Thirty-one Days of Lovecraft: Day 25

I have been busy the past two weeks. I've made two round-trips to Billings (three hours, each leg), flown out to Oregon, spent a few days on the coast, presented at a conference in Billings (second trip) and then, of course, have my regular teaching duties. As a result, I have fallen behind in Lovecraft. My goal is to still finish the anthology this month, although at this point, that will necessitate 100 page days. And yet, as busy as I've been and the task that I've laid before me, it pails in comparison to what was done by Randolph Carter and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.

Thirty-one Days of Lovecraft: Day 10

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die....

In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

Ah yes, boys and girls, it's Cthulhu day.

Thirty-one Days of Lovecraft: Day Nine

I did a lot of reading to get back on track and learned that Lovecraft did NOT like New York. Like, at all. He did like twisted tales of horror though, so perchance it evens out? Read on for some Lovecraft analysis and a poem of my own!

Thirty-One Days of Lovecraft: Day Eight

As we move into Day Eight, the Mythos gets set up a little more and there's just some general creepiness. After the jump!

Thirty-one days of Lovecraft: Day Seven

I don't know how or why I came up with this

Full disclosure, I did not get to my reading target today. Instead, I'll give you something incredibly nerdy. Here is some original writing, a Lovecraftian take on the Eagles song 'Tequila Sunrise'.

Thirty-One Days of Lovecraft: Day Six

I thought, given that the stories are getting longer that I might do a post on a single story. So, today, I'm looking at Herbert West - Reanimator after the jump.

Thirty-one Days of Lovecraft: Day 5

Sketch based off of 'The Other Gods'.

Yeah, I didn't read on Day 4. Who cares? Let's talk about how good of a writer Lovecraft is after the jump.

The Stand and LotR: Part One

I had a full day of teaching and so I didn't get to read any Lovecraft. But, I wrote a rather lengthy comparison of The Stand and The Lord of the Rings last spring. So, I've got your literary analysis covered. Enjoy part one, in which Stephen King explains why the Fellowship didn't just throw the One Ring away:

Thirty-one days of Lovecraft: Day 3

In Day Three, Lovecraft takes a common motif in his writing and makes it much more intimate. Plus, what lies beyond out comprehension? Spoiler alert: it is terrifying!

Thirty-One Days of Lovecraft: Day 2

Day 2 saw some of the best writing that I've seen so far in Lovecraft, but also some of the worst. Read on, dear reader, if you dare!

My Truck and Coheed

In short, for the murders of those I court
I bless the hour that holds your fall
I will kill you all
                 -Coheed and Cambria, The Crowing

“We carried on, unnoticed
 Thinking that all dreams were ours for the taking”
                   -Coheed and Cambria, Atlas

Not going to lie, Claudio's hair is another reason why I love the band.

 My Truck and Coheed 

I think just about everyone has “their band”. I also think just about everyone has “their car”. Both are equally statements about who we are. Both are equally marketed to us. And while, I would not go so far as to say that your band and your car make you who you are, I think they go along way in demonstrating that.

I found both my car and my band at the same time. It was 2005. I had been driving a 1985 Nissan Dodson Pickup. Now, I loved this truck, despite the fact that it 1) did not have a functioning radio, let alone CD player; 2) had no air conditioning; 3) had no cruise control; 4) had very little in terms of horsepower; and 5) suffered from a continually slipping generator belt which either caused a loud squealing noise to come out of the engine or make it impossible to start.

I loved that truck for the simple reason that it was my first vehicle. It was my first taste of freedom. And it did (generator belt issues notwithstanding) run really well. I drove it to school, gave friends rides home, and when I graduated high school, made the 2,000 mile trek from Lake Stevens, WA to Carbondale, IL. No radio, no A/C, no problem. I simply rolled down the window and sang songs that I knew from memory.

A person’s first vehicle is also a sanctuary of sorts, and it’s where one’s musical tastes can shine. The 1985 Dodson was probably the oldest car in the student lot at high school, and I am even more sure it was the only one without a functioning audio system. I couldn’t even listen to the radio. This did not seem to deter friends from wanting a ride, and my truck was often full of four kids and we chatted away to pass the time.

So, it wasn’t until 2005 that I upgraded that I was able to find that musical sanctuary. My parents purchased for me a 2000 Nissan Frontier. It was black. It was higher up than the Dodson. It was bigger. And, it had a functioning audio system.

2005 was a big year of change for me. After two years of living on campus at Southern Illinois University, I moved off campus into an apartment. I was to have my own room. I had to cook on my own. I could keep my own hours without worrying about waking a roommate. And I also got really, really, really into Coheed and Cambria.

