Indian Epics - Spring 2020: Week 11

Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts

Monday, April 13, 2020

Microfiction: Two Short-ish Rants (Sorry it's Political)

A Flash: Word Count 952

The most important question in all of this: how much is our humanity worth? Communism is seen as a big scary word due to its association with Russia and China. The conservative population is correct that taxes are communism, that political correctness is running rampant and interfering with daily lives, and that we have too many undocumented immigrants. What I take issue with is the disdain that always laces their comments. A change from the way of life you knew is not necessarily bad simply because it's new.

On communism: For me, an extra $20, or even $50, out of my paycheck is acceptable if it means I know a struggling family has food on the table; that the five year old I see walking to kindergarten every morning never has to worry about having a roof over her head or where her next meal will come from. Having quite a few high school friends/acquaintances whose families were stuck on welfare for a significant portion of their childhoods, I am forever thankful that the program was there to keep them on track to enter my life. Not to mention, many who are against such support networks don't realize that they themselves are dependent on them. Communism is could be wonderful if it means your fellow Americans are taken care of.

On "that PC bullshit": They call it political correctness, I call it human decency. We don't get to decide what genuinely hurts others. All we can do is apologize for the unintended harm and do our best to make up for it going forward. It costs nothing to be a kind person. I was asked by my grandmother over winter break about my feelings on being told we can't use (insert derogatory term that I'm blanking on at the moment, or possibly pronouns?). My response to her was something along the lines of "I'm not a member of this group, and therefore have no room to comment on their experiences/preferences. It costs me nothing to be a nice person, and if it makes the other party happy/more comfortable then why not?" Having a few close trans and non-binary friends personally, I was prepared for a fight fit to ruin Christmas for the next few years. However, for the first time ever, the most outspoken woman I know was left speechless and just nodded. I'd like to think she wasn't expecting such a well thought out and articulated answer from her "liberal snowflake" almost-21-year-old granddaughter, but it's more likely that the passing of her mother (my great-grandmother) just a few weeks earlier had her re-evaluating some things.

On immigration: There are two DMVs in my area. Over winter break I had the misfortune of needing to get my license renewed, but it would mean I'd have my horizontal license for my 21st birthday so I braved the crowds. The closest location had a wait slowly creeping north of two hours, so I drove the 45 minutes to Hagerstown where I was in and out in less than 30 minutes. Within 5 minutes of entering the building, the older gentleman in line behind me struck up a conversation about what each of us was doing there. He was nice enough, but being a lone female I was a bit uncomfortable chatting with a strange man. Not a huge deal as he was easily in his 60s and walked with a cane, seemingly harmless. Upon complaining about the wait in Frederick (as to why someone from Walkersville was all the way out there), he responds with, "Ya know why I don't like Frederick?" Having lived there virtually my whole life, I could think of a few reasons, mostly to do with the snotty rich kids in Urbana. I simply raised an eyebrow. "It's all those damn Mexicans." I was in absolute shock and his wife smacked him with her purse. Having witnessed a poor man attempt to get his license at the same time I was applying for my permit a mere 5 years earlier, and seen him get denied due to his lack of SSN, I knew there was a heavy immigrant population. The look of utter sadness and hopelessness on this man's face as my dad struggled to rapidly apologized in spanish for not being able to help still breaks my heart (He had asked us for assistance with the kiosks - english was clearly not his first language and Dad was in his fire department uniform. This tends to draw both respect/trust - the purpose in this situation - and requests for assistance from the general public). I had never met anyone so ballsy as to voice that type of opinion in public, and to a complete stranger no less! The ugly truth is that undocumented immigrants are a symptom, not the disease itself. Many, if not all, would gladly be fully accountable and contributing members of society if not for the near impossibility of navigating the US immigration system.

I can thankfully say that they're not all bad though. To end on a good note: A close friend of mine from high school actually immigrated to the US from Romania with her parents when she was two (legally). While working at Staples two summers ago, she was asked by a gentleman coming through her check out line, "Where are you from?" An innocent enough question. She responded with the name of the town our high school is in. He glanced at her name tag ("Ioana") and goes, "No, where are you from?"

"Oh, uh... Romania?"

This man, with the sweetest smile and most genuine tone, says, "Welcome to America! We're glad to have you!" We all still chuckle about it on occasion.

In conclusion: "Okay, Boomer" 😂

Group photo from our last day of Senior year, because I miss seeing everyone's beautiful faces (Personal Photo - May 25, 2017)
Back Row from Left to Right: Noni Hill, Katheryn Acker, Ioana Draghici (feature in story), Brittany Doster, Kylie Andrew
The absolute buffoon who decided to lay down on the cafeteria floor in a dress and heels: That would be me! :)

Drabble: Word Count 100

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that:
A) Political parties aren't government institutions
B) The constitution specifically calls for a separation of church and state
C) It's okay to not associate with someone over their political views if said views show a blatant disregard for the fact that you and/or your loved ones are, in fact, human beings
D) When one is elected, their duty is to all of their constituents, not just those who voted for them or "play nice"
E) Use lower concentrations of DHA in your fake tan to avoid turning orange

Author's Note:

So this isn't technically fictional writing. I made the mistake of getting on Facebook recently and I just needed to rant a bit. This is mostly @my extended family. I basically just brain dumped and then classified them based on the final word count.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Week 11 Story: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, YOU Fish!

Author's Note:

**Trigger Warning** Panic/Anxiety attack. I don't know if it was having to think about how mine feel in order to write the scene that set it off, but I don't want anyone else to have issues. The particular paragraph will be in red if you need to skip over it.

