Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: eytanz on December 24, 2010, 06:42:10 AM
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EP272: Christmas Wedding (http://escapepod.org/2010/12/23/ep272-christmas-wedding/)
By Vylar Kaftan (http://www.vylarkaftan.net/)
Read by Mur Lafferty
First appeared in Warrior Wisewoman (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934169897?ie=UTF8&tag=bsfs-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1934169897)
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Today was a perfect day, with three flaws. It was snowing here in Miami, one of her brides had trouble recognizing her, and her cummerbund wouldn’t stay up. The cummerbund was the only problem Mel could fix. She brushed ashes off the church office’s desk and rummaged around for safety pins. She found typed notes for an old sermon, some yellow pushpins, and three tampons. Mel took the tampons and left the rest. Not a single safety pin, which surprised her–for a place that looters hadn’t been through, there was little here. Underneath the desk, Mel found a paperclip. After a moment’s thought, she opened her pocketknife and cut two holes in the cummerbund’s back. She unbent the paperclip, wired the cummerbund together, and attached it to the belt loop on her black jeans.
Her bridesmaid poked his head in. “How’re you doing in here?”
Paul had a fake poinsettia flower wedged behind his ear. Mel laughed, a tense noise that hurt her throat. “Paul, where did you get that flower?”
He grinned and walked into the office. Paul had been a small-town Georgia fireman, in sunnier days. He wore a plain gray shirt that exposed his well-muscled arms and new blue jeans that fit well. Mel wondered where he’d found them. Paul said, “I look like a hippie, don’t I? Well, a hippie on steroids. You look sort of James Dean meets Roy Orbison. I like the bow tie.”
“I told you–you didn’t have to get girly. You can be my best man.”
Rated PG For love at the end of the world.
Show Notes:
- Feedback for Episode 264: St Darwin’s Spirituals
- Merry Christmas!
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://traffic.libsyn.com/escapepod/272_EP272__Christmas_Wedding.mp3)
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I thought this was an incredibly lovely story, but then I'm a sucker for weddings.
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I only got forty minutes through the story and I know I'm going to get lectured by several people about what a bigoted homophobe I am for not liking the story about the lesbians, but I have to say this. I realize that not everyone believes what I do (this will probably be part of the lecture) and that not all Christmas stories have to be about baby Jesus, but did the "Christmas" story really have to be about something contrary to traditional Christian teachings? I'm not saying that I don't want any stories with gay protagonists, but I would like a little sensitivity at this time of year. Tolerance and respect do go both ways.
Also, was this story even about Christmas? I didn't finish the story, but I got pretty far I and they don't really mention Christmas. Why is this the Christmas story?
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@Gia
Well at least the story had snow in it! ;D
A holiday theme isn't really so farfetched here. It's just that Thanksgiving would have been a better choice of holidays. If Kaftan ever decides to do some additional work on her story in order to placate the Christmas traditionalists s/he should have a Tiny Tim type character (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Tim_%28A_Christmas_Carol%29) pop out at the end with a hearty "God bless us, every one!"
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Gia, I hope you don't take this as a lecture. I am also a Christian, and I have taken heat because of my beliefs regarding homosexuality, but it seems you have gone out of your way here to bring the argument to you. Nobody is saying you have to enjoy a story about lesbians.
I also agree that tolerance and respect go both ways, but I don't think that means that Escape Pod is beholden to us Christians in its audience to produce a "classic" type of Christmas story. They really don't need to produce a Christmas story at all as far as that goes. It is not even a matter of being sensative to our beliefs. They produce the episodes; and we listen to them. This forum is definately for feedback, and that's what you have given, but any points you may have legitimately made were sabatoged by your tone, your pre-emptive rant, and your demands.
Case in point, your statement that the story is light on its ties to Christmas is correct. To be honest, I felt the story was only OK. Simply stating that makes your case far better than the "how dare you run a Christmas story with gays" message that you sent.