Lacking for a musical sanctuary, my musical tastes in high school were tame. I liked classic rock. Journey, Foreigner and U2 were my go-to bands, and this more or less reflected the tastes of my Dad (though, I am more fond of U2 than he is). I could really only listen to music in my room, and not having an iPod or anything like that, I played it fairly safe.

But now, there was no need for that. One of my roommates introduced me to Coheed, and the rest, they say, is history. It’s possible that any band I was introduced to during that year could have become my favorite, because now I could play music in my truck, sing along with reckless abandon.

Coheed and Cambria, for the uninitiated, is a “concept band”. While some bands will complete a “concept album”, in which the songs tell a story, Coheed’s entire discography was a continuation of the story. The story that they tell, without getting into the specifics is a very violent space opera, which follows the main character Claudio in his quest to avenge his murdered parents, Coheed and Cambria.

It also rocks.

For me, it was the perfect band to break into and declare independence from my old self. It was much harder rock than I was used to, the songs were gloriously violent, and maybe above all else, they were mine.

Coheed and Cambria gets some radio play, but I’ve never really considered them to be “big”. I had friends who liked them, but for the most part when I talk about them, I get blank states or, “oh yeah, I think I’ve heard of them.”

As the years went on, I bought more and more of their albums. I purchased the four-disc “Neverender” Live Shows. When Afterman: Ascension came out, it ended up in my truck’s CD player for months until Descension came out. I did listen to other bands, but the one that by far got the most play in the truck was Coheed and Cambria.

In the fall of 2014, I got to listen to Coheed in my truck for the final time. In the midst of all of this, I had changed careers, I had gotten married, and my wife and I were headed to Bozeman to trade in the Nissan Frontier for a Nissan Rogue. It wouldn’t be my truck, but our car. My wife doesn’t like Coheed, and I don’t care for country music, and so our road trips are usually soundtracked with podcasts. As I drove down Montana 16 to pick her up in Glendive, I took full advantage and blasted Second Stage Turbine Blade the whole way.

Of course, bands change as well. In October of 2015, Coheed released The Color Before the Sun, which departed from the Armory Wars saga, and was a stand alone album. The songs did not refer back to anything, they could just be taken as they were. The album was good, I have listened to it several times (even in the car, usually when driving by myself). But, far and away, my favorite song on The Color Before the Sun is ‘Atlas’. Atlas is a song that Claudio Sanchez penned to his newborn son. I really think it’s a beautiful song, and his love for his son really comes through in the piece. The song really resonated with me a year later, when Kodi and I learned we would have our first child. That was when the lines near the end of the song really started to mean something to me. The last verse, repeated once is this:

 There's no running away from what's been done, here
 Will you sink with the ship, or will you burn it down?
 Now, give us the man that you've been hiding
 'Cause this is your, this is your life, this is your life, now

 To me, this line, which seems on its face to be kind of violent and out of place in a song dedicated to your newborn, is actually a really touching reminder to Claudio, and to any dad. It’s time to be responsible. There’s no running away from it, it’s a big moment in your life. It’s up to you to make the most of it. Will you sink with the ship, or will you burn it down, is basically asking if the father will stay or destroy what he’s built. If there’s any doubt to the answer to that question, it’s answered in the next line. “Give us the man that you’ve been hiding” is a call for the man inside to come out. The man who will take responsibility, to provide, to do right by mother and child, that person needs to come out. The line,”This is your life now” probably does not need much of an explanation.

I listen to Atlas from time to time, and it has become one of my favorite Coheed and Cambria songs. It is by far the one I can connect to the most. Each time I listen to it, I feel something slightly different.

Coheed is going back into the Armory Wars. Vaxis Part One: Unheavenly Creatures is set to come out this week. I have loved the songs that have been released, and Unheavenly Creatures is such an insanely fun song, that it’s reminded me of all the reasons I loved the band in the first place. That song in particular has a sort of Favor House Atlantic vibe to it, The lyrics are fun, the pace is fast, the vocals are loud, the melody is unique. I sometimes felt during the Afterman albums that the band was taking themselves to seriously, and the songs weren’t as fun as they could be. I think that the Armory Wars deals with big issues and themes, and some seriousness is needed (it is about war, after all) but, one of the things that made Coheed work was that they clearly were having fun with their work. Their songs weren’t all dreary and nihilistic, there was a hopeful vibe to a lot of their stuff, and above all it was music that was simply fun to listen to.

I think the best example of this, might be The Crowing, which is quoted above. It’s a song about fulfilling destiny, and doing what needs to be done. And the way in which vengeance is promised is downright poetic.

