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tellusepisode · 4 years

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72nd Primetime Emmy Awards announced…

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards announced the best in U.S. prime time television programming between June 1, 2019 – May 31, 2020, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The show was originally to be held at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, but the COVID-19 pandemic reasons, it was instead held at the Staples Center, while winners gave speeches by webcam from their homes.

The ceremony was held on September 20, 2020, and broadcast in the U.S. by ABC. It was preceded by the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 14, 15, 16, 17, and 19. The ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

The nominations were announced on July 28, 2020, by Leslie Jones, Laverne Cox, Josh Gad, and Tatiana Maslany. Watchmen led the nominations with eleven, followed by Succession with ten and Ozark with nine.

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_ Here is the nominees and awards; _

Outstanding Comedy Series

Schitt’s Creek (Pop TV) – winner

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Dead to Me (Netflix)

The Good Place (NBC)

Insecure (HBO)

The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video)

What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Outstanding Drama Series

Succession (HBO) – winner

Better Call Saul (AMC)

The Crown (Netflix)

The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Killing Eve (BBC America)

The Mandalorian (Disney+)

Ozark (Netflix)

Stranger Things (Netflix)

Outstanding Limited Series

Watchmen (HBO) – winner

Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

Mrs. America (FX)

Unbelievable (Netflix)

Unorthodox (Netflix)

Outstanding Variety Talk Series

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – winner

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

Outstanding Competition Program

RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) – winner

The Masked Singer (Fox)

Nailed It! (Netflix)

Top Chef (Bravo)

The Voice (NBC)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Eugene Levy as Johnny Rose on Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “The Pitch”) (Pop TV) – winner

Anthony Anderson as Andre “Dre” Johnson, Sr. on Black-ish (Episode: “Love, Boat”) (ABC)

Don Cheadle as Maurice “Mo” Monroe on Black Monday (Episode: “Who Are You Supposed to Be?”) (Showtime)

Ted Danson as Michael on The Good Place (Episode: “Whenever You’re Ready”) (NBC)

Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky on The Kominsky Method (Episode: “Chapter 12: A Libido Sits in the Fridge”) (Netflix)

Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan on Ramy (Episode: “You Are Naked in Front of Your Sheikh”) (Hulu)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “The Incident”) (Pop TV) – winner

Christina Applegate as Jen Harding on Dead to Me (Episode: “It’s Not You, It’s Me”) (Netflix)

Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam “Midge” Maisel on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo…”) (Prime Video)

Linda Cardellini as Judy Hale on Dead to Me (Episode: “If Only You Knew”) (Netflix)

Issa Rae as Issa Dee on Insecure (Episode: “Lowkey Happy”) (HBO)

Tracee Ellis Ross as Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson on Black-ish (Episode: “Kid Life Crisis”) (ABC)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy on Succession (Episode: “This Is Not for Tears”) (HBO) – winner

Jason Bateman as Martin “Marty” Byrde on Ozark (Episode: “Su Casa Es Mi Casa”) (Netflix)

Sterling K. Brown as Randall Pearson on This Is Us (Episode: “After the Fire”) (NBC)

Steve Carell as Mitch Kessler on The Morning Show (Episode: “Lonely at the Top”) (Apple TV+)

Brian Cox as Logan Roy on Succession (Episode: “Hunting”) (HBO)

Billy Porter as Pray Tell on Pose (Episode: “Love’s in Need of Love Today”) (FX)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Zendaya as Rue Bennett on Euphoria (Episode: “Made You Look”) (HBO) – winner

Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy on The Morning Show (Episode: “In the Dark Night of the Soul It’s Always 3:30 in the Morning”) (Apple TV+)

Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown (Episode: “Cri de Coeur”) (Netflix)

Jodie Comer as Oksana Astankova / Villanelle on Killing Eve (Episode: “Are You From Pinner?”) (BBC America)

Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde on Ozark (Episode: “Fire Pink”) (Netflix)

Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri on Killing Eve (Episode: “Are You Leading or Am I?”) (BBC America)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Mark Ruffalo as Dominick and Thomas Birdsey on I Know This Much Is True (HBO) – winner

Jeremy Irons as Adrian Veidt on Watchmen (HBO)

Hugh Jackman as Dr. Frank Tassone on Bad Education (HBO)

Paul Mescal as Connell Waldron on Normal People (Hulu)

Jeremy Pope as Archie Coleman on Hollywood (Netflix)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Regina King as Angela Abar / Sister Night on Watchmen (HBO) – winner

Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly on Mrs. America (FX)

Shira Haas as Esther “Esty” Shapiro on Unorthodox (Netflix)

Octavia Spencer as Madam C. J. Walker on Self Made (Netflix)

Kerry Washington as Mia Warren on Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Dan Levy as David Rose on Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “Happy Ending”) (Pop TV) – winner

Mahershala Ali as Sheikh Ali Malik on Ramy (Episode: “Little Omar”) (Hulu)

Alan Arkin as Norman Newlander on The Kominsky Method (Episode: “Chapter 14: A Secret Leaks, a Teacher Speaks”) (Netflix)

Andre Braugher as Captain Ray Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Episode: “Ransom”) (NBC)

Sterling K. Brown as Reggie on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “Panty Pose”) (Prime Video)

William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye on The Good Place (Episode: “Whenever You’re Ready”) (NBC)

Tony Shalhoub as Abe Weissman on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “Marvelous Radio”) (Prime Video)

Kenan Thompson as Various Characters on Saturday Night Live (Episode: “At Home #2”) (NBC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Annie Murphy as Alexis Rose on Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “The Presidential Suite”) (Pop TV) – winner

Alex Borstein as Susie Myerson on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “Marvelous Radio”) (Prime Video)

D’Arcy Carden as Janet on The Good Place (Episode: “You’ve Changed, Man”) (NBC)

Betty Gilpin as Debbie “Liberty Bell” Eagan on GLOW (Episode: “A Very GLOW Christmas”) (Netflix)

Marin Hinkle as Rose Weissman on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo…”) (Prime Video)

Kate McKinnon as Various Characters on Saturday Night Live (Episode: “Host: Daniel Craig”) (NBC)

Yvonne Orji as Molly Carter on Insecure (Episode: “Lowkey Lost”) (HBO)

Cecily Strong as Various Characters on Saturday Night Live (Episode: “Host: Eddie Murphy”) (NBC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Billy Crudup as Cory Ellison on The Morning Show (Episode: “Chaos Is the New Cocaine”) (Apple TV+) – winner

Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch on Succession (Episode: “This Is Not for Tears”) (HBO)

Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy on Succession (Episode: “Tern Haven”) (HBO)

Mark Duplass as Charlie “Chip” Black on The Morning Show (Episode: “The Interview”) (Apple TV+)

Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring on Better Call Saul (Episode: “JMM”) (AMC)

Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans on Succession (Episode: “This Is Not for Tears”) (HBO)

Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence on The Handmaid’s Tale (Episode: “Sacrifice”) (Hulu)

Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe on Westworld (Episode: “Crisis Theory”) (HBO)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore on Ozark (Episode: “In Case of Emergency”) (Netflix) – winner

Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret on The Crown (Episode: “Cri de Coeur”) (Netflix)

Laura Dern as Renata Klein on Big Little Lies (Episode: “Tell-Tale Hearts”) (HBO)

Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay on Westworld (Episode: “The Winter Line”) (HBO)

Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens on Killing Eve (Episode: “Management Sucks”) (BBC America)

Sarah Snook as Siobhan “Shiv” Roy on Succession (Episode: “The Summer Palace”) (HBO)

Meryl Streep as Mary Louise Wright on Big Little Lies (Episode: “I Want to Know”) (HBO)

Samira Wiley as Moira Strand on The Handmaid’s Tale (Episode: “Sacrifice”) (Hulu)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Calvin “Cal” Abar on Watchmen (Episode: “A God Walks into Abar”) (HBO) – winner

Jovan Adepo as Young Will Reeves on Watchmen (Episode: “This Extraordinary Being”) (HBO)

Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend (Netflix)

Louis Gossett Jr. as Will Reeves on Watchmen (Episode: “See How They Fly”) (HBO)

Dylan McDermott as Ernest “Ernie” West on Hollywood (Episode: “Meg”) (Netflix)

Jim Parsons as Henry Willson on Hollywood (Episode: “Outlaws”) (Netflix)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm on Mrs. America (Episode: “Shirley”) (FX) – winner

Toni Collette as Det. Grace Rasmussen on Unbelievable (Episode: “Episode 6”) (Netflix)

Margo Martindale as Bella Abzug on Mrs. America (Episode: “Bella”) (FX)

Jean Smart as Laurie Blake on Watchmen (Episode: “She Was Killed by Space Junk”) (HBO)

Holland Taylor as Ellen Kincaid on Hollywood (Episode: “Jump”) (Netflix)

Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan on Mrs. America (Episode: “Betty”) (FX)

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “Happy Ending”), Directed by Andrew Cividino and Dan Levy (CBC / Pop TV) – winner

The Great (Episode: “The Great”), Directed by Matt Shakman (Hulu)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “It’s Comedy or Cabbage”), Directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Prime Video)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: “Marvelous Radio”), Directed by Daniel Palladino (Prime Video)

Modern Family (Episode: “Finale, Part 2”), Directed by Gail Mancuso (ABC)

Ramy (Episode: “Miakhalifa.mov”), Directed by Ramy Youssef (Hulu)

Will & Grace (Episode: “We Love Lucy”), Directed by James Burrows (NBC)

