#Nelson Wright imagine

[myveryownfanfiction]

18+ MINORS AND THOSE WITHOUT AGE IN BIO DNI

tags: @illiana-mystery, @cryptic-michael

warnings: swearing, menstruation, talk of Nelson’s experiment

I curled up more on Nelson’s couch and flipped through the channels. A bowl of chips sat in front of me and I occasionally grabbed some. I looked at the clock and smiled softly. Nelson would be done with classes soon. A few minutes later the door to the apartment opened and Nelson walked through.

“honey I’m home.” He sighed as he saw me on the couch. Walking over, he dropped his books and coat on the side table before kissing my head. Reaching over he grabbed some chips before sitting down next to me. I curled into his side as he threw his arm over my shoulders. “How are you feeling?” He asked after a minute.

“Crampy. Sore. A little hungry.” I shrugged. “That’s what the chips are for. I had a big lunch but I’m still hungry. So snacks.” Nelson nodded.

“yeah well a major organ is trying to purge itself so…” Nelson muttered as he pulled the bowl closer. “Last time you took pain killers?”

“half an hour ago.” I said, used to his line of questioning.

“use the heating pad today?” I shook my head. He nodded, cataloging my responses in his head. “Hot shower or bath?”

“took an extra hot shower this morning. Not long after you left for class.” I said. Nelson squeezed my shoulder. “How was class?”

“boring as fuck. The whole time I kept thinking of coming back and cuddling with you.” He complained. “Rachel wanted to invite you out for drinks. I got you out of it though.” I nodded my thanks. “Probably a double date with Horatio.”

“there’s nothing wrong with a double date with them once in a while.” I said. Nelson groaned.

“I’m fine with him. It’s her that sends me down the damn rabbit hole.” His head fell against mine. “Ever since the experiment, she’s been an uptight bitch. More so than she was before. It’s like everyone forgot the lesson that fucking experiment ended up teaching us already.”

“I’m sure she has her reasons.” I said. Nelson shot me a look.

“I’m going to chalk that up to the hormones.” He said. I laughed as I ran my fingers through his hair. Nelson let his head fall against mine. “Just please get me out of anything that she tries to set up with the four of us.”

“I’ll do my best.” I promised.

“good.” He muttered. “Now let’s just get you feeling better. Anything I can do?” I shook my head.

“thanks Nelson but not really. Nothing that doesn’t involve a medical procedure neither one of us really want at the moment.” I said. Nelson snorted and I smiled at him. “But I won’t turn down some cuddling if you feel up to it.” He nodded, kissing my nose.

“yeah. I’m always feeling up to cuddles.” He said before pulling me tight against his chest.

[sarnie-for-varney]

For younger Tommy and Len (Inside No.9, Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room), I actually have headcanon actors for what I believe they would've looked like.

These are my personal opinions, and I am in no way claiming any of these opinions as fact.

Len

For Len, I chose Kiefer Sutherland.

Down to the colour of his hair, his mannerisms, and the sometimes violent tendencies of the characters he's portrayed. As well as this, Sutherland has a similar body shape to what I imagine Len would've had. I think Len would hold more weight on his body than Tommy, due to his genetics.

Kiefer Sutherland has changed his look many times over the years, but I feel like Nelson Wright in Flatliners (1990) correlates the most with my idea of a younger Len Shelby:

The cuts and bruises on the left are especially in character, as I headcanon that Len would've been the type to get into a lot of fights.

However, I believe Len was the type of guy to experiment a lot with his appearance. So his style could range from this to any look he put his mind to.

Throughout the film, Nelson appears to be washed in a sort of sepia or burnt orange colour. I associate warmer colours, like orange, with Len.

Len, I feel, does like to be comfortable and he wears more casual clothes. I think Len would lean more towards a grunge or punk style of dress. I always imagine Len's hair to be more red than it is blonde, perhaps strawberry blonde.

Tommy

For Tommy, I chose River Phoenix.

He has a fantastic range and ability to play any character, which I thought was perfect for Tommy. Tommy goes through many changes in terms of personality throughout his life. Before meeting Len, he was shy and quiet. A bookworm who sits alone. After meeting Len, Tommy started taking on quite a few of Len's quirks. He became more outgoing, hanging out in places he probably shouldn't be, smoking, riding on Len's motorbike or taking the truck out for a spin (I headcanon that Len has a very strong interest in vehicles and mechanics). Len is sort of a bad influence on Tommy, but whatever. Tommy enjoys it. Later in his life, Tommy becomes the boss of a rather large digital marketing company where he learns he needs to be authoritative and straightforward.

Tommy's personality took many turns in his life, just like the characters that Phoenix has portrayed. River is thinner than Kiefer, much like how I imagine Tommy to be thinner than Len. While River Phoenix is slightly taller than Kiefer Sutherland, Tommy would most likely be shorter than Len (like Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's height difference).

Like Sutherland, Phoenix had many looks over his career. But the most reminiscent of Tommy, I think, would be Danny Pope from Running on Empty (1988):

Tommy, I believe, would excel academically and be completely in his element when in classes. In the scene on the left, Danny Pope pays the utmost attention in his studies, and this fits Tommy very well.

Here, on this character, we see rounded glasses which I headcanon Tommy wearing when he was younger (as opposed to his more rectangular glasses in the canon episode). Pope also wears a lot of blues in the film, blue is a colour I associate very strongly with Tommy.

Tommy's clothing, like Len's, is comfortable and soft. But he isn't against wearing more elaborate and complex outfits, which he takes great care in putting together. I could see Tommy leaning more towards the artsy/preppy style of dress.

Despite Tommy's hair being dark on the poster of their younger selves in the episode, I cannot help but headcanon Tommy as blonde-haired.

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: Still Life with Rope and River by Chavonn Williams Shen

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/still-life-with-rope-and-river-by-chavonn-williams-shen/

Still Life with Rope and River explores #racism through a chorus of voices surrounding #Emmett #Till’s #murder. Through research in combination with emotional truth, Williams Shen uses persona poems to dive deep into the psyche of both common and lesser known people and objects regarding Till’s #lynching. Williams Shen also weaves in their own narrative and family history of how #Blackness is dissected and dismissed, illustrating how the past is a ghost to the present. #poetry

Chavonn Williams Shen (she/they) is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a 2022 McKnight Writing fellow and a first runner-up for The Los Angeles Review Flash Fiction Contest. She was also a Best of the Net Award finalist, a Pushcart Prize nominee, a winner of the Loft Literary Center’s Mentor Series, a fellow with the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, and an instructor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. A Bread Loaf, Tin House, VONA, and Hurston/Wright workshop alum, her writing has appeared in: Diode Poetry Journal, Anomaly, AGNI,and others. Still Life with Rope and River is her debut book.

PRAISE FOR Still Life with Rope and River by Chavonn Williams Shen

“In poems that are, by turns, inventive, provocative, and frank, Still Life with Rope and River weaves the past and the present together with the national and the personal as part of an urgent but subtle reminder that if we can’t remember America’s violent history, we’re doomed to repeat it. These poems are difficult and challenging at times but also encouraging. “Let us praise how we’ve thrived under war,” Chavonn Williams Shen concludes. “We’ve made things that tried to kill us into fields of sunflowers…” Ultimately, what emerges is a testament to survivors, to resiliency. Still Life with Rope and River heralds the arrival of an innovative and uncompromising poetic voice.”

–Michael Kleber-Diggs

“Let us praise how we’ve thrived under war” begins the final poem in this haunting, unsettling, unflinching collection. There are moments here of sweetness, of something akin to joy or peace in the midst of the terror, fear, evil, and rotten Americanness Chavonn Williams Shen lays bare. In the linage of Marilyn Nelson’s A Wreath for Emmett Till and other seminal works by Black authors that trouble and attend to the history of lynching that lead to and echos from Till’s murder, Chavonn Williams Shen wields a dark imagination inside archives personal, shared real, and darkly dreamed and the result is as stunning as it is painful, or stunning for it’s pain, or while I felt so much pain I was stunned to stillness while Chavonn Williams Shen told this tale. Not an easy book, but a book we need.”

–Danez Smith

“Chavonn Williams Shen has done powerful conjure work here, bringing Emmett Till and his executioners back to life on the page, a balancing act that the reader will find both harrowing and holy. They give voice to a Greek chorus of witnesses to past and contemporary brutalities, rendering these spirits in nimble poems: deft portraits of those unatoned who escaped the judgment they deserved a thousand times over, and whose crimes continue to haunt this blood-soaked nation. Chavonn Williams Shen also gives space and breath to ancestors who survived the unspeakable as a matter of faith in an unknown future, of communion with seeds and songs of home they consecrated with their love and labor.”

–Sun Yung Shin

“Death relishes its to-do list” writes Chavonn Williams Shen early in the acerbic Still Life with Rope and River, a collection that arrays the leering zeal, the rotten assurance, toxic decorum, and bootlegged empathy of white supremacy’s murder urge. Against this, like water at the muck-filled mud of a riverbank, flows the anger and heartbreak and bewilderment running through Black grief, the deep blue low attending life at the top of Death’s daybook. Inanimate objects come to witness and testify, too, asserting a horror that stains the damn world. That is Bryant and Milam’s killing of Emmett Till. Certainly, the poet doesn’t relish keeping this story alive, but Chavonn Williams Shen has done so with wrenching vigor.”

–Douglas Kearney

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetrybook #read #poems #EmmettTill #racism #blackpoet #blackness

[hypocriticaltypwriter]

Fluster ask challange!!

Imagine if you will, a variety of Keifers.

Now, for starters, imagine being sick, and little Mr medical student, wannabe Doctor Nelson Wright~ is there to gently hold you. Coax you into sitting, he brings out his little equipment.

"Oh shh, here~ I'll warm it up a little don't want you much colder~" he gives little huffs onto the stethoscope, telling so gently how to breath. Gently touching your neck and softly asking in a gushed tone on the couch, or bed, where it hurts, if it hurts and doing basic check up like things. He's so soft, his hands a bit cold as they touch over you and they're cool against your too warm feverish skin. A little gasp as he chuckles a half-assed "Sorry they're cold~" knowing he likes the shiver and whine coming from you.

Now....he obviously tells you it's allergies, a cold maybe worst case the flu, but seeing all the test he did on you, it's s shock he manged to focuse and tell you what's the matter since he seemed more keen on watching you squirm and whine under his hands and gaze while he used a variety of medical tools to just check up on you. Pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, throat, ears, lymphnodes, reflex, even eye following.

He's so sweet, he's sooo gentle. His voice is soft and soothing, his touches like a gentle cloud as he tells you what to do and touches you slightly, trading gloved hands for bare ones, for skin on skin as he runs thst cold barely cared stethoscope under your shirt. A tease about your bra being in the way as he checks your breathing.

Just~ soft gentle medical things~ ahahah💕💕💕💕💕💕💕(I'm so touch starved-)

Now imagine: Sam Stanley. He's so dorky💗 he loves his coffee, his knickknacks, his oddities he's a bit on the messy cluttered side. Maybe your roommates, he needs some help with things and LOVES to cuddle~

He's not into much, but he does enjoy the company. Lots of soft blankets sweaters, and coffee to keep you warm on those still too cold winter or spring mornings when the weathers whirls and screams out as the wind shakes the trees, as the rain pours down.

"Looks like another day in...come here!" He snuggles next to you. All dressed in his slacks, a dress shirt, little sweater vest and bow tie. Even on his days off from the Beaure he likes his little clothes...thst or pajamas and a too baggy sweater.

He offers coffee tea, coco, all the warm drinks he has and of cource lots of sleepy cuddles~

Just he'd be soooooo cuddlllyyyy and sleepy and lay on you, face buried in your chest, stomach, thighs, where ever he could manage to lay and he'd gush about how much he loves you, your company, and how comfy you are and such and he'd happily hold you for cuddles!

(I headcanon Sam as Asexual, so he has no sexual attraction, or need/want for sex, it's not something he's into and has no desire or want for it. But he is a cuddles and hand holder and I believe is ace but likes cuddles and soft comforting touches is all!!!)

I'm

OH MY GOD MIKEY YOU CANT LEAVE THIS UERE WHILE IM LITERALLY SICK AS HELL AS EXPECT ME TO BE NORMAL ABOUT IT HOLY WOAH

AJSBSBDBBDDJ NELSONNNNN THAT IMAGERY MAKES MY LUNGS COLLAPSE HNNGGGHHHH

[dan6085]

While time travel remains a hypothetical concept, imagining the ability to revisit historical events can be intriguing. Here are 20 events one might consider revisiting, each chosen for its significance or impact on shaping the course of history:

1. **The Signing of the Magna Carta (1215):**

- Witness the foundational document that laid the groundwork for constitutional governance.

2. **The Renaissance in Florence (14th-17th century):**

- Experience the cultural and intellectual flourishing of the Renaissance, interacting with influential figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

3. **The Age of Enlightenment (17th-18th century):**

- Participate in the intellectual awakening that challenged traditional authority and championed reason, science, and individual rights.

4. **The American Revolution (1775-1783):**

- Observe the birth of a new nation and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.

5. **The French Revolution (1789-1799):**

- Witness the tumultuous events that shaped modern concepts of democracy, equality, and human rights.

6. **The Industrial Revolution (18th-19th century):**

- Experience the transformative impact of industrialization on society, economy, and technology.

7. **The Constitutional Convention (1787):**

- Observe the drafting of the United States Constitution, a pivotal moment in political history.

8. **The Gettysburg Address (1863):**

- Hear Abraham Lincoln deliver his iconic address during the American Civil War.

9. **The Suffragette Movement (early 20th century):**

- Stand alongside suffragettes advocating for women's right to vote.

10. **The Apollo 11 Moon Landing (1969):**

- Witness humanity's first steps on the moon, a monumental achievement in space exploration.

11. **Woodstock Festival (1969):**

- Experience the iconic music festival that symbolized the counterculture of the 1960s.

12. **The Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989):**

- Be present during the historic moment when the wall dividing East and West Berlin came down.

13. **Nelson Mandela's Release from Prison (1990):**

- Witness the end of apartheid in South Africa as Mandela walks to freedom.

14. **The Internet's Inception (1969):**

- Observe the creation of the first message sent over ARPANET, laying the groundwork for the internet.

15. **The Wright Brothers' First Flight (1903):**

- Witness the birth of aviation as the Wright brothers achieve powered, controlled flight.