I’m glad that Coheed is finding its groove once again, and I hope it continues. As for me, I might just have to find some reason to go on some solo road trips. There’s just something about the combination of the open road and Coheed that I can’t seem to resist.

Thirty-one Days of Lovecraft: Day One

I read over my page target for day one. Already a sign of madness? Perhaps... Let's see how things went on Day 1 of Thirty-One Days of Lovecraft.

If you read this anthology (HP Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction) from page one, you find Lovecraft's fiction in chronological order. This means that if you are expected to become scared right away, you're not in luck.


This isn't to say that there aren't some spine tingling passages in the opening 45 pages. The entity that speaks at the end of "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" says some chilling things. Things like, "How little does the earth-self know of life and its extent! How little, indeed, ought it to know for its own tranquility! Of the oppressor I cannot speak. You on Earth have unwittingly felt its distant presence-you who without knowing idly gave to the blinking beacon the name of Agol, the Daemon-Star."

In the opening few stories, I think Beyond the Wall of Sleep is by far the best, because it starts to really get into what Lovecraft is known for: cosmic horror. And the cosmos is horrific because it does not care about mankind. From the introduction, written by S.T. Joshi, "...Lovecraft, in a major departure from the previous horror tradition - and, in many ways, from the entire Western literary tradition which habitually if unconsciously stressed the centrality of human beings to the cosmos - would emphasize the insignificance of humanity in a universe that appears to be boundless both in space and time." To Lovecraft, man is so insignificant that we don't even know we're being oppressed by an ancient entity from beyond the stars. We can't comprehend what is going on.

The first story is "The Beast in the Cave" which is not bad considering it was written by a 15-year-old boy. But still, given what we know is coming in the anthology, the twist of the beast being a man and the narrator being rescued after a short time is a bit of a let down. But, as the stories progress, they get more and more nuanced and better. Take, for instance, "The Tomb" a story that has Poe's influence all over it. A boy obsessed with a burial tomb, who comments on his own unreliability as a narrator, who learns secrets from the past by communing with the dead, is a fun tale. It isn't scary, per se, if only because the narrator seems ok with what's going on.

Contrast this with "Dagon", which begins with the narrator saying he's going to commit suicide because he's been driven mad by what he saw. Or "Polaris" in which the North Star drives someone mad. These stories I can get behind because, well, if the narrator is distressed, then I'm distressed.

Madness count: Slow early on, but could make an argument for the narrator going mad in "The Tomb". "Dagon", "Polaris", and "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" all feature people going mad. A character in "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" goes so mad, on account of being possessed by a cosmic entity, but his body can't handle it and he dies. In "Dagon" the narrator commits suicide to stop feeling things.

Is that racist? Not too racist early on. "Polaris" does speak of "squat, hellish, yellow fiends..." but it's referring to a fictional race of aliens, so I don't know that I'd call it racist. Granted, it's not as if authors haven't hidden behind fictional races to say some pretty nasty things about people. (See also, Tolkein's Dwarves are maybe Jews?)

I did have to re-read the beginning of "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" a few times to make sure that I was correct in the ethnicity of Joe Slater, the person that will go insane and die from being possessed by a cosmic entity. He's an inbred person of Dutch Heritage living in the Catskill Mountains. However, Lovecraft writes some very unflattering descriptions of him throughout. Slater is, a "repellent scion of a primitive colonial peasant stock" and "pitiably inferior in mentality and language alike". Before he dies, the entity says of him, "He is better dead, for he was unfit to bear the active intellect of cosmic entity. His gross body could not undergo the needed adjustments between ethereal life and plant life. He was too much of an animal; too little of a man..." Again, this isn't racist for two reasons: 1) Lovecraft is writing about a white man and 2) I think we can give Joe Slater a pass because bearing the active intellect of a cosmic entity is probably very hard. Still, reading this and knowing of Lovecraft's racism still left me a bit uncomfortable during the story.

Up next: Memory, Old Bugs, The Transition of Juan Romeo, The White Ship, The Street, The Doom that Came to Sarnath, The Statement of Randolph Carter, The Terrible Old Man, The Tree, The Cats of Ulthar.

I'm reading more than 35 pages so that when I inevitable don't read for a day, I'm not way behind. See you tomorrow!

Thirty-one Days of Lovecraft: Pre-read

I decided that this October would be a good time to read some Lovecraft. A few years ago, I purchased "HP Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction" from Barnes and Noble. It has been taunting me ever since. I've always wanted to read it, but for whatever reason, I opted not to. 

Until now.

