THE RECONSTRUCTION OF MAI LI HASTINGS 30

I read the play version of Daniel Keyes’ FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON when I was in eighth grade. It has stayed with me for decades, a haunting symbol for both the overwhelming possibilities of the human intellect and the overwhelming impossibilities faced by a profoundly challenged human mind. I’ve started and stopped this novel a half a dozen times in eleven years. I want to bring the original idea into the present millennium. To read RECONSTRUCTION from beginning to here, click on the label to the right and scroll four pages back until you get to the bottom.

Dr. Chazhukaran crossed his arms over his chest, scowled but said, “I’m listening.”

Mai Li Hastings snorted from her seat on the hospital bed. “Right. Just like you listened to Mom’s objections…”

“She’s the one who signed the papers OKing the surgery!”

“Based on your intentional misrepresentation of the both the exact procedure and the projected outcome!”

“What?” Dr. Chazhukaran expression was genuinely startled. Thirteen-year-old CJ Hastings felt suddenly sorry for the man he privately (and sometimes publicly) called Dr. Douchebag.

Mai Li made a brushing motion as if getting rid of him, and said, “First of all, I want out of the hospital.”

This time, all three of them – Mom, CJ and the doctor – exclaimed, “What?”

“There’s absolutely nothing they can do for me here.” She glared at the doctor, “You’re going to have to call off your stupid Chihuahuas.”

“My what?”

“Send your University students home with their fake ambulance,” translated CJ.

“But…”

“You already tried to kidnap me and failed miserably, Doctor. How much more do you want to embarrass yourself?” said Mai Li.

“I haven’t failed…”

“I’m not at the University under the tender ministrations of your Josef Mengele interns in some hidden basement laboratory,” she said it the way people in horror movies say the word. “My mom and brother will knock your head off and call the real cops if you so much as touch me; and it’s very likely your experiment may revert to its original state.”

This time, Dr. Chazhukaran made only a faint wheezing sound. Mom and CJ turned to face her. CJ said, “What do you mean, ‘revert to its original state’?”

Mai Li reached out, tousled CJ’s blond curls and said, “See, little brother? You’re not retarded, you’re only an idiot.” Her smile was the same one she’d given him just before she’d taught him how to read: unrelated in any way to her old smile – the one she used when it was gap-toothed and drooly-mouthed and only for him. This smile? Not even close to what he remembered was normal. This smile was related more to the one you’d see on a Great White shark moving in on a kill… She added, “As you can see, Dr. Chazhukaran knows of what I speak.” She locked her photon torpedo gaze on him, smiled again and said, “I’m assuming you’ve read ‘Flowers For Algernon’, Dr. Douchebag?”

It took a long time, but finally the doctor nodded slowly.

“Good, then you probably have some vague, primitive idea of what we’re up against.” She paused then amended, “Did I say ‘we’? I meant ‘I’ – because I’m the only one here risking anything at all. Isn’t that true, Doctor?”

It took a long time, but finally the doctor inclined his head in a tiny, tight, bare nod.

image: http://nekodan.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/sgem-broken.png?w=520

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 31

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

F Trope: medievalism

Current Event: http://www.renaissancefest.com/MRF/info.html

We all know it’s in good fun. The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is gearing up for the 2011 season, which will run weekends from August 20 through October 2. It’s the largest Renaissance Festival in the United States and expects to draw a quarter-of-a-million people!

The Largest is by no means the only. In 2011, there are going to be a total of 230 festivals, faires, gatherings, games and days.

Anyone who has never head of Robert Jordan’s WHEEL OF TIME books or any other of the thousands of “knock offs” that take place in some “mythical”, medievaloid, Godless/godsfull “Land” or “Shire” or “Kingdom” or “Dukedom” or “Dumbdom” has been living on a different planet – what with the books having been translated into 24 or 28 languages (depending on whether you listen to the OFFICIAL site (24 in 2010) or the other site (28 in 2009). Amazon.com lists 801 books when you type in “sword and sorcery novels” and I’m sure it’s missing some.