16. **The First Performance of Shakespeare's Plays (17th century):**

- Attend one of William Shakespeare's original plays during the Elizabethan era.

17. **The Building of the Great Wall of China (7th century BCE):**

- Witness the construction of one of the most iconic structures in human history.

18. **The First Printing Press (1440):**

- Be present at the invention of the printing press, a revolutionary moment in communication.

19. **The Rosetta Stone's Discovery (1799):**

- Observe the uncovering of the Rosetta Stone, unlocking the mysteries of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

20. **The End of World War II (1945):**

- Experience the celebrations and relief as World War II comes to an end.

Each of these events played a pivotal role in shaping the world as we know it, and revisiting them would provide valuable insights into their historical, cultural, and societal significance.

[mytangents]

Soweto is sweeto!

What's better than bungie jumping?....bungie jumping off of the Orlando Towers in Soweto. The irony of this activity is that from afar you'd think these two towers are nuclear towers. As you get closer you notice the artwork and graffiti on these towers that tell a story of this town. A town that's overcame many struggles to develop into the bustling hub of culture, politics, and business that it is presently.

The towers seem to stand as sentinels as it's citizens and visitors frequent the Rosa Parks Library in their search for history, particularly Black history and civil rights. The Soweto Theatre is where you'd go to catch an upscale theatrical or musical production, mostly about the political history of Soweto. The theater's architecture includes sails....I'd like to think it represents the sails of The Flyer by the Wright brothers as they flew into history, a striking parallel to Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela; both revered in this community.

Finally, the local cuisine is where you'd want to end up, or start. And don't forget the beer!

We could imagine again that symbolically as the visitors bungie from those two imposing towers that they're conquering their fears just as the past anti-Apartheid pioneers did in the 1990's.

Works Cited:

Claassens, Carina. "10 Top Things to See and Do in Soweto" Culture Trip 19 May 2020

https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/10-top-things-to-see-and-do-in-soweto/

[komotionlessqueenmm]

Sudden appearances.

(1-1)

Short story # 7

481 - Words

Fandom - Flatliners (1990)

Pairing - Dr. Nelson Wright X Reader

Summary - Short story based on the post above, which reads. ↓↓↓ (In case the picture isn't loading for anyone.) ↓↓↓

--------------------

*pulls curtain back while wife is in the shower*

Me : Are we - stop screaming, it's just me - are we out of Cheetos?

--------------------

Warnings - Vague mention of nudity (for obvious reasons).

Notes - This was silly but I liked the idea of trying something out like this. Let me know what you think? Maybe I'll write some more short stories like this!

Oh that tweet is NOT mine by the way.

----

Rummaging through the third cupboard Nelson sighed to himself, determined to find his guilty pleasure snack, in all it's cheesy goodness. "Come on where are they." Nelson muttered as he opened the fourth cupboard, the only other cupboard with food stored within. "(Y/n)." Nelson called out, momentarily forgetting his girlfriend was in the shower. When she didn't respond Nelson shut the cupboard, spinning on his heel to go and find her. "(Y/n)?" Nelson frowned softly, the confused expression washing away the moment he caught the sound of the shower. "Oh right." Nelson snickered to himself, feeling silly for forgetting such a thing. When he opened the door Nelson smirked softly to himself, (Y/n)'s silhouette momentarily distracting him. The steam of the room fogged his glasses within moments, so Nelson pushed his glasses to sit upon his head, approaching the shower. Without warning Nelson flung open the shower curtain, the sudden appearance making (Y/n) scream in a panic. Her eyes closed to prevent soap from burning them. "Are we - stop screaming, it's just me - are we out of cheetos?" Nelson asked, (Y/n)'s scream cutting off the moment she heard her boyfriends voice. Quickly she ducked her head under the water, washing the soap away from her eyes.

"Nelson!" (Y/n) hissed after she opened her eyes, glaring him down with her hands on her hips. "Yes?" Nelson smirked, eyeing her playfully. "What was so important, you had to scare the holy hell out of me?" (Y/n) huffed, ignoring the lustful look in her lovers eyes. "Do we have anymore cheetos?" Nelson asked innocently, a soft smile on his face. "SERIOUSLY!" (Y/n) scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Yes Nelson we have some more, there out in the car. I didn't bring all the groceries in earlier." (Y/n) sassed, resisting the urge to smile. "You're so difficult sometimes." She added finally smiling at him, while he pouted like a child. "You love me though, right?" Nelson asked with puppy eyes, resting his hands upon her wet hips. "Of course I love you Nelson, hence why I'm not strangling you right now for scaring me." (Y/n) joked making Nelson snicker. "I love you too." Nelson cooed softly before leaning forward and kissing her. "NELSON!" (Y/n) gasped the second he wrapped his arms around her body, and hoisted her out of the shower. "What?" He smirked as he held her body against his, the excess water from her body soaking his clothes. "You're making a mess." (Y/n) sighed with a grin, wrapping her arms a little tighter around his neck as he carried her to their bedroom. "I don't care." Nelson mused before kissing her lovingly, the pair of them giggling into the kiss when he fell back to lay on the bed, forgetting about the cheetos all together.

[fluffytuffles]

if/ when you figure it out would you mind making a list of the new cast instas?

Sure thing, partner

I'll include returning too for the sake of completeness, in case someone new is coming along. Just imagine the #s are @' s.

Gracie Anderson - #gracieanderson___ (3 underscores)

Megan Arseneau - #megskilove

Sam Bello - #bello_sam99

Luke Bernier - #lukebernier

Lexy Bittner - #lexybittner

John Anker Bow - #johnankerbow

Sam Buchanan - #samrbuchanan

Michelle E. Carter - #idtapthat03

Ellie Chancellor - #ellie_chancellor

Erica Lee Cianciulli - #ericaleecianciulli

Max Craven - #maxcraven_

Reagan Davidson - #reagandavidson_

Nora DeGreen - #noradegreen

Allyson Duarte - #abcduarte

Dominic Fortunato - #dominicfortunato_

Sammy Fossum - #sammyfossum

Marisa Gorst - #marisapaullgorst

Rachael Haber - #rachaelehaber

Tayler Harris - #sheistayler

Clara Hevia - #clara.hevia

Wilson Livingston - #wilsonbliving

Kieran Macdonald - #iamkieranmacdonald

José Raúl Mangual (i'm gonna assume this order isn't error) - #joserauliii

Brendan Moran - #brendan_moran_

Tony Mowatt - #baloneytones

Brian Craig Nelson - #clownfish2113

Yuka Notsuka - #yukaaada

Hank Santos - #hanksantos

Cameron Schutza - #heldentexan

Taryn Smithson - #tmsmithson

Ibn Snell - #ibb.ml

Kade Wright - #kadewwright

John Zamborsky - #izamwhoiam

Jonathan Heller - #jonathanhellerj

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Masterlist

A list of my old writing that you can request I revise

Song Prompts

Meeting and Dating Headcanons~

Pretty in Pink

Andie Walsh

Duckie Dale

Blane McDonagh

Steff McKee

Sixteen Candles 

Jake Ryan

The Lost Boys

Paul

Dwayne

Poly Lost Boys

Edgar Frog

The Breakfast Club

Brian Johnson

John Bender

Andrew Clark

The Outsiders

Sodapop Curtis

Dallas Winston

Two-Bit Mathews

Rumblefish

Steve Hays

Ferris Buellers Day Off

Cameron Frye

Karate Kid

Daniel Larusso

Johnny Lawrence

Dutch

Heathers

Veronica Sawyer

Jason Dean

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Jeff Spicoli

Brad Hamilton

Better Off Dead 

Lane Meyer

Weird Science

Gary Wallace

Wyatt Donnelly

Dream A Little Dream

Dinger Holfield

Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure

Bill S. Preston Esquire

Ted Logan 

Dating Poly Bill and Ted 

The Princess Bride

Inigo Montoya

Interview with the Vampire

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Children of the Corn

Malachai Boardman

National Lampoons 

Rusty Griswold (European Vacation)

Cant Buy Me Love

Kenneth Wurman

The Chocolate War

Jerry Renault

Archie Costello

The Mighty Ducks

Fulton Reed

Dean Portman

Adam Banks

Les Averman

Porkys

Brian Schwartz

Anthony ‘Meat’ Tuperello

Tommy Turner

Tim Cavanaugh

Mickey Jarvis

Just One of the Guys

Terry Griffith

Greg Tolan

Dead Poets Society 

Neil Perry

Todd Anderson

Charlie Dalton

Knox Overstreet

Steven Meeks

Earth Girls are Easy

Mac

Combat Academy 

Perry Barnett

Waynes World

Garth Algar

Austin Powers

Austin Powers

Toy Soldiers

Ricardo Montoya

Good Will Hunting

Chuckie Sullivan

10 Things I Hate About You

Joey Donner

My Bodyguard

Ricky Linderman

Melvin Moody

Stand and Deliver

Angel Guzman

Something Wild 

Ray Sinclair

Three O’Clock High 

Buddy Revell

Intruder

Randy

Young Guns

Jose Chavez y Chavez

Billy the Kid

Doc Scurlock

Dazed and Confused

Benny O’Donnell

Don Dawson

Kevin Pickford

Randall “Pink” Floyd

Fred O’Bannion

Mitch Kramer

Ron Slater

Shavonne Wright

Dogfight

Eddie Birdlace

Ladybugs

Matthew

Goosebumps

Sticks

Freddy Renfield

Twister

Robert ‘Rabbit’ Nurick

Stand by me 

Ace Merrill

School Ties

Rip Van Kelt 

Chris Reece

The Untouchables

Eliot Ness

The Godfather

Tom Hagen

(Young) Vito Corleone

(Old) Vito Corleone

Goodfellas

Henry Hill

Little Shop of Horrors

Seymour Krelborn

Newsies

Specs

Near Dark

Severen

Friday the 13th

Jason Voorhees

Scream

Billy Loomis 

Poly Billy and  Stu

Stu Macher

The Craft

Nancy Downs

Hocus Pocus

Max Dennison

Thackery Binx

Beetlejuice

Lydia Deetz

Adam Maitland

The Crow

Eric Draven

Ghostbusters

Ray Stantz

Aliens

Bishop

An American Werewolf in London

Jack Goodman

Sleepaway Camp

Ricky Thomas

Re-animator

Herbert West

Silence of the Lambs

Clarice Starling

Fright Night

Jerry Dandridge

Candyman

Daniel Robitaille

The Evil Dead

Ash Williams

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Harvey Kinkle

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Spike

Full Metal Jacket

Sgt. Hartman

Joker

Animal Mother

Pyle

Preference~ the boys with an s/o whose ex stalks them

Grease

Kenickie

Labyrinth

Jareth

Total Recall

Douglas Quaid

Requested “Would Includes” and Imagines/Fics~

Darry falling for Johnny’s sister

Allison Reynolds dating a shy nerdy girl

Starting a family with Cameron Frye

Making out with Cameron Frye

Cameron Frye comforting you when you’re upset

Getting drunk with the Ferris Bueller crew

Gary Wallace dating a tall girl

George Mcfly with a dominant flirty s/o

Comforting and being comforted by Will Hunting

Will Hunting having a crush on you

Being apart of the good will hunting gang

Armand with a virgin s/o (including nsfw)

Lestat and Louis dating a girl who loves horror movies

Making out with Duckie Dale

Duckie Dale cheering you up

Cliff having a crush on you

Making out with Cliff

Making out with Bryce

Bryce having a crush on you

The Lost Boys with an s/o having an anxiety attack + fighting depression

The Lost Boys with a sweet and innocent s/o

The Lost Boys with a curvy mate

The Lost Boys fighting with their mates

The Lost Boys dating a shy short girl

The Lost Boys taking care of you when you’re hurt

Getting drunk with the Lost Boys would include

David x Laddies older sister

Making out with Edgar Frog

Being Married to Archie Costello

Going to the beach with Archie Costello

Making out with Archie Costello

Darrys girlfriend landing a job at a local cafe as a singer

Making out with Kenneth Wurman

Being Cindys friend and Ronalds crush

Harold Sherbico having a crush

Kim Kelly dating her polar opposite

Neil Perry dating an artist

Making out with Charlie Dalton

Jealous Charlie Dalton

Jealous Knox Overstreet

A study date with Steven Meeks

Spending the winter season with Neil Perry

Comforting Charlie Dalton after he gets expelled 

The dead poets walking in on Charlie and his secret, shy girlfriend 

Simon Boggs having a crush on Laneys friend

Faking It-Cindy Mancini falling for the girl who paid her to be her friend

Spike having a crush on you

Steff McKee having a crush on you

Marko having a crush on you

David having a crush on you 

Paul having a crush on you

Dwayne having a crush on you

Dwayne x vampire reader who dresses like Stevie Nicks

Making out with Keith Nelson

Meat having a crush on Peewees sister

Admit it- Mickey Jarvis and his future s/o having crushes on each other

Being a part of team USA and meeting Adam and Charlie

Dwayne Robertson having a crush on you

Sleepover with Bill and Ted (including nsfw)

Being pregnant with Ted Logans child

Starring in the schools Romeo and Juliet with Ted Logan

Ted Logan asking you to be his valentine

Spending Valentines day with Steff McKee

Spending Valentines day with Steven Meeks

Spending Valentines day with Keith Nelson

Spending your first Valentines day with Bryce

Wishing I Was Her (Nick Andopolis)

If You Want Out Just Say It (Ace Merrill)

Going on the Ferris adventure

Going on your own adventure with Cameron Frye

Making out with Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd

Travelling back in time with Marty McFly

Tommy Devito dating a chubby artist

Years Gone By (Michael Corleone)

Sonny Corleone dating his opposite

Phillipe Gaston x reader~ Fairy Tale 

Being Fulton's sister and Dating Dean Portman

Comforting Todd when he’s upset

Being married to Bill S. Preston Esquire

Being married to Ted Logan

Spending Halloween/October with Knox Overstreet

Making out with Knox

A will they, won’t they relationship with Seth Brundle

Falling in love with Edward Scissorhands

Dwayne Hicks with an Android!Technician s/o

Private Joker dating an artist 

Jareth falling in love with you

Being married to Matt Hooper and going to Amity

The way you make me feel~ John Bender

Being in a long term relationship with JD

J.D. with a chronically ill s/o

Archie with a chronically ill s/o

Making out with Ted Logan

Archibald Craven falling in love

Andy Dufresne falling in love

Nsfw Headcanons~ 

Group sex with the lost boys

Sam Emerson

Threesome with Obie and Archie

Armand

Archie Costello

(sub) Archie Costello

Obie

Johnny Cade

Cameron Frye

Duckie Dale

Blane

John Bender

Randy (Intruder)

Joey Donner

Kenneth Wurman

Keith Nelson

The Dead Poets Kinks

Knox Overstreet

Charlie Dalton

Steven Meeks

Todd Anderson

Neil Perry

Gerard Pitts

John Bender taking your virginity

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Dinger Holfield

The Lost Boys

JD

Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd

Benny O’donnell

Fred O’Bannion

Cliff

Bryce

Johnny Walker

George Mcfly

Brian Moreland

(sub) Perry Barnett 

Bill S. Preston Esquire

Ted Logan

Randy Meeks

Michael Emerson

Nancy Downs

Ray Stantz

Egon Spengler

Spike

Angel Guzman

Sgt. Hartman

Brad Hamilton

Douglas Quaid

Chris (night of the creeps)

Sonny Corleone with a shy, virgin s/o

George Mcfly getting jealous and being dominant

Grease Monkey (Keith Nelson smut)

Sins of the flesh and matters of the heart (David x reader + Dwayne smut)

[jerrylevitch]

Who's Lonnie Brown? and what was her relation with Jerry?