Before I begin reading, I thought I would write out what I know about Lovecraft and what to expect.

For someone who owns a Cthullu plush I have read only a few Lovecraft stories (and the call of the Cthullu is not one of them). As someone who enjoys science fiction, I feel embarrassed that I haven't read more. Time to rectify the situation.

So, what do I know about Lovecraft? I know that Lovecraft was an influential author of science fiction and cosmic horror. His writing helped to elevate the genre of science fiction. From what I think I know, a lot of his horror stems from man confronting an uncaring universe and uncaring cosmic entities.

I also know that Lovecraft was racist, extremely racist. This has been evident from the little reading that I've done, and from numerous scholars. Does that negate his writing? Does it taint his influence? I don't know.

One could argue that horror literature as a genre has a lot to owe to HP Lovecraft, though sometimes that homage has racist overtones. A novel that I really want to read, Lovecraft Country, uses racism as an evil as bad as anything Lovecraft concocted. I will probably read this in November.

Ultimately, the ability to separate Lovecraft's racism from the cosmic horror he writes will come down to an individual reader. Some can probably push it a way, some cannot. Neither of these is a "correct" reading of Lovecraft, or any author. It also would be unfair to make Lovecraft out to be the author with the most baggage. Hemingway, one of my favorite writers, is misogynistic.

Anytime you read an author from a different era, there will be a clash of values. This does not excuse Lovecraft's racism, nor is his racism just a product of our more modern times.  It is worth examining though.

That is what I hope to do.

Each day, I will read 35 pages. By doing so, I will finish the book by the end of the month. I will try to write updates. I'll also put up what's coming next in case anyone wants to follow along or has read stories.

First up: Introduction, The Beast in the Cave, The Alchemist, The Tomb, Dagon, A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson, Polaris, Beyond the Wall of Sleep.

How I made my college decision

Pulliam Hall at Southern Illinois University. I loved studying in the library at night and looking at the clock tower.

On Wednesday, a senior asked me how I decided to attend Montana State.It’s a valid question, given that as a senior, this student is probably struggling, or at the least wrestling, with the decision of what to do after high school. She isn’t the only one in the class.

However, the Montana State question is easy. My family all went there (mom, dad, brother, an uncle, cousins). When I went to get my teaching degree, there was little doubt as to where I would go. I lived in Montana just long enough to get in-state tuition, and down to Bozeman I went.

The harder decision was where I would go to get my first degree. I ended up going to Southern Illinois University. But, it was not an easy decision, and I figured I might think back to when I was a senior and explain how I ended up in Carbondale, IL.

The first thing that you need to know about this is that when I began high school, I didn’t even know SIU was a place. And probably, from day one of high school, it was probably a safe bet that I would attend Washington State University. My sister had gone there, I became a huge Cougar fan, I loved Pullman, and since we moved to Lake Stevens, I would get in-state tuition. Even when I was getting information from colleges, I didn’t really think I would go anywhere else. I was, it seemed, destined for Pullman.

My first bit of advice would be to get information. From anywhere. Literally. They’ll send it to you for free. I’d see a commercial that talked about Maine, and the next week I would have received my requested informational packet from the University of Maine. I got stuff from colleges in New Mexico. Iowa, California, probably Alaska. I wanted as much information as I could get. Plus, it is free.

You see, even though I knew I wanted to go to Washington State, I wanted to see what else was out there. I’m the type of person that doesn’t mind shaking things up. Also, by the time I became an upperclassmen, I got a serious case of wanderlust, and I wanted to see someplace new. I probably thought in the back of my mind, I would still go to WSU, but I liked to imagine what else was out there. I didn’t have much direction, more of an all-consuming need for all the information.

And then, the 2002 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament happened.

I love college basketball. It’s one of my favorite sports to watch. And when March Madness rolls around, I get into it. I mean, I seriously consider calling in sick for the tournaments opening games so that I can watch as much basketball as humanly possible. Like anyone else that loves the tournament, I get hooked on those Cinderella teams, and that year, Cinderella wore maroon.

Out of the Missouri Valley, the eleventh seeded Southern Illinois Salukis got their first upset when they downed Texas Tech 76-68. Two days later, the Salukis proved they weren’t one shot wonders, and they took down three seeded Georgia in a nail-biter, 77-75.

It’s one thing to get an upset in the first round, but to get two in a row is a lot for a program like SIU. You get a week of coverage. The school’s name is all over the news. And for a basketball-crazed junior who was wanting to explore the country, an obscure college town in the Midwest that was nicknamed the Salukis was right up my alley.

