise, though mayhap I shall look back with more fondness when safely in the past all these terrors lie. Aye, the time is full ripe for us to part, for a new Apple© laptop has arrived by mail today, and my heart wilt forget all our years together and advance without regret into a new and (hopefully, for mine eyes' sake) brighter age.

A serious question, after all

Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde, has a lovely subplot in which Hamlet (yes, Prince of Denmark) is taken from his play into the real world. Anyone familiar with the character and with the experience of being in a coffee shop should appreciate this, even if it is set in an alternate universe:

“What will you have Hamlet?”
“What is there?”
“Espresso, mocha, latte, white mocha, hot chocolate, decaf, recaf, nocaf, somecaf, extracaf, Goliachino™...what’s the matter?”
Hamlet had started to tremble, a look of pain and helplessness on his face as he stared wide-eyed at the huge choice laid out in front of him.
“To espresso or to latte, that is the question,” he muttered, his free will evaporating rapidly. I had asked Hamlet for something he couldn’t easily supply: a decision. “Whether ‘tis tastier on the palate to choose white mocha over plain,” he continued in rapid gargle, “or to take a cup to go. Or a mug to stay, or extra cream, or have nothing, and by opposing the endless choice, end one’s heartache—”
“Hamlet!” I said sharply. “Cut it out!”
“To froth, to sprinkle, perchance to drink, and in that—”
“He’ll have a mocha with extra cream, please.”
Hamlet stopped abruptly once the burden of decision was taken from him.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing his temples. “I don’t know what came over me. All of a sudden I had this overwhelming desire to talk for a very long time without actually doing anything. Is that normal?”

What many have forgotten...

"We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." John Adams

No more dancing

Our lessons of English Country Dancing have ended for the summer, and we finished them up with a ball on Sunday after church. We had dance cards, tea and punch, and did both the line dancing most known from Austen movies and period waltzing, finishing up by learning the polka. Also, with the steps our teacher taught us, we taught ourselves Mr. Beveridge's Maggot (otherwise known as Elizabeth and Darcy's Big Dance in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice) and performed it for her. We are all looking forward to when we start lessons again in the fall.

A grammatical nightmare

This is a quote that should tickle all linguists and philologists. The quote comes from The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, in which fiction is run by a government and style is regulated.

"Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren't you working on this?"
Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. "Indeed. The uses of had had and that that have to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the imaginotransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.”
“Go on.”
“It’s mostly an unlicensed-usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty-three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its had had/that that ratio.”
“So what’s the problem in Progress?”
“That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.”
“Hmm,” said the Bellman, “I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?”
“Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,” explained Lady Cavendish. “You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval, but had had had not; equally is it true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.”
“So the problem with that other that that was that...?”
“That that other-other that that had had approval.”
“Okay,” said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, “let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC’s approval?”
There was a very long pause.
“Right,” said the Bellman with a sigh, “that’s it for the moment. I’ll be giving out assignments in ten minutes. Session’s over—and let’s be careful out there.”

Backwards results

Every Thursday I go and assist a third-grade teacher in the public schools, rather as an introduction the career I am pursuing. The class I assist with is wonderful, but there is one student in particular who stands out. It did not surprise me in the least when I heard today that he had once been in a school for gifted students, but it did surprise me exceedingly to hear that he had been dropped from that school. This student is polite, friendly, cheerful, fun, and very intelligent and articulate; a joy to work with in the classroom. It would seem to most people that he should have no obstacles in his education. However, this student who seemingly has it all is lacking something that is, unfortunately important: this boy is white. Yes, the only reason he was dropped from the gifted school was because of "cultural diversity".

Now, as before, I have to ask myself: can the people who make these decisions be thinking through their actions? Do they not realize that they are creating an aristocracy, where (sometimes despite abilities) certain groups of people are given special privileges? Can they not see that this satisfies neither equality nor justice? What happened to color blindness? What is America coming to?

Last week I filled out several forms for entrance into community college. Though the fine print stated all the reasons that could not be used to evaluate my application (gender, race, country of origin), the form itself asked what race I was. After the story I heard today, I wish I had marked "Other".