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Succession (Episode: “Hunting”), Directed by Andrij Parekh (HBO) – winner

The Crown (Episode: “Aberfan”), Directed by Benjamin Caron (Netflix)

The Crown (Episode: “Cri de Coeur”), Directed by Jessica Hobbs (Netflix)

Homeland (Episode: “Prisoners of War”), Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter (Showtime)

The Morning Show (Episode: “The Interview”), Directed by Mimi Leder (Apple TV+)

Ozark (Episode: “Fire Pink”), Directed by Alik Sakharov (Netflix)

Ozark (Episode: “Su Casa Es Mi Casa”), Directed by Ben Semanoff (Netflix)

Succession (Episode: “This Is Not for Tears”), Directed by Mark Mylod (HBO)

Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special

Unorthodox, Directed by Maria Schrader (Netflix) – winner

Little Fires Everywhere (Episode: “Find a Way”), Directed by Lynn Shelton (Hulu)

Normal People (Episode: “Episode 5”), Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Hulu)

Watchmen (Episode: “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice”), Directed by Nicole Kassell (HBO)

Watchmen (Episode: “Little Fear of Lightning”), Directed by Steph Green (HBO)

Watchmen (Episode: “This Extraordinary Being”), Directed by Stephen Williams (HBO)

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series

Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “Happy Ending”), Written by Dan Levy (CBC / Pop TV) – winner

The Good Place (Episode: “Whenever You’re Ready”), Written by Michael Schur (NBC)

The Great (Episode: “The Great”), Written by Tony McNamara (Hulu)

Schitt’s Creek (Episode: “The Presidential Suite”), Written by David West Read (CBC / Pop TV)

What We Do in the Shadows (Episode: “Collaboration”), Written by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil (FX)

What We Do in the Shadows (Episode: “Ghosts”), Written by Paul Simms (FX)

What We Do in the Shadows (Episode: “On the Run”), Written by Stefani Robinson (FX)

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Succession (Episode: “This Is Not for Tears”), Written by Jesse Armstrong (HBO) – winner

Better Call Saul (Episode: “Bad Choice Road”), Written by Thomas Schnauz (AMC)

Better Call Saul (Episode: “Bagman”), Written by Gordon Smith (AMC)

The Crown (Episode: “Aberfan”), Written by Peter Morgan (Netflix)

Ozark (Episode: “All In”), Written by Chris Mundy (Netflix)

Ozark (Episode: “Boss Fight”), Written by John Shiban (Netflix)

Ozark (Episode: “Fire Pink”), Written by Miki Johnson (Netflix)

Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special

Watchmen (Episode: “This Extraordinary Being”), Written by Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson (HBO) – winner

Mrs. America (Episode: “Shirley”), Written by Tanya Barfield (FX)

Normal People (Episode: “Episode 3”), Written by Sally Rooney and Alice Birch (Hulu)

Unbelievable (Episode: “Episode 1”), Written by Susannah Grant, Michael Chabon, and Ayelet Waldman (Netflix)

Unorthodox (Episode: “Part 1”), Written by Anna Winger (Netflix)

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pcssessivc-blog · 7 years

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surnames:

a abbott abernathy adair adams adkins alexander allen allison andersen anderson andrews archer armstrong arsenault ashby ashworth atkinson austin ayers

b bailey bain baker baldwin ball ballard banks barnes barnett barr barrett barry bartlett barton bateman bauer beck bell bennett benson bentley benton bird bishop black blackburn blackwell blair blake bolton bond bowen bowers bowman boyd boyle bradford bradley bradshaw brady brennan brewer briggs brooks broussard brown bruce bryant buchanan buckley bullock burgess burke burnham burns burton butcher butler byrne

c cahill caldwell calhoun callahan cameron campbell cannon cantrell carey carlson carney carpenter carr carroll carson carter carver casey cassidy castillo castro chandler chaney chapman chase chavez christian christie church churchill clancy clarke clay clayton clifford cobb cochran coffey cole coleman collier collins combs compton conley connell connolly conrad conway cook cooke cooley cooney cooper copeland corbett costello coughlin cowan cox coyle coyne craig crawford crockett cross crowley cruz cunningham curran curtis

d daley dalton daly daniel daniels daugherty davenport davidson davies davis dawson day dean delaney dempsey devine diaz dickey dickinson dillon dixon dobson dodd doherty dolan donahue donaldson donnelly donovan dougherty douglas dowd downey doyle drake drew driscoll duckworth dudley dugan duncan dunlap dunn dwyer

e eaton edmonds edwards egan elliott ellis emery erickson evans

f fallon fanning farley faulkner ferguson fernandez finch finn finnegan fischer fitzgerald fitzpatrick fitzsimmons flanagan fletcher flores flynn foley forbes ford foster fowler fox franklin fraser freeman frost fry fuller

g gallagher galloway garcia gardner garner garrett garrison garza gauthier gentry george gibbons gibbs gibson gilbert gill gillespie glass gonzales goode goodwin gordon grace grady graham grant graves gray greene greer gregory griffin griffith gunn gustafson guthrie

h hackett hagan hahn hale haley hall halsey hamilton hammond hampton hancock hanley hanna hansen harding hardy harper harrington harris harrison hart hartley harvey hastings hatch hawkins hayden hayes haynes healy heath henderson henry hensley hernandez hewitt hickey hickman hicks higgins hill hodges hoffman hogan holbrook holden holland hollis holloway holman holmes holt hood hooper hopkins hopper horton houghton houston howard howe howell hubbard huber hudson huffman hughes hull humphrey humphries hunt hunter hurley hurst hutchinson hutchison

i ingram

j jackson jacobs james jamison jarvis jensen johnson jones jordan joyce

k kane kearney keating keegan keene kehoe keith kelleher keller kelly kemp kendall kennedy kent kerr kidd kilgore kincaid king kinney kirby kirk kirkland kirkpatrick klein knight koch koenig krause

l lacroix lafferty lake lamont lancaster lane larkin larsen law lawrence lawson leblanc lee leslie levesque lewis lindsay little lloyd lockhart long lopez love lowe lucas lynch lyons

m macdonald macgregor mackay mackenzie mackinnon maclean macleod macmillan macpherson madden maher mahoney maldonado malloy malone maloney manning marsh marshall martin martinez mason massey matthews maurer maxwell may maynard mcallister mcbride mccabe mccaffrey mccain mccall mccann mccarthy mccartney mcclellan mcconnell mccormack mccoy mccullough mccurdy mcdaniel mcdaniel mcdermott mcdonald mcdonough mcdowell mcgrath mcgraw mcgregor mcguire mchugh mcintosh mcintyre mckay mckee mckenna mckenzie mckinley mckinney mckinnon mcknight mclain mcleod mcmahon mcmillan mcnally mcnamara mcneill mcpherson mcqueen mead meadows medina meier melton merritt meyer middleton miles miller mitchell molloy monaghan monroe montgomery moody mooney moore morales moran moreno morgan morris morrison morrow moss mueller munn munro murdock murphy murray myers

n nash neal nelson neville newton nichols nicholson nielsen noble nolan norris north norwood

o o'brien o'connell o'connor o'donnell o'grady o'hara o'keefe o'leary o'neal o'neill o'reilly o'rourke o'sullivan ogden oliver olson orr ortega ortiz owens

p page palmer parker parks parrish parsons patterson patton payne pearson penn pennington pereira peters peterson phillips pierce pike piper pittman pollard pollock poole porter potter powell power powers pratt preston price prince pritchard proctor pruitt purcell putnam

q quinlan quinn

r rafferty ralston ramirez ramos ramsey randall rankin ray reece reed reeves regan reid reilly reyes reynolds rhodes richards richardson riley ritchie rivera roberts robertson robinson roche rodgers rodriguez rollins romero rooney rose ross rossi roth rowe roy russell russo ryan

s salisbury sampson sanders sandoval santiago saunders sawyer schaefer schmidt schneider schofield schroeder schultz schwartz scott sears serrano sharp shaw shea sheehan shelton shepherd sheridan sherwood shields short simmons simpson sims sinclair skinner slattery sloan smart smith snow snyder somerville soto sparks spears spence spencer stack stafford stanley stanton steele stephens stevens stevenson stewart stiles stokes stone strickland strong stuart suarez sullivan sutherland sutton sweeney

t taylor temple tennant thomas thompson thomson thornton thorpe thurston tierney tilley timmons tobin todd torres townsend trevino tucker turner

u underwood upton

v vance vaughan vega vogel

w walker wallace walsh walton ward ware warner warren watkins watson weaver webb weber weeks wells welsh wentworth west whalen wheeler whitaker white wiley wilkinson williams williamson willis willoughby wilson wood woodard woodruff woods woodward wren wright wyatt

y yates york young

z ziegler

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andwesang-blog · 5 years

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how to combat racism (in a non-post-racial society)

This article is, in its essence, a guide for people who believe themselves to be "woke, intelligent individuals on how to challenge racism. This article is based on the premise that It is not nearly enough to say that you are against racism, but you must actively oppose it; simply put, you can't just talk about it, you've got to be about it. In this article, we will look at the ways in which whiteness pervades all aspects of culture, as well as the ways in which to turn white privilege on its head and talk to white people about it (as a white person). The reason I believe it is important for white people who are "woke" to speak out in white spaces is that black voices are simply not being listened to. In cultural spaces black voices are often either excluded completely or included with the strict proviso that the attending black person must behave well (meaning not upset his fragile white colleagues). If one subverts the predominant narrative that black is inherently evil, it is met with resistance and "White rage". As Carol Anderson points out in her book "White rage - The unspoken truth of our racial divide", every movement for equal rights for people of colour has been met with anger, hostility and fierce opposition. This is what I was referring to when I mentioned a scarcity mindset, as if somehow black rights, or to love black people, means you can no longer have any love left over for white people.