Welcome to your life as a fish! This story is based on the Jataka tale The Three Fishes as told by Ellen C. Babbitt. Three brothers are traveling up river and hit civilization. The fish whose perspective you'll be experiencing wants to return home where it's safe, but his brothers refuse. They end up getting caught in a fisherman's net, so Very-Thoughtful (you) comes up with a plan to free them. It works! The brothers then agree to return home. I wasn't a fan of the names, so I changed them. These particular fish are based on the Chanos Chanos, or Milkfish, found in the pacific ocean. There is surprisingly little known about the Milkfish, although it is a close relative of the Salmon. The beginning of this fish's life will be expanded on in my storybook after I have time for some further research.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You're in a sack. "Gotta get out. Gotta get out. Gotta get out..." This mantra plays over and over again in your head. No other thoughts can push it out. You begin wiggling as hard as you can. "Gotta get out!" You squirm and push until... "Freedom!"

You bust out into the open water. "Gotta swim. Gotta swim. Gotta swim." There's something coming. You don't know what, or even how you know, but you know that out of the millions of other clear squiggles in the water around you, only a few of you will make it.

via Wikimedia Commons

"Come on Gillbert! I want to leave already!" your youngest brother Krilliam whines at you.

Your other brother, Sheldon, scolds him, "Oh leave him alone, Krill. Berty is just nervous... as always."

You sigh and shake your tail. "Thanks Shell. Okay, fine, but I want it noted that I think this is a TERRIBLE idea!" Krill swims in a few rapid circles in excitement. He's been talking about wanting to go to the shallow waters for a few months now, but at the ripe old age of four your need to find a mate has finally begun to kick in as well. Despite the many risks of heading towards the humans, and your extreme anxiety about them, your biological urges can't be ignored any longer. "On one condition," you say after the bubbles from Krill's celebration drift away. "You both have to listen to me since I'm the oldest."

"By a few minutes!" Sheldon and Krilliam cry in exasperation. They both hate when you bring up the age difference, but their reactions make you laugh every time.

"It's not my fault my head got stuck in the sack..." Krill mumbles to himself. They begrudgingly agree, and with that you flick your tail to shoot past the two of them and shout "Last one to the reef is a stinky sea snail!"

The three of you race to the incline that marks the beginning of the reef, but you stop just short of it, suddenly frozen in fear. The icy chill of panic sweeps through you and the blood runs from your fins. You feel your gills stop moving and your tail slow to a crawling sweep. Your head is filled with visions of nets, hooks, talons, and any number of potential ends you and your brothers could meet by venturing further. "I can't. It's too dangerous. We'll all die." Your mouth suddenly begins working again and you inhale water as fast as fishily possible. It rushes out through your gills as you desperately struggle for oxygen. "We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die..."

Krilliam and Sheldon finally catch up to you and their presence snaps you back from the edge. The tips of your fins still tremble a bit, but you push forward with them as your breathing slowly returns to normal. Night has fallen, so you encounter no obstacles in your journey. The three of you settle down for a snooze in the sand and wait for morning.

When the sun rose, the hunt began. After two nights at the reef all three of you have managed to find females preparing to lay their eggs. On the third day, a large shadow approaches. It's the fishermen! While there have been a few boats out in the open ocean during your life, they were very infrequent and there was only ever one at a time. As a second shadow arrives from the opposite direction, you realize your worst fears are coming true.

Thankfully the fishermen don't stay long, as a storm began right after they dropped their nets. "Alright, we've all had our fun. I think it's time we went home," you desperately plead with your brothers. "There is danger here!"

"Just two more days!" Krill begs.

"Or even one more night! We can leave tomorrow morning!" Shell adds. You reluctantly agree and remind the two that they agreed to listen to you.

You stay for an extra three days, and on the morning of the fourth the fishermen return. Krilliam and Sheldon are too busy chasing each other around the reef in a game of tag to even notice the net that's been dropped right in front of them! You try to shout a warning, but they crash right into it. You feel the panic begin to set in, but shake it off. "Not now! I can freak out about this later! I need to save them, but how?" An idea pops into your head. You swim to the surface just beside the net and start splashing around to make it look like a fish has broken through. Then you dive back back down and go to the other side to do the same thing, making it look like there are now two holes in the net.

Assuming there were no fish left, the fisherman pulled it in by only one corner to inspect the damage. Your brothers race out of the trap towards you. Through panicked gulps, they both get out that they are finally ready to listen to you and return home. The three of you head back to the open ocean. For the next five years, you only return to the reef for two nights at a time and there are no further incidents.
When the disease starts to spread, you think nothing of it. Surely it won't reach you. Then the red spot appears. It isn't bad at first, but as the sore quickly grows you know your time is coming. You send your brothers away in the hopes that they will be safe. Your vision begins to blur. You feel yourself sinking. Unable to stop it, the water gets colder and darker. Then everything goes black.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Wiki Trails: from "Indian Epic Poetry" to "Informant"

Todays Wikipedia trail was completed with the help of my friend Shea since we're both trapped with our parents and decided to zoom chat with each other.

We began with Indian Epic Poetry and then went to canon. Which is different from a cannon! This type, spelled with only one "n", is a type of classical music. Pachelbel's Canon in D is a very commonly known one. A comedian named Rob Paravonian actually did a piece on this and I find it hysterical. It's called Pachelbel's Rant!

Next from there was ear. Yep! Like the human body part.

After ear, we finished up with informant. Apparently ear is a slang term for a police informant!