The discrepancies when 21^st Century people go to and enjoy the “fun” of 15 Century England and the actual conditions and socioeconomic reality of that time are immense. The discrepancies are illustrated here:

“A police officer and a man in a kilt and boots walk side by side. Not far away, a pirate is talking on a cell phone…period actors, who are dressed in elaborate costumes. More than a few of the visitors go as pirates, a la Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’…A couple years ago it was ‘Lord of the Rings.’ Organizers work hard to create the illusion of 15th-century France. But in the beverage tent, the 21st century comes through loud and clear. ‘Two Aquafinas, please,’ said a pirate with a sweaty brow.”¹

But the socioeconomic REALITY of that time period is something most writers ignore – completely. For your story today, I’d like you to take an average high school student from an URBAN high school (you can go “first ring suburb” if you insist) and fling them back in time (magically) and send them on a wizard quest to find someone who is a product of his time and NOT enlightened like Gandalf! DON’T use LORD OF THE RINGS or WHEEL OF TIME as your basis, but THIS: http://history-world.org/renaissance.htm or this http://www.islamawareness.net/Europe/Italy/rennaissance.html.

¹ http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2006/08/20/when-centuries-collide/

image: http://queue.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345293e069e20148c7d2668a970c-800wi

Slice of PIE: WHY Do We Like Harry Potter?

…or Miles Vorkosigan, Lessa of Pern, Frodo Baggins, Honor Harrington, Paul Muad’Dib or Podkayne of Mars?

The cop-out answer would be that we “just do for our various reasons”. But as a writer, I need to go deeper than that. To this end, I’ve read a half-dozen books on how to create characters. Nancy Kress’ book, DYNAMIC CHARACTERS is on my shelf downstairs; as are Orson Scott Card’s HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY and CHARACTER AND VIEWPOINT; THE CRAFT OF WRITING SCIENCE FICTION THAT SELLS by Ben Bova; WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS by Lee Wyndam; and my most recent purchase, BREATHING LIFE INTO YOUR CHARACTERS by Rachel Ballon.

All of them have given me at least ONE thing I can do to create realistic characters. Some have given more. That new one – in which the practicing clinical psychologist/writing coach posits that where a psychotherapist can through intense questioning and listening, tease apart the soul and mind of a client and then suggest healing strategies they might try; a writer can reverse the process and create realistic, living characters -- hasn't done much for me.

I haven’t found it particularly helpful up to this point (about half-way through when I stopped…) While I am sure that its claims to success are valid, I noticed that while the author has coached dozens of people to success, she’s never written a best-seller herself. I’m sure this is great for some writers – I am probably not one of them.

I’m still left with the question of why we like Harry, Miles, Lessa, Frodo, Honor, Paul and Podkayne. Is it that the authors (JK, Lois, Anne, JRR, David, Frank and Robert) worked out extensive character sketches of each of our favorites? Truth be told, I haven’t found evidence for that in my reading. None of them talk about reverse psychoanalyzing the characters from scratch. At least one of them tells the story that her character simply appeared in her head after which she outlined his entire educational experience. Then she wrote it.

I fiddled with this for a long time before I finally started to tease free some sort of answer. It might be best illustrated by something I wrote in the cover of one of the books ten years ago: “I read and reread these books. What compelled me? Why does Miles – an imaginary character so draw me now? Because Miles is unsure of himself – even when he succeeds, he wonders, deep down inside, if it was an accident; fate moving him; God’s hand – anything but his own actions, instincts and training. ANYTHING but his own competence. Mistakes he takes perfectly in stride because he EXPECTS to make horrible blunders and expects to learn from them. He owns them. But when he succeeds, then it has to be SOMETHING else – luck, fate, whatever – but NOT HIM. That’s how I feel…”

Six words – “incompetent, accidentally successful” and “how I feel” – encompass what it means to create character. What, was Paul Muad’Dib incompetent? Yes, in many contexts he was. Lessa of Pern, heroine of an age, accidentally successful? Yes, several times over. Frodo incompetent? HOW was the Ring of Power finally destroyed?

Characters who deeply doubt their competence are people I can connect with very easily because I feel that way often.

What of people who do not doubt their competence? Perhaps they are NOT readers because they don't NEED to be…

image: http://images.wikia.com/honorverse/images/6/60/Ashes_of_victory.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 30

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

SF Tropes: parallel universes

Current Event: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/24/132932268/a-physicist-explains-why-parallel-universes-may-exist

I’ve loved the idea of parallel universes for a long, long time, first coming across the idea in STAR TREK’s controversial episode, “City on the Edge of Forever”. Kirk, Spock and McCoy accidentally travel to Earth of the 1930’s in which a certain young woman named Edith Keeler was killed after being hit by a car. Turns out her death allowed the Allies to beat German and Japan and eventually led to the United Federation of Planets. If she had lived, Germany would have won WWII and there would have been no James T. Kirk and no USS Enterprise.

