Felled

The trees are down!

The Christmas Trees that is. 

While I know Twelfth Night isn’t until the 6^th, it was time for the trees to come down.

We had two up, on in the sitting room and one in the conservatory.  They both looked lovely, it was great to see them. At first. As much as I enjoy having the trees up, after a while they just feel like they are in the way. 

I was struggling to use the conservatory as my office (as I usually do) because, for a start it was way too cold, but also because I was too aware of the way The Tree standing over my shoulder.  It was a bit like The Christmas Invasion episode of Dr Who back in 2005.  It felt like it might start spinning and trying to slice and dice me.

So today, we carefully removed the decorations and even more carefully put them in boxes and packed them away.  Adding one extra box to the collection for all the new decorations brought this year.  I really must stop with that.  Maybe next year.

This year I also bought some pink and white lights which I used to decorate the bookshelves in the sitting room.  They acquired the name “The Cheery Lights”, and have been allowed to remain in place. 

Still the sitting room feels less cluttered now, and I hopefully I can reclaim my cold office tomorrow (thankfully the portable heaters should deal with the temperature).

All back to normal.

Call Outs

I’ve kind of hit a roadblock with my WIP, so on the way to work this morning I decided I was going to write a blog tonight, you know, do something creative.  I had a theme in mind, and you’ll tell you what it is during this blog, because it’s still in here.  But during the day something else happened and I feel like sharing this.

If you follow my blog you will know that I can come out with some random stuff and the last piece was about the reaction to the latest Dr Who, click here to read more.  Today on Facebook I was ‘called out’ on it, by a white middle-aged internet using male, his description, for the lazy way I’ve approached that and was told that I’m the prejudiced one, because this person doesn’t know a single other person who’s upset by the news.

Well good for him.  And thanks to the other friend who waded in with some salient facts proving my case.  Not that the first friend would know because he flounced out of the conversation.

Now here are some things you should consider if you want to call me out on anything I write:

1. I welcome your comments, especially constructive criticism.  These are learning opportunities and I enjoy the chance to discuss any points.

2. Generalisations are just generalisations, they are not pointed attacks, they are just ways of expressing a point in a readily understandable way.

3. Just because you haven’t experienced it, don’t mean it ain’t happening.

4. This is a blog not national journalism.

5. Call me out, I will respond, that’s what discussions are about – two way exchange on points of view.

6. If you flounce out of the conversation with your male privilege held high remember I don’t have to make you look foolish, because you did it to yourself.

 

But one of the things that was thrown at me was that if I want to ‘get upset’ about discrimination I ‘need’ – yes need – to write about what Trump is doing to the LGBT communities.

Yes, I could do that.  I really could, I could rant for hours on that topic and many other misogynistic and/or downright stupid things that the American administration is doing, but here’s the thing.  I’m an EU – soon reluctantly to be British – citizen and this blog is mostly read by those in the UK.  I do have some Americans followers – and thanks for taking an interest wherever you are – but not many.  Besides, the thing is I don’t have a voice in an election I can’t vote in and most Americans have already realised what a dreadful mistake they’ve made.  Also, ranting against anything is a very negative thing to do and I am trying to make my life more positive.

Do I think people of the LGBT (and the ever growing acronym to LGBTQIA) community deserves a voice? Yes I do. Do I want to actively promote that voice?  Yes I do.  So what am I going to do about that – Well writing this blog was part of the plan.

I believe that people, more than administrations, can make a community what it should be, and I think it’s the quieter ways that will help integrate communities.  But I have a limited reach (hence comments above) and a limited skill set. I’m not a politician, not a great campaigner, nor am I a martyr, nor even a bleeding heart liberal.  Hell, I’m not even a journalist, just a blogger in that respect.

What I am is a writer, and a freelance editor.

So when one of the guys I freelance for comes to me and asks if I’d be willing to give my time and effort to help support the writing community to bring forth some good fiction with main characters who happen to be LGBTQIA, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

So Jefferson Franklin Editing is offering free and discounted edits to writers who advance the LGBTQIA cause – to help get more LGBTQIA stories into the hands of readers.