1. Understanding your privilege

This section is fairly brief as it requires the reader to take matters into their own hands and do some reading. There will be a short reading list at the end of the article but don't be afraid to branch out. There are plenty of books on white privilege and reading a breadth of material on this subject will be useful not only as a tool to combat racism but as a tool to develop critical thinking. This may sound condescending but the main problem with racist thinking is that it is inherently (as Edward C Lawson put it) "Intellectual cowardice". Basing your arguments on pseudo-facts and anecdotal evidence is the beginning of bad reasoning and ultimately the demise of your respectability. What we need to understand is that our systems, our institutions, schools, hospitals, churches, are built on imperialism and racism. If it weren’t for England becoming the world’s premier slave trader, this country wouldn’t have the wealth it does. Britain was so heavily involved in the slave trade that in order to make abolition even a possibility, the British government had to take out a loan from the Bank of England to compensate the slave owners, the debt was so massive that it was only paid off in 2015.

The reason we don't have a white history month is clear - Every month is white history month. Even the names of the months are references to white Roman leaders. The schools are a reflection of the dominant culture's narrative that places white Europeans as the norm and places people of colour as the other. In order to challenge and subvert these ideals, we must be willing to bear the brunt of angry, culturally displaced white people, who must now face the task of reimagining their identity in the modern world. Why this is necessary is clear to anyone with a basic understanding of history and the current state of affairs. For those that claim we live in a post-racial society, I would suggest you do one thing. Go to your Instagram or social media account and follow a couple of pro-black Instagram channels. Soon enough your feed will fill up with disturbing images of black men and women being killed by white police officers and other every day tragedies that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.

2. Race in the workplace

In order to address race in the workplace, we should start by looking over a case that is close to home for me. My own story is one that highlights the propensity of both white men and women to use their respective privileges in order to maintain a status quo that places them as the saviour of the poor lost black boy.

A white woman I was seeing took offense to my comment that I would find it difficult to marry a white woman and have children with her because of the difference in experience. I also said that the way we might relate our experiences of the police, for example, would be different, also instilling a sense of black pride in a child is infinitely more powerful coming from a mother who has herself lived that experience. Several days later I received an email that was incredibly emotional and accused me of being racist.

The problem with educating yourself on topics such as race is that once you begin speaking on the issue you are ostracised, often labeled as an “angry black man” or “Anti-White” or having a chip on your shoulder. Coming to know my own blackness has been a journey fraught with difficulty and resistance. What started as a difference in opinion was then escalated (by the woman in question) into a work issue. She called my boss after I refused to talk to her (A grossly inappropriate move) even though the two of them had met only a handful of times and were hardly ‘close’. What’s more troubling is that my employer took it upon himself to chastise my “behaviour” going on to call me “self-righteous” and “putting white people below me”.

“Pro-Black” is often appropriated for “Anti-White” and in this case, my willingness to express my view that it would be hard for a white woman to fully understand what it means to raise a mixed-race son was met with aggression, silencing, channel switching and outright denial. I believe that comparing race with gender can be problematic, but please bear with my example: (Speaking to my employer) X, if your partner came to you after doing research and said “X, I’ve been doing some reading and sometimes the things you say to me are not only hurtful, but I think that they are sexist and inappropriate.” Would you A) Thank her for her feedback and work on changing your behaviour. Or, B) Tell her that she’s being too aggressive and hurting his feelings? An intelligent and reasonable person would take the feedback and work on changing their behaviour.

I put my story of what happened along with a commentary on my personal Instagram story. According to my boss, explaining your views to people is a step too far. In an attempt to silence me he used emotional triggers, getting defensive, withdrawing from the conversation, using aggression to try to control the dialogue. Instead of having a fair and logical conversation, emotion was brought to the forefront with my boss angrily slamming drawers closed, acting in a hostile, petulant manner. Calling me “self-righteous” and “grandiose” for expressing my view is indicative of privilege that lives on through acts of omission. The bringing of race to the forefront of people’s consciousness makes people feel uncomfortable. This discomfort should not be met with aggression and a desire to control and dominate.

3. How to challenge racism (Talking to white people in white spaces as a white person)

If you consider yourself to be a white person who is “woke” it is your duty to talk to other white people about race. We cannot disect race without white people talking to other white people about their white privilege. In some contexts, you risk funny looks, snarky comments and even losing relationships. That’s what it costs to be "woke”. As we have already established, black voices are not being listened to by the majority of white people; we need smart, educated and enlightened white people like yourself to speak on these issues and to help the cause. When you hear someone make a racist joke, challenge it. When somebody says something that you know to be racially problematic, explain to them why it's not acceptable to say things like that. When your mum or dad, or brother or sister, or whoever bemoans that there is no white history month, educate them on the tyranny and colonial mindset that has repressed people of colour for several hundred years and why a celebration of black culture and history is necessary.

Reading List:

White Fragility - Robin Diangelo

Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo Lodge

A small place - Jamaica Kincaid

Brit (ish) - Afua Hirsch

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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How we will remember our boss, Chairman Elijah Cummings: Moral clarity in all he did

He listened to us, respected us, trusted us and was truly proud of us. He had so much left to accomplish, but he has left it for us to complete.

Current and former staff of Rep. Elijah Cummings | Published October 25, 2019 | USA Today | Posted October 25, 2019 |

As current and former congressional staff of the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, we had the great honor and privilege of working with him over the course of more than two decades.

Many public figures have praised the chairman in recent days, extolling his unmatched integrity, courageous leadership and commitment to service and justice. To these well-deserved tributes, we would like to add our own eulogy, based on our experience working by his side.

He was inspiring, both in public and even more so in private. He brought moral clarity to everything he did, and his purpose was pure — to help those among us who needed it most. He taught us that our aim should be to “give a voice to the voiceless,” including families whose drinking water had been poisoned, sick patients who could no longer afford their medicine and, most of all, vulnerable children and “generations yet unborn.”

'WHAT FEEDS YOUR SOUL?'

Whether in a hearing room full of members of Congress or in a quiet conversation with staff, his example motivated us to become our best selves in the service of others.

He was genuine. He insisted on personally interviewing every staff member he hired so he could “look into their eyes.” Each of us has a personal memory of sitting down with him for the first time, and it was like nothing we had experienced before. He would ask why we were interested in public service, how we thought we could contribute and what motivated us.

Then he would lean in and ask in his low baritone voice, “But … what feeds your soul?”

More than a few of us left those interviews with tears in our eyes, perhaps feeling that we had learned more about ourselves than about him. He made that kind of personal connection with everyone he met, from the people of his district, to witnesses who testified at hearings, to whistleblowers who reported waste, fraud or abuse. Since his passing, we have been inundated with messages from many whose lives he touched.

BE EFFICIENT AND SEEK 'HIGHER GROUND'

He was demanding. He would boast that he had the hardest working staff in Congress and that he sometimes would call or email us in the middle of the night, which was absolutely true. His directive to be “effective and efficient in everything you do” still rings in our ears.

In exchange, he listened to us, respected us and trusted us. He made sure we knew he was truly proud of us — memories we each now cherish. The result of his unwavering support was fierce loyalty from every member of his staff. We committed to doing everything in our power to fulfill his vision.

He was a unifying force, even in this era of partisanship. He would command order with a sharp rap of his gavel, elevate debate by noting that “we are better than that” and urge all of us to seek “not just common ground, but higher ground.”

Guided by his faith and values, he would look for and bring out the good in others, forming bridges through human connection.

WE ARE HERE 'ONLY FOR A MINUTE'

He fully grasped the moment in which we are now living. He invoked history books that will be written hundreds of years from now as he called on us to “fight for the soul of our democracy.” As he said, this is bigger than one man, one president or even one generation.

He was acutely aware of his own transience in this world. He reminded us repeatedly that we are here “only for a minute” and that all of us soon will be “dancing with the angels.”

He would thunder against injustice, or on behalf of those who could not fight for themselves, and he would vow to keep battling until his “dying breath.” He did just that. His final act as chairman came from his hospital bed just hours before his death, as he continued to fight for critically ill children suddenly in danger of deportation.

He had so much left to accomplish, but he has left it for us to complete. As he told us presciently, “These things don’t happen to us, they happen for us.”

Grateful he was part of our destiny

It is difficult to describe the emptiness we now feel. His spirit was so strong, and his energy so boundless, that the void is devastating.

But, of course, he left us with instructions: “Pain, passion, purpose. Take your pain, turn it into your passion, and make it your purpose.” He lived those words, and he inspired us to do the same.

Sometimes, after a big event, he would take us aside for a quiet moment and say, “I just want to thank you for everything you do and for being a part of my destiny.”

Today, we thank him for being part of ours. And we commit to carrying forward his legacy in the limited time allotted to each of us — to give voice to the voiceless, to defend our democracy, and to always reach for higher ground.