As a Christian, I have grown to hate the sweeping generalization that we are all "homophobic bigots". So when comments like yours come along, I especially cringe, because you are only perpetuating that perception. Please take more time to consider your words before you post next time.
[Also a plea not to fill up this thread with reactions to Gia. The story, the story, the story]
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The story?! Oh yeah, that thing.
I didn't much care for it. There was a lot of flashback and, in doing so, forced characterization. I think part of my distaste for it lied in the fact that I had just watched the first season of Walking Dead and I think I've had my fill for the moment of post-apocalyptic stories. That said, it was a nice little piece of post-apocalyptia to see, people taking a break from the stress of surviving to hold a traditional event, even though this was quite the perversion of that event by today's standards. (which it shouldn't be! [gasp])
Mur, as always and as expected, did a great reading.
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Tolerance and respect do go both ways.
so what you're saying is we should be tolerant of intolerance? And respectful of disresepect?
Ok that's not a very christmasy thing to say at christmas.
I'm not really sure what this story actually had to do with christmas at all. I mean it was a rather nice, touching story about people surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, but the only tie it had to he holidays was that it was snowing.
That being said, I did like it. Post-apocalypse is a well trodden path, but I thought it was well enough developed for it to work. I really felt the brutality of the world being created, which is important in a post-apocalypse. I thought the characters were interesting and, while not that much really happened, I think the protagonist really developed well. I felt myself really hating the guy who was being very insensitive about the bi woman having children, which is a good sign because it shows the characterisation has been effective.
I had a few problems with the reading; the pauses between scenes were a bit too short for me to register that it was a new scene, so I kept having to mentally adjust mid sentence to where the scene was taking place. There were also a few mistakes that could have been eliminated with some editing.
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First--about the content of this story not being "traditional Christian values"--wasn't last year's Christmas story about a steampunk Santa Claus? I think expecting a story about the Baby Jesus here is kinda setting one's self up for failure.
As for the story--I liked it. Sure it was sweet and sappy, but I think even the harshest of cynics can at least get into a little bit of sap for this time of year. :) The post-apocolyptic stuff, while kinda standard (the fact that the first three players started in an RV reminded me a lot of the beginning of Walking Dead), was still well done--and bonus points for the hint of Red Dawn-ish action happening in the future with the Chinese.
I'm not really sure what this story actually had to do with christmas at all. I mean it was a rather nice, touching story about people surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, but the only tie it had to he holidays was that it was snowing.
Well, they said that The Day was on Christmas (there was some talk before it happening about doing something that was "subversive for two queers to do on Christmas"), and the alter had mistletoe on it. You can probably put the fact that these three women were in love and getting married with people they've grown to love and trust as a community, even with the end of the world as a pretty big Christmas Miracle.
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I'm a bit of a sucker for the post apocalyptic (and for a good romance), so this one hit the sweet spot for me. I must confess I was expecting something with some more traditional Christmas trappings (such as the Christmas Mummy), so the story came as a bit of a surprise, but it was none the worse for that.
On a technical basis, I thought perhaps the global implications were rushed through a bit, but that's a minor quibble and not what the story was about. It may be the seasonal cheer, but I think I'll listen to this one again in the future.
For the record: I'm non-Christian, married, straight, and have no particular objection to gay marriage.
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Not a bad story, and well-written, and well-read but it left me feeling like the story was trying to do something unconventional - trying very hard - but it fell far short. Lots of fodder, but the tropes and themes just seemed to keep coming. The story screamed "the heroes are socially progressive" but the bad guys are not in an unsatisfying way.
The super volcano apocalypse and the mental disability allowed a world and relationship to be wipped clean so the socially progressive can inherit the Earth - and have a big, white wedding. Nice to imagine and nothing says post-apocalyptia has to be dreary, gritty, depressing and regressively oppressive but it felt unnecessarily cheery.
I did like the dialogue, especially the "repopulate the world" scene when the narrator's self-righteous anger at the suggestion that her bi-sexual friend might want children and might agree to having sex with a some random guy to get pregnant is countered by that friend's own thoughts and feelings.
