On Hope, Reality, and the Changing of the Guard

Tomorrow is January 20th.

Tomorrow is the day after January 19th, which happens to be (every year in fact) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Tomorrow is the inauguration of the new President of the United States of America. It also happens to be the inauguration of the U.S.'s first black president. There's tremendous symbolism in all of that. People are excited and hopeful. I am excited and hopeful. Mostly. With so much of the countries hope pinned to Obama's slim breast pocket, there is inevitably going to be a huge crush of disappointment as things don't get done exactly as people had hoped, or as quickly.

I never thought that in my lifetime (I will be 32 on Sunday), a black anybody would even be nominated to run for a party, let alone run a very tight race and come out the winner in the end. For all that we are celebrating a more inclusive era, there's still a lot of racism out there and racism isn't something that just goes away. People are inherently given to variations of tribalism. There is and always will be an automatic division that determines an "us" and a "them". Whether us and them are divided by color, race, sexual orientation, political philosophy, religion or nationality, it will always be there. We can't get around it. Most of the time I don't think that we really want to get around it. Groups and classes and divisions are comforting for people. There is fear in the unknown and the unfamiliar. We like to be comfortable and let's not forget that comfort is what got us into the mess that we're in.

( It's not all doom and gloom, but let's say that it *is* darkest before the dawn. )

Fic Rec: all glory rites, trojan kings by fated_addiction (TSCC, R, John/Cameron, John Alison)

Title: all glory rites, trojan kings
Author: fated_addiction
Fandom: Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles
Rating: R

I love the weaving of past, present, future that was and maybe wasn't. Such a gorgeous layering of elements, acknowledging the trippy aspect of fucking around with time travel that the show has just barely scratched the surface of.

This is so harshly nuanced and the connections between John and Cameron and Alison and Cameron (again) are awesome! I also love the martyr imagery. John trapped by his destiny so completely that he's even trapped by the people he's supposed to be saving; trapped by the knowledge of past and present and that in the end he can't really save anyone because *this*, the end of the world, always happens. It never not happens.

Go read and feed the author

Remember, Mom said, just remember that you've got to carry some things alone.

Fic Rec: a fifty-two card holiday by fated_addiction (TDK, R, Joker)

Title: a fifty-two card holiday
Author: fated_addiction
Fandom: Dark Knight
Rating: R

I love how the Joker is a haunted man -- haunted by Harvey Dent (and a little by Rachel Dawes), by his own madness and, perhaps most importantly, haunted by the Batman. The atmosphere of chaos and shadows ride the knife's edge of perceptions so beautifully. There is this disconnect that both is and isn't. The Joker is both aware and not aware of the way that he is fractured. He acknowledges that he is a broken thing very clinically, but not as if it makes a difference or changes the way that things are. He's just insane and that's a double edged sword because its both true and not.