The authors of this tribute are current and former staff of the late House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., whose funeral is Friday. Their names are below:

Aaron D. Blacksberg, Abbie Kamin, Ajshay Charlene Barber, Alex Petros, Alexander M. Wolf, Alexandra S. Golden, Aliyah Nuri Horton, CAE, Amish A. Shah, Amy Stratton, Andy Eichar, Angela Gentile, Esq., Anthony McCarthy, Anthony N. Bush, Aryele N. Bradford, Ashley Abraham, Ashley Etienne, Asi Ofosu, Asua Ofosu, Ben Friedman, Bernadette "Bunny" Williams, Beverly Ann Fields, Esq., Beverly Britton Fraser, Brandon Jacobs, Brett Cozzolino, Brian B. Quinn, Britteny N. Jenkins, Candyce Phoenix, Carissa J. Smith, Carla Hultberg, Carlos Felipe Uriarte, Cassie Fields, Cecelia Marie Thomas, Chanan Lewis, Chioma I. Chukwu, Chloe M. Brown, Christina J. Johnson, Christopher Knauer, Dr. Christy Gamble Hines, Claire E. Coleman, Claire Leavitt, Courtney Cochran, Courtney French, Courtney N. Miller, Crystal T. Washington, Daniel Rebnord, Daniel Roberts, Daniel C. Vergamini, Darlene R. Taylor, Dave Rapallo, Davida Walsh Farrar, Deborah S. Perry, Deidra N. Bishop, Delarious Stewart, Devika Koppikar, Devon K. Hill, Donald K. Sherman, Eddie Walker, Elisa A. LaNier, Ellen Zeng, Emma Dulaney, Erica Miles, Fabion Seaton, Ferras Vinh, Fran Allen, Francesca McCrary, Frank Amtmann, Georgia Jenkins, Dr. Georgia Jennings-Dorsey, Gerietta Clay, Gina H. Kim, Greta Gao, Harry T. Spikes II, Hope M. Williams, Ian Kapuza, Ilga Semeiks, Jamitress Bowden, Janet Kim, Jaron Bourke, Jason R. Powell, Jawauna Greene, Jean Waskow, Jedd Bellman, Jenn Hoffman, Jennifer Gaspar, Jenny Rosenberg, Jess Unger, Jesse K. Reisman, Jessica Heller, Jewel James Simmons, Jill L. Crissman, Jimmy Fremgen, Jolanda Williams, Jon Alexander, Jordan H. Blumenthal, Jorge D. Hutton, Joshua L. Miller, Joshua Zucker, Julia Krieger, Julie Saxenmeyer, Justin S. Kim, K. Alex Kiles, Kadeem Cooper, Kamau M. Marshall, Kapil Longani, Karen Kudelko, Karen White, Kathy Crosby, Katie Malone, Katie Teleky, Kayvan Farchadi, Kellie Larkin, Kelly Christl, Kenneth Crawford, Kenneth D. Crawford, Kenyatta T. Collins, Kevin Corbin, Jr., Kierstin Stradford, Kimberly Ross, Krista Boyd, Kymberly Truman Graves, Larry and Diana Gibson, Laura K. Waters, Leah Nicole Copeland Perry, LL.M.,Esq., Lena C. Chang, Lenora Briscoe-Carter, Lisa E. Cody, Lucinda Lessley, Madhur Bansal, Marc Broady, Marianna Patterson, Mark Stephenson, Martin Sanders, Meghan Delaney Berroya, Michael F Castagnola, Michael Gordon, Michell Morton, Dr. Michelle Edwards, Miles P. Lichtman, Mutale Matambo, Olivia Foster, Patricia A. Roy, Paul A. Brathwaite, Paul Kincaid, Peter J. Kenny, Philisha Kimberly Lane, Portia R. Bamiduro, Rachel L. Indek, Rebecca Maddox-Hyde, Regina Clay, Ricardo Brandon Rios, Rich Marquez, Richard L. Trumka Jr., Robin Butler, Rory Sheehan, Roxanne (Smith) Blackwell, Russell M. Anello, Safiya Jafari Simmons, Sanay B. Panchal, Scott P. Lindsay, Sean Perryman, Senam Okpattah, Sonsyrea Tate-Montgomery, Susanne Sachsman Grooms, Suzanne Owen, Tamara Alexander Lynch, Theresa Chalhoub, Timothy D. Lynch, Todd Phillips, Tony Haywood, Tori Anderson, Trinity M.E. Goss, Trudy E. Perkins, Una Lee, Valerie Shen, Vernon Simms, Wendy Ginsberg, William A. Cunningham, William H. Cole, Wm. T. Miles, Jr., Yvette Badu-Nimako, Yvette P. Cravins, Esq., Zeita Merchant

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Widow of Elijah Cummings says Trump’s attacks on Baltimore ‘hurt’ the congressman

By Jenna Portnoy | Published October 25 at 12:44 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 25, 2019 |

BALTIMORE — The widow of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said at his funeral Friday that attacks by President Trump on the congressman’s beloved hometown “hurt him” and made the final months of his life more difficult.

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, who is chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said her husband was trying to protect “the soul of our democracy” and fighting “very real corruption” as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, where he played a central role in investigating the Trump administration.

Trump lashed out at Cummings this summer, calling Baltimore, the heart of his district, a “rat-infested” place where no one would want to live. Cummings did not respond directly to the attacks, but his wife said Friday that they left a lasting wound.

Rockeymoore Cummings spoke near the end of a lengthy funeral program at New Psalmist Baptist Church, where Cummings worshiped for decades — showing up regularly on Sunday mornings for the 7:15 a.m. service. Still to come were eulogies by former presidents Bill Clinton — who visited the church with Cummings in the 1990s — and Barack Obama, the nation’s first black commander-in-chief.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a 2020 presidential contender, recited the 23rd Psalm at the start of the service, which Rockeymoore Cummings said her husband planned down to the last detail.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who also grew up in Baltimore, gave remarks, along with former congressman and NAACP leader Kwesi Mfume (D-Md.), Cummings’s daughters, brother, mentors, friends and a former aide. Attendees included former vice president Joe Biden, also a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

Former U.S. senator, secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton called Cummings “Our Elijah,” thanking his family and constituents of Maryland’s 7th District for sharing him “with our country and the world.”

“Like the prophet, our Elijah could call down fire from heaven. But he also prayed and worked for healing,” Clinton said. “Like the prophet, he stood against the corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.”

The people in the packed sanctuary clapped and cheered.

Cummings was “a fierce champion of truth, justice and kindness ... who pushed back against the abuse of power,” Clinton added. “He had little tolerance for those who put party ahead of country or partisanship ahead of truth.”

A schedule showed that each speaker was allotted about five minutes at the podium — a time limit that several quickly ignored.

The congressman’s oldest daughter, Jennifer Cummings, 37, delivered a powerful eulogy extolling her father as a seasoned political leader whose most important role was as a dad.

Cummings told her he was amazed he could hold her in one hand when she was born. “This life, my life, in your hand,” she said. He wanted her to know her “rich brown skin was just as beautiful as alabaster, or any color of the rainbow” and insisted on buying her brown dolls so she could appreciate what was special about her.

His other daughter, Adia Cummings, asked the dozens of members of Cummings staff to stand. “I’m so sorry you lost someone who was so much more than a boss to you,” she said.

James Cummings, the congressman’s younger brother, said the family called Elijah Cummings by the nickname “Bobby,” and recalled how the congressman was haunted by the death of his nephew, a student at Old Dominion University, up through his final days.

Mourners began lining up at the church at 5 a.m., the Baltimore Sun reported. By 7 a.m., traffic was backed up a half-mile away from the church, which seats nearly 4,000. A choir sang and clapped as mourners filed into the concert hall-like sanctuary.

A pastor read Bible passages through the public address system, and one of the white-gloved ushers recited the words along with him, from memory. Clips of Cummings speaking in Congress played on huge video screens above the open casket, which was surrounded by massive sprays of flowers.

“In 2019, what do we do to make sure we keep our democracy intact?” he said in one video.

Cummings, who had been in poor health in recent years, died Oct. 17 at age 68. He often said he considered it his mission to preserve the American system of government as the nation faced a “critical crossroads.”

But Cummings, the son of sharecroppers, was also a lifelong civil rights champion known for his efforts to help the poor and the struggling, and to boost the fortunes of his struggling hometown.

Just after 10 a.m., mourners at New Psalmist sprang to their feet and waved their hands as the Clintons and former vice president Joe Biden, also a 2020 candidate, walked in. The cheers grew louder when Obama followed, taking his place next to Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the congressman’s widow, in the front row. Together, they sang along to the opening hymn.

As gospel singer BeBe Winas performed, a woman near the back wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. He sang: “Tell me, what do you do when you’ve done all you can / And it seems, it seems you can’t make it through / Well you stand, you stand, you just stand.”

The crowd obeyed.

Cummings was honored Wednesday at Morgan State University in Baltimore, a historically black research university where he served on the board of regents.

On Thursday, he became the first African American lawmaker to lie in state at the Capitol, a rare honor reserved for the nation’s most distinguished citizens. Congressional leaders held a memorial ceremony for their former colleague at the Capitol’s ornate Statuary Hall, after which the coffin, was draped in an American flag, was escorted to a spot just outside the House chamber. Thousands of members of the public came to pay their respects.

For more than two hours, Rockeymoore Cummings, personally greeted the mourners, shaking hands, sharing hugs and engaging in extended conversations. A former gubernatorial candidate who chairs the Maryland Democratic Party, she is considered one of the potential contenders for her late husband’s seat.

Rockeymoore Cummings greeted the last mourner at 7:39 p.m. Minutes later, a motorcade escorted Cummings’s body out of Capitol Plaza for the final time.

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Dear President Donald Trump, let me tell you about my ex-boss Elijah Cummings

He goes home to Baltimore every night. He is the same person on camera and off. And everyone knows his cell number, you should call him and talk.

