Often, avoiding being cannibalised is one of my unspoken goals.

This is how my morning started. Don't ask. *lol*

*********

So the closing last night... yeah.

I didn't get documents until almost 8. By the time I printed them, stopped to get gas and a snack, and picked up P, who went with me, and then drove the nearly 70 miles to get there, it was 9:30.

The house was in the middle of downtown Eatonton and it was HUGE. It was also old (for the US!) and very definitely an original southern mansion. Of course, the yard was teeny tiny, but there was a giant wrought iron fence that I had to be buzzed through, and then like 15 foot ceilings. And every single available space was crammed with something.

I thought for a moment, I might have shown up to a hoarder house, but it was too clean and well organized for that. Then we got to the kitchen and my jaw dropped. It was like walking into a museum. China, crystal, art work, antiques... EVERYWHERE.

Turns out, the guy owns an antique store. *lol* He clearly inventories out of his house.

So, then... after we deal with some additional issues, we finally conclude the closing. At 11 p.m. Now, keep in mind that I haven't had dinner yet and I'm reaching the point of being lightheaded. So, we stop at the Waffle House, drive all the way back, and I roll into the house at like 1 am.

Lovely.

Clearly, I didn't get the chance to do anything else I wanted to do last night, so here I am... starting all over again today. Yay.

*********

This is awesome - anyone who has a cat will get it.

POLL TIME!

There are a lot of interesting discussions going around the Internets right now about narrative and character choices and what, if anything, it reveals about the author. Many of them have made me think (always a good, if dangerous, thing) and now I have questions for you, oh Internets.

Is it possible to write a narrative that contains characters who are *ist (racist, sexist, misogynist, homophic, transphobic, fat-phobic), and wherein the fic structure isn't designed to provide either cosmic retribution of an after-school special teaching moment, and not have the fic be inherently *ist itself?

If the fic is *ist, to what extent is the author perpetuating the *ism on the world?

To use an example from my own work (which is the only way I can think to explain what I mean, without putting anyone else on the carpet), I wrote a Merchant of Venice fic (yes, Shakespearean even!), wherein Antonio and Bassanio basically have sex in front of a mirror. The fic contains this conversation:

"Dear Bassanio, do you have no trust for me? My heart, my home, my life… all yours for the taking."

Bassanio's voice hitched. "What we do is a violation of God's law."

"Aye."

"We damn our souls."

"Aye," Antonio breathed.

At no point afterward did I have the characters address the homophobic nature of that conversation. At no point did I ever bring religion into the story again. At no point did I include any hint that I - as the author - have a knee-jerk reaction when Christians (which is the faith embraced by these two characters) start preaching about how homosexual acts are sins.

So, tell me Internets, was that homophobic? Does the fic perpetuate homophobia? Does it therefore exist as proof of perhaps my own unexamined homophobia?

Or does the fact that I told this story, about two white men fucking each other, to the exclusion of exploration of the themes of the play involving anti-semitism, classism, sexism, and racism - of which the source material is rank - mean that I somehow embraced those *isms in my own story, and therefore perpetuated them by virtue of ignoring them?

To what degree am I, as the author, guilty of the sins of the characters?

(I am aware that this question may seem extremely combative and I honestly do not mean it that way. I am simply asking for opinions. I do not promise to agree with any of you, however! But, the thought-process is provoking introspection and I would like to engage in a dialogue. I will do my best to keep my ego out of it, I promise.)