McCoy may have saved the woman’s life and Kirk and Spock discover that they must let her die – after Kirk falls in love with her.

Complicated, you say? You should read the story about the politics of the people who wrote and USED the story! *whew!*

Anyway, the author has this to say, “Sometimes I would imagine an irreverent me way down the line who refused to fall into place, disrupting the steady progression and creating a new reality that informed the ones that followed.”

Here’s your chance to take it away – in fact, you can take it ANY way you want to. But here’s one possibility: that image that he talks about, the one “way down the line”? What if the image on his left reached out of the mirror, grabbed him by the belt loop and jerked him into the mirror? Sure that’s what happened to Alice – and look at the Adventures she had!

But I’m going to twist this one a bit, in that parallel universe, our character was born – but the past he was born out of a past that included a successful Canadian/British seizure of the President of the United States and the annexation of Washington D.C. and the subsequent Second American Revolution…

You can work out the other details. The question is though, what if he fell in love with a Canadian girl over the summer – and loving her would be considered High Treason?

Image: http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/mmaltby/his108/Burning%20of%20DC.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: Educating the Future of Education

Education in 21^st Century America (and likely the world, though I can speak only on observing it in Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia and “Papa Doc” era Haiti); is a hodgepodge of theories, methodologies, beliefs and practices that most people cannot define, let alone understand.

Science fiction, the self-styled “last great literature of ideas” (http://boingboing.net/2008/01/22/science-fiction-a-li.html), has tackled religion, technology, personal freedom, the moral rights of genetic engineering and a thousand other topics. But when it comes to education, SF is strangely pedantic in its assumption that education will ALWAYS be teacher-led (which is the system developed by the Roman Catholic Church in medieval times: “The primary conception of the purpose of education was transmission based. The priests taught the people…”. The education monolith of 21^st Century American teaching and unionism is violently allergic to anything that smacks of Christianity but has totally embraced the methodology and morality of a system developed and promoted by the Church while at the same moment ignoring the roots of the system it endorses and promotes to the exclusion of all else.)

Read virtually any SF novel that includes the education of children, adolescents and adults and you will find children sitting at desks (either real or virtual) with an adult in total power over the “learners” (because on their say-so, the individual being subjected to “education” must perform to the standards laid out by the “teacher” or they will not be granted freedom to think as they want to) learning some sort of rigidly defined curriculum (which is based entirely on the philosophy of whatever controlling group is in power and not on any sort of objective reality).

No variation. No “shifting paradigm”. Nothing NEW, including new ideas.

While starships fly around their heads, aliens communicate advanced technologies (which they learned within an education system that is EXACTLY like ours (despite Robert L. Forward’s DRAGON’S EGG cheela living on the surface of a collapsed star and the Rosans of Marc Stiegler’s “Petals of Rose” living a lifetime in seven Human days)), our kids apparently, are forever doomed to get their education via a transmission based system instituted by the Roman Catholic Church five hundred years ago.

Sheffield’s JUPITER series has kids being educated – the old-fashioned way. So does Brin’s COLONY HIGH. There’s nothing new in Gerrold’s DINGILLIAD stories, either. All of these feature teens being educated in the 21^st, 22^nd Centuries and beyond…in ways their 16^th Century counterparts would have recognized.

Oh, I forgot BF Skinner’s “teaching machines”, “smart pills”, “amnesiac pills” (MEMINI by Daniel Pearlman), and a-som which makes sleeping unnecessary (Paul Di Filippo’s “Shuteye for the Timebroker”). But none of these introduce paradigm shifts in education.

Even the God Emperor of DUNE is educated with methodologies Plato, Rome, Descartes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Thorndike, Skinner, Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Montessori, Bruner and Strauch would recognize easily.

Where are the ideas that will shake the foundation of education? Where are the guerilla educators? Where are the startling new ideas? Why do aliens appear to learn exactly the way we do? Are there OTHER ways of learning?