By Jimmy Fremgen | Updated 9:56 a.m. EDT Aug. 2, 2019 | USA TODAY | Posted October 25, 2019 |

Dear Mr. President,

Just over six years ago I was sitting in the gymnasium at Woodlawn High School in Gwynn Oak, Maryland, and I was very unhappy. You see, it was a weekend and as I’m sure you’d agree, I would have much preferred to spend the day playing golf. Instead, my boss had ordered his entire staff, myself included, to drive to this town outside Baltimore on a muggy 93-degree day to help run an event to prevent home foreclosures.

I know you’re wondering whom I worked for, Mr. President. It was Rep. Elijah Cummings. And it is safe to say that on this day, we would have had something in common: I really didn’t like him much.

I worked for Mr. Cummings both on his Capitol staff and for the House Oversight and Reform Committee from August 2012 to February 2016. When he called me to offer the job, he was hard on me immediately. He told me that my salary was non-negotiable, that if I did something wrong he would be sure to tell me, and that he expected me to meet the high standard he keeps for himself and his staff.

Same Man At Podium, In Grocery Store

What I quickly learned about him is that he is the same person on camera and off. The passionate soliloquies that he delivers from behind the chairman’s podium in the Oversight hearing room are very similar to the ones that I often heard from the other end of the phone after he ran into one of his neighbors in the aisle of the grocery store back home. If someone came to him for help, he wouldn’t let any of his staff tell him it wasn’t possible. He’d push us for a solution and give his cellphone number to anyone who needed it — even when we wished he wouldn’t.

In March 2014, then-Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa cut off Mr. Cummings' microphone during his closing remarks, a massive break in decorum that left Cummings reading his statement aloud as the TV feed abruptly stopped. The incident hit cable news in seconds, and I remember coming back from a meeting to find every single person in the office answering phone calls.

joined them on the phones, enduring nonstop racist epithets, cursing, threats and language that I had never imagined. I remember one vividly, a call from a Colorado area code on which an older female voice told me that Cummings better “sit down and shut up like the good boy someone should have taught him to be.” The phones rang this way for three days.

At Home In Baltimore Every Night

Sir, I won’t defend Baltimore, I’m not from there, and there are many who have already stood up to do so. Instead, let me correct you on one last thing: Unlike almost every other member of Congress, Congressman Cummings goes home every night. Honestly, when I worked for him, sometimes I wished he wouldn’t. There were times when I would want him to attend an early morning meeting, take a phone call or approve a document and he couldn’t, because he’d be driving the 44 miles from his house in Baltimore to the Capitol.

During the protests after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015, I couldn’t get hold of Mr. Cummings. Gov. Larry Hogan had called in the National Guard, and I was trying to relay an update about the soldiers that would soon be standing in the streets. It turned out that the congressman was in the streets himself, marching arm-in-arm with community leaders, pastors, gang members, neighbors, anyone who was willing to peacefully protect his city. He walked back and forth, bullhorn in hand urging people to be peaceful, to respect one another, to love each other and to get home safely.

Mr. President, I know you are frustrated. I, too, have been dressed down for my own mistakes by Congressman Cummings. I know how rigorous he can be in his oversight. I agree it can be extensive, but it certainly does not make him a racist.

Instead, let me offer this: I met you once in Statuary Hall of the Capitol, amid the sculptures of prominent Americans, and gave you my card. If you still have it, give me a ring. I’d be happy to pass along Congressman Cummings’ cellphone number so the two of you can have a conversation. Or better yet, swing through the aisles of one of the grocery stores in West Baltimore. I’m sure anyone there would be willing to give you his number.

Yours Sincerely,

Jimmy Fremgen

Jimmy Fremgen is a Sacramento-based consultant specializing in cannabis policy. He handled higher education, firearms safety, defense and foreign affairs as senior policy adviser to Rep. Elijah Cummings from 2012 to 2016.

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Elijah Cummings knew the difference between winning the news cycle and serving the nation

By Eugene Robinson | Published October 24 at 5:00 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 25, 2019 |

There are moments when the U.S. Capitol feels like a sanctified space, a holy temple dedicated to ideals that transcend the partisan squabbles of the politicians who work there. The enormous paintings that tell the story of America, normally like wallpaper to those who work in the building, demand attention as if they are being seen for the first time. The marble likenesses of great men — and too few great women — seem to come alive.

Thursday was such an occasion, as the body of Elijah E. Cummings, the Maryland congressman who died last week at 68, lay in state in one of the Capitol’s grandest spaces, Statuary Hall. There was a sense of great sadness and loss but also an even more powerful sense of history and purpose.

Cummings was the first African American lawmaker to be accorded the honor of lying in state at the Capitol. That his casket was positioned not far from a statue of a seated Rosa Parks would have made him smile.

Something Cummings once said seemed to echo in the soaring room: “When we’re dancing with the angels, the question we’ll be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?”

Cummings was able to give an answer he could be proud of. What about me? What about you?

He was the son of sharecroppers who left South Carolina to seek a better life in the big city of Baltimore. When he was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, Jim Crow segregation was still very much alive. Angry whites threw rocks and bottles at him when, at age 11, he helped integrate a previously whites-only swimming pool. He attended Howard University, where he was president of the student government, and graduated in 1973. A friend of mine who was his classmate told me it was obvious even then that Cummings was on a mission to make a difference in people’s lives.

He got his law degree from the University of Maryland, went into private practice, served in the Maryland House of Delegates and was elected to Congress in 1996. At his death, he was the powerful chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. But the reason he was so influential, and will be so sorely missed, has less to do with his title than with his integrity and humanity. In floor debates and committee hearings, he fought his corner fiercely. But I don’t know any member of Congress, on either side of the aisle, who did not respect and admire him.

A roster of the great and the good came to the Capitol on Thursday to pay their respects. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Cummings “our North Star.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke of Cummings’s love for Baltimore. Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, an ideological foe, teared up when he spoke of Cummings as a personal friend. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said “his voice could shake mountains, stir the most cynical heart.”

The scene was a sharp contrast with what had happened one day earlier and two floors below. The House Intelligence Committee was scheduled to take a deposition from a Pentagon official as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s conduct. The closed-door session was to take place in a basement room designed to be secure from electronic surveillance. Before the deposition could get started, more than two dozen members of Congress — including some of Trump’s staunchest and most vocal defenders — made a clown show of barging into the room, ostensibly to protest that the deposition was not being taken in an open session.

Some of those who participated in the sit-in had the right to attend the hearing anyway; some didn’t. But the protest had nothing to do with substance. The point was to stage a noisy, made-for-television stunt in Trump’s defense that could divert attention, if only for a day, from the facts of the case. The interlopers ordered pizza and brought in Chick-fil-A. Some took their cellphones into the secure room, which is very much against the rules.

I have deliberately not mentioned anyone’s party affiliation, because the contrast I see between the juvenile behavior in the basement and the Cummings ceremony in Statuary Hall is more fundamental. It is between foolishness and seriousness, between nonsense and meaning, between trying to win the news cycle and trying to serve the nation.

Cummings knew the difference. We have lost a great man. The angels must be lining up to dance with him.

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Elijah Cummings, Reluctant Partisan Warrior

The story of the veteran lawmaker is one more example of how, in Washington, appearances deceive, and public performances and private relationships often diverge.

RUSSELL Berman | Published OCT 17, 2019 | The Atlantic | Posted October 25, 2019 |

The image many Americans likely had of Representative Elijah Cummings, who died this morning at the age of 68, was of a Democrat perpetually sparring with his Republican counterparts at high-profile congressional hearings.

There was Cummings in 2015, going at it with Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina while a bemused Hillary Clinton sat waiting to testify about the Benghazi attack. Two years later, the lawmaker from Maryland was clashing with Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who would not countenance Cummings trying to inject the investigation into Russian interference into an unrelated Oversight Committee hearing. “You’re not listening!” the Democrat shouted at one point. And then this February, Cummings found himself bickering with Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who accused Cummings of orchestrating “a charade” by calling President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen as one of his first witnesses when he became chairman of the panel.

Yet the story of Cummings, at his death the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and a key figure in the impeachment inquiry against Trump, is one more example of how, in Washington, appearances deceive, and public performances and private relationships often diverge. In the hours after Cummings’s death was announced, heartfelt tributes streamed in from the very Republicans he had criticized so passionately. The contrast in tone with these memories of bitter public battles was jarring, even perplexing.

“I am heartbroken. Truly heartbroken,” Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the founding chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told CNN. Chaffetz called Cummings “an exceptional man.” “He loved our country,” tweeted the former Oversight Committee chairman, who jousted with Cummings when the Democrat was the panel’s ranking member. “I will miss him and always cherish our friendship.” The House Republican leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, hailed Cummings as “a leader for both parties to emulate.”

It’s easy, of course, to find a kind word for the deceased—even Trump, who just a few months ago called Cummings’s Baltimore congressional district a “disgusting rat and rodent infested mess,” lauded him as a “highly respected political leader” in a tweet this morning.

Yet by all accounts, the reactions from Republicans on Capitol Hill were no crocodile tears, and Cummings had genuine personal relationships with several of them. Cummings himself described Meadows as “one of my best friends,” and came to his defense after Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan accused the Trump ally of pulling a “racist” stunt at the Cohen hearing.

Perhaps no tribute—from a Democrat or a Republican—was as reverential as that of Gowdy, who said Cummings was “one of the most powerful, beautiful, and compelling voices in American politics.

