About "Raisins and Almonds"

[Pegeel]

WARNING: MINOR RANT CONTAINED HEREIN. REPEAT WARNING. IF
THIS WERE A *SERIOUS* MEGA-RANT YOU WOULD BE INSTRUCTED TO
DON YOUR RADIATION-PROOF GARB. AS IT IS YOU NEED MERELY
DUCK UNDER YOUR SCHOOL DESK, AND HIDE YOUR HEAD IN YOUR
ARMS. YOU SHOULD BE SAFE IF YOU DO THAT. I THINK.
PROBABLY. IT'S WORTH A TRY....

Hi, all. Sorry it took so long again. Hope that you enjoy
it enough that the wait was justified. All I can say is I
didn't *know* I was going to write a Novella when I started.

Macedon and I are officially activating our "Alternate
Universe" status on this one. In "our" universe
"Resolutions" never happened.. or if it did, it never got as
far as the episode we all saw aired. There are a lot of
reasons for this -- like not wanting to have to re-write
five stories and a Novella to reflect an event that, at the
time we started writing this chain, the Paramount PTB were
swearing would never, never happen... that Kathryn Janeway
would *never* so help them, look twice at one of her crew.
<G> She'd sooner die, have bamboo shoved under her nails,
and so on and so forth. Macedon and I felt pretty safe at
that point postulating that at the two-year mark there
wouldn't be much progress in that direction. Oooops.

As we neither of us liked the idea of trying to retro-fit,
or kludge, it seemed best to fly with our "Alternate"
status. And as I had some discomforts of my own about the
episode, I was only too glad to see that go into effect.

(REMEMBER THAT RANT I TOLD YOU ABOUT? WELL.....)

Please understand. I'm writing for myself here, not for
Macedon. Furthermore, though the following will sound a bit
like "sour grapes", I actually liked a lot about
"Resolutions". In some ways it's my favorite episode (that
I've seen) this season. <G> I'm a romantic. Bet you
didn't guess. But there was one element in particular that
bugged me, and that I'm just as glad to be free to ignore.
In the spring of 1972, if I read the copyright notice
correctly in my copy of "The First Ms. Reader", an essay
called "I Want a Wife" by Judy Syfers was published. It
turned out to be one of those classic essays that freshmen
lit students are forced to read at gunpoint. The gist of it
is that *anyone* would want a wife... a perfect,
subservient, loving, worshipful being who placed your wants
and needs above their own, did everything in their power to
smooth your way, set their own needs and pains aside, and
achieved absolute fulfilment through their association with
you-glorious-you. It's a tempting fantasy. What made the
essay brilliant was its humor... and the clear, and gently
demonstrated truth that such a role was dehumanizing. More
than any person could fulfill without destroying their own
ego. More than any human could really live up to. Anyone
would love to have a wife... until they stopped to realize
that all that selfless giving means just that... "selfless".
You'd have to hollow yourself out like a Russian Easter egg
to live up to the expectations of perfect "wifeness".
I'm afraid that in spite of all the things I *did* love
about "Resolutions" I think that, unless a lot of work is
done on Chakotay's character next season, the PTB have just
made Chakotay into that perfect, mythical, bloodless,
fictional "wife". And before you grumble that maybe it's
high time a *woman* got a "wife" for a change, I'd like to
point out that it's no less destructive when the role is
reversed than when it's served up in the standard
arrangement.
Please stop and think. For the character of Chakotay the
year he has just lived through has brought the loss of his
command, the loss of his ship, the loss of his cause, the
loss of his "home culture" (both Alphan/Federation normal,
and "Indian"), the betrayal by Tuvok, the betrayal by
Seska, the loss of his best friend, the public announcement
of his "rape", his public humiliation by Tom, his failure to
beat Seska in "Maneuvers". Tuvok has been outstandingly
bitchy. And through it all it's been clear that his "boss"
doesn't quite trust him, doesn't quite understand him, isn't
doing much to remedy that, and is willing to sacrifice his
position in front of the whole crew.. in spite of the fact
that his position is actually politically more complex and
difficult than her own. Basically, by any reasonable
standard, Chakotay has had a monumentally crappy year. One
for the record books.
I'm afraid I don't believe that a "real" adult human
being, one dealing with a totally tenuous relationship,
could chase all the bad stuff away with "I love you, and I
found true peace serving under you." Sorry. Makes a nice
Valentine's Day card, but unless the PTB later allow that
that was just Chak's "entry line", something he could say in
the Wonderland of a deserted planet, where reality fell away
for a time, it reduces him to the kind of stupid, bloodless,
brain-damaged "function character" that so many female leads
were in the bad old days of the 1950's. Not a true
character at all... just a flattering support to cast a rosy
glow on the dominant lead. Realism not required. So I hope
you'll understand that I prefer to write a more complex,
though to my mind no less lovable Chakotay.
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. I normally try *not*
to get up on one in the first place, in connection with my
writing. But even after two weeks I'm still stinging for
the character, and for all the characters who have been
perverted into "romantic" stereotypes, to the detriment of
our entire culture. I don't like fiction that tells us it's
*right* to want to see another person reduced to that kind
of pretty, convenient, flattering submission and dependance.
It's true that anyone in their right minds would love to
have a "wife". But no one with any ethics would choose to
let a loved one make that kind of sacrifice of self to
become that ego-less dream.