She's the one that was one of Jerry's closest friends when he was a teen, and was the daughter of Charles and Lillian Brown at Brown's Hotel where Jerry got his start. Jerry’s dad was working at the hotel, in the winter of 1938/39. This story takes place on a February morning in 1939 after he watched Lonnie singing to old records.

"Their daughter Lonnie-though only fourteen years old, she was mature, perceptive; someone you could easily relate to, knowing she’d keep your deepest secrets and listen to your problems, big or small, without losing sight of them. Soon she became a real sister-so to speak- as well as my closest friend.

'Sure, I told you-really, you sing good. Almost like Edyth Wright. Except, well…” She nodded silently, her face beginning to blush. At last, “I’m not that good, am I?” she asked in a strained little voice. “Lonnie, what I mean”- and this I said gripping her hand- “why sing almost like her when you can be her!"  "Me? Don’t be silly.” She seemed dumbfounded, but at the same time intrigued with my answer. And gleefully I kept building the fantasy, as though I had lived it a hundred years. “It’s simple as pie, Lonnie. You could do Edyth Wright and Hellen O’ Connel and, uh…Betty Hutton, Kitty Kallen, Jo Stafford-I tell you, there’s no end to it! The trick is to make believe you’re singing-see?” “How?” “How? Jeez, lemme show you!” Soon I had her perched on the chair watching me with perfect gravity as I began playing the same record; meanwhile clutching the teddy bear to my heart, completely preoccupied, the bit wholly imagined and feeling totally alone in the pleasure of my own making- Just to see myself spinning crazily away from the victrola the moment that TD’s solo leads into the vocal spot, then silently mouthing the first note exactly in time- YOU’RE Pear-shaped it was, or absurd but anyway- A SWEETHEART, IF THERE EVER WAS ONE, IF THERE EVER WAS ONE IT’S YOU… While staring pop-eyed at the teddy bear, then jumping out of the trance with a happy gleam to fling it up at the ceiling…Now on my knees, I mouth a lament over little Teddy, whose lying there on the floor- LIFE WITH YOU WAS AN INCOMPLETE DREAM, YOU ARE EVERY SWEET DREAM COME TRUE… And at the finish Lonnie’s off her chair in a screaming fit.

Later on Red Buttons was set to perform but was running late…

And five minutes later, in an amazing rush off Dad’s frantic call for a novelty interlude, Lonnie and I had the old Victrola out, and before you knew it we were working on the bill. She did the Edyth Wright number. Then it was my turn to strut and shake a la Jimmy Durante. (Just a minute! Everybody wants to git inta de act!) Finally we cut loose with the famed Jeannette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy “Indian Love Call” finishing to cheers. Yep, Red Buttons had arrived! We played maybe half a dozen shows that winter. It wasn’t enough, so I’d step right into the grinder and badger my fathers agent, Harry Cuttler, trying to raise his interest so he could get us booked at any one of the many small hotels in town. But he’d merely blink those dark melancholy eyes of his and say, “Not now, there’s plenty of time later,” and I finally told Lonnie, “Maybe we shouldn’t rehearse. What for?” And she said, “Guess you’re right. Who wants to bother with a couple of kids?” It brings a laugh when I think of it now; yet it’s kinda sad, too, if you’ve ever dreamed. "

[myveryownfanfiction]

18+ MINORS AND THOSE WITHOUT AGE IN BIO DNI

tags: @illiana-mystery, @fangsandroses

warnings: injuries, blood, self inflicted injuries, swearing

“what the hell happened to you?” Rachel asked as she sat on the table. I frowned at Nelson as he glanced at her then at me.

“I was playing hockey.” He said vaguely. He finished prepping the needles and glanced around the room. “Where’s Dave?” Joe and steckle shrugged. I walked over to him and grabbed his chin.

“Nelson. You weren’t playing hockey. What happened?” I asked him as Joe talked to Rachel about the potential whereabouts of Dave. He went to turn his head but I held his head in place. “Those aren’t hockey injuries Nel. Come on.” Nelson swallowed and we turned as Rachel laid back.

“I’m ready.” She said, voice wavering slightly. “Dave or no Dave.” I let my hand fall and we went into it. When she came back after five minutes, I helped her into the bathroom and gave her the space she needed. “I’m fine really.” She said before closing the door on me.

“why don’t you ask doctor death?” Dave said as everyone gathered around Nelson. He rolled his eyes and started to walk away. I grabbed his arm.

“what’s going on Nelson?” I asked. Looking between everyone, Nelson sighed.

“we’ve been getting visits from those we’ve wronged in the past. Mines name billy Mahoney. And he’s a rambunctious little shit.” Nelson scoffed.

“wait a minute. You’re telling me a ghost is doing this?” I asked, grabbing his head and turning it to look at his wounds. Dave stepped closer and looked at the wounds too. “Nelson…” he pulled away from me and crossed his arms.

“it’s no big deal.” He tried to brush it off. “Look I’m fine. Joes fine. Rachel will be fine. Your problems are your own Dave.” Nelson walked away and I followed him. When we got back to his apartment, I sat Nelson down and cleaned up his wounds.

“next time don’t do this yourself.” I said softly. “You might accidentally infect yourself.” Nelson nodded as I redid his stitches. “Want to tell me what’s really going on Nelson?”

“billy Mahoney is this kid I picked on. It’s the one regret I have.” He said, staring at his hands. “I shouldn’t have done it but I mean…” he waved a hand around. “We had money. Have money. Billy was poor. It…wasn’t right. Didn’t make it right. But it happened.” I finished up and set down the needle. Nelson looked up at me, eyes hollow.

“Nelson…”I sighed. I hugged him and he seemed to be clinging to me as I rested my head on top of his. “We’re going to put an end to this. Somehow.” Nelson shook his head and I tightened my grip on him. We went to bed soon after and I didn’t hear him get up. When I did wake up, I found the note he’d left. The phone rang and I answered it. “Hello?”

“something is wrong with Nelson. You need to come down here.” Dave said. “Joe and steckle are with him and we’re at Rachel’s apartment. You need to hurry. We can’t keep him here forever.”

“on my way.” I said, hanging up. I grabbed my coat and ran out the door. Within ten minutes I was at the apartment and waiting to get buzzed in. Flying up the stairs, Dave had already had the door open and I ran in. Nelson was sitting tied to the bed frame. “Why…” I turned to look at Dave.

“he took an ice pick to his ear. Was aiming for his face.” I spun around to look at Nelson in shock.

“billy mahoney.” Nelson mumbled. Dave put his hand on my arm and drew me into Rachel’s kitchen.

“he did it himself. There was no one there.” Dave whispered. “He’s going to kill himself if we don’t stop this soon.” I nodded and looked over at Nelson.

“but how?” I asked. “He genuinely believes that a ghost is doing this.” Dave nodded.

“atonement.” He said. “I went and atone for what I did. My visions ended. If Nelson can atone for whatever he did to billy Mahoney…”

“the visions and self mutilation will end.” I finished. “Ok. Let’s do it. I’ll take Nelson to see billy.” Nelson looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “We might need your car.” Dave handed me the keys and patted my hand. Heading over to nelson, I grabbed his arm and pulled him back out. “Alright Nelson. Where’s billy Mahoney?” Nelson rubbed his neck and winced.

“it’s uh…” Nelson sighed and looked anywhere but me. “It’s easier to show you.” We got into Dave’s car and Nelson gave me the directions.

“where are we headed Nelson?” I asked as the town got darker and darker. “What’s going on?”

“we’re going to see billy Mahoney.” Nelson muttered. “Stop here.” I pulled over and got out with Nelson.

“that’s…that’s a cemetery.” I said with a frown. Nelson nodded.

“yeah.” He whispered. “That’s where billy Mahoney is. I killed him.” I looked over at Nelson as we started walking through. “It was an accident. He fell. I was taken from my family at nine and put in a reform school.” Nelson leaned down in front of a headstone and sneered. “I thought I paid my dues.” Pulling Nelson back, I wrapped an arm around his.

“we’ll figure it out.” I promised. “Somehow. We’ll figure it out.”

[woman-loving]

A History of US Bear Subculture

Selection from “A Concise History of Self-Identifying Bears,” by Les Wright, published in The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture, edited by Les Wright, 1997.

Roots In his 1991 introduction to The Bear Cult: Photography by Chris Nelson,[1] Edward Lucie-Smith attributes iconographic sources of bears to the 1950s gladiator movies starring bodybuilder Steve Reeves. Gay “physique studios” of the time reflected the predominant fashion of closely shaven faces and bodies. “Old Reliable,” a Los Angeles-based photographer of homoerotic wrestling, specialized in “natural” men, soliciting hustlers, punks, ex-cons, and other truly “rough trade” types off the streets (from the 1950s-1990s) to pose for his camera. Old Reliable’s models were street-smart scrappers, perhaps shabby, perhaps defiant, unquestionably blue-collar, or lower, class. A fat cigar in one hand and the middle finger of the other hand thrust into the camera’s face is the signature pose for Old Reliable’s models. John Rechy’s novels, especially 1963 best-seller City of the Night, serve as a record of gay male engenderment of this particular type in the urban subcultures of the late 1950s and 1960s.

Another informant, living in the Miami, Florida area during the 1970s, reports that when he first started coming out into the bar scene in his mid-twenties he encountered a cluster of “bears” that congregated in the Tool Room, a back bar area of Warehouse VIII, a “disco place.”

“[i]n the meantime, some counter-culture tabloid I read occasionally ran a cryptic personal ad for a Bears party, which would gather at a men’s bar called The Ramrod on a particular evening and time, so I bit. Not knowing the bar’s whereabouts, then learning the address and trying to find the unmarked place in the downtown darkness, I was late but not too late. A dozen of so men with beards, most of them husky, were piling out of the bar door as I was walking in. Two of them grabbed me by each arm, and one said “Great! You’re the even number!” Now I was just in the first stages of coming out, even to myself, but I let myself get swept away (with an alarmed smile on my face). I thought I was headed for my first orgy (gay or straight), but it turned out to be a real party at a home on one of the causeway islands between Miami and Miami Beach. Real men having a hell of a good time without a woman in sight. Imagine!! We watched the second half of the Dolphins game, played some cards, then sat outside under the moonlight, slowly pairing off and disappearing back indoors or off into tropical hiding places behind the patio.

I was out. I started hanging out regularly at the Ramrod, where any bearded local was greeted as “Hey, Brother Bear!” I checked out The Rack, a leather saloon, but the bear camaraderie was not present. A few Rack regulars were good-looking, beefy, bearded guys, but their bikes and image were their focus, not the bears among them. The bears continued to patronize the Ramrod and the Tool Room, or a larger bar in Fort Lauderdale called Tacky’s, but could be found in lots of neighborhood bars, too, like The Hamlet and The Everglades. Not only did we refer to ourselves as bears, but the term caught on among non-bears too.

It was too early in beardom, I guess, to have a Bears club or organization of any kind. Nobody thought of it. There were spontaneous parties arranged by word-of-mouth, picnics, beach volleyball. We even loaded three vans full of bears and invaded Key West.

You might think of Florida as an unlikely place to find bears, but bearded men were very common there in the 60s and 70s. When the disco era streamrollered fashion for straight and queer alike, it became less common. Many bears kept our beards, many left only a moustache. The Ramrod faltered and closed, 13 Buttons and The Copa flourished, as did all the big discos of the day. I became more private whit three bear affairs over five years, then finally met a cowboy in New Orleans on Mardi Gras and left Florida forever. We moved to Colorado in 1981 and had five great years together. I've been in Denver since 1986 and was later a founding member of one of the oldest bear clubs in the country, Front Range Bears.

But that’s another story.”[2]

Larry Reams has unearthed the first documented apparent uses of “bear” in the current sense. He has found among records of the Los Angeles-based Satyrs’ MC club the formation of a “bear” club mentioned in two entries from 1966.[3] Another source cites anecdotally a group of lovers of a “Papa Bear” in Dallas, Texas, as the start of the “bear community” “well before 1975.”[4] Several undocumented sources have related similar anecdotes of private circle or bar circles of self-identifying bears.

The first published description of gay “bears” appeared in a whimsical article called “Who’s Who in the Zoo: A Glossary of Gay Animals,” penned by George Mazzei in the Advocate, July 26, 1979. Larry Reams reports that he and his friend, the author,

“were standing in Griffs’, a Los Angeles leather bar, one evening discussing the types of men we were and those to whom we were attracted. We decided we were Bears and continued on to formulate what we thought constitutes a Bear. Once we had described Bears it was an easy step to look around the bar and create the rest of the article.”[5]

Because the type so strongly suggests aspects of both bear attitude and bear image, it is worth quoting in its entirety:

“Bears are usually hunky, chunky types reminiscent of railroad engineers and former football greats. They have larger chests and bellies than average, and notably muscular legs. Some Italian-American Bears, however, are leaner and smaller; it’s attitude that makes a Bear.

General Characteristics: Hair. Their tangled bears often present no discernible place to insert a comb. Laughter. Bears laugh a lot and are generally good natured. They make wonderful companions since they are prone to reach for the check, buy the next round and keep abreast of when the Trocadero is dancing this season. Their good humor can turn threatening if you attempt to cruise their trick and you will hear about if for weeks afterward. [...]”