It was a rainy day in March or April, I’m going to guess a week after SIU’s two upsets, that I was in the guidance counselor’s office looking for colleges. I wanted to go into journalism, possibly work in radio. So, I searched for radio/television programs. To my surprise, Southern Illinois University was on the list. I said to my friend, “Oh, they’re like the Saluskis or something.” Using my “Ask everyone for information” policy, I asked them for information. A week later, I got a packet in the mail.

SIU had a top ten program for radio-television. It was in a small college town (something I was looking for). It was far away, which for me was a plus at the time. I arranged a college visit. My mom and I flew out to Carbondale, I think in May. I toured around campus, met some people in the R/TV program, and honestly, it just felt right.

Campus visits are important. I had been on a few. I remember touring the University of Wyoming (who, if they had kept their journalism program, probably would have gotten me, because I fell in love with Laramie and its scenery). I toured Oregon State University, and didn’t feel the same connection. I toured Washington State and I liked it, but it felt overly familiar. So, that’s my next bit of advice. Go to the college. Sit in on a class if you can. Talk with people. Spend the night. Find a local restaurant. Take in a sporting event. Try to imagine yourself on the campus, going through the campus bookstore, chatting with friends on the quad. I think the college that is right for you will literally grab you and say, “Here, you’ll be home.”

It was a lesson I didn’t fully learn until halfway through my freshman year at SIU. I was going through a serious bout of homesickness, and missing my family. One of my friends said, “We’re your family too.” And it was absolutely true. The bonds you make on a college campus are incredible. You will meet the most interesting people, you will have the most amazing experiences. You should want all of this to happen in a place that feels right to you.

I didn’t make my decision fully until December of my senior year. I had applied to five schools gotten into all of them, and then weighed my options. It is not an easy decision. But, I thought about the places I could go, the opportunities I had at each one, and ultimately decided on SIU. It was the best fit for what I wanted at the time. It was a small college town, it was far away, it had a great program for what I was looking for, and the basketball program was good. It checked all the boxes. Also, and again, this is probably the biggest thing: it felt right being on campus. One night in December I pretended to fall asleep on the couch and listened to my parents. They talked about where I was going to go. My dad guessed SIU. They seemed to agree. I think I told them a week later.

And so, then I got to go through the rigmarole of filling out housing applications, deciding on meal plans, registering for courses and what not. In August, my Dad and I set off for Carbondale, driving cross-country. I got their a week early for band camp, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Quick side note: when you go to college, JOIN SOMETHING. A fraternity or sorority, a group, the marching band, a club, something. College is massive and you will be around more people than you’ve ever known before, and you don’t know how good it feels to be walking through this sea of people, not knowing where you’re going, starting to miss home, wondering if you can cut it at college, when suddenly someone says, “Hey, what’s up!” It means the world. No joke, I took marching band and I had 100 friends before school even started. Be involved in the campus community.

This doesn’t mean, as you might have gleaned, that you won’t miss home. Going off on your own is a huge step. At SIU, at times, I was so homesick that I thought about transferring. But, ultimately, I had made some great friends and had some great opportunities at SIU and I decided to stay. I’m glad I did. Carbondale and SIU has worked its way into my heart. I recently read a column in The Southern Illinoisan titled, “Embrace SIU like the magical place that it is". And Carbondale and SIU truly were a magical place for me. I think back at my favorite study spot (top floor of the library, overlooking Pulliam Hall’s clocktower), the times at Quatro’s with my fraternity brothers, the long nights in the Comm Building putting together a radio show, the absolute insanity of SIU Arena when we hit a lay-up with 0.5 seconds left to beat Bradley, the times hanging out in the SUB, the week of band camp in the heat and humidity, going on wine trails, catching a baseball game on ‘The Hill’, studying the night sky on top of the sciences building, getting to know people from all walks of life in the Residence Halls, running around Campus Lake, camping out all night in front of the new Buffalo Wild Wings, staying up late and having those BS philosophical discussions that can only really happen in your twenties, learning that I did actually like biscuits and gravy from Mary Lou’s, and so much more.

See, while SIU and Carbondale are magical places for me, you have to think about what place is going to be magical for you. College is where you become you. You round out interests, make friends, have experiences (some good, some bad. It’s called being a human). It is the place where you will undergo a transformation into a new type of person.

Maybe that magical place is nearby. Maybe it’s the place that you have always dreamed of going to. Maybe it’s a place that you’ve never heard of. Wherever that is, I hope the college you decide is a great fit for you, and you find that place that you can call home. I hope this helps you in your decision making, at least seeing how I came to my decision. But really, choosing a college is a personal decision. What worked for me, might not work for you, and your criteria for what you want in a school may be different from the person sitting next to you. In a sense, it’s almost like choosing a serious boyfriend or girlfriend. Your criteria is your criteria. And maybe your friend will ask, “What do you see in that place/him/her,” and as long as you’re happy, it works.