If we are looking to SF to point out some directions to explore, at least at this time, we will be sadly disappointed.

And maybe this will offer a niche for me to fill – if I can figure out how to do it…

image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTB3SZhEUHOXpF_H8bDjcgXqdPXgwFa9CblbJhH5dmBsHwYqelFt8ZHBoT1bj9zaahGd7CPFtvQK5dr6uBTXSYI5Vnbii3Cqmn9Z__BqA3_0ZFZWDfmwFND8i8fSkD4_FFwCpR9SO8bVW/s1600/amores-perros-pic2.jpg

References:

http://www.stanford.edu/class/ed269/hplintrochapter.pdf (History of learning theory)

“The Massachusetts General Court passed a law requiring every town to create and operate a grammar school. Fines were imposed on parents who did not send their children to school and the government took the power to take children away from their parents and apprentice them to others if government officials decided that the parents were "unfit to have the children educated properly".^[6] (wiki quote, Compulsory Education)

http://mises.org/daily/2226 (History of Compulsory Education)

"Owen was quite insistent that the system not "embrace anything less than the whole people." The effect will be to "regenerate America in one generation. It will make but one class out of the many." Frances Wright revealed the aim of the system starkly, calling on the people to overthrow a moneyed aristocracy and priestly hierarchy. "The present is a war of class." Robert Dale Owen (on the purpose of compulsory education, 1847)

SHORT LONG JOURNEY #30: Late July 14, 1946

This series is a little bit biographical and a little bit imaginary about my dad and a road trip he took in the summer of 1946, when he turned fifteen. He and a friend hitchhiked from Loring Park to Duluth, into Canada and back again. He was gone from home for a month. I was astonished and fascinated by the tale. So, I added some speculation about things I've always wondered about and this series is the result. To read earlier SHORT LONG JOURNEY NORTH, click on the label to the right. The FIRST entry is on the bottom.

It was finally dark when Tommy Hastings and Freddie Merrill slipped under the fence that tried to guard Glensheen Mansion from people like them.

It didn’t work because two fourteen-year-old boys shinnied under, sliding down the bank of Tischer Creek, which wound its way along the southern edge of the estate. They followed it, Freddie sliding into the water only once. He started to cuss but Tommy hissed him into silence. “Maybe they got German shepherds for attack dogs from the war!”

After that the only sound that came from Freddie was the occasional squish from his wet shoe and muttered curses.

By the time they reached a narrow road that ran into the estate as well as toward the lake, both boys were crouched low to the ground. They’d both stopped to stare at the side of the mansion across a lawn and into the brightly lit windows.

“They must have more money than th’ Army,” Tommy whisper.

“More’n the President,” Freddie added.

Tommy reached out and tugged Freddie after him, “Come on!” He led him up a slight rise and on to the road.

Freddie pulled back, whispering, “Someone will see us!”

“There’s no one to see us! There’s nobody in there and I don’t hear no dogs barking!” Tommy whispered. Freddie resisted another moment then followed Tommy uphill. A few feet away, Lake Superior lapped against the rounded stones of the beach. On the lake, far in the distance, lights floated magically in the darkness. From the north, a powerful light swept out over the water then lit the shoreline before spilling over the land, flooding everything like day.

Including the boys.

Freddie grabbed Tommy’s hand and dashed forward to the black outline of the boathouse. Two windows glowed with flickering yellow light. He whispered, “There’s people in there! We have to get away!”

“No! This is what we came here for!” said Tommy.

“For people to arrest us for trespassing?” Freddie said, resisting again.

“No! We came to ask people if they knew my mom and dad when they met here.”

“Why would they?”

“This is where the servants met…” Tommy began.

From the night, a voice said, “If you were looking for servants, boys, you came to the right place!”

image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHCxQwgVZ90gPQIZK1HYFgItB58oTwSElFU45noQp_ksJEQim7qKj04EXW1yx8u-eCzSSb8Od9VTrR56AXvZkwbg7OPYwJq0OtpD30vQU86FLIvvWs__jBBYmNgjLg_hZxrRQW4D7obFH/s200/Glensheen.JPG

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 29

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

H Tropes: mummies/the dead

Current Event: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2011/07/ideas-on-tuesday-21-yo-mummy.html

I know I did this before – so I’m going to challenge you to take the same idea…and come up with a different story.