Jack Fritscher was creating and documenting a similar impulse in San Francisco contemporaneous to this Los Angeles subculture. Those pre-AIDS years in the Castro and South-of-Market subculture are documented in the roman à clef Some Dance to Remember. Recorded in the novel is an account of Fritscher’s short-lived underground magazine called Man2Man, a direct precursor to the first incarnation of BEAR magazine. The “homomasculinity” of Fritscher’s philosophical quest was summed up in the magazine’s subtitle: “What you’re looking for is looking for you!”

First-Wave Bears of the Zeitgeist, 1986-1989

The energy that called itself “bear” appeared as one of the signs of reemerging gay communal life following the arrival of AIDS in the 1980s. After several years in a state of shock, emotional devastation, eating more, perhaps exercising less, continuing to age, and ready for a somewhat slower and more compassionate pace of gay sex and gay social life, “hibernating” clones, leathermen, and many other self-identifying types came back to gay public spheres as “bears.” AIDS led many of us to put on extra padding and to eroticize (or publicly admit to our erotic desire for) male bulk. Feminists, such as Andrea Dworkin and Mary Daly, had articulated the mechanisms of patriarchal/capitalist subjugation through the “beauty myth.” The tyranny of the “Castro (or Christopher) Street clone” had been breached.

Since the late 1970s, in counterpoint to the “endless party” spirit of gay life, increasing numbers of gay men were burning out on the alcohol and recreational drugs. Alcoholism has been, and remains, a serious problem in the gay community. The drug experimentation of the “love generation” had turned into a nightmare before AIDS arrived. Now, for the first time, many were experiencing another sense of self, a “sober self,” a discovery of self-respect, which allowed them to bring to a halt these self-destructive behaviors. Across the country sobriety became not only fashionable, but even “politically correct.” Discussion of the uses and misuses of the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous belongs elsewhere. Relevant to bears is the rise of self-esteem among gays--whether through sexual “liberation” or adoption of cultural norms of the moment.

The self-empowerment movements of the 1970s, the nurturance and “safe space” strategies of 1970s feminism, the ever greener alternative impulses of rural gays, Radical Faeries, and nongay-identifing men-loving men (as disseminated, for example, through RFD magazine), and the fundamental strategy of Stonewall politics--coming out--prepared the way. For gay men, who had come out as gay, as sober, as HIV positive, as leathermen, it would seem “natural” to come out--yet again--as a bear. On the one hand, Stonewall-era identity politics shaped the Zeitgeist. On the other hand, for many men-loving men who did not identify with any of the images of gay men in the gay press or with (usually) urban gay men they had encountered on trips to a city, their first encounter with the idea or an embodiment of a “bear” would strike pay dirt. Many have reported immediate identification, sometimes after years or decade of not “fitting in.” Twelve-stepping and two-stepping were new venues for socializing, for being in community without an explicit exhortation to sex. It gave us another chance, a utopian moment, in which to reinvent ourselves and our community.

“Bears” have been emerging as successor to the “clone” and as transmutated variant of “leatherman,” as an integration into gay mainstream social life of “girth-and-mirthers.” In many ways, it was a humanizing response to what clones had been. Martin P. Levine, in his study “The Life and Death of Gay Clones,” focuses on the urban enclave of West Village clones (Manhattan), noting that “AIDS, gay liberation, male gender roles, and the ethics of self-fulfillment, constraint, and commitment”[7] were the sociocultural shapers, creating and destroying this gay male subculture. Bears, during the 1980s, represented a break with the competitive and objectifying tendencies which had alienated so many Stonewall-era gay men. Bears continued the tradition of masculine identification, the social identity politics of gay liberation, and basic Enlightenment values of equality, self-determination, and self-fulfillment. Bears sought to ameliorate between socially isolating cliques and creating safe social spaces, comingling social and sexual spheres, merging rough, unkempt masculine iconography with the emotional nurturing lacking in the clone subculture and the caretaking many gay men felt called to as a direct result of the AIDS epidemic.

The point of titration came in 1987. The “Bear Hugs” parties, the advent of BEAR magazine, and developments in electronic communications were the catalysts that sparked the concept of the self-aware, self-identifying bear across communities. First, computer bulletin boards and then listservres and moderated mailing lists made communications instantaneous and were collectively dubbed “cybearspace.” All three significant events took place or are tracable back to San Fransisco, independent each other but with an unexpectedly synergistic effect all together. All three represented, each in its own way, a “safe space” for bears.

Play Parties A group of friends began organizing private “play parties” in Berkeley and San Francisco in 1987, as safe and warm gatherings--social and sexual for their friends and friends of friends. Private, invitation-only “jack-off circles” became popular during the AIDS sexual freeze, but these were an alternative social and sexual space for gay men who felt “left out”--out because they did not fit, or felt like they did not fit, the gay media images of “beauty”--young, tanned, smooth-skinned, blond LA surfer boy “twinks.” Their “difference” was both physical and perceptual, and was expressed through a social and sexual inclusiveness--men in their thirties, forties, and fifties, ranging from slender to stocky to chubby (though generally on the heavier side), usually with beards and perhaps body hair, and from a range of social classes. The common mold was a warm, nurturing, affectionate attitude toward each other. The intimacy of the early days changed, however, when the gatherings grew to over 100. By 1989, a larger space and a more formalized “guest list” became necessary.

This San Francisco group was the spawning ground for several later developments. Among them were Bear Fax Enterprises, a business privately owned by Ben Bruner and Bill Martin. The International Bear Expo, which ran for three years in San Francisco (1992, 1993, and 1994), the effort of dozens of local bears, was overseen by a steering committee, many of whom later founded the Bears of San Francisco and the International Bear Rendezvous. The “International Mr. Bear” competition and title were introduced at Expo ‘92; John Caldera, the first title holder, eventually acquired ownership of the tile, and the contest has been held annually ever since.

“Bear soup” became a widely adopted idea. In many places it refers specially to hot tub parties, though often with the implication of an orgy or private sexual pairings later in the evening. Sometimes “bear soup” seems to refer merely to a crowded space full of bears. The Bear Hugs group in Great Britain is a strictly social organization.

Similar groups, such as the OzBears of Sydney, Australia, and the Bear Cave parties in Manhattan, had started up for purposes of private socializing, and formed the basis of new groups that developed into bear clubs dedicated to social activities or even community work. As organized bear clubs have arisen and sex clubs started advertising a weekly “bear night,” these play parties have all but disappeared.

BEAR Magazine At about the same time, Bart Thomas began putting together a small, photocopied underground magazine he called BEAR . The magazine was, at first, local to San Francisco. It consisted of jack-off photos and personal ads. The reader could send in appropriate photos of himself or stop by the BEAR office and pose for the magazine. In some ways, BEAR may be seen as the direct successor of Jack Fritscher’s Man2Man underground magazine of nearly a decade before. Before he could actually launch the magazine, Thomas succumbed to complications form AIDS, but not before passing the torch to his friend Richard Bulger.

Bulger’s vision of a lifestyle magazine, articulating this masculinity, with a leftist sexual political slant, and embedded anthropological underpinnings, not to wax abstractly, but to act, to embody the principles through practice and a level of discourse clear to any blue-collar man. In a few years’ time the magazine expanded in size and status, and from word-of-mouth circulation to international commercial distribution, with a full line of videotapes, photo sets, and accessories.

In this 1993 study of BEAR magazine, Joe Policarpio describes the dual aspects of image and attitude stressed by publisher Richard Bulger through his choice of models and editorial content. The general profile of a “bear” includes at least some facial hair and some body hair (”usually the more the better”), a “musky animality,” a blend of traditionally masculine aggressiveness and (feminine) desire to cuddle, muscles by Nautilus or physical labor, and a tendency to be older than the models found in most other gay male porn magazines. “The most important point is these men are presented as fitting an ideological pattern the magazine espouses. This is one of freewheeling, playful and positive attitude toward sexuality between men. He is comfortable in his body and exudes a sense of self-assurance.”[8]

Because of personal ties, BEAR magazine was from the start intimately connected with the South-of-Market bar scene. The original Lone Star Saloon was the first “bear bar,” and followed the tradition of the Ambush and the Balcony, both of which had gone out of business early in the AIDS epidemic. These “sleaze bars” all developed an international reputation. They all offered a free-spirited, anarchic, anything-goes ambience, drawing in blue-collar types who disdained the middle-class pretensions of mainstream gay culture, those who sensibility combined social rough edges with the loyalty ethic of the American lower classes, and misfits, eccentrics, and other “rugged individual” types historically drawn to frontier towns and their saloons.

“Cybearspace” Direct electronic communications over the Internet developed and proliferated during the 1980s and 1990s. Word-of-mouth knowledge of bears spread very rapidly across the Internet. The preponderance of bears on-line or in computer fields is traceable back, in part, to this. One of the most often used private or personal uses of the Internet, regardless of sexual orientation, is for communications of a sexual nature. The lines of communication are numerous and diverse: live chat lines (IRC), BBS (electronic bulletin boards), unmoderated (echoed) an moderated mailing lists, websites, CU See ME (live video transmission), and e-mail. Altogether an individual can transmit or receive text, images (such as gif or jpeg), sound, and video images (nearly) instantaneously. The Internet allows for establishing and maintaining contact anonymously, for uncensored communication, for the exchange of visual images (yourself, your friends, your favorite sexual icon), and for echoed messages (broadcasting to all subscribers of a mailing list of a global mailing to everyone in your e-mail address book). Certain mediums (such as the IRC) can guarantee anonymity (no clues as to personal identity or physical appearance). The question of subverting prejudgment on the basis of appearance becomes moot, however, when we consider the proliferation of visual mediums, such as webpages, archived gif and jpegs, or CU SeeMe, which permit blatant self-advertising based on one’s appearance without revealing one’s name or location.

Early on, circa 1985-1988, there were several bear-dedicated bulletin boards, such as the PC Bear’s Lair (sysop Les Kooyman). The bearcave chat room on the IRC has been a very popular site in cybearspace for live conversation. While the option of remaining anonymous is always available (everyone uses a “handle,” or pseudonym), cyber-communities have evolved over time. This may range from sexual encounters to personal friendships to life partners.

By far the most popular cybearspace is the Bears Mailing List, or BML. Founded by Steve Dyer and Brian Gollum in 1988, it grew from a small, friendly, safe-feeling cybergathering of several dozen bears to a heavily subscribed, largely anonymous, and often fractious, moderated exchange of over 3,000 subscribers. Since 1995 Henry Mensch and Roger Klorese have been moderating the BML and introducing changes to accommodate the dramatic shift in tenor and purpose of the list. Subscribers are drawn from all fifty states and several dozen nations worldwide. English is the lingua franca although everything, including whether to have and who should determine a common language (and how), has been brought up for discussion. Bob Donahue’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek rough guide to “bear codes,” which was accessible from the BML archives, is the source of subspecies terminology within the bear community, such a cub, otter, behr, and the like. Numerous individuals have taken the code in all seriousness and this has become a source of contention, quoted by both sides in disputes over what is a “real” bear. [...]

Although not the only cybear group to do so, the BML has staged several informal, in-person gatherings of its subscribers  During Stonewall 25 in New York City, for example, some sixty to seventy BMLers gathered at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park on the day before the parade. Consensus determined the group should form a spontaneous contingent and march in the parade. And thus on Sunday, Stonewall 25 included a sizable contingent of mostly bearded, bearish-appearing gay men from all across the country and from abroad.

Second Wave: formalizing, 1989-1994

Bear Clubs As the concept of bear circulated between gay communities across the country and “news of recent developments in the gay capital” was drawing more comers to San Francisco, localized efforts to promote and organize bears appeared everywhere. The Bear Paws of Iowa, co-founded by Dave Annis and Larry Toothman in 1989, was the first bear club. By 1992, Bear Expo organizers were aware of four such clubs. Two years later, there were forty. According to the International Directory of Bear Organizations, maintained by The Tidewater Bears (Virginia), as of January 1996, there were 137 bear clubs or explicitly bear-friendly (girth-and-mirth and leather) clubs worldwide.

Bear clubs have generally followed along the lines of their older cousins, the lather motorcycle clubs. In some places this means an informal club that schedules periodic social events. In other places, this has translated into a great deal of fundraising and gay community civic activities. As the club model has gained wider acceptance, it has drawn long-standing problems endemic throughout the gay community into its sphere.

A formal club membership structures creates automatically an insider/outsider division, even if membership is “open to all” (usually defined as “bears and their admires”). Having a club also invites quibbling over definitions of who is a “real” bear. (This is borne out by regional differences, whether emphasis has been placed on body hair, on body weight, or on “attitude,” though a beard or moustache seems to be universally required). Clubs and organizers of events, such as the OctoBearFest (Denver), Orlando Bear Bust, Bear Pride (Chicago), European Big Men’s Conference, or the International Bear Rendezvous (San Francisco) have created bear contests, which engenders the very hierarchical system the earlier bear impulse had been resisting.

Finally, the disjunctive ideals of bears as working-class masculinity and bears as an increasingly distinct subculture within mainstream gay culture bring into sharp relief the larger issues of gay community. If bears began in a spirit of inclusiveness and egalitarian-mindedness, sex positive and relatively “anti-looks-ist,” then what is to be made of the increasingly conformist, consumerist, competitiveness that has take over? As the idea of bears has spread, the opportunities to travel far and wide, to purchase ever more and ever more costly bearphernalia, to update an expand one’s computer sources are generating another, unanticipated dividing line-between bear haves and bear have-nots. to what extent does having money now calculate into the formulas of who is a “real” bear?

Expanded Print Media As BEAR magazine rapidly grew in format, production values, and circulation, reception among gay mainstream media remained very lower. The first published serious essay on bears was a piece I wrote in 1989. It appeared in its entirety in Seattle Gay News, an abbreviated version in the San Francisco Sentinel, and Drummer magazine carried the “Sociology of the Urban Bear” as the first bear cover story in 1990. (It was reprinted in Classic Bear, February 1996.)

