Meet New Brian, MIOBI Style

I did actually start this right after the season premier. Then I got sidetracked and it ended up witting in my draft box for months. I know it doesn't really matter now, but hey. When does what I write ever matter?


So, the new season of Make It or Break It is finally here and the writers made no mistake in establishing that the status quo breaker, Emily Kmetko is no longer a part of the road to London or any of the girls' lives. Lauren says, smugly, as the three get dropped off at the gym, that it's always been the three of them, repeating the sentiment first established in the pilot episode right before Emily came in and changed everything. Her not-so-subtle allusion to Emily, relating that "other girls come...go" can almost be seen as an assertion that the steady advancement of consistent drive the original top three had, as opposed to the sudden rise to notoriety that Emily was faced with and could never quite master, was meant to be the correct course all along. Alas, it just turned out to be a wagged tongue at any eager fans who might be holding out hope that Chelsea Hobbs would make a guest appearance. Instead of a resigned Emily appearing at the Olympic Training Center after a tragic abortion and a new hunger for Olympic glory, the loyal viewers of seasons past are treated to the appearance of some girl in a truck who apparently hasn't eaten in awhile and assumes that, despite not being on the national team or at all qualified to compete in a major competition, she'll be able to dazzle the judges and earn her spot.

Now, the writers of this show haven't been too picky about verisimilitude since the beginning, so it isn't so surprising that they don't expect this new character to follow the protocal of the gymnastics world, but it is a bit irritating that they don't even have her follow the rules that they've set forth themselves. She doesn't petition onto the team. She doesn't ask for a hearing or try to use some loophole to claim she qualifies. She literally shows up out of nowhere and expects to be accepted. The random appearance of Jordan (the new girl) directly reflects the sloth of the writing team. They really thought that, after all this time and all this waiting, they would throw in a new girl out of nowhere and we, the viewers, would just accept it. To their credit, they did at least throw in that Jordan was some has-been gymnast who hadn't been seen since she dramatically left the sport for unknown reasons. To their detriment, they didn't bother coming up with an explanation for how a girl with no money, no gym and, from my understanding, no home, who'd left gymnastics altogether for a significant period of time managed to get in shape enough to, not only reclaim her old skills, but to acquire a new one that no other (in shape professional full-time home having) gymnast in history has successfully landed, or what prompted her to do so. It was a far cry from the firm character sketch they'd set up for Emily.

The distinction between Jordan and Emily is as pronounced as it is irritating. It makes me wonder how the two would have interacted if that had ever come to pass. Alas, the two were never meant to exist in the same universe. This third season of Make It or Break It is, quite obviously, a half-assed bone thrown to shut up persistent fans everywhere. While the writers were able to pick up the story of the three not pregnant girls pretty easily, they would have to put actual effort into figuring out where to go with Emily's departure. They obviously weren't willing to do that, but neither were they willing to endure another barrage of angry mail from loyal tweens who loved watching the struggle of the underprivilaged underdog. So it was that Jordan Randall was concieved and, in hopes that none of the viewers would miss any of the genuine characteristics that made them want Emily, the writing team enhanced the superficial characteristics that make the fourth girl the underdog. While Emily was a struggling teen of a single mom whose father had left her, Jordan is a foster child who's been raised in the system. Whereas Emily lived in a crappy apartment and didn't have her own room, Jordan has to sleep in a tent. Where Emily's eastern European roots and humble income place her in the realm of white trash, Jordan is (gasp!) black. In every stupid way one could imagine, Jordan is the new and embellished token underdog character. I was disappointed that they could so easily throw away such a significant character. I see with this new girl just how significant they found her to be. It makes me wish they hadn't bothered coming back.

But...some of my best friends...

I, like the rest of the liberal world, tend to roll my eyes when a person reputed to be an antisemite claims that some of his best friends are Jewish or a supposed racist pulls his black friend to the forefront to quash those accusations. It's perfectly possible, we agree, to have bigoted ideas and still be able to spend time with the people with whom one would associate those ideas. Cognitive dissonance plays a huge role in a culture full of people who scream about how this country was founded on religious freedom one minute and protest the building of a mosque the next, who abhor sloth and find it difficult to get out of bed, and I'm inclined be among those people who thinks they can have their cake and eat it too, hold onto old values and still consider myself to be liberally inclined. Sometimes I get angry that so much of the world, or at least the country, disagrees with me.