Unless you go to Montana. Or Creighton. Who could ever stand those places?

On Felix and mortality

On August 15, 2012, Felix Hernandez achieved baseball immortality. He struck out 12 Rays, the last of whom was Sean Rodriguez. That last punch out put an exclamation point on a perfect afternoon. Felix spun off the mound, pointing to the sky in what has become an iconic moment in Mariners history.

Nearly six years later, we were reminded of Felix’s mortality. On August 7, 2018, Felix went six innings, giving up 11 runs, 7 of them earned. He struck out only 2 batters.

Felix broke into the Major Leagues in 2005, when he started 12 games for the Mariners. He struck out 77 batters, and was almost instantly crowned the King, and the one who would lead the Mariners to the promised land. Back in 2005, the playoff drought that is continuing to this day, could be chalked up to a few rough seasons. But, with a bona fide ace, it seemed that October baseball would return to Safeco.

In the years that followed, Felix went out every five days and more often than not, turned in a great game.  He consistently averaged 8 strikeouts per nine innings. He threw a perfect game, won a Cy Young Award, and went to six All-Star games.

In the meantime, the Mariners were sometimes dismal, sometimes missing out on the playoffs by only a few games. No matter, Felix soldiered on. He declared that Seattle was his city. He never chased a ring, never left. He was loyal to a franchise that seemed content to ride out on the memories of 1995 and 2001.

All of this made the events of last night that much harder to take. Felix has no doubt struggled this year, but of all nights, this was the night where he seemed done. The velocity wasn’t there, the touch wasn’t there (he walked four). Afterwards, Felix looked distraught. His magic arm had let him down.

Now, this isn’t the end of Felix, but it may be the end of Felix as we know him. Felix may not be the power pitcher that he was, but if he can find his touch, learn to paint the corners, he may yet contribute to the rotation.  Life is, after all, about reinvention.

Felix is a year younger than I am, and I have already reinvented myself. I used to work in radio news, found that I did not enjoy that, and became a teacher. My current career is much more rewarding, and I am much happier than I was.

Now, obviously, there are differences between changing a pitching style, and switching careers. Felix has made more money than I could ever dream of on one pitching style. But, I hope that Felix can make the change, because on some level, Felix’s struggles remind me of my own mortality.

Sports does this, though not intentionally. Players come and go, they get replaced. Even the ones that steal your heart, that throw perfect games, that seem to transcend the game. They all get brought down to Earth, and eventually replaced. Consider that the Mariners have been playing baseball for over 40 years. Each year, the roster is tinkered with, players come and go. There is constant replacement in order to achieve the current year’s roster.

And so, we will be replaced as well. It’s just that for most of us, we have longer careers than your typical baseball player. Hopefully, we will stay in our current job and profession longer than a baseball player will. But even still, we come and go. There was an English teacher at my current school before me, there will be one after me.

Even if we are at a place for a long time, the ability to do things exactly the same year in and year out is slim. Each year presents unique challenges. Changes in technology necessitate a change in approach. If you can’t make the changes, you may find yourself being replaced sooner than you wish.

This is what faces Felix Hernandez. He is once more presented with a challenge. He may not be the pitcher he once was. He may not power past hitters. He may never achieve perfection again. But, he may be able to capture a different sort of magic and remain a major part of the Mariners this year and next.

Personally, I don’t believe that The King is dead. But, he must reinvent himself to stave off mortality for a bit longer. 

It’s all anyone can ask.

The 100 Day Food Track Challenge

One of the most frustrating things about not realizing a goal is when you know it was probably attainable if you had just put in the work.

That was me and weight loss this summer.

I was recently talking with a friend who is training for a marathon. I harbor ambitions of running one myself, but need to lose weight just to get back down to a size where running isn't going to totally wreck my knees. I used to love running, but when I got my second degree, the combination of working nights, a full class load, and being tired a lot led me to put on a lot of weight. And it's weight that I've never really been able to shake off.

Two years ago, I actually did really well. I tracked food, I worked out a lot, and I lost about 25 pounds. But, then, I got lazy and I've gained that back (and then some).

I had Grand Plans this summer of working out a lot and getting things in order. It didn't happen. I can only blame myself. I didn't track food, would go without working out for awhile, had more cheat days then I should. Now, school is starting in a little over a week and to no one's surprise, I look the same.