What became known as bear types had been featured, in one way or another, in RFD (rural), in Chiron Rising (”mature”), in leather/SM-oriented, and girth-and-mirth publications. Numerous niche-crossover magazines sprang up in the early 1990s--Bulk Male, The Big Ad, Husky, Daddy, Daddybear, GRUF. Bearish models began staring back at the reader from the pages of Advocate Men, Honcho, In Touch, and other gay mainstream glossies. BEAR magazine’s direct competitor American Bear, published by Tim Martin (Louisville, KY) took advantage of a lacuna left by BEAR magazine’s retreat from Bulger’s philosophical lifestyle magazine publishing. With the establishment of the bear icon in the gay community and the world of mainstream-gay print advertising, gay bears had become a local presence everywhere (not just in San Fransisco). And with interests, at least sometimes, beyond immediate sexual gratification, this translated into new niche markets. While American Bear Features a regular column on dissonant (HIV-positive/negative) couples (Bulger adamantly refused to mention AIDS in his magazine), a how-to column on accessing the Internet, and other features, none of the bear magazines have attained Playboy-calibre intellectual content.

In the early 1990s “bear war” broke out when Bulger, then owner-publisher of BEAR, sought to gain sole ownership of the word “bear” as his company’s trademark. Needless to say, this led to a lot of bad feelings and was widely followed and criticized in cybearspace. The Advocate even mentioned it in print. At the time, the Bear Hug group’s informal newsletter the Bear Fax had been expanded into a full-fledged magazine by Bill Martin. The lingering legacy of this “war” was a schism, based on a difference in basic body types typically portrayed in each magazine, between “fat bears” and “skinny bears.” Since this time, personals ads have proven far more profitable, and the bulk of the magazine currently consisted of personals ads, photo spreads, and commercial advertising.[9] The magazine was sold to Bear-Dog Hoffman in 1994 and is currently under Joseph Bean’s editorship. It is not clear which direction the magazine will go. It is clear that BEAR is the voice of authority in matters of bear community and sensibility.

Print media as gone a long way in generating a prototypical bear icon--full-bearded, fairly to very hairy, beefy to chunky GWM baby-boomer, probably of Irish, Jewish, Italian, Scandinavian, or Armenian heritage. In reality, the question of race, presence or absence of body hair, body build, social class, or outlook on life is anything but so neatly compartmentalized. BEAR magazine introduced the serious photographic work of Chris Nelson (as Brahman Studio) and Steve Sutton (who succumbed to complications from AIDS in 1994). Lynn Ludwig has established himself as the documenter of the San Francisco bear community. And, perhaps, the most gifted photographer of bears is Los Angeles-based John Rand, whose work is included in this book.

Bear Contests The bear calendar includes many regional gatherings, as mentioned above, as well as annual bear contests as the local club level. The highlight of such events is often the bear content. As Lurch, a popular bear icon, stand-up comic, TV actor, and psychiatric nurse, has put it, “I prefer to say ‘titleholder.’ ‘Winner’ implies ‘losers,’ and none of us are losers.”[10] Successful bear contest titleholders may be expected to organize or work a number of fund-raisers, go on public speaking engagements and represent their hometown or club on the road. In other places, the local bear club may be one of the few, or even the only social outlet, and merely being a known presence in the local community is the extent of the titleholder’s “duties.”

The emergence of bear contents has tended to straddle the fence between two sides--parodying traditional gay ideals of beauty while striving to establish a new, legitimate bear ideal. The International Mr. Bear contest, a component part of the San Francisco-based International Bear Expo, evolved in its first three year from poking somewhat self-conscious fun at traditional gay values to striving in an increasingly serious manner to project an image of a self-confident bear ideal, a new icon assuming its place among the archetypes of male beauty. From the beginning there has been an emphasis on personal warmth, a compassionate nature, civic-mindedness in the gay community, and spiritual playfulness. Titleholders John Caldera (IMB ‘92) and Steve Heyl (IMB ‘93) worked hard during their “reign,” and have remained genuinely and deeply committed to the bear community. Yet, in the progression of titleholders and the proliferation of bear contests in recent years, here has been an increasing tendency toward consolidating a bear image, and away from qualities intangible or at least invisible to the camera.

[doubleattitude]

Radix Dance Convention, Denver, CO: RESULTS

High Scores by Age:

Rookie Solo

1st: Skyla Edger-’Hallelujah’

2nd: Prairie Wilkins-’Older Than I Am’

3rd: Lucy Tang-’You Are A Memory’

4th: Jsde Peterson-’Fly Me To The Moon’

5th: Ava Azar-’Halo’

6th: Abby Fowle-’One Moment More’

7th: Quinn Nash-’Tiny Dancer’

Mini Solo

1st: Savannah Manzel-’Fly Me To The Moon’

2nd: Karson Koller-’Asht’

3rd: Isabella DiBenedetto-’Amen’

4th: Ella Miller-’For Now I Am Winter’

4th: Lily Haas-’I Can’t Stand The Rain’

4th: Mariah Reuvers-’Sleep’

5th: Harper Potts-’Fireflies’

5th: Julian Aranda-’Jump’

5th: Emily Benjamin-’Roxie’

6th: Avery Burgard-’Fancy’

7th: Marley Dechant-’Control’

7th: Kate Casa-’Isn’t She Lovely’

7th: Emily Bell-’Na, Na, Na’

7th: Ella Birdsong-’The Garden’

8th: Tori Barrett-’Borderline’

8th: Evelyn Cherry-’This Is Us Colliding’

9th: Kinsley Odom-’Insight’

9th: Natalie Lira-’Tiny Dancer’

10th: Annabelle Winterbottom-’Red Alert’

Junior Solo

1st: Coltrane Vodicka-’Moon River’

2nd: Campbell Clark-’I’ll Be Seeing You’

3rd: Taryn Miner-’Make You Feel My Love’

4th: Alegra Post-’What If Birds Were Screaming’

5th: Vanessa Lira-’Convolution’

6th: Genesse Craft-’The Beat Goes On’

7th: Gianna Montoya-’Burn It Up’

7th: Morgan Jensen-’Fields of Gold’

8th: Grace Grieve-’Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrubs’

9th: Brynlee Morton-’Where Did Our One Go?’

10th: Ruby Spencer-’What You Want’

Teen Solo

1st: Lola Iglesias-’Letters from a Traveler’

2nd: Ayla Rodriguez-Ping’

3rd: Olivia Taylor-’Why Try To Change Me Now?’

4th: Maliah Howard-’Sei La Vita’

4th: Maya Howard-’Telehumo’

5th: Kennedy Peterson-’Build It Up’

5th: Soleil Nelson-’Cetana’

5th: Emerson Ramos-’Rebel Angel’

6th: Davina Ephraim-’Hurt for Me’

6th: Devon Stutz-’No End To New Memories’

6th: Sara Allen-’This Land Is Your Land’

7th: Abbey Schmidt-’Letters Make No Meaning’

7th: Teya Pak-’Pathogenic Agent’

7th: Gwendolyn Cherry-’Shiny Stockings’

8th: Eliane Dean-’Both Sides of the Moon’

8th: Jamir Nuanes-’Fresh Prince’

9th: Addison Ihler-’Boyfriend’

9th: Avery Trammell-’It’s Time To Go’

9th: Chloe Jachowicz-’The River’

10th: Emma Broome-’Death’

10th: Lauren Feichtinger-’Labyrinth’

10th: Tea Anderson-’Verses of My Soul’

10th: Kendall Hoffner-’Wait’

Senior Solo

1st: Sithumi Sinley-’Genesis II’

2nd: Vivian Unkart-’What’s It Gonna Take’

3rd: Maycee Budge-’Footprints’

3rd: Liesl Brauch-’Grower’

3rd: Grace Coleman-’Walk On’

4th: Mia Maxwell-’Locomotive’

4th: Bronson Dahmer-’The Pain Room’

5th: Bella Donatelli-’Away Go’

5th: Jasmin Conner-’The Egg’

5th: Shaelynn Rounds-’The Radical Self’

6th: Maddie Myers-’Catalina’

6th: Vincent Maizland-’Slow Descent’

7th: Madison Skinner-’Always On My Mind’

7th: Angelee RiAli-’Gabi’s Story’

7th: Remy Wright-’Moments Passed’

7th: Annie Cellar-’Psalm’

7th: Sophia Price-’Shahmaran’

8th: Piper Northburg-’Concerto’

8th: Taylor Piper-’Tender Skin’

9th: Sydney Carlin-’Salvatore’

10th: Teigyn Holt-’L.J’

10th: Trip Babcock-’Slip’

10th: Sophia Meza-’The Watering’

10th: Kendall Moller-’When I Fall In Love’

Rookie Duo/Trio

1st: A Dance Place-’Seize The Day’

2nd: The Dance Movement-’When She Loved Me’

3rd: The Dance Movement-’Heartbeats’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: Stars Dance Studio-’Rescue’

2nd: A Dance Place-’You and Me But Mostly Me’

3rd: En Face Studios-’Where Do I Go From Here?’

Junior Duo/Trio

1st: Evoke Dance Movement-’Everything Is In Line’

2nd: Move By Morelli-’After Everything I’ve Done’

3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Broken Chords’

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: all my feidns

2nd: bettet then today

3rd: nostalgia

3rd: when doves

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: thinking about you

2nd: lose somebody

3rd: everything all at

Rookie Group

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Boogie Shoes’

2nd: The Dance Movement-’Imagine’

2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Name Game’

3rd: Studio West Dance Center-’Home’

Mini Group

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Celloopa’

2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’SuperSonic’

3rd: Studio West Dance Center-’Choo Choo Cha Boogie’

3rd: A Dance Place-’Cover Is Not The Book’

Junior Group

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Ice Age’

1st: Sweatshop-’Rock It’

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Tambourine’

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’The Cubs’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Give A Little’

3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’O My Love’

Teen Group

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Our Love’

2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Moonlight’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Where Is The Love?’

3rd: Sweatshop-’Hope There’s Someone’

3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Life Within’

3rd: Empower Dance-’Open Hands’

3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’The Thing’

Senior Group

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’I Never Thought That You Could Be Left In My Chest’

1st: Empower Dance-’Lying Down’

1st: Studio West Dance Center-’Masters of Deception’

2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Lover Please Stay’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Verona’

3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Wings in the Grass’

Rookie Line

1st: The Dance Movement-’Might Not Like Me’

Mini Line

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’Hey Pachuco’

2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Wind Beneath My Wings’

3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Nasty’

Junior Line

1st: Sweatshop-’Comin in Hot’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Back For More’

2nd: Sweatshop-’The Sun Will Rise’

3rd: Sweatshop-’Glory’

3rd: Sweatshop-’Hermetico’

3rd: Sweatshop-’Shelter’

Teen Line

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’The Day It All Crashed’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Change Will Come’

3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Take Me Coco’

Senior Line

1st: Sweatshop-’Is That Alright’

2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Nunc Dimittis’

3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’A Town That’s Right For Me’

Mini Extended Line

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Raise Your Voice’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Sleeping Beauty’

Junior Extended Line

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Divas, Queens and Bees’

2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Love’

3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Flood of Everything’

3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Ooh Child’

Teen Extended Line

1st: Studio West Dance Center-’Into The Realm’

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’You Can’t Sit With Us’

2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Basshead’

2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Out of Line’

2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’The Swarm’

3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’All Night’

3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Di Mi Nombre’

3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’La Mordidita’

3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Missy’

Junior Production

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Step in Time’

2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Let’s Dance’

Teen Production

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’It’s So Overt, It’s Covert’

2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Roaring 20s’

High Scores by Performance Division:

Rookie Jazz

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Boogie Shoes’ 2nd: The Dance Movement-’Might Not Like Me’ 3rd: Studio West Dance Center-’Home’

Rookie Tap

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Name Game’

Rookie Contemporary

1st: Studio West Dance Center-’Petite Fleur’

Rookie Lyrical

1st: The Dance Movement-’Imagine’

Mini Jazz

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Nasty’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Forever More’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Self Love’

Mini Ballet

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Sleeping Beauty’

Mini Hip-Hop

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Keep It Up’ 2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’Wheels On The Bus’

Mini Tap

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’SuperSonic’ 2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’Choo Choo Cha Boogie’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Just Got Paid’

Mini Contemporary

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Celloopa’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Dare’ 3rd: Studio West Dance Center-’September Song’

Mini Lyrical

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Wind Beneath My Wings’ 2nd: A Dance Place-’Firework’ 2nd: A Dance Place-’This Is Me’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’It’s Impossible’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Keep Climbing’

Mini Musical Theatre

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Raise Your Voice’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Hey Pachuco’ 3rd: A Dance Place-’Cover Is Not The Book’

Mini Ballroom

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Conga’

Junior Jazz

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Tambourine’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Let’s Dance’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Love’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’Hermetico’

Junior Hip-Hop

1st: Sweatshop-’Comin in Hot’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Divas, Queens and Bees’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Welcome to the Party’

Junior Tap

1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’I Love Your Smile’

Junior Contemporary

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’The Cubs’ 2nd: Sweatshop-’Shelter’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Flood of Everything’

Junior Lyrical

1st: Sweatshop-’The Sun Will Rise’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Give A Little’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Ooh Child’

Junior Musical Theatre

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Step in Time’

Junior Ballroom

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Sweet Like Cola’

Junior Specialty

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Ice Age’ 1st: Sweatshop-’Rock It’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Back For More’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’Glory’

Teen Jazz

1st: Empower Dance-’One Last Time’ 1st: Empower Dance-’The Upside’ 2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’Without You’ 2nd: Sweatshop-’Disco Pop’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’All Night’ 3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Anything I Do’

Teen Ballet

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Don Quixote’ 2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’Recomposed’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’Allegro from Paquita’

Teen Hip-Hop

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Missy’ 2nd: Studio Wesr Dance Center-’Just Gang’ 2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Jay-Z’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’I Believe’

Teen Tap

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Where Is The Love?’ 2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’Get Down’ 2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Back in Black’

Teen Contemporary

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Change Will Come’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Moonlight’ 3rd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Life Within’ 3rd: Studio West Dance Center-’The Swarm’ 3rd: Studio West Dance Center-’Love More’ 3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Out of Line’ 3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Basshead’ 3rd: Empower Dance-’Finish Line’ 3rd: Empower Dance-’Open Hands’

Teen Lyrical

1st: Studio West Dance Center-’Unknown’ 2nd: Sweatshop-’Ghost in the Wind’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’Feels Like This’

Teen Musical Theatre

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’The Day It All Crashed’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’You Can’t Sit With Us’ 3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Cell Block Tango’

Teen Ballroom

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’La Mordidita’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Sax’ 2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’When I Grow Up’