I keep hearing from everywhere I turn about how this is the most divided America has been in so many years. I wonder if it was this divided right after the ratification of the Constitution or right before the first state seceded, but I have to admit, things seem pretty nasty. In social politics, certainly, it's become a time to pick sides on many issues. One such issue is same-sex marriage, which the left likes to call "equality" and the right likes to call "an abomination that will send our country spiralling straight into hell. Like many other hot-button issues, one's position on this one is taken as an implication of greater matters. Thus, the assumption arises that because I'm not in favor of same-sex marriage, I am in favor of bigotry, discrimination and abuse, while I'm against tolerance, equality and love. The fact that I am disagree with a position that would be advantageous to a particular group somehow dictates how I feel toward that particular group, namely, that I hate them. I find this particularly problematic on the issue of same-sex marriage because, as the title suggests, my very best friend is gay. In fact, a lot of dear friends of mine happen to be gay (It's kind of hard to avoid them in musical theatre) and, not surprisingly, on the other side of this issue. I know that they want to get married to the spouses of their choosing, have that marriage validated from state to state, and not have to worry about ambiguity in matters of custody or inheritance just because their relationships don't fit under the convenient legal umbrella of marriage. I know that not having marriage as an option for their convenience is a disadvantage to them and I still put myself on the other side of the line. Do I not understand what's at stake? Have I been too much brainwashed by conservative upbringing? Or have I just decieved myself in assuming that I feel genuine regard for them?

I have a friend who's obviously a conservative republican, which I only know based on her facebook posts. I haven't discussed her political leanings with her largely because I'm not sure if our friendship would survive it unscathed. How, I wonder, can the person who went out of her way to take me home for months before she even knew me and never asked for anything in return be the same person who thinks that programs geared at helping the poor enslave them? How can I find myself having so much fun with a person who spews venom at the democratic party and champions measures that effectively disenfranchise people like me? Maybe we have no business being friends. On the other hand, maybe our ability to be friends despite our differences offers hope that society doesn't have to mark its history based on division. I came close to fighting with my sister over who deserved favor on a tv show. I considered my pick (the one most like me) to be the obvious victor and the other girl to be a shameless appeal to a lesser audience. My sister considered my pick to be overrated and the other girl to be more generally appealing. Does it follow that my sister is lesser than I, or that she's somehow unable to appreciate me based on the fact that I have qualities in common with the character she doesn't like? Perhaps. Perhaps it demonstrates that our relationship transcends the qualities that she finds so irritating that are to be found in both my character and me. When Kirk Cameron appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight, every gay and gay sympathizer I knew was up in arms over what they took to be malicious remarks and commented on the bigotry of statements to which I could largely relate? Do these friends see me as a bigot? I doubt it.

In the recent times, people have found the freedom to be honest, and therefore reveal the vast difference of opinion from one person to the other. Traditions vary, sentiments, perspective. Like the ever-expanding universe, the variety of positions has multiplied to the point that it's impossible to agree with them all. I find it equally impossible to hate all those that oppose me. There are deal breakers and there are trifles and there are the matters in between that don't have to be one or the other. I often find myself attatched to those whose charts don't entirely match up with mine. Betimes I'm annoyed by, angry with, or disappointed in my bestie or my sister or my conservative republican friend, but that doesn't diminish my affection or my appreciation for them. Isn't that what friendship is? Understanding that the qualities I find problematic aren't as big as the qualities that I find endearing? Isn't tolerance embracing the truth that how often another person is at odds with you has no bearing on the humanity of that person?

This is, I admit, partially a personal appeal to escape the labels I find so abhorrant. However, I seek to escape them because they don't fit me. There is so much more to this life than "us" and "them","allies" and "enemies". The world is characterized as much by its in-betweens as it is by its absolutes. I like to consider myself the former.

Idle Pains

I've had the tendency for several years now to get headaches in the beginnings of the summer. A few weeks after school lets out, I'll have occasions when the light hurts my eyes, I feel a subtle, but distinct pounding, and I don't feel like moving for fear I'll disrupt the equilibrium in my head and shake my brain too much. Drinking water doesn't help, sleeping just makes me less conscious of the pain ofr awhile, and medicine makes me queasy, so I end up doing a little of each for a day or so until it passes. This summer was different. I had a show to finish when I got out of school and some backstage work and some box office work and, by the middle of June, it occurred to me that I hadn't spent any days lounging around to wait for the pain to pass, even when I could. I had somehow missed my seasonal headache.

I got home today (well, yesterday) around half past six after having just barely gotten out of the house before noon for the first time this week and having only a slightly more productive day than the previous two. I realized that I was tired just from being up and about and, by seven, decided it would make more sense to lie down and recoup some energy than try to keep going. I woke up a good three hours later with a whopping headache. Instead of calling it a day, I decided to get a bottle of water and go for a midnight stroll. When I came home an hour and a half later, both my head and the rest of me were feeling demonstrably better. Cautious though I am about getting to used to late nights, I went ahead and stayed up. I'm comfortably sleepy and a little hungry, but  nothing hurts. It may be that not doing anything was the reason behind my pain all along. When a leg falls asleep, it's from lack of circulation. The mind needs to keep going. It feels so much better to do something and have done something than it does to wait for things to pass. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Progress makes me happier.