So, I've decided I'm going to try a social media experiment. I'm going to see if I can track my food for 100 days. One thing that I remember about my previous weight loss success was that I tracked my food. At one point, I had logged it for 70 straight days.

I use the app Lose It, which I find does a great job of counting calories and tracking things. I do have a premium account on there, so my FitBit links to it. I am hopeful that 100 days of tracking food, and hopefully a good amount of workouts in there, will lead to some success.

One of the reasons why I'm doing a 100 day challenge is because I'm often times skeptical of those "Lose 30 pounds in 10 days" things. Those always seem 1) dangerous and 2) not habit forming. I want to develop good eating habits and hopefully become a better person at the end of this. Also, 100 is a pretty cool number, so....

I'll update progress. Probably on my Twitter feed I'll have more frequent updates.

Feel free to join me, today is Day 1!

Is The Good Place channeling Dante's The Divine Comedy?

I posted almost a year ago on this page, and the subject of that was Dante's Inferno comparing it to another piece of pop culture. I have now returned to do the same.  This blog wasn't intended to be a Divine Comedy discussion blog, but her, might as well go for it. So, without further ado: here is my theory that The Good Place is channeling The Divine Comedy. 

I don’t know if this is a theory so much as it is just an interesting parallel. I should clarify that I am not, in any way, a Dante scholar. I’ve read the Divine Comedy once and thoroughly enjoyed it. Still, there are some similarities between the show and the Divine Comedy. If I did have to take it into full blown theory mode, if The Good Place is following the Divine Comedy, the four will eventually make it into The Good Place and Michael will not be able to. There is also an outside chance, depending on how close to The Divine Comedy the show wants to go, that at least one member of Team Cockroach is still alive.

The Divine Comedy begins with The Inferno. The Inferno opens with Dante waking up in the woods in his 30's (he says the middle part of his life). He feels lost and eventually finds himself at the gates of Hell, which has a sign stating, “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here”. His guide is the poet Virgil, who is a citizen of Limbo. This is technically Hell, though Virgil and other residents of Limbo are not punished. They cannot get into heaven because they were born before Jesus, and thus are not saved. This is important because later on, we learn that because of this, Virgil cannot enter Heaven, even as a guide to Dante.

This is how the Entrance to Hell is typically depicted.

Since the above picture doesn't have the sign, here you go.

I would say that all members of Team Cockroach are middle aged. I don’t know if exact ages have been given in the show, but none seem overly old or young. Jason is probably the youngest, though due to his lifestyle, quite possible he is middle aged. It may be a stretch to say that any of them feel lost, but often times when characters flashback on their lives they feel regret over how they lived. The first thing that they see when awaking in “The Good Place” is a sign that says, “Welcome! Everything is Fine!” Call this a twisted version of the sign above Hell.

Narrator: As it turns out, things were not fine.

It may be tempting to call Janet their guide to the Good Place, but I feel she aligns better with another character from The Divine Comedy, and so I give the designation of the show’s Virgil to Michael. In Season 1, Michael is the one most knowledgeable about the neighborhood (well, he did design it), and as we’ve gone into season 2, he knows about The Bad Place and how it operates. This is because he lives/works there, obviously. I would say that Michael grows into the role of “Virgil”.  As the series progresses, he takes a more active role in the lives of Team Cockroach, and seeks to improve along with them. This could also be viewed as Michael working to improve the lives of Team Cockroach.  (I’m not totally sure if Virgil had the active goal of getting Dante to improve as he guides him through Hell, or if he was merely a guide.)

Virgil showing Dante around Hell.

I had formulated this theory during a Season 1 re-watch, and the last episode (Chapter 24, Rhonda, Diana, Jake and Trent) was setting off all sorts of bells for me. I wish this season had maybe two more episodes, because then we could have had Team Cockroach explore The Bad Place. In the Inferno, Dante is shown how the damned are punished. (Some of the throw away lines about how extreme the punishments are in The Bad Place sound Dante-esque. Flesh being removed from bodies? That’s how thieves were punished.)  The torture museum as going to be exactly that. It was going to show what people did to end up in The Bad Place and how they were punished. The show didn’t actually go down that route, but that line made me think that this was a direction the show could take. I don’t think a full season of them in The Bad Place would be all that great (Michael isn’t lying when he says they would see things that would haunt them forever. For instance, fortune tellers had their heads forced backwards.)

Going to guess Hell doesn't have a chiropractor. 

This is where things get a little interesting. In The Divine Comedy, Dante and Virgil descend through Hell, they get past Satan (who is encased in ice) and they descend through a small opening to get to Purgatory. The exit of Hell is in its very heart. The exit to The Bad Place is in the center of headquarters.