“We never had a cross word outside of a committee room,” Gowdy, another former GOP chairman of the Oversight Committee, said in a lengthy Twitter thread this morning. “He had a unique ability to separate the personal from the work.” He recalled a story Cummings often told of a school employee who urged him to abandon his dream of becoming a lawyer and opt for a job “with his hands not his mind.” That employee would later become Cummings’s first client, Gowdy wrote.

“We live in an age where we see people on television a couple of times and we think we know them and what they are about,” the Republican said.

Cummings died at a Maryland hospice center from what his office said were “complications concerning longstanding health challenges.” He had spent months in the hospital after heart and knee surgeries in 2017 and got around in a wheelchair, but there was little public indication of how serious his condition was in the weeks before his death.

In Baltimore, Cummings’s legacy will extend far beyond his work on the House’s chief investigatory committee. He was first elected to Congress in 1996, after 13 years in the Maryland state legislature. After the death of Freddie Gray in the back of a police van in 2015, Cummings walked through West Baltimore with a bullhorn in an attempt to quell the unrest from angry and distraught black citizens. In March 2017, at a time when most Democrats were denouncing the Trump administration on an hourly basis, Cummings met with the new president at the White House in a bid to work with him on a bill to lower drug prices. As my colleague Peter Nicholas recounted earlier this year, the two men fell into a candid talk about race, but little came of the effort on prescription drugs.

Democrats tapped Cummings to be their leader on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in 2010, after Republicans retook the House majority. He was not the next in line, but the party pushed out the veteran Representative Edolphus Towns of New York over concerns that he’d be too laid-back at a time when Republicans were preparing an onslaught of investigations into Barack Obama’s administration.

The oversight panel is a highly partisan committee in a highly partisan Congress, and Cummings had no illusions about his role. Still, he tried to forge relationships with each of his Republican counterparts, and some of those attempts were successful. As the combative Representative Darrell Issa of California was ending his run as chairman in 2014, Cummings traveled to Utah to bond with Chaffetz, Issa’s likely successor. “I want a relationship which will allow us to get things done,” Cummings said during a joint appearance the two made on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. After Chaffetz left, Cummings got along well—at least in private—with Gowdy and Meadows.

Yet time and again, the cordiality behind closed doors succumbed to rancor in front of the cameras. The relationships Cummings and his Republican counterparts had were no match for these deeply divided times; they yielded few legislative breakthroughs or bipartisan alliances in the midst of highly polarized investigations.

By early 2019, any hope that Cummings may have had of working with conservatives in Congress, or with the Trump administration, seemed to have given way to frustration, and occasionally anger. At the end of Cohen’s testimony, he delivered an emotional plea to his colleagues. “When we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?” he said, his voice booming. “C’mon now, we can do two things at once. We have to get back to normal!”

As for Trump, two years after their candid talk on race, the president was viciously attacking Cummings as a “brutal bully” and blaming him for Baltimore’s long-running struggle with poverty and crime.

Two months later, Cummings joined the growing chorus of Democrats calling for Trump’s impeachment. “When the history books are written about this tumultuous era,” he said at the time, “I want them to show that I was among those in the House of Representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny.”

In truth, he had long since realized that the effort to work with the president had been futile. “Now that I watch his actions,” Cummings told Nicholas, “I don’t think it made any difference.”

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Elijah Cummings Was Not Done

The House Oversight chairman died too soon at 68, while working on his deathbed to ensure this country measured up to his standards

By JAMIL SMITH | Published October 18, 2019 | Rolling Stone | Posted October 25, 2019 |

Even with the deaths of our elders today and the 400th anniversary of chattel slavery, we are often reminded that this terrible American past is within the reach of our oral, recorded history. Elijah Cummings, who died Thursday at 68, was the grandson of sharecroppers, the black tenant farmers who rented land from white owners after the Civil War.

Cummings once recounted to 60 Minutes that, when he was sworn into Congress in 1996 following a special election in Maryland’s 7th District, his father teared up. A typical, uplifting American story would be a son talking about his dad’s pride at such a moment, and there was that. But Cummings’ father, Ron, also asked him a series of questions.

Isn’t this the place where they used to call us slaves? “Yes, sir.”

Isn’t this the place where they used to call us three-fifths of a man? “Yes, sir.”

Isn’t this the place where they used to call us chattel? “Yes, sir.”

Then Ron told his son Elijah, according to the story: Now I see what I could have been had I had an opportunity. Forget the Horatio Alger narratives; that is a story of generational ascendance that actually sounds relatable to me as someone who has grown up black in America.

Sixty-eight should be too early for anyone to die in the era of modern medicine, but it somehow didn’t feel premature for Cummings. It wouldn’t feel premature for me, either. Racism kills us black men and women faster, that much has been documented. Cummings had seen the consequences of racism in the mirror every day since he was 11, bearing a scar from an attack by a white mob when he and a group of black boys integrated the public (and ostensibly desegregated) pool in South Baltimore. Perhaps a shorter life was simply an American reality to which he had consigned himself. Or, he had just read the science.

When speculation rumbled about whether he would run for the Senate in 2015, Cummings spoke openly about his own life expectancy.

“When you reach 64 years old and you look at the life expectancy of an African-American man, which is 71.8 years, I ask myself, if I don’t say it now, when am I going to say it?” Cummings said, referring at the time to combative rants and snips at Republicans whom he perceived to be wasting the public’s time and money with nonsense like the Benghazi hearings.

He continued to speak up for what he considered was just, not just when president did wrong but also when it involved the police. The bullhorn seemed to never leave his hand and his voice never seemed to die out in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death at the hands of Baltimore cops in 2015. His willingness to speak up not just in defense of America but of us black Americans is why the passing of Cummings was a puncturing wound for anyone hoping for this nation to be true to what it promises on paper to all of its people.

Worse, Cummings’ death leaves a void. Only a few members of his own party have been as willing to speak as frankly as Cummings, or take as immediate action against the grift and madness that Republicans pass off as governance. “We are better than this!” was one of his frequent exhortations, and I am not sure that we were.

It is tempting, and lazy, to encapsulate the Cummings legacy within the last few years. Pointing to his deft handling of his Republican “friend” Mark Meadows’ racist call-out of Rashida Tlaib in February or his grace in dealing with President Trump’s petulant insults about his beloved Baltimore even as he used his House Oversight powers to help begin perhaps the most significant impeachment inquiry yet launched into an American head of state. But there was more to the man and his patriotism than his pursuit of a corrupt president.

Cummings was, as his widow, Maryland Democratic Party chairwoman Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, put it in her statement, working “until his last breath.” In a memo just last week, as he was ailing, Cummings stated he planned to subpoena both acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli and acting ICE Director Matthew Albence to testify on October 17, the day he would later pass away. (Both men agreed to testify, voluntarily, but the hearing has been postponed until the 24th.)

Cummings also signed two subpoenas driven to him in Baltimore hours before his death, both dealing with the Trump administration’s coldhearted policy change to temporarily end the ability for severely ill immigrants to seek care in the United States.

One of the young immigrant patients who had testified to a House Oversight subcommittee about this draconian Trump measure, a Honduran teenager named Jonathan Sanchez, told the assembled lawmakers, simply, “I don’t want to die.”

Cummings knew all too well that this is a country that kills people with its racism, and saw this president trying to do it. He went to his deathbed trying to change that America. His untimely death left that work undone, but that task is ours now.

*********

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lvllns · 3 years

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good morning everyone

#reed.txt #img #c: kincaid anderson #i have a fic that's like half done but dsanjkfgnasd probably won't get finished today!!#instead i will bc thinking about my enby cowboy all day uwu #if u could all just. ignore. that i made his birthday close to mine that would be great thanks dfsanfjksdngjan

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lvllns · 3 years

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oh no kincaid in jeans and a torn up flannel that’s half unbuttoned wearing wolf ears and fangs “i’m a werewolf” no sir that’s an excuse to have your tits out

#reed.txt #c: kincaid anderson #maia ur post made me think 🤪#kincaid: walks into the warehouse looking like That #felix: we have to go we need to go right now #sparrow is like me they can’t stand halloween but kincaid??? yeah......#WHY CAN’T I DRAW

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lvllns · 2 years

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okay y’all, i got tagged by @denerims, @impossible-rat-babies, @trvelyans, and @rosebarsoap to make some ocs in this maker so here we are! i am pretty sure....everyone has been tagged or done this already but if u haven’t, i’ve tagged you now uwu

naturally, bc i have Favorites, we have a sparrow and a kincaid. babies.

#reed.txt #img #c: sparrow kingston #c: kincaid anderson #look at my enby lit nerd and my enby cowboy i love them

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lvllns · 3 years

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it don't matter to me (wherever we are is where i wanna be)

the wayhaven chronicles. felix hauville x kincaid anderson (nb detective). teen and up rating for language. established relationship, mostly fluff with some angst. 1300+ words. — let's take our chances and roll the dice, chapter 1 of 3.

notes: this is just an excuse to write felix meeting the people kincaid considers family. i’m taking some liberties with the detective’s backstory but listen, i made a 6′5 cowboy, i’m gonna exploit the cowboy part of it.

[ao3 link]

—

Kincaid throws his truck into park with a sigh, but when Felix glances over, concerned, he only finds him smiling so wide his dimples are visible.

The ranch sprawls out in front of them, an endless sea of grass broken up by various buildings. Felix thinks he can see the barn from here, tucked to the right behind the house. A few cattle lift their heads, ears flicking forward with momentary curiosity before they return to grazing. He inhales. Deep. Lets the air fill his lungs and yeah, it smells like cows mostly. Little bit sweet from the grass, and a whole lot of just dirt.