Here’s the new set up:

Taniya’s a total “Egyptophile” – IOW, she loves everything Egypt. She’s a ninth grader, doing a History Day project and contacted an Egyptologist working at an excavation of the city built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, the “unorthodox” Pharaoh of Egypt who promoted the monotheistic religion of Aten. When the Pharaoh – the god’s champion – died, Amarna was abandoned and covered by the sands of Sahara until the 20^th Century.

The Egyptologist sends Taniya a fossilized piece of “cloth” supposed to be from Akhenaten(though that is in doubt, otherwise he wouldn’t be sending it…)’s mummy. Turns out, it was. Turns out that Aten is NOT happy about what happened.

Turns out that Taniya’s little brother – whom she thinks is a brat – is about to get a bit meaner…

Image: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/5222386409_86c0994fed.jpg

WRITING ADVICE – Kristine Kathryn Rusch #3: “Risk Taking”

I first ran across the work of Kristine Kathryn Rusch when her name appeared on the bottom of a standard rejection form I got from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, where she was head editor for several years. A short time later, I ran across one of her short stories (“Retrieval Artist” in the June 2000 ANALOG), which of course, led me t0 her RETRIEVAL ARTIST novels. I’m a fan now and started reading her blog a year or so ago. As always, I look for good writing advice to pass on to you as well as applying it to my own writing. I have her permission to quote from the articles. You can find the complete article referenced below, here: http://kriswrites.com/2010/03/11/freelancers-survival-guide-risks-part-one/

Risk.

It has many faces.

Liz took a huge risk when she chose to do aggressive chemotherapy to combat her breast cancer. After five months, she feels better than she’s felt in a long time – and she’s still going through the “post-infusion cycle” of symptoms that have followed the other five chemo sessions.

My daughter took a huge risk when she left a comfortable college in a small town to come to a small college smack dab in the center of Minneapolis – because she needed a greater academic challenge and she needed the energy imbued by city-life.

I had a risky choice as well: at one point I had tried out for and was invited to join a band that would travel in the area. I was also accepted into a group that would perform in the US then leave for the West African countries of Nigeria, Cameroun and Liberia at the invitation of the national Lutheran churches of each country. The first would have left me home. The other led me to a coup d’etat, an attemped coup d’etat, malaria and the loss of 100 pounds. Had I not taken the risk, I would not be the person I am today.

When I first began to write, I wanted to do science fiction. That was all. It was what I read for, trained for and bought books for. As time went on, I tried other kinds of writing – mostly for children. For me, that was a risk. I didn’t HAVE kids. I didn’t read children’s books and I had no idea if I could do it effectively.

Turns out, I could.

Like Kristine Kathryn Rusch (who writes science fiction, fantasy, romance, literary and adventure fiction as well as non-fiction) I have diversified. I have written historical fiction for children, contemporary fiction for teens, science fiction for children, non-fiction for young children and articles on writing. For each risky step into diversity, I had to plan carefully and read extensively. The historical short story that was published came from a novel that has not been published. Hundreds of hours of research and travel and reading tedious, dull journals led to a single story that was 1500 words long and an article that was less than 200 words. The file sits in my cabinet, waiting for…I don’t know what. I’m thinking of making it into a time travel story. Therein lay another risk.

Writing is a risk – especially if you write what you like instead of trying to write to catch the wave. But that is another issue entirely and not one that jumps off from Kristine Rusch’s essay. It was specifically about becoming a full-time freelance writer, I am nowhere near that point yet, though I make enough to supplement my income. In fact, little of it actually has to do with STORIES. I have no novel out yet, but I sell my expertise in writing to teach young people and I speak on the subject to young people. And lest you “pooh-pooh” these kinds of efforts, I can point to the fact that one of my students had a short story accepted into a “real” market – one that turned down my own story!

Image: http://assets2.shop.alifemoreinteresting.com/ci/2/Toys/Puzzles/Risk-Continental-Game.jpg?1309281456

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 28

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

F Tropes: magic

Current Event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magick

O, come on!

REALLY?

As much as we want “magic” to be reality, no one, anywhere really, actually believes in witches, warlocks, spells, swords, sorcery, hats, elves and all that other crap.

Right?