According to the show, beings need a pin to get to The Judge. We know that Michael will be able to get there eventually. This, more so than Mindy St. Claire’s “Medium Place” may be purgatory. (Now that I think of it, Mindy St. Claire’s is probably closer to The Good Place. In the Paradiso (Heaven) there are beings far away from the center of Heaven, but they are still happy and content, because they are in Heaven and they can’t/wouldn’t disagree with God. Mindy’s house and life seem pretty shitty, but she likes it and seems to have no complaints. Also: Michael is really opposed to the Bad Place’s raid on Mindy St. Claire’s house (“It’s illegal!”) . If it truly is more of The Good Place, this could have major ramifications, though I doubt the show would venture into a war between The Good and The Bad Places.

In the Purgatorio, when Virgil and Dante go through Purgatory, Dante admits that he has flaws, and has committed the sin of pride. You could probably make a case that between all of them, Team Cockroach has committed all seven deadly sins, but I think they all commit Pride. I don’t think a single one of them is a clear candidate for Dante, but rather they are all four, collectively, a stand-in for Dante. But, he admits his wrong doing, knows he will spend time in Purgatory, and vows to make himself better once his tour of the afterlife is over. This is something that we have seen Team Cockroach due. Whether it is taking ethics courses (willingly!) or flat out admitting their wrong doings, they have all recognized their faults.

Go Team Cockroach!

It may be that Michael is not fully on Team Torture, and has thought there should be a way for people to redeem themselves. Given that Team Cockroach has been at this for over 200 years (based on number of reboots and average length of those reboots), that may allow them to get through to The Good Place. (Unless they are still alive, and this experience teaches them to become better people in the Real World, but I don’t buy into that theory. I only included it up top because Dante is alive. It is possible that one member is still alive, and will use the experience to better themselves, but otherwise, I call bullshirt on that particular theory).

Now, Michael might be able to join Team Cockroach in true Purgatory, but I don’t think it is likely that he can make it all the way to The Good Place. As stated before, because Virgil could not have been saved and lived in Hell, he could not even enter the Paradiso (Heaven). Michael himself states that he doesn’t know if he could make it into The Good Place. So, who will escort Team Cockroach through The Good Place?

Janet.

The real Bad Place was the friends we made along the way.

Dante has two guides in his journey through the afterlife. Virgil is his first one, and is with him through all of the Inferno and all of the Purgatorio. But, his second companion is Beatrice. Beatrice was an actual person that Dante knew, and in his works, she is an angel. It is she who guide Dante through Heaven. She is extremely knowledgeable about all things, and can even anticipate Dante’s questions (frequently in the Paradiso, Dante remarks that Beatrice knew what he was going to ask, but permitted him to speak anyway). Likewise, Janet is very good at anticipating needs and is a useful aid.

Admittedly, Beatrice never goes into Hell, and really only meets Dante at the top of Purgatory (think of Purgatory like Devil’s Tower, with the Garden of Eden on top). Janet functions in The Bad Place, and can go to where the judge is (I’m luggage!). But, her ability to freely move about the realms may be a nod to her being angelic. She can go where she pleases, but would be more comfortable in The Good Place.

"Hi there! Follow me, please!" 

(It should be noted that you can read The Divine Comedy as Dante having romantic feelings for Beatrice. If that is the case, your team leader for being most like Dante would be Jason. Dante frequently comments on Beatrice’s beauty, and Jason is very much so infatuated with Janet’s beauty).

What does this mean for the show? Well…

1. The members of Team Cockroach will, at the very least, tour the real Good Place. It would be fun to see what the actual Good Place is. Dante doesn’t get into Heaven at the end of the Divine Comedy. He is still living. But, he is armed with the knowledge that will allow him to get into heaven.

2. Michael will not get into The Good Place. He cannot even go there.

3. There is an outside chance that the members of Team Cockroach are still alive, and will have to use their knowledge of the afterlife to better themselves in the real world. Again, I am not sold on this, but that might make for an interesting final season.

I will admit, this laugh alone makes me think his original intent was not to help the humans.

I don’t think that she show is doing a direct parallel. If we did, this show would feature a lot of gruesome torture. I think there are also some liberties. For instance, the most likely candidate for Satan would be Shawn, but Shawn seems to be running The Bad Place, not encased in ice for all of eternity (In the Inferno, Satan doesn’t preside over Hell. He is being punished.) But, there are a few things that seem to line up with Dante’s work that I thought would be interesting to explore.

What do you think?