It smells like cows and dirt.

He startles when Kincaid reaches over and takes his hand, bringing his knuckles to his lips for a brief kiss as he murmurs, “Thank you for agreein’ to come,” against his skin.

Felix shrugs, eyes darting from Kincaid to the land around them. “Why wouldn’t I?” He tilts his head, eyebrows knitting together as he focuses on Kincaid once more. “You’re important to me and they’re all important to you. I’d have to meet them eventually.”

Kincaid pulls his head back, thumb rubbing over the bumps of Felix’s knuckles. There’s something in his eyes Felix can’t place. Soft, tender. The bright green of them mellowing as the corner of his mouth lifts. “Extenuating circumstances and all that.” Kincaid shifts. Felix thinks about how this wasn’t supposed to happen. How Adam brought up a laundry list of issues surrounding the both of them going all the way out here for two days. What about food? I’m not trying to stop you two from doing this, but you need to be realistic about the situation. “I’ve...never actually brought anyone else here,” he says with a soft laugh. “Never really wanted to if I’m bein’ honest.”

“I’m special then?” Felix means it to be a lighthearted quip. A way to snap the tension in the cab of the truck, and he is caught off-guard by how earnest Kincaid’s expression becomes.

His hand is raised to Kincaid’s mouth again. Another soft kiss, another sentence whispered against his knuckles even as those moss bright eyes steadily hold his gaze. “You are...so special to me Felix.” He swallows around the sudden lump in his throat, watching as Kincaid lowers his hand once more. “You have no idea.”

Words stick at the back of his tongue. He means to say them, he does, but a woman comes hurrying out of the house hollering Kincaid’s name and the moment is gone.

A feather on the wind.

Kincaid tosses him a soft smile and throws his door open. “Stephanie!”

Felix slips from the car, his door shutting with a soft thunk, and he watches the two of them quietly.

She’s a good foot shorter than Kincaid, brown hair streaked with grey, but her dark eyes are sharp and clear. She—Stephanie—whacks Kincaid on the chest with the towel she’s holding and Felix watches as his giant of a partner shrinks in on himself, cheeks going red.

“Kincaid Everett Anderson, you don’t call for weeks and then you just show up!” Felix half expects her to swat at him again but she pulls him in for a hug. A kiss on his cheek. “We’ve missed you terribly.”

“I’ve been textin’ Jase, if he ain’t—”

“Hasn’t.”

Kincaid clears his throat. Glances at Felix, but all he can do is try to stifle his laughter. When it becomes clear he’s not going to be any help, Kincaid continues. “Right, sorry ma’am. If he hasn’t been telling you, that’s not—”

“How hard would it be to send me a text, hm?” She pinches his ear, a fond smile on her face, and Kincaid bats at her hand half-heartedly. “It’s calving season, Jason can hardly remember what day it is.” Felix snorts and regrets it immediately when that keen gaze is trained on him. Kincaid gets whacked in the chest with the towel. Again. “Who’d you bring with you?” Stephanie’s voice is much softer now, the corners of her eyes gentling. Felix tries not to think about I’ve never brought anybody here before and fails.

“Steph, this is Felix. Felix, Stephanie.” He watches Kincaid toe at the dirt with his boot, shoulders curling forward just a little bit more. “He’s my boyfriend. We’re dating.”

There’s a beat and Felix almost expects this to go sideways immediately but he finds himself wrapped in a monster of a hug by this tiny woman and oh, she is much stronger than he expected. Iron bands for arms as she squeezes him tight. He reacts out of instinct, hugging her back, and then it’s over. Her hands rest on his shoulders as she looks him up and down before nodding.

“It is about time you brought somebody out here Kincaid.” She grins. “It’s lovely to meet you, Felix.”

His head hurts a little bit. This is a lot. He takes a second to settle himself before flashing the most charming smile he can. “You as well.”

Stephanie pats his arm absently. “Everyone is inside, but I suppose you’ll be heading to the barn to drop your stuff off.”

Felix senses Kincaid scoot closer and closer until their arms are brushing, fingers knocking together. “We’re sleeping in the barn?” He quirks a brow. Looks up at Kincaid who chuckles.

“There’s an apartment above, like a second story.” Felix nods as he looks beyond the house to what he assumes in the barn.

“It’s where Kincaid slept most nights as a kid,” Stephanie says, voice fond and faraway. She shakes her head. “Anyway, go.” The towel is now aimed at both of them, flicking their direction. Felix laughs as he dances away. “I’ll tell everyone else you’re here, I expect y’all will be riding before long.”

Kincaid grins and it’s bright. Blinding. A flash of white teeth and metal. He suffers another hit with the towel before they finally break away and head back to the truck. Felix leans against the door as he watches Kincaid grab the single backpack they shoved all their stuff in. Not much for one single night, a change of clothes and toothbrushes mostly. He takes another deep breath (Remember Felix, you need to at least try to breathe regularly.) and taps his fingers together. It’s so quiet. Which is fine, mostly. It’s just, Felix is so used to activity and the constant moving from case to case, and it’s so weird to be able to shut down. To stop running. To sit down and soak in the peace of the countryside.

“Fee?” He doesn’t startle but it’s a near thing, head twisting to find Kincaid looking at him carefully. Concerned. “Ya okay?”

His accent is getting thicker, he thinks. Felix nods. “Fine. It’s just quiet out here.”

Kincaid hums. Wraps his arm around Felix’s shoulders and steps close. He drops a kiss to the top of his head. His temple. “If you wanna go back tonight—”

“No!” He tips his head up, eyes narrowing. “It’s just not something I’m used to, how still and silent it is. I’ll be okay.”

“Ya sure?” Felix nods. Kincaid kisses his cheek. “‘Kay, but you tell me if you need anything?”

“Right, if it’s too quiet I’ll ask you about your motorcycle.”

Kincaid snorts. “Hey, you said it.” Felix rolls his eyes, unable to mask the smile that splits his face.

Another kiss to his cheek and then Kincaid finally, finally, kisses him properly. He leans up as Kincaid leans down and it’s so good. It always is. His lips are a little chapped, but Felix doesn’t care. He wraps his arms around Kincaid. Pulls him closer until they’re seamed together from chest to hips. He could do this all day and all night. Really. It’s not like he needs to—

Kincaid pulls away to take a deep breath and it’s gratifying how flushed he is. Cheeks pink, the color mixing with the freckles that cover his skin. His eyes are blown black, only the thinnest ring of green visible. He clears his throat before, “We should, uh, our stuff.”

Felix takes pity on him. Backs away and takes his hand, lacing their fingers together. “Come on cowboy, show me around.”

#the wayhaven chronicles #txt #long post #c: kincaid anderson #felix x kincaid #writing tag #all 3 chapters are Done so i just gotta figure out how soon i wanna post the rest of this lmao #anyway! here it is! the self-indulgent cowboy fic dsajgkndjas

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lvllns · 3 years

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it don’t matter to me (wherever we are is where i wanna be) [3/3]

the wayhaven chronicles. felix hauville x kincaid anderson (nb detective). teen and up rating for language. established relationship, mostly fluff with some angst. 2100+ words. (5900+ words total.) — starting over, chapter 3 of 3.

notes: little bit of angst, some more soft felix and kincaid. some of my favorite parts from this whole thing are in this chapter.

[ao3 link]

—

There’s a bonfire burning, flames licking at the rocks that surround the pit, and Kincaid is singing softly under his breath, everyone else having turned in for the night already.

Felix’s cheek rests against Kincaid’s chest, right over his heart, and he’s sitting in his lap. Kincaid has an almost empty glass of whiskey in his left hand, his right hand drifting up and down Felix’s back slowly. Like he’s committing each and every bump of his spine to memory. He laughs, the sound rumbling through his chest, and it warms Felix up from the inside out. He smiles. Turns and presses his face into Kincaid’s neck for a second before he leans back and just...looks his fill.

There’s an ease to Kincaid that Felix rarely sees. No tension in his body, eyes bright in the flickering light of the fire. His head tips back, baring his throat, and he hums, half-lidded eyes drifting from Felix to the sky above.

“You’re thinkin’ pretty loud darlin’,” he says. His touch moves to Felix’s hip and he squeezes gently. “You good?”

Felix nibbles on his bottom lip and thinks, really thinks, because something is chewing at him. Clawing at his ribs and tearing at his throat but he can’t place it. It’s been burning in his chest since they got here, this weird, amorphous something that sits white hot in his gut. He thinks about how they dealt with dinner, how they shared one plate and Kincaid kept picking at it, the conversation enough to keep attention away from how little Felix ate. Though what he did eat wasn’t bad, it was just overwhelming and he tapped out early. Felix thinks about how they’re leaving early tomorrow under the guise of getting on the road to get back by the afternoon. How Kincaid had grinned, shrugged, and made a comment about the work piling up.

Felix tries, and fails, not to think about how if he weren’t here, Kincaid could stay as long as he wanted. There would be no leaving early to avoid breakfast, no worry about an accidental slip up—

(Nate still sometimes brings up the human comment Felix made when this whole situation first started.)

—no lying to the people he considers family and there, that’s it.

Or part of it, at least.

“Fee?” Kincaid’s voice is soft, concerned, and he cups Felix’s face with both hands, his left a cool shock against the heat of the fire. “Baby, you drifted. What’s wrong?”

“Are you happy?” He whispers, eyes moving from Kincaid’s face to the dark fields behind them.