There’s NOTHING THERE! Can you personally say that you have observed a witch cast a spell that worked? Can you tell me honestly that you’ve never wondered about psychics who claim to predict YOUR future but have never won the lottery themselves? Have you ever seen a real elf? A real ent? Have you ever taken a brief trip to The Land? When was the last time you touched the Sword of Shannara?

It’s all, part and parcel entirely from our imaginations! That’s what “fantasy” is all about – it’s totally fabricated and totally untrue.

But what if you hark back to an ancient definition: “[the British occultist, Aleister] Crowley saw magick as the essential method for a person to reach true understanding of the self and to act according to one's True Will, which he saw as the reconciliation ‘between freewill and destiny.’”

What if a couple of middle school kids wanted to really understand themselves, to discover their True Will. That method included both “mundane” or every-day actions and actions that can bring the magickers True Will and are OPPOSITE of science.

So think of every science experiment you’ve ever performed or watched, then imagine its opposite and give your story a start! (You might want to keep in mind, Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”]

Image: http://www.my-magicshop.com/images/science-magic.jpg

Slice of PIE: The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail!

I know this sounds strange, but until a few weeks ago, I had a nonsensical interpretation of this Bible verse. I didn’t understand until I chanced to hear a sermon right after our family finished watching the entire LORD OF THE RINGS movie trilogy.

For some reason, I had the image in my head that the Gates of Hell were the things moving to attack me/the Church and that they wouldn’t prevail against us.

How dumb is that?

The juxtaposition of sermon and movie revealed the reality – it is the Gates of Hell that are stationary and the Church that is moving. In LORD OF THE RINGS, the Great Eye of Middle Earth can’t go anywhere. Sauron is locked at the top of Barad-dûr, unable to affect Middle Earth except as he influences the Nazgûl, orcs, Saruman, and the Ring itself. He is, as far as the ability to move is concerned powerless.

It suddenly occurred to me that Satan is just as powerless as Sauron. He is just as trapped. He uses minions just as Sauron did and he is vulnerable to attack and susceptible in defense. He is resistable. Frodo, Galadriel, Gandalf, Treebeard and hundreds of others resisted Sauron. His power is not all-powerful; nor is Satan’s power.

The greater revelation was that whether the Gates of Hell prevail or not, the phrase implies that there is movement on the part of the Church. In order for the Gates to prevail, the Church of Christ would have to lose the battle. A battle involves troop movement and as the Gates of Hell are little different from the Black Gate of Mordor – the Morannon – it means that the Church should be moving.

Instead of creating walls behind which to hide from the world, the flesh and the Devil, the Church should be moving out. Rather than broadening the divide between denominations, we should be forging alliances.

Please note that the alliance of Gil-galad of the Elves and Elendil the Exile of Númenor (also known as the Last Alliance of Elves and Men (though it included dwarves, orcs – “All living things were divided that day, and some of every kind, even beasts and birds, were found in either host, save the Elves only” (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/g/gatesofmordor.html) ) was not to make friends with Sauron. It’s purpose was not to discuss the inclusion of Sauron’s language and viewpoint into the rest of Middle Earth, nor was it to sign an agreement that he stay on a reservation somewhere.

The purpose of the Last Alliance was NOT to make friends with Sauron.

The purpose of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was to defeat the evil that was Sauron and all those who chose to side with him. If the Last Alliance had lost that war at the Black Gate, then the Gates of Sauron would have prevailed against them.

The Gates did not prevail, the Last Alliance did and Sauron fell. The escape of the One Ring is another story and not the one we live in (as much as some think they would want to.)

We live in a world in which the story has not come to its end yet.

According to those who believe that the End Times are upon us, we should be girding for war. Scripture is also very clear about who will be leading the assault on the Gates of Hell – and it has nothing to do with presidents, televangelists, authors, legislators, Republicans and Democrats or even the good, old US of A. The King of Kings will lead and there will be no election to choose Him.

The image is clear: as the Fellowship of the Ring stirred the hearts of Middle Earth to launch against the Black Gate of Mordor, so the Church should be stirring the hearts of the Bride in preparation to storm the Gates of Hell. It is a battle we will not lose – Jesus was clear on that point in the Gospel of Matthew.

But in order for the Gates of Hell to not prevail – we need to be MOVING!