Teen Specialty

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Our Love’ 1st: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Take Me Coco’ 2nd: Studio West Dance Center-’Into The Realm’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’Hope There’s Someone’ 3rd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’The Thing’

Senior Jazz

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Tainted Love’ 2nd: DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’My Game’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’Escalate’

Senior Ballet

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’La Bayadere’ 1st: Sweatshop-’Dirt’

Senior Hip-Hop

1st: Sweatshop-’Shoot the Shot’

Senior Contemporary

1st: Studio West Dance Center-’Masters of Deception’ 1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’I Never Thought That You Could Be Left In My Chest’ 1st: Empower Dance-’Lying Down’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Verona’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Dissolving Tension’ 3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Wings in the Grass’

Senior Lyrical

1st: Sweatshop-’Is That Alright’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Nunc Dimittis’ 3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Don’t Leave Me’ 3rd: Mpact Dance Project-’Lover Please Stay’

Senior Musical Theatre

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’A Wild, Wild Party’

Senior Ballroom

1st: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Smooth’

Senior Specialty

1st: Mpact Dance Project-’A Town That’s Right For Me’ 2nd: Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’All Together Now’ 2nd: Mpact Dance Project-’Side Effects’ 3rd: Sweatshop-’The Enchanting’

Best of Radix:

Rookie

The Dance Movement-’Imagine’

DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Boogie Shoes’

Studio West Dance Center-’Home’

Mini

Studio West Dance Center-’Choo Choo Cha Boogie’

Mpact Dance Project-’Hey Pachuco’

A Dance Place-’Cover Is Not The Book’

Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Dare’

DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Celloopa’

Junior

Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’Step in Time’

Mpact Dance Project-’The Cubs’

Sweatshop-’Comin in Hot’

Teen

Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’The Day It All Crashed’

The Dance Movement-’How to Win’

Sweatshop-’Hope There’s Someone’

Empower Dance-’Finish Line’

Mpact Dance Project-’Moonlight’

Studio West Dance Center-’Into The Realm’

DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Take Me Coco’

Senior

DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’I’ve Known Your Heart’

Sweatshop-’Is That Alright’

Empower Dance-’Lying Down’

Mpact Dance Project-’Nunc Dimittis’

Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’I Never Thought That You Could Be Left In My Chest’

Studio West Dance Center-’Masters of Deception’

Studio Standout:

Sweatshop-’Is That Alright’

Studio West Dance Center-’Masters of Deception’

Mpact Dance Project-’Nunc Dimittis’

Michelle Latimer Dance Academy-’The Day It All Crashed’

DanceSpace Performing Arts Academy-’Take Me Coco’

A Dance Place-’Youth’

[stefan-selke]

Corona als Meteoriteneinschlag des Denkes

Wenn Corona Krise bedeutet, was war dann Normalität? Trotz Überraschungsekstase zwingt uns der Virus zu immer neuen Entscheidungen im Leben zwischen Zeitgeschenk und Panikattacke. Die globale Pandemie verstärkt nicht nur den Charakter von Politikern und Institutionen. Vielmehr hilft sie, längst überfällige Fragen zu stellen. Jenseits angestrengter Kampfansagen an den unsichtbaren Feind ist Corona ein dringend benötigter Katalysator für Denken und Handeln.

Noch vor Kurzem konnte der US-amerikanische Präsident Donald Trump frech von einem „ausländischen Virus“ sprechen. Seine protektionistische Situationsdefinition hatte nicht lange Bestand. Im Rosengarten des Weißen Hauses verkündete er den Notstand und räumte ein, dass die Covid-19-Pandemie ein Problem ist, das durch Grenzschließungen nicht aus der Welt zu schaffen ist. „Selbst wenn ihr die Grenzen vor den zweibeinigen Flüchtlingen dicht macht“, schreibt Bruno Latour in seinem Terrestrischen Manifest, „die anderen werdet ihr nicht aufhalten können.“ Aus heutiger Sicht wirken diese Worte fast prophetisch.

Wir verstehen die Welt nicht mehr. Was passiert gerade mit unserer Gesellschaft? Immer mehr gleicht sie einem Laborexperiment mit uns als Probanden. Aber bereits 1990 sprach Ulrich Beck von der „Praxis als Labor“und sah die Herausforderung durch unkontrollierbare „Freiland- und Menschheitsexperimente“. Die Idee einer Gesellschaft als offenes Laborist jetzt das passende Bild, um die tägliche „Lage“ besser einzuordnen.

Gesellschaften sind Problemtauschagenturen: Trotz aller Grenzschließungen wird das Problem Corona in einem grenzenlosenExperiment zwischen widersprüchlichen gesellschaftlichen und geopolitischen Interessen hin- und her übersetzt. C. Wright Mills erkannte schon in den 1960er Jahren eine Verbindung zwischen „private troubles“ und „public issues“. Mehr denn je sollten wir die Wechselwirkungen zwischen persönlichem Umfeld und planetarischem Maßstab durch zoomendes Denkenin den Blick nehmen. Auch wenn viele sich danach sehnen, wird dabei am Ende jedoch keine einheitliche oder standardisierte Situationsdefinition herauskommen. Die Normalität, zu der wir zurückwollen, gibt es inzwischen nicht mehr. Das klingt nach Kontrollverlust und ist dennoch genau das Gegenteil. Es gibt eine Traditionslinie, in die sich das aktuelle Geschehen einordnen lässt.

Weltraumspaziergänge

Der sowjetische Kosmonaut Alexej Leonow wurde 1965 als erster „Weltraumspaziergänger“ berühmt. Nur an einer dünnen Leine gesichert, stieg er aus seiner Voskhod-Kapsel aus und schwebte schwerelos im All. Leonow war ein Witzbold. In seinem ersten Funkspruch, betonte er, dass die Erde absolut rund sei. „Du kannst es kaum fassen“, jubilierte er 500 Kilometer über dem Erdboden, „nur hier draußen können wir die Erhabenheit spüren von allem, was uns umgibt.“ Zehn Jahre später war Leonow nochmals an Bord einer Sojus-19-Kapsel im All, die an ein amerikanisches Apollo-Raumschiff ankoppelte. Es war der erste Versuch der Raumfahrt über alle Grenzen hinweg zusammenzuarbeiten. „Zwischen Astronauten haben niemals Grenzen existiert“, erinnert sich Leonow. „Der Tag, an dem auch Politiker dies begreifen, wird unseren Planeten für immer verändern.“ Ähnlich wird es später ein amerikanischer Kollege fassen. „Wir beten, dass die gesamte Menschheit sich eine grenzenlose Welt vorstellen kann“, so William McCool, Pilot der Space Shuttle Mission STS-107, nachdem er und seine Crew am 29. Januar 2003 mit John Lennons Lied Imagine geweckt worden waren. Und der arabische Astronaut Prinz Sultan Bin Salman al-Saud erinnert sich an Erlebnisse jenseits aller Beschreibungsmöglichkeiten. „Von hier oben sehen alle Schwierigkeiten, nicht nur die im Nahen Osten, seltsam aus, weil die Grenzlinien einfach verschwinden.“ Er berichtet, wie die Astronauten am ersten Tag im All noch auf ihre Länder zeigten, dann auf die Kontinente und nach ein paar Tagen nur noch auf den Planeten Erde.

Mit der Raumfähre Space Shuttle konnten erstmals auch weniger trainierte Politiker ins All fliegen und sich davon überzeugen, dass alles mit allem zusammenhängt. „Man kommt mit großer Sicherheit zu der Einsicht, dass es dort unten nicht wirklich politische Grenzen gibt“, erinnert sich der republikanische Senator Edwin Garn aus Utah nach seinem Raumflug. „Man sieht den Planeten plötzlich als ‚eine Welt’ an.“ Und der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Bill Nelson aus Florida schlug vor, dass sich die Führer der Supermächte doch im Weltall treffen sollten. „Es hätte einen positiven Effekt auf ihre Entscheidungsfindung.“ Das wäre dann ein Gipfeltreffen, das den Namen auch wirklich verdiente.

Viele Astronauten entwickelten eine Vorliebe für „Earthgazing“, das tägliche Ritual, so lange wie möglich aus dem Fenster ihres Raumschiffs auf die Erde zu schauen. Der Skylab-Astronaut Ed Gibson klagte darüber, dass jeder Versuch, das Besondere zu teilen, sich wie ein Tropfen Farbe in einem Ozean“ verteilen würde. Leider gab es bislang keinen Antoine St. Exupéry im All, der die Intensität des Erlebten in angemessene Worte kleidet. Der Apollo-11-Astronaut Michael Collins merkte einst sogar an, dass die beste Mannschaft für eine Mission aus „einem Philosophen, einem Priester und einem Poeten“ bestehen würde. „Unglücklicherweise“, so fügte er hinzu, „hätten sie sich beim Versuch, das Raumschiff zu fliegen selbst umgebracht.“

Overvieweffekt

Doch auch ohne Priester oder Poeten konnten wertvolle Erkenntnisse gewonnen werden, die sich nach und nach auch auf der Erde verbreiteten. Diese Flaschenpost an die Menschheit wurde unter dem Namen Overview-Effekt bekannt. Im Kern bedeutet der Effekt eine starke und andauernde kognitive Verschiebung des Bewusstseins als Folge einer transformierenden Primärerfahrung. Der Overview-Effekt resultiert aus der Wechselwirkung zwischen äußerer Erfahrung und inneren Wandlung. Er verhindert, sich nicht mehr egoistisch nur mit sich selbst zu beschäftigen, sondern sich als Teil eines größeren System zu erkennen. Die Intensität rührt daher, dass zeitgleich die Schönheit des Planeten und die Schicksalshaftigkeit menschlichen Lebens auf dessen Oberfläche wahrgenommen werden. Kurz: Der Overview-Effekt ist eine Art Meteoriteneinschlag ins Gehirn.

Also genau das, was wir gegenwärtig täglich erleben.

„Ich habe eine Welt gesehen, die so neu und unbekannt war. Ich habe versucht, alles zu sehen und mir alles zu merken,“ berichtete Yuri Gagarin, der erste Mensch, der die Gravitation überwand. Gagarin fühlte sich geehrt, als Individuum die Menschheit repräsentieren zu dürfen. Menschheit klingt tröstlich. Aber ist die Rede von der Menschheit angesichts von Corona überhaupt noch angemessen? „Die Menschheit“ ist ein historisch junges Konzept, dessen Grundgedanke darin besteht, sich die Welt als Einheit, als Ganzes vorzustellen, das gemeinsam Möglichkeiten aber auch Grenzen bestimmt. Gerade weil alle Kulturen und Religionen bislang eher daran arbeiteten, Unterschiede und Trennlinien aufrechtzuerhalten, werden wir nur dann überleben, wenn wir annähernd geteilte Werte oder Zukunftsvorstellungen entwickeln.

Die gute Nachricht: Der Overview-Effekt zieht positive Veränderungen nach sich. Der Blick aus dem All erzeugte Mitleid mit dem Planeten, ein profundes Verständnis der großen Zusammenhänge des Lebens sowie das Gefühl der Verantwortung für die irdische Umwelt. Diese Tugenden benötigen wir dringender denn je.Alle, die bislang einen Overview-Effekt erlebten, berichteten übereinstimmend von massiv gesteigerter Empathiefähigkeit. „Ich konnte den Status quo des Planeten nicht mehr länger akzeptieren“, so der Astronaut Ron Garan. „Wir leben in einer Welt unbeschränkter Möglichkeiten. Es liegt in unserer Macht, so vieles zu verändern. Und doch haben wir es bislang nicht getan.“

Der Overview-Effekt ist mitnichten nur für Weltraumenthusiasten von Interesse, sondern für alle, die an echte Zukunftsinvestitionen interessiert sind. Wer die Flaschenpost aus dem All öffnet und sich von der darin enthaltenen Botschaft berühren lässt, entdeckt die Poesie der Hoffnung.

Auf diesen Proviant sind wir gegenwärtig angewiesen.

Zwar ist es nie zu spät Astronaut zu werden, doch die Botschaft der Flaschenpost kann eigentlich überall empfangen werden. Grundvoraussetzung ist allein eine distanzierte Perspektive auf uns selbst. Einer der ersten, der sich das vorstellen konnte war Fred Holye. „Sobald es eine Fotografie der Erde, aufgenommen von außerhalb, gibt – sobald die völlige Isolation der Erde bekannt wird“, schrieb der hellsichtige britische Astronom 1948, „wird sich eine neue Idee, so mächtig wie keine andere in der Geschichte, Bahn brechen.“ Und genau so war es. Die Apollo 8-Mission brachte von ihrer Reise das berühmte Earth-Rise-Foto als Kronjuwel der Menschheit mit. „Eines der wichtigsten Ergebnisse von Apollo war das Bild der Erdkugel“, resümiert der Weltraumkünstler Arthur Woods. „Es war das erste Mal, das wir unseren Planeten aus der Weltraumperspektive vor der Schwärze des Universums sahen. Was die Erde aus der Weltraumperspektive gesehen besonders schön macht, ist die Tatsache, dass wir Leben sehen.“ Mit einem einzigen Foto wurde der bekannte Horizont der Menschheit gesprengt. Die Astronauten der Appollo-8-Mission waren die letzten echten Irritationsagenten der Menschheit. Nur sie konnten einen ganzheitlichen Blick auf die Erde werfen.

Dieser Blick fehlt uns gerade sehr.