Kincaid blinks slowly, and brushes his thumbs over Felix’s cheekbones. “That’s...worryingly vague, but yes, I’m very happy.” He cocks his head. “There’s a bit more to that, ain’t there?”

“Are you...are you happy with me?”

“Felix,” Kincaid says as he sits up, all traces of whatever tipsy, half-asleep stupor he’d been in vanishing in an instant, “Of course. I am so happy with you.” He leans forward. Rest his forehead against Felix’s. “Here, let’s, let’s get into the apartment and talk, it’s gettin’ fuckin’ cold,” he grumbles, breath washing over Felix, and he smells like whiskey and smoke and cedar.

He smells like home. Like something safe that Felix wants to crawl inside of.

It’s all he can do to nod, to climb to his feet and ignore how unsteady he is. Kincaid stands and stretches, back popping as he groans, and then he catches Felix’s hand. Pulls his fingers to his mouth and kisses his knuckles. His wrist. The middle of his forearm. And he’s looking at him like he’s searching for something that Felix doesn’t know how to hide so he just smiles, weak and watery, and that makes Kincaid frown. He wants to apologize, or, no, not apologize...explain, maybe. Try to put the thoughts rolling through his head into words but his tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth.

The walk to the barn is quiet and dark, the fire behind them smothered. Kincaid holds his hand like he’s afraid Felix is going to leave, vanish into the night sky, and he runs his thumb along Kincaid’s fingers. An attempt at reassuring him that he’s as okay as he can be. He gets an affectionate squeeze in return as they head up the stairs.

The door shuts behind them with a soft, ominous click, and then Kincaid drops his hand. Wanders off to go flick a light on. Felix moves to sit in a chair, head lolling back to rest against the fabric, and he throws an arm over his face.

He’s kind of cocked this all up, hasn’t he?

“So,” Kincaid says from somewhere not close by. Felix forces himself to look and finds his partner sitting on the bed, boots off and hands hanging between his legs. “Somethin’ has been bugging you since dinner.” He shifts. Sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. “Is—Did I do something or—”

“No!” Felix jerks forward, almost falling off the chair. “Absolutely not, it’s just, I don’t know.” He frowns, scrunches his nose up and groans. “I didn’t realize what was bothering me until like ten minutes ago.”

“And?”

He looks down at his hands. Tangles his fingers together and takes a deep breath. “All of this would be so much easier for you if I wasn’t here.” He hears Kincaid move but he doesn’t look up. “You wouldn’t have to get here late to avoid lunch, weasel your way through dinner, leave early to avoid breakfast. There’s so much lying you’re doing, Cade, and it’s...it bothers me that you have to do it.” Felix taps his thumb against his thigh for a moment. “This place and these people are important to you, and I hate feeling like I’m...I’m...I don’t know, taking this from you. Tainting it or something. You’re so happy out here.” He shrugs.

Silence.

Absolute, utter, silence.

Felix looks up. Finds Kincaid staring at him from where he still sits on the bed, bright eyes wide and lips slightly parted. When his gaze drops to his mouth, Kincaid clicks it shut and shakes his head.

“Can I touch you?” His voice is hoarse, thick. Felix nods and Kincaid is kneeling in front of him immediately, one hand on his thigh and another resting along the back of his neck. “First, I love you,” Kincaid says. “Second, and I know this probably won’t make you feel much better right this moment, but it’s not lyin’, it’s a little...skillful avoidance of the truth.” He grins and Felix can’t help but smile back, it’s infectious, seeing those dimples up close. “I have to do it to everyone now, it’s not you that’s makin’ me do it anyway, it’s the Agency and everything. It’s not you.” Both hands cradle his face now, Kincaid’s broad palms rough against his skin. He leans into the touch, greedy for it and the reassurance it provides.

Kincaid rocks back on his heels before he sits on the floor, fingers slipping from Felix slowly, like he can’t bear to break the contact until the last possible second. And then he grabs Felix’s hands, reconnects, and pulls until he slides from the chair and into his lap. Felix wraps his arms around Kincaid, buries his face against his neck, and allows himself to melt. To sink into the warmth of his partner and bask in it for a moment.

He wants to say something but before he can, Kincaid murmurs, “And I’m happy here because you’re with me,” against the crown of his head. Whispered like a secret just for the both of them to share. “I’ve gone through a lot out here, Fee, and not all of it was good. But this place, as much as I love it, Felix, this is my past.” Kincaid leans back. Takes Felix’s chin between his thumb and forefinger to tilt his head back until their eyes lock. “I don’t need this place like I did when I was growin’ up. There’s nothin’ for me out here anymore except to share it with you. I want you to meet these people, see this place, but…” Felix is pulled closer, arms wrapping tight around him as Kincaid presses a kiss to his neck. “My future is with you.”

Oh.

Felix swallows hard around the sudden lump in his throat. Buries his face against Kincaid’s chest and squeezes his eyes shut before he gives in and lets himself cry quietly. Sure they’ve been together about a year, but Felix still finds himself thrown every single time—

“I chose you Felix, and I’m gonna keep chosin’ you,” Kincaid says against his temple.

“Shit,” he says, the word muffled by the shirt his face is pressed against.

Kincaid snorts, body shaking as he tries to suppress his laughter. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Felix takes a gulp of air. Holds it for a moment before slowly exhaling. When he sits back, there are thumbs gently wiping tears from his face before he can think to do it himself.

“Little bit better?”

“Yeah.” Felix nods, smiling lopsidedly when Kincaid kisses his cheek. “I would have told you sooner but I couldn’t figure out what was upsetting me.”

“‘S fine Fee, we talked about it eventually, though this is probably gonna come up again given, well, you know.” Kincaid runs his fingers up and down Felix’s back. “For the record, you could never taint anything, and I would do a lot worse than lie for you.”

Felix wiggles closer, arms slipping around Kincaid’s neck with a gentle squeeze.

“Aside from—” Kincaid waves a hand around. Felix snorts and kisses his collarbone through the fabric of his shirt. “—this, did you like it out here?”

“Mhm,” he says as he shifts his face enough to press a kiss to Kincaid’s jaw. “It’s quiet out here, peaceful. I like it.”

“Not boring?”

“Nah, it’s...I think I hadn’t realized just how much I’ve been moving since I tumbled through the portal.” He leans back and finds Kincaid’s eyes in the dim light. “I liked being able to slow down for a little bit.” A kiss to Kincaid’s cheek, brief. “Can we get off the floor now?”

Kincaid chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. “Read my mind.”

They untangle from each other. Limbs sliding apart, touches breaking, only to find each other again when they’re both on their feet. Felix slips a hand beneath Kincaid’s shirt, thumb smoothing over the skin that cloaks his ribs. His own shirt gets tossed over his shoulder, and then jeans are kicked off. Boots bumped against as they stumble to the bed, exhausted. Kincaid flops onto his back, Felix pressing himself against his side, arm over his waist and head on his chest.

He listens to Kincaid’s heart, the slow, steady beat of it. Each breath deeper and deeper until Felix says, “We should get a farm.”

Kincaid’s chest rattles with laughter beneath his ear, hand drawing sweeping lines up and down Felix’s back. “Are there cows on this farm?”

“No,” he says, nose wrinkling. “They stink.”

More soft laughter, fingers moving to touch along his shoulders. “Right, no cows. Horses?”

Felix scoffs. “Duh, I like them.” He slings a leg around Kincaid’s, hooks his foot around his calf. “Maybe...an orchard or something.”

“Hmm, fruit trees.” Kincaid shifts. Drops a kiss to the top of his head before leaning back against the pillows. “Gotta make money somehow, ‘specially if we’re not raising cattle.”

“Is that how they pay for this place?”

“Partly. Steph’s a software engineer, works from home mostly now, but they’re able to keep goin’ because of that.”

“Okay, so, maybe I’ll keep working for the Agency.”

Kincaid snorts and cracks one eye open to look down at him. “Kickin’ me out to the country, I see how it is.”

Felix pinches his side until Kincaid squirms away, laughing. He leans up, rests a hand on Kincaid’s chest to steady himself, and kisses him. Slow and deep. “We can put a warehouse on the property. Like the barn apartment but bigger, keep everyone close.”

“Ah,” Kincaid murmurs against his lips, “right.” He snorts then. “Mason might be the only one who’d appreciate that.”

“They’ll get over it.”

“Okay so, we’re moving everyone out to our ranch that has horses and some kind of fruit tree. Anything else?” Kincaid’s touch gentles, and falls down to Felix’s waist, fingers tracing every dip of muscle.

“Just you.” Felix kisses his chest, right over Kincaid’s heart. “You’re really all I need.”

Both of Kincaid’s eyes flutter open, soft in the darkness, and he smiles. “Love you,” he whispers, words slurring together as he drifts closer to sleep.

“I love you too,” Felix says, speaking the words against the skin of Kincaid’s throat.

The silence stretches easily, moments passing in languid touches and deepening breaths, and then he realizes that Kincaid has fallen asleep while rubbing his thumb over the ring finger on Felix’s left hand. He buries his face against Kincaid’s chest and slips into an easy slumber with a smile on his face.

#the wayhaven chronicles #writing tag #long post #c: kincaid anderson #felix x kincaid #reed.txt #i held onto this bc i have been staring at how i write felix wonderin if it's in character #but i'm okay with it now and i think it is so here u go #also i have simply been too stressed out of my fuckin mind lately to post it but! it's all up now!!#me holding felix and kincaid's hands: i love them so much your honor #i live to write soft conversations with gentle touching that's all i give a shit about

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