Running here, running there, running everywhere

As a member of a homeschooling family who enjoys the "home" part of it all very much, my life was always relatively sedate. Yes, we went on field trips, camping trips, and occasionally other outside activities, but the time spent at home seemed by far more plentiful. Of course, I knew that as I got older things would get more busy as I finished my journey to adulthood and all its responsibilities, but knowing is not the same as understanding.

My revelation was not grand nor dramatic, for it was not difficult to see how busy my life was starting to get as I began working, but these past three days served as an extreme indication of my life to come.

Cue scene Tuesday: nothing much happening, just a normal day in the house, with chores and enough time for me to catch up on all my blogs and online groups. Night falls, and Wednesday morning opens the drama. At 10:30am we all go down to a homeschoolers' play day, and do not get home until 2:00pm. A man comes by to fix the furnace, leaving me with enough time to do some chores (including the weekly gathering of due library books) before heading to an exercise place at 3:30pm. I get home at 5:00pm, just in time to finish chores before heading to the library and church. We don't get home until 10:00pm, leaving me just enough time to get to sleep before waking up at 6:30am on Thursday. I take the bus down to the school where I am assisting, arriving at 9:00am just before school starts. School lets out at 3:30pm, and I have just enough time to gather my things and catch a bus home, arriving there at 5:00pm, with just enough time to throw on some pasta and sauce for dinner. After a grand total of fifteen minutes for eating, we hop in the car again and drive to a performance of Sheridan's "The School for Scandal", and get home just in time for me to go to sleep at 11:00pm. Friday morning, I am up again early, and we go to an amusement park for Iceman's 12th birthday, not getting home until 5:00, where I have babysitting from 6:00pm to 11:00pm, when my day ends. Thank the Lord that Saturday and Sunday are empty...for now.

And here I am, adding college this fall...what am I thinking?

The Greatest Gift

I went to a wonderful meeting recently that was very inspiring and
convicting. I heard one enthusiastic speaker after another sharing about
the joy and blessings in their lives. I was also given some very practical
advice by very experienced women.

The questions that really touched me were:
What am I passionate about?
What is the greatest gift I have received?

Oh, that second one was easy. I lived a very sinful life before I came face
to face with Jesus. He drew me up out of the mire and I am daily thankful
for his forgiveness and the hope of heaven.

That first one was a bit convicting, though, because I am often most
passionate about my family. I can often be heard to passionately discuss
politics, homeschooling, breastfeeding, homebirth, and even doctrinal
issues. But I do not often speak passionately to others about Jesus. And
when I do, it is usually to His followers.

At this meeting I heard speaker after speaker encouraging me to talk to
strangers I meet at the store and tell them about the "greatest gift I had
received." To share my passion with them. Boy, that is hard for me to do.

I also listened to one speaker who shared how she gets others to "accept the
greatest gift." She would share the blessings of the gift and then ask them
this question in closing, "Do you need more information or are you ready to
accept the gift?" It seemed so easy when she spoke of it.

I was reassured that if one person wasn't interested, not to worry, because
there will be another one down the road. Just keep offering the gift to
everyone without pre-judging. You never know who will accept it.

It was an amazing day. There were hundreds of people there listening to
these speeches but I doubt very many of them came away convicted the way I
did. And the reason is that I was at a Tupperware convention.

I've gone to the Dark Side

As a homeschooled student, I must have commited some kind of heresy by choosing teaching as a career path, but it is one that I do not believe I will regret. I had been considering teaching for quite some time, and when a friend of ours who had been homeschooled but became an elementary teacher offered to let me assist her in the classroom, I jumped at the opportunity to see if this was a path that I really wanted to follow. And so, every Thursday, I go down and help her with her 3rd grade class.

Though still a firm advocate of homeschooling myself, I have greatly enjoyed my days working at the school, and both the students and other teachers have been a joy to work with. I have seen both sides of the teaching experience, attending meetings where teachers swap curriculum ideas in much the same manner as homeschooling mothers, and also helping out small groups of students in the classroom in much the same manner as helping siblings at home. My days at the school fly by, and often I am surprised when it is all over and done with. Though someday I wish to homeschool my own children, I believe that if that never happens I could spend a happy life as a teacher.