(OK, YOU CAN COME OUT NOW.. . THE STRAFING RUN IS OVER.
PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO AGREE WITH ME. I'M
OPINIONATED... BUT NEVER VERY SURPRISED WHEN IT TURNS OUT
OTHER PEOPLE ARE TOO. BAFFLED, ANGRY, AND SHAKEN SOMETIMES.
NOT SURPRISED....)

On to cheerier things. The song "May the Circle be
Unbroken" shows up again. If *anyone* out there has run
into this version, or one close to it, I'd very much like to
know. When I wrote "Circle" this was the version (more or
less) that I had in mind... and it was so "known" to me that
it really never occurred to me that the version I knew would
turn out to be obscure. Well, it is. I've only found one
other person in the world so far who learned a similar
version. The version everyone else knows is far more
depressing. There's a hearse, and an undertaker, and a dead
mother, and basically it just isn't the song I'd have
chosen if I'd done my homeowrk, instead of cheerfully
assuming I knew the "standard version". Ooops. I hope,
reading the lyrics I included here, you'll see why I
originally wanted to use it in "Circle". A very "Voyager"
song, in the version I know.

I haven't seen the season cliffhanger yet, so I don't
know if any of that will turn out to be "canon" in our
"Alternate Reality" or not. I was honestly afraid to look.
This thing has gotten complex beyond the dreams of Chaos
Theorists. Infinite twistiness.

The technobabble herein is just that... technobabble.
You've got your basic physics technobabble, your biological
technobable, and your military technobabble. I've done the
best I can to make it Prime Grade Technobabble, but I'm
under no illusions that it isn't the pure item, in spite of
it all. Hope it's still a good read.

I hope you all enjoy the story. I hope you forgive me my
minor outbreak of radical philosophy and such. Take care.

Peg Robinson.

[Jennifer L. Adkins]

I am in awe of this entire series. We will never see this much passion,
of any kind, on the show.

If everything was always easy, nothing would be worth the effort. I get
that message from this story.

Could you please repost or email me parts 8,9,13,17, and 23-28? My
server ate them. :)

--

Jennifer L. Adkins jlad...@iglou.com

Transporter accidents are people too!

[Corrie Boersma]

Hi! I don't know why but for some reason I am missing chapters
1,3,7,8,9,16,17,18,19,23,24 and 26 of Raisins and Almonds. Could
someone please post them for me? Thanks!

[Zepp]

In article <31AA87...@iglou.com>,

"Jennifer L. Adkins" <jlad...@iglou.com> wrote:
>I am in awe of this entire series. We will never see this much passion,
>of any kind, on the show.
>
>If everything was always easy, nothing would be worth the effort. I get
>that message from this story.
>
>Could you please repost or email me parts 8,9,13,17, and 23-28? My
>server ate them. :)
>

I second Jennifer's emotions -- nifty! I only got to see parts 23, 24, and
25, but I liked what I saw!!

Greywolf the Wanderer, borrowing zepp's account

[David Heinkel]

I have asked and plead again for parts 1-12 of Raisins and Almonds. Read
12-28 and loved it but am missing a bit.

Thanks in advance.

Cat WAllace
wall...@umn.edu

Just another madd scientist. And RAcing fan