Now I will admit that I’ve never had a main character who is anything other than hetrosexual, because that’s what I know.  And I am aware of the very great offence I could cause if I were to poorly portray that community, and let’s face it, if I did poorly portray that or any other community – I’d deserve criticism.  There are in my books some characters who I think are probably gay, but I’ve never made a thing of that, because it hasn’t been relevant to the story.  And now I’ve actually committed that to the page, I think I’m going to have to find a way to amend the situation and try to better present this under represented section of the community.

So if you have a gay soldier, or a lesbian teacher, or a gender-fluid private investigator (oh how useful would that be?), if you’ve a transexual dragon-trainer, or an omni-sexual/pansexual(?) space-traveller, then let’s hear from you.  Mind looking at those I may be a limited in my thinking, so please, please, please, come up with something original to surprise and delight in whatever genre you want.

Here’s the link with all the details – 2017 LGBTQIA Edit Giveaway.  And I look forward to seeing some of your work.

(Right now I’m going to go cogitate just how useful it might be to actually be gender fluid investigator because I can see that could bring up some really interesting plot and action possibilities.)

 

 

 

 

Who is she?

Image shamelessly borrowed off a news site – hope no one minds.

 

She is Jodie Whittaker.

She is the Doctor.

And what exactly is the problem with that?

Well according to a lot of the internet, most particularly the white male population on the internet – quite a lot, but let’s have a look at the situation with just a touch more critical analysis, shall we?

Right I suppose I should start with an admission – when I heard talk of possibly having either a black or female Doctor, I was uncertain if it would work.  This was back before Capaldi was picked – and on that topic, have to say Capaldi was brilliant, he was everything and more than a classic Doctor or a Nu-Who should be.  He rivals both Tom Baker and David Tennant in my affections for who is the best Who.  I also don’t want Capaldi to leave, I think he has way more to give to the role and has been hampered by some damp squib scripts this last season, but I’ve digressed enough and there is a reason why I’ve stated this here.

Yeah, so point was, I’m a middle-class, middle-aged (hate that), white woman and I wasn’t sure about a radical change in the nature of the Doctor.  Then I thought about it for five minutes and realised I was the one being stupid.

The Doctor is a regenerating, time-travelling alien.  His world is much bigger than ours.  He travels to worlds even Hubble can’t see.  He goes to times we will never live to number.  He is way beyond anything of human existence.  He’s allowed to be – after all – he’s not real!

But let’s bring a little reality into this anyway.  Do that, then you start to think about the scientific world and the nature of evolution.  The reason that we have different races on Earth with huge variations in nothing more important than skin colour from ebony to porcelain, is because human skin reacts to the amount of UV it receives.  But that is only skin deep, i.e. surface level, i.e. it doesn’t matter.

So what if the Doctor did become a black man?  Would it matter to me?  Did it matter when I was disappointed to hear Matt Smith had got the role?  Yes, but I kept watching and soon realised that he was still The Doctor and his youth wasn’t a barrier to me enjoying the series.  At the time Idris Elba was being talked about as a potential Doctor, but I didn’t know who he was, hadn’t seen him in anything at that point, but now I have, and he’s a good actor and he could fill the role. And that’s what matters, can the actor act?  And if the answer is yes, then skin colour is not a barrier.

But I’m not leaving the scientific yet.  Evolution is not and Earth Science, there are plenty of theories about how life might evolve on other planets, and despite what we see on fictional TV, most of these theories do not result in bipedal humanoid species.  So why should the Doctor who can travel anywhere, any when, be bipedal humanoid?  If he’s going to move freely among the two headed, why shouldn’t he have two heads? Or three legs or be a quadruped? Or a blog in a spray painted bubble-wrap costume? We put up with that for villains, why not for heroes?

The reason – budgets and availability – and the bubble wrap burst with every movement, so much so even with the shaky sets you have to feel extra sorry for Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen in that one.  Also, humans are the only actors other humans can understand.  Why not bung the Doctor under a load of prosthetics?  Well, heat, discomfort, time and money all jump to mind.  And even though motion capture and CGI are utterly spectacular these days – a dotted up Andy Serkis for the next Doctor! Or even undotted, he’d be dotty either way – and brilliant.  But again that is still a very expensive way to go.