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THE RECONSTRUCTION OF MAI LI HASTINGS 29

I read the play version of Daniel Keyes’ FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON when I was in eighth grade. It has stayed with me for decades, a haunting symbol for both the overwhelming possibilities of the human intellect and the overwhelming impossibilities faced by a profoundly challenged human mind. I’ve started and stopped this novel a half a dozen times in eleven years. I want to bring the original idea into the present millennium. To read RECONSTRUCTION from beginning to here, click on the label to the right and scroll four pages back until you get to the bottom.

Dr. Douchebag – Dr. Chazhukaran, the director of the nanomachine experiment that had taken Mai Li from a mentally handicapped, child-like adult to a genius-level woman – pounded on the door. He shouted, “If you don’t open this door now, I’m going to get a fire axe and chop it down!”

From somewhere beyond him, CJ Hastings heard someone say, “If they’re contagious, why are you trying to get in there, Doctor?”

Dr. Douchebag sputtered then said, “I’ve been inoculated!” Pounding again, he shouted, “I’m going to count to ten! One…”

CJ’s mom stepped up to the door, leaning into it with CJ. She whispered to him, “On ‘ten’, step back.

Outside the room, Dr. Douchebag shouted, “Five, sixseveneightnineten…” He slammed into the door as CJ and his mom backed out of the way. It burst open and the doctor stumbled through, nearly catching his balance except when he tripped over CJ’s mom’s outstretched foot.

By the time he was on his feet, the two of them were standing between him and Mai Li. “Get out of my way,” he growled.

“Or you’ll what? Beat us both up?” CJ’s mom said.

“I’ll call the police!”

“And report that we what? Protected my daughter from your crazy experiment?” Mom snorted, “You know normal people better than that, doctor! You’re the one who would lose that battle.”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Mom, CJ suddenly felt a hand slip along his side from behind. Mai Li pushed them apart and swinging her legs to the edge of the bed, sat up.

They turned to face her. She said, glancing at each of them, “All right. Enough of this. I’ll talk to the doctor from here.” She looked past them at Chazhukaran and said, “I’ll see if I can use small enough words for him to understand.”

“Understand what?” the doctor snarled. “That you’re ruining my research?”

Mai Li laughed, though it was a weak laugh, “What you refuse to understand, Doctor, is that your experiment is a failure.”

“Impossible! What do you…”

“Don’t be an idiot, Doctor. I understand your work better than you could possibly even begin to.” CJ’s cellphone rang. He ignored it.

Chazhukaran snorted and tried to stand taller. But he’d clearly twisted something because his haughty demeanor was ruined when he winced. He said, “How could you possibly…”

“You designed the nanomachines to reassemble my brain for maximum efficiency and optimal connectivity, right?”

“I wouldn’t characterize it in such a simple…”

“Please, Doctor. Try for a nanosecond to remember to whom you speak. My intellect is so far above yours now that the difference between you and me is the same as that between an amoeba and CJ here.”

“Hey!” CJ exclaimed as his cellphone rang. Without thinking, he answered.

“Christopher Hastings?” it was a woman’s voice.

CJ scowled. “Yeah?”

“This is Ms. Jacobson, the Carter High School math team coach?”

His voice caught for a moment and he wasn’t aware that his mom, Dr. Douchebag and his sister were staring at him. He cleared his throat and said, “Uh…yeah?”

“I saw you in the middle school meet a few days ago and as you’re going to be an eighth grader next year, I was wondering if you’d like to join the high school math team next year.”

“I…I…”

“You don’t have to give me an answer…”

“No! No! I want to! I want to!”

There was a short pause. “Well then, that’s settled! I’ll make sure you get on our listserve and have the captain email you an invitation. Thanks.”

“Thank you!” he said and hung up.

“What?” his mom and sister asked. He told them.

Mai Li smiled, nodded and said, “See Kid, you’re not a retard – just an idiot!” She glared at Dr. Chazhukaran and said, “So you gonna listen to a genius victim’s assessment of what’s going on or are you stand there being a douchebag?”

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-KPoBCpJNOXhE0I8tlI0h7ysbWGfWq6qLz16uojtAJ22MvS5E2Cx6ZNZua8mqk5ATNePdFkcE4hJNzXp-k8s5hdNj1F8you7yDvgUc91j9EvEeCWsQHNa2e103k0n2YMFc60JopmKWUy/s1600/bb-15.jpg