Im Kern sind wir trotz Fernreisen, Massentourismus und Google Maps provinzielle Dörfler geblieben. Nun gibt uns die Corona-Pandemie Nachhilfeunterricht. Der Overview-Effekt braucht als Testgebiet nicht unbedingt das Weltall, Erkenntnisbeschleuniger kann tatsächlich fast alles sein und tritt in vielen Verkleidungen auf: Beim Fliegen, als Gipfelerlebnis beim Bergsteigen, als Bewusstseinserweiterung durch Drogenkonsum oder als spirituelle Erfahrung. Oder im Kontext banaler Alltagserfahrungen. Die Politikerin und Rollstuhlfahrerin Kristina Vogel berichtet davon, was die Überwindung von Bordsteinkanten alles bewirken kann. „In solchen Dingen sieht man die Dinge in größeren Zusammenhängen“, so Vogel. „Deshalb träume ich davon, in einer Welt zu leben, in der jeder nicht nur an sich selbst denkt.“

Gegenwärtig zwingt uns ein unsichtbarer Virus zu einer neuen Perspektive auf unsere Welt. Corona hat den Overview-Effekt im planetarischen Maßstab demokratisiert.In der irdischen Variante könnte uns deshalb die neu gewonnene ganzheitliche Perspektive auch den Weg aus der Krise weisen und notwendigen Treibstoff für soziale Transformationen und progressive Veränderungen liefern. Corona wäre dann im Idealfall eine Art philosophischer Katalysator. In seiner mundanen Variante würde der Overview-Effekt helfen,Denk- und Handlungsblockaden aufzulösen, die uns viel zu lange gelähmt haben. In kürzester Zeit werden gegenwärtig Einsichten gewonnen, für die sonst lange Zeiträume notwendig waren. Corona kann als kognitiver Fast-Track verstanden werden, als epistemologische Überholspur im Alltagslabor der Menschheit. Josef Beuys sähe darin vielleicht sogar eine Soziale Plastik, die Bewusstsein schafft, ein elementares tiefes Gefühl der „Auferstehung aus einer Zerstörtheit“. Denn eine Soziale Plastik ist ja nichts anderes als das kollektive Durchleben eines Zerstörungs- und Heilungsprozesses. Stabilität mag das Ziel unserer Gesellschaft sein, aber Instabilität ist nun einmal das zentrale Merkmal der Gegenwart. Der Corona-Effekt macht deutlich, wie die Vollkasko-Mentalität, die lange Zeit die unhinterfragte Grundlage vieler Existenzen war, nun von einem seuchenpolitischen Imperativ abgelöst wird: Zusammenarbeiten! Zusammenhalten! Bloß nicht streiten!

Monster des Bodenlosen

Wenn Corona Krise bedeutet, was war dann Normalität? In diesem Zusammenhang erinnern wir uns an die berühmt gewordene Aussage von Margaret Thatcher, die die Existenz der Gesellschaft bzw. des Sozialen radikal bezweifelte: „Who is society? There is no such thing!” Thatcher hob darauf ab, dass es nurindividuelle Männer und Frauen und einzelne Familien gibt. „Und keine Regierung kann etwas tun, wenn nicht durch die Menschen und diese sorgen sich immer zuerst um sich selbst.“ Diese Haltung züchtete das Monster des Bodenlosen heran, das uns nun alle erschreckt. Wir alle sind von seinen Drohgebärden – soziale Desintegration, planetarische Zerstörung, globale Ungleichheiten und individuelle Erschöpfung – mehr oder weniger eingeschüchtert. Das Monster beutet uns immer perfider aus. Es erzeugt nicht nur Unordnung, Angst und Neurosen. Es führt auch zum vollständigen Verlust des gesellschaftlichen Gravitationszentrums. Dieser neoliberale Kreuzzug rächt sich jetzt, wenn nach einer jahrzehntelangen sozialen Kälteperiode plötzlich umfassende Solidarität gefordert wird. Solidarität war bisher eher hinderlich. Erst wurden Menschen gezwungen, sich um sich selbst zu kümmern, plötzlich sollen sie sich wieder solidarisch verhalten.

Bereits zu Beginn der Krise, in der Phase informierter Ignoranz, tauchten erste Solidaritätsforderungen auf. Die Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel rief in ihrer Ansprache an das Volk zu mehr Herz, Verstand und Solidarität auf. Aber reicht es, für Ältere einzukaufen, um sich selbst solidarisch zu nennen? Oder aus Not zwei Patienten an ein Beatmungsgerät anzuschließen? Als Italien Mitte März den Ausnahmezustand verschärfte, wurde Solidarität geradezu ideologisch verklärt. „Die Opfer von heute sind nötig, um gestärkt wieder durchstarten zu können“, behauptete der Regierungschef der Lombardei, Attilio Fontana. Was soll das bedeuten? Menschen, dem Leben entrissen, dem Tod als Opfergabe vor die Füße geworfen? Die Toten auf Eis legen? In den USA werden Hinrichtungen mit dem Verweis auf die Ansteckungsgefahr verschoben. Europa schließt seine Grenzen, an denen Menschen fast ungesehen leiden und hilflos sterben. Wenn die Forderung nach Solidarität zu Politikersatz oder zur Forderung nach Opferbereitschaft verkommt, dann wird der Begriff ideologisch überbelichtet.

Das ist der erste Schritt auf dem Weg in die Vormoderne. Denn ohne Zweifel gleicht die Traglast unserer Zivilisation einer dünnen Eisdecke.

Was denken wohl gerade die sechs Besatzungsmitglieder an Bord der internationalen Raumfahrtstation ISS, wenn sie das Geschehen auf ihrem Heimatplaneten aus der Distanz beobachten? Wir jedenfalls sollten den irdischen Overview-Effekt durch Corona als Geschenk begreifen. Als Beispiel für die allgegenwärtige Entgrenzung des Lebens und den damit verbundenen Folgen. Diese Haltung hilft, nach der Krise eine bessere Welt zu erschaffen. Statt inszenierter Solidarität braucht es utopische Momente.

Bislang nahm jede soziale Utopie zwangsläufig erschöpfte Gesellschafts- und Zivilisationsformen zum Ausgangspunkt. Im offenen Labor der Menschheit geht es nun wieder um soziale, kulturelle ökonomische und ethische Grenzüberschreitungen. Kurz: Wir brauchen wieder Utopien!

Sehnsucht nach Utopien

Eine Utopie ist Widerstand gegen Informationen. Ihre primäre Funktion besteht darin, die Zustände zu kritisieren. Das gelingt, indem der Realität eine ideale Welt gegenübergestellt wird. Deswegen werden Utopien auch Gegenentwürfe genannt. Utopien enthalten immer zwei Elemente – Kritik und Transformation, Ablehnung einer Gesellschaftsordnung und einen Impuls zu deren Überwindung. Utopien lassen die Welt in der Schwebe. Sie sind keine technokratischen Handlungsanweisungen, sondern Werkzeuge, die helfen, die Gegenwart besser zu verstehen, uns wieder sprachfähig zu machen und die richtigen Fragen zu stellen.

Etwas, das noch nicht existiert, kann gleichwohl schon da sein. „Jede Entdeckungsreise, jede Kolonisation, jede Auswanderungswelle setzte den stillschweigenden Glauben an ein zukünftiges gelobtes Land voraus“, so der argentinische Universalgelehrte Alberto Manguel. Weil das noch immer gilt, sind Utopien Baustellen der Menschheit, hypothetische Handlungsfelder auf dem Weg zu einer besseren Zivilisation.

Leider stellen Utopien eine Herausforderung für das Mittelmaß dar. Sie zwingen dazu, über das Jammern an der Klagemauer der Unzulänglichkeiten hinauszugehen. Stattdessen legen sie den Grundstein für Experimente, die Prozessen der Entzivilisierung entgegenwirken. Experimente mögen nicht immer eindeutige Ergebnisse liefern, aber sie verhindern unkoordinierte Aktivitätszuckungen und voluntaristische Eingriffe in den Kurs der Welt.

Wie es scheint, sind uns Dystopien vertrauter als Utopien.Gepflegte Dystopien sind zum Spielfeld Intellektueller und Schriftsteller geworden. In Schöne neue Welt von Aldous Huxley erklärt John Savage, der Hauptprotagonist, wie Menschen in unterschiedliche Produktionsklassen eingeteilt werden. „Doch alle sind wir nützlich!“ singen die Menschen in dieser idealen Welt. Wer nicht mehr nützlich ist, endet in der „Lethalkammer“. Das ist bis heute der Umriss aller Dystopien. Und leider recht nah an der Wirklichkeit.

Wie wir wissen, ahnen oder befürchten, sind die meisten Utopien bislang gescheitert. Ein Hauptgrund dafür ist ideologische Verkrampfung. Utopien fordern moralisch heraus. „Die Utopie ist eine vollkommene Welt, und die Wirklichkeit gewordene Vollkommenheit duldet keine Diskussion, keinen Kompromiss, keinen Vergleich mit der Unvollkommenheit“, so der Kulturhistoriker Georges Minois. „Ihre Anwendung muss vollständig und intolerant sein.“

Hinzu kommt, dass politisches Engagement in modernen Gesellschaften eher fragmentiert und feldbezogen stattfindet – es gibt keinen Brennpunkt mehr. Aber Utopien sind gerade dadurch gekennzeichnet, das sie das große Ganze, das Zusammenspiel aller gesellschaftlichen Teilsysteme in den Blick nehmen. Utopisches Denken beginnt dort, wo die Verbindungslinien zwischen den Feldern des Engagements sichtbar gemacht und systematisch weiterentwickelt werden. Utopien entwirft man nicht für sich alleine, sie setzen einen kollektiven Resonanzraum voraus.

Trotz einer langen Traditionslinie des Scheiterns und den zweifelsohne vorhandenen Gefahren utopischer Rhetorik scheint es heute einen geradezu dringenden Bedarf an neuen utopischen Ansätzen zu geben. Bislang köchelte utopisches Bewusstsein auf kleiner Flamme und eher in Subkulturen. Aber angesichts des Monsters der Bodenlosigkeit kehren Utopien endlich in die Mehrheitsgesellschaft zurück.

Rückkehr der Utopien

In der Literatur wurden Utopien oft genug durchgespielt. Im Science-Fiction Roman Weißer Marsvon Aldiss Brian und Roger Penrose wird eine fiktive Explorationsgeschichte erzählt, bei der durch katastrophale Ereignisse rund 6.000 Menschen, Siedler und Wissenschaftler, ohne Rettungsmöglichkeit auf dem Mars stranden. Die einzige Möglichkeit besteht in der Flucht nach vorn, dem Aufbau einer Gesellschaft entlang utopischer Ideale. Die Überlebenden stellen sich die Frage, wie unter der Bedingung von tabula rasa eine grenzenlose utopische Gesellschaft aufgebaut werden kann.

Jede Utopie hat das Potenzial latent vorhandene Kräfte zu wecken. Utopien besitzen eine Spiegelfunktion, weil sie den Blick zurück auf das Zeitalter, die Kultur und die Gesellschaft lenken, in der sie entstehen. Der Mehrwert von Utopien liegt also gerade darin, die notwendige Selbstbeobachtungs- und Selbstregulationsfähigkeit von Gesellschaften zu unterstützen. Um Zukunft zu entwerfen, braucht es allerdings eine realistische Bestandsaufnahme und die Fähigkeit, die Vielfalt der Optionen zu erkennen. Wissenschaftler nennen das „Kontingenzbewusstsein“. In anderen Worten: Die Zukunft sollte nicht denen vorbehalten bleiben, die unfähig sind, in der Gegenwart klar zu sehen.

Utopiemüdigkeit

Bislang verschleierte Utopiemüdigkeit die klare Sicht nach vorn. „Die Zukunft ist tot“, behauptet der Historiker Timothy Snyder. „Seit der Französischen Revolution hatte es immer eine Zukunft gegeben. Ohne den Glauben an eine Zukunft kann Demokratie nicht existieren. Die Menschen müssen das Gefühl haben, dass sie mit ihren Entscheidungen die Zukunft beeinflussen können.“ Wenn der politische Pragmatismus, also das „Fahren auf Sicht“ nicht nur langweilig, sondern auch erfolglos wird, kommt die Zeit, wieder über das große Ganze nachzudenken. Gesellschaft ist kein gebrauchtes Fahrrad, das nur gepflegt werden muss. Wenn sich Politik in Schönheitsreparaturen erschöpft, dann kommt die Zeit für echte Veränderungen. Tatsächlich erleben wir überall – in Politik, Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft – ein ähnliches Muster: Es gibt Kritik an den Zuständen, aber keine positiven Wunschformulierungen. Anstatt in utopisches Kapital zu investieren, werden affirmative Standardwelten reproduziert. Doch die Verdopplung des Bestehenden ist keineswegs das Neue. Wer aber wirklich etwas verändern möchte, sollte aus der Zukunft zurück denken.

Wenn Corona Krise bedeutet, was war dann Normalität? Vielleicht können wir Dank des Overview-Effekts die Corona-Krise auch als kollektiven Versuch begreifen, wieder reale utopische Orte zu schaffen. Das wäre dann nichts anders, als „das Richtige im Falschen“ zu tun, um den berühmten Aphorismus Theodor Adornos umzupolen, der sich bezeichnenderweise im Kapitel Asyl für Obdachloseseiner Minima Moralia findet. Untertitel: Reflexionen aus dem beschädigtem Leben.

Was wir gegenwärtig erleben ist keine Krise. Eine Krise geht vorüber. Wir aber mutieren in eine andere Zukunft. „Wir hatten uns an eine Welt gewöhnt“, so nochmals Bruno Latour, „wir gehen in eine andere über.“ Mutation bedeutet, dass sich unsere Beziehung zur Welt tiefgreifend verändert. Mutation bedeutet grundlegenden Zivilisationswandel, der aktiv im Sinne eines Transformationsdesignsgestaltet werden sollte. Auf diesem Weg dürfen wir nicht enttäuscht sein, wenn Idealistisches nicht gelingt. Stattdessen sollten wir lernen, unsere Ideale genauer definieren. Erst, wenn wir alle in einen utopischen Gesellschaftsvertrag einwilligen, der die Regeln für eine universelle conditio humana, beinhaltet, sind wir auf dem richtigen Weg zum triumphierenden Weltbürgertum. Dann kann jede Krise gemeistert werden.

Zukunft mit Beipackzettel

Zivilisationswandel braucht eine Zukunft mit Beipackzettel. Der Beipackzettel erklärt, was wir tun sollen, auch und weil wir ja bereits so viel wissen. Akkumuliertes Wissen und gesteigerte Sensibilitäten führen leider nicht zwangsläufig zu neuen Lebensweisen, denn es gibt eine Kluft zwischen Einstellung und Verhalten.