Let’s dip now into cannon.  Twelve (the great Capaldi) started his tenure with the line:

“Kidneys! I’ve got new kidneys! I don’t like the colour.”

Now that should tell the astute listener that the internal organs can change.  So if the internal organs can change, why can’t testicles become ovaries?  And don’t get hung up on the idea either, there is a precedent.  In human babies we all start female, then something changes and roughly 50% turn male and that’s when what would have been ovaries become testicles.  So if it can work that way in humans, why can’t it go the other way in Time Lords?

And if we are going to talk about cannon and precedent, we have to have a look at Missy, as played wonderfully by Michelle Gomez. I was uncertain who this mad woman was to start with, we all were, but when she revealed herself, it wasn’t a shock, was it?  And there again, didn’t she just make the most marvelous Master ever?  And yes there were some grumblings about how the Master wouldn’t change sex, but that was a mere blip on the radar compared to what’s been happening with the idea of a female doctor.  So what are we effectively saying here?  It’s okay for a woman to be the villain, but they can’t be the hero?  You might want to have a word with Diana Prince about that one, or Sue Storm, or Kitty Pride, or Emma Peel, or – you know what, the list does go on, but hopefully everyone’s getting the point.  Even the guy grumbling in his mother’s basement.

So, it would appear that both according to cannon and logic, a female Doctor is acceptable.  So what other arguments are there?

The English language.  Eh?  Yep, the English language itself has been given as a reason not to have a female Doctor as it means we can no longer say every time ‘he’ regenerates.  Well, I have to say, that there is a bit of failing in the English language that we have no gender neutral – oh wait – we do.  It’s ‘it’. Now, to take another SciFi classic, in Star Trek, specifically in the books about The Excalibur, they have a character who is both male and female, who is referred to as ‘s/he.’  No, I’m not sure how you pronounce it either, but it gets over the issue.  The Doctor is an alien who doesn’t conform to our rigid ways of thinking so why can’t we call the Doctor, it or s/he? Perhaps that is too ‘out there’ thinking.  Well here’s a thought, why not call The Doctor, The Doctor? After all, that is a gender neutral term.  Oh and just one clarification – the gender neutral term is – as much as I hate to say it – ‘he’. So get over it.

That’s language, so what about numbers?  Chronologically, Jodie is way past the 13^th actor to play the Doctor, but that, cannon-wise, will be her regnal number.  13. Unlucky for some.  Is 13 going to be unlucky for being a woman?  Oh get real, it’s just another number and let’s face it, she couldn’t make the series crash and burn any faster than Sylvester McCoy did.  Loved Ace, but let’s face it, the only decent Dr McCoy is on the Enterprise.

To recap, there’s no good reason why the doctor can’t be female.  As long as the actor can act, why would colour or gender make a difference?

Which leaves a very specific question – is Jodie Whittaker the right woman for the job?  I have seen Jodie Whittaker do both comedy (St Trinians) and drama (Broadchurch) and I think she was good in both, so why wouldn’t she be good as the Doctor?  There is a question as to why not cast a complete unknown?  Well, that’s easy too, Doctor Who is a huge role.  It makes a major impact on the actor’s career, and you need to have an actor who can deal with that, i.e. one who is established and isn’t going to crash spectacularly out of the show for some reason.

Last question – am I uncertain about Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor? Of course I am.  But not because she’s a woman, not because the Doctor can’t be a woman, I’m worried because if there is any problem with the next Doctor Who series the blame will land solely on Jodie Whittaker’s shoulders even if the truth is that the writing is shite. (Chibnall, I’m making a point not accusing you of anything!)

Well here’s the one thing all the fans should remember; we don’t control this series, the series makers do. The decision has been made and all we can do is wait to see what happens.  Only time will really tell if this was a good or bad decision and isn’t that just what Doctor Who is about?  Regardless of who plays the Doctor?

So, she is Jodie Whittaker

She is the Doctor.

And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing her.