Der Beipackzettel für die Zukunft beinhaltet auch den produktiven Umgang mit Konflikten. Konflikte treiben Fortschritt voran, zwingen zur Diskussion und korrigieren Fehlentwicklungen. Eine Gesellschaft, in der alles im Gleichgewicht zu schweben scheint, ist eine statische, tote Gesellschaft. Vor allem aber ist Kooperation statt Konkurrenz die Grundsubstanz für den Wandel - Grundlage einer gerechten Gesellschaft ist gegenseitige Unterstützung. Irgendwo im Leben von Individuen muss etwas existieren, das die Rettung ganzer Gemeinschaften bewirken kann, sonst ist das Experiment Gesellschaft zum Scheitern verurteilt. Das Ego des Einzelnen muss sich den Bedürfnissen der menschlichen Gemeinschaft unterordnen. Doch trotz zahlreicher Manifeste zur Rettung der Welt, trotz Leitbildern, Präambeln, Gesetzestexten und vielen klugen Büchern, entstand bislang insgesamt keine bessere Welt. Fehlende Langfristorientierung, Verlustaversion, liebgewonnene Gewohnheiten, das Einrichten in der Komfortzone, Pfadabhängigkeiten in Politik und Wirtschaft – das alles sind Gründe für die hemmende Utopiemüdigkeit.

Dennoch besteht Hoffnung. Sehnsucht brennt von innen her. Die neuseeländische Schriftstellerin Keri Hulme umschreibt in ihrem Roman Unter dem Tagmond eine Ästhetik des Eingreifens. Wir sind, für uns selbst, nichts Anderes als einzelne Menschen, so Hulme, zusammen aber, sind wir „Herz, Muskel und Geist von etwas Gefährlichem und Neuen“, alle zusammen sind wir „Werkzeuge der Veränderung“.

Ein schöner Gedanke, auch wenn Zweifel bleiben.

Was, wenn wir keine Werkzeuge der Veränderung sind, sondern ein kollektives „enfant terrible“, das gerade dabei ist, den Planeten zugrunde zu richten? Oder wir uns dem Menschenbild annähern, das bereits in Gullivers Reisen von Jonathan Swift (1762) beschrieben wird, wenn Menschen als „die schädlichste Art von kleinen scheußlichen Ungeziefern“ beschrieben werden?

Eine große Herausforderung liegt im Moment darin, die Gleichzeitigkeit zwischen allergrößten Sorgen und banalstem Alltag produktiv zu gestalten. Tom Jefferies, der Anführer der Utopisten auf dem Mars fasst im Roman Weißer Mars seine Sehnsucht nach einer besseren Welt in markante Worte: „Ich werde eine morsche Tür eintreten. Ich werde Licht für die Gesellschaft hereinlassen. Ich werde dafür sorgen, dass wir das, was wir in unseren Träumen gern sein möchten, auch ausleben: dass wir große und weise Menschen werden – umsichtig, wagemutig, erfindungsreich, liebevoll, gerecht. Menschen, die diesen Namen auch verdienen. Dazu müssen wir nur wagen, das Alte und Schwierige abzuwerfen und das Neue, Schwierige und Wunderbare willkommen zu heißen.“ Utopien sind geöffnete Türen in Richtung Zukunft.

Im Innersten unserer wertvollen Existenzen verändert sich gerade alles. Wir sind dabei, die Welt umzukleiden. Wenn dabei ein paar althergebrachte Grenzen und Gewissheiten eingerissen werden, wäre es nicht wirklich schade darum. Weil die Evidenz der Bedrohung nicht automatisch bessere Menschen aus uns allen macht, müssen wir uns schon jetzt darauf vorbereiten wieder utopische Politik zu betreiben. Denn jeder Tag ist ein Versprechen an das kommende Leben.Wenn das universelle Empfinden darin besteht, dass uns der Boden unter den Füßen weggezogen wird, dann braucht es gerade jetzt Utopien als Haltegriffe.

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

The Bookseller’s Wife (6): “Tears in the Night” (1a)

“Sonnenuntergang” by unjerri 

         While Joseph had thought about his first encounters with Sophie, she had turned several times and now lay on her back again. While she had turned into this position, she had brought her right arm so close to the left side of his body that not even a sheet of paper would fit between it. Probably in the foreseeable future, she would turn back to her right side and put her left arm over his chest. He had to smile when he thought of it. Not for a moment did she allow a separation.          The moonlight was still shining on Sophie's face, this face he could no longer imagine his life without. How much he would have loved to touch her. How much would he have loved to tenderly trace the features of her beautiful face and how much more he would have wanted to lose himself in her, as he had done only a few hours before.

          But no, he would avoid everything that could wake her up now. She needed her strength, her sleep. For several days he had observed that she was not feeling well. Sophie had said nothing, but he had noticed again and again that she was slightly exhausted, sat down more often to rest. From time to time she had put a hand on her stomach or on one of the sides of her chest and paused. He had no doubt that he knew the reason for his wife's exhaustion. Ever since they had come to Oxford from London, Sophie had worked tirelessly to turn his uncle's old house into a cozy home. She had simply put too much effort into it.          Since Joseph had taken over his inheritance (his uncle's bookshop and house) after his uncle's sudden death six months ago, he had hardly had a quiet minute for himself or Sophie. In the last few years, his uncle's physical and intellectual power had obviously diminished noticeably. Although the bookshop was not broke, on the contrary, it had a very solid foundation of capital. But Joseph knew only too well from conversations with his uncle's co-worker that he was not allowed to let things go on ‘as usual’. The competition between the bookdealers in the city was fierce, and if they didn't find new ways to retain customers and acquire new ones, they could quickly have to charge their deposits. He did not want that to happen. On the contrary, he not only wanted to secure his uncle's business but to expand it. Together, he and Lucas Myers, whom he had taken over from his uncle, made plans on how to retain old customers, win new ones, buy and deliver books more cheaply. It took a lot of work and time. He was still needed in the bookstore every working day, so he had never been able to help Sophie much. Mrs. Nelson, his uncle’s old housekeeper, did help her with many of her tasks. But obviously, Sophie's constitution was not strong enough to meet the requirements she had imposed on herself. But that would change in the coming weeks. Just the day before, he had hired two young students as helpers alongside his main employee. One would manage the restructured warehouse under the supervision of Lucas Myers, while the other would deliver the books ordered by the customers. So far, Myers or himself had done this work, in addition to the many other tasks involved in running the bookshop. From now on, he could concentrate fully on the business and that would also allow him to come home earlier and help his wife. He would insist that she take more time for the individual chores and help her wherever he could. Joseph Weld would not miss the second chance that life had given him. He had sworn that to himself.

         The chance of his life. Two years ago he had gambled it away. Playful forever. At least that's what he thought at the time.

         The intoxication into which the first kiss on the beach of Sligo (and everything that had happened afterward) was indescribable.

         He remembered well. It was an open secret that the royal cook, Charles Elmé Francatelli and Nancy Skerrett, the queen's dresser, were in love. All the servants (except for Mr. Penge) knew about it - and remained silent. Francatelli had often said that he wanted to end his service at Buckingham Palace and buy a small hotel. And - in the midst of the unrest that the Chartists had caused in London -  Charles had found a suitable establishment.          Joseph appreciated them both - Francatelli because he was a free spirit and even openly answer back Mr. Penge, and Mrs. Skerrett because she saw more to her work for the Queen than just a service to perform. It was only a matter of time before they would be married. This prospect and the looks of love that the two exchanged, even if only very carefully and hidden, reminded Joseph again and again of the secret love, the love that he himself felt.

         And it was precisely in this outwardly (and for Joseph also inwardly) revolutionary time that he was allowed to get one step closer to Sophie. It happened the afternoon before the Royal Household's departure for the Island of Wright. As Lady of the Robes, it was Sophie's duty to accompany the Queen. But at the same time, Sophie felt an obligation to her son William. If she couldn't take him with her, she wanted at least to say goodbye to him. This afternoon,  Joseph again was on duty at the main corridor of the palace and so he witnessed a conversation between Sophie and Lady Portmann. Lady Portmann understood that Sophie wanted to say goodbye to her son, but objected that Sophie should not go to Monmouth House unaccompanied due to the danger of the unrest caused by the Chartists. While she was still speaking, she looked over to Joseph standing next to one of the doorways. Before he knew it, Lady Portmann spoke to him:

         "Joseph, accompany the Duchess and make sure she gets safely to Monmouth House and back to the palace."

         He would not have obeyed any other order more willingly. 

         An hour later Sophie's carriage stopped outside Monmouth House. As the Duchess went into the manor, Joseph took the opportunity to look inside the carriage. He noticed that on the inside of it, between the bench and the wall, there was a small, elongated box. He pulled it out and opened it. A series of handmade tin soldiers came to light. This was certainly a gift for her son, that Sophie had forgotten in all the commotion that had befallen the palace. Joseph took the box and hurried after her. When he entered the hall of Monmouth House, accompanied by another servant, Sophie was talking to a boy about six years old. It was clear that the son would not let his mother go again, however, well she tried to comfort him. Sophie looked up and down from the boy to Joseph, who held the box up to her.

         "Your Grace," he said while he indicated a bow. Sophie looked at him in surprise.

         "You left this in the carriage. I thought it might be useful," he continued. Then he handed her the box. A smile spread on Sophie's face. It was obvious that she had completely forgotten the gift for her son.

         Joseph stepped back and took the place next to the door as he was accustomed. Sophie opened the box and handed it to her son.

         "Look, William, I brought you a present."

         "Oh Mama," the little guy exclaimed joyfully, "now I finally have enough soldiers for a real battle!”

         Joseph watched with joy as the situation between mother and son relaxed a little. But at that moment the Duke of Monmouth appeared on the stairs. Instead of greeting his wife, he immediately rebuked her again and the fact that servants had to hear his words didn't seem to bother him.

         "Ah, Duchess! So it's no wonder that our son falls more and more behind in his lessons when you distract him from learning with such childish gimmicks!”              

         "We just said goodbye," Sophie answered, and the next moment little William complained again:

         "Please Mama, don't go away!"

         But even the child was immediately sharply reprimanded by the duke:

         "Stop crying and go to your room immediately!"

         The boy took the box and ran up the stairs. The Duke looked after him. Then he turned to his wife with further hard words:

         "I think it's an excellent thing that you're going to Osborn. Maybe then you will learn to behave differently. It may be that the class of the grocers' mollycoddles  their children, but William one day will be a duke!"

         Sophie looked at the duke stunned at this new humiliation, and Joseph had to keep every fiber of his body under control so as not to break every bone in the body of the narrow-minded bloke. Then the duke turned to him:          "You! Get the Duchess's carriage!"

         Joseph indicated a bow, turned around and walked towards the entrance. The Duke also disappeared. Shortly before the entrance door, Joseph waited until Sophie appeared.  It was obvious how much the events of the last few minutes had burdened her. The large entrance door of the house was opened by a servant who let Sophie step out. Joseph, who had followed her at some distance, hurried past her to open the door of the carriage. When she had entered and he closed the door behind her, he saw crying. He wished he had the means to ‘help’ this wretched man, whose birth had accidentally given him the title of Duke.  He would have loved to pay back three times each of the humiliations Sophie had to endure. But when he climbed up to the coachman, he thought again that perhaps the Duke's behavior could lead to the tearing down of the social divide between him and the woman he loved.

[cars-lovin-gal]

Cars Land Music Loop

I put together a list of all the music played on Radiator Springs Main Street in Cars Land (& also in the same order that they’re played there) & have also provided links so you can listen to them on YouTube because a few aren’t on Spotify. So for those of you who have been & want to reminisce, or if you have always wanted to go & want to imagine being there, if you like listening to Disney park music loops, or even if you just like rock & roll music…enjoy!

Route 66- Chuck Berry

V-8 Ford Blues- Mose Allison

Hot Rod Man- Tex Rubinowitz

Little Forty Ford- Leon Smith

Road Runner- Bo Diddley

409- The Quads

Let’s Go For A Ride- The Collegians

Welcome to Radiator Springs- Joe Louis Walker

Ride on Josephine- George Thorogood & the Destroyers

Big Green Car- Jimmy Carroll

Hot Rod is Her Name- Tom Tall & Ginny Wright

Automobiles- The Spaniels

Ford V-8- Honey Boy Allen

Mustang Sally- Wilson Pickett

Maybellene- Chuck Berry

Coupe de Ville Baby- Vernon Green & the Medallions

Hot Rod- The Collins Kids

Led Sled- Danny Freeman

Cruisin’- Gene Vincent & his Blue Caps

No Particular Place to Go- Chuck Berry

Bring My Cadillac Back- Baker Knight & the Knightmares

Key to the Highway- Little Walter

Hot Rod Queen- Deke Dickerson & the Eccofonics

Rocket 88- Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats

Draggin’- Curtis Godman

One Piece at a Time- Johnny Cash

Stand on It- Mel McDaniel

Built For Speed- Stray Cats

Fastest Short in Town- Robert A. Irvine & The Kentucky Colonels

Rocking Little Roadster- Fred Mollin & The Blue Sea Band feat. Gunnar Nelson

Hot Rod Lincoln- Johnny Bond

Twin Pipes & Pin Stripes- Sammy Masters

You Can’t Catch Me- Chuck Berry

Spinout- Elvis Presley

My Mustang Ford- Chuck Berry

The Phantom Dragster- The Bobby Fuller Four

Flat Tire- The Del Vikings

Black & White Thunderbird- Fred Mollin & The Blue Sea Band

My Old Car- Fred Mollin & The Blue Sea Band feat. Johnny Neel

Pink Cadillac- Sammy Masters & His Rocking Rhythms

My White Convertible- The Hall Brothers

Loud Mufflers- Robert Williams & The Groovers

Six Days on the Road- Dave Dudley

Hotrod Gang- Stray Cats

Pontiac Blues- Sonny Boy Williamson

Green Onions- Booker T. & The MG’s

Freeway of Love- Aretha Franklin

Radiator Rock- Joe Louis Walker

Ride on Josephine- Bo Diddley

Wheels- The Flying Burrito Brothers

V-8 Ford Boogie- Eleven Hundred Springs

Go Champ Go- The Champs

Dear Dad- Chuck Berry

Hot Rod Susie- The Manin Brothers

I Want to be Your Driver- Chuck Berry

Mustang Sally & GTO- John Lee Hooker

From a Buick 6- Bob Dylan

Cadillac- Bo Diddley

Hot Rodder’s Lament- Deke Dickerson & The Ecco-fonics

Hardtop Race- George Stogner

Slow Down “GTO”- Joe Louis Walker

King of the Road- Roger Miller

Peroxide Blonde & Hopped Up Model Ford- Jumpin’ Gene Simmons

I’ve Been Everywhere- Hank Snow

Push Button Automobile- Vernon Green & The Medallions

Motor Head Baby- Johnny “Guitar” Watson

Look at that Cadillac- Stray Cats

Sh-Boom- The Chords