The roles each woman played were interestingly co-dependant but their closeness seemed somewhat contrived that I had a really difficult time thinking they'd face any adversity or obstacle they couldn't overcome.
A perhaps too sweet story and I will be watching the comments to see if the 'hot button' stuff overtakes the piece, because frankly if it's a Romance novella with some inversions, role-reversals, gender switches, won't be surprised if those changes (recognizing that calling them changes is a loaded value-judgment) are the focus instead of the story itself.
If I try to boil down what I remember about the plot - character's partner is stricken with disease that causes loss of memory, mobility yet still supportive even when new relationship comes along. Then world ends, steal an RV and some peanut butter cups (thought we'd forget when you knew it would make it memorable) and hook up with a group of post-apocalyptic hippie-types. Then a wedding.
Hmmm. Sounds like "a very special episode" of The Road TV series. Maybe a series finale :)
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I started off disliking this story, the initial mixing up of genders with traditional roles (female groom, male bridesmaid) gave the impression this was going to be a horribly preachy story about gender/sexual equality etc. etc. (I already find the x-mas period far too preachy and so any hint of more begins a negative reaction.)
By the end I didn't mind the story/message. The ending was sappy, the characters outside the triad were two dimensional, the message was blunt, some of the delivery was predictable and unexciting, and the apocalypse was overdone. However, the sum was greater than the parts and the final message was somewhat less painfully preachy than expected. I guess if you like sappy/happy stories about love triumphing over everything, white weddings, and flowers this story would go down nicely.
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When are we gonna be treated to Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Ramadan themed podcasts? Or alien themed holidays? Pon Far? ;D
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It wasn't strictly science fiction, but I don't care. It was a lovely story. Well written, well read and well listened-to.
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Well as I said in first post this story would have been better themed IMO to Thanksgiving. Post-apocalypse stories are usually thought of as sci-fi by most people. So there's that.
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Well, I thought this story was really, really great, a really sweet (and in many ways sad) love story. I was very moved by the relationship between Mel and Cory and I keenly felt Mel's agony over her partner's injury and her conditions stemming from it. This wasn't so much a story about the volcano, but about Mel and Cory's relationship and how it was forever changed by the volcano. Despite all the hell, Cory was still able to get her white wedding.
Just plain great (though I wish we knew a little more about Ravenna).
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Quite frankly, I just couldn't really get drawn into this story. The stories relating to the relationships between the women were good, but overall it felt a bit too much like a only a fraction of a much, MUCH larger story, and I think that's what I, along with what seems like a few people in here, were listening for. When events like the chemical spill, the overflow of patients into hospitals, or even the raiders came up, it was only to add some texture to the world these characters inhabit.
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I think everyone has said everything I want to say:
I didn't much care for it. There was a lot of flashback and, in doing so, forced characterization.
I really felt the brutality of the world being created, which is important in a post-apocalypse. I thought the characters were interesting and, while not that much really happened, I think the protagonist really developed well. I felt myself really hating the guy who was being very insensitive about the bi woman having children, which is a good sign because it shows the characterisation has been effective.
On that point, I felt that Jake was a very forced character -- that is, every story with lesbian protagonists has to have some guy who calls them dykes and says insensitive things. I don't think he was there for any reason other than to create additional tension, and I didn't think he was necessary. After all, we already had the preachy religious doctor who came around to seeing that the women really love each other. Now THAT was a stock character.
Not a bad story, and well-written, and well-read but it left me feeling like the story was trying to do something unconventional - trying very hard - but it fell far short. Lots of fodder, but the tropes and themes just seemed to keep coming. The story screamed "the heroes are socially progressive" but the bad guys are not in an unsatisfying way.
There wasn't really a defined bad guy -- and I'm okay with that. Yeah, the foreign armies might be coming, but the only major villain is random people attacking the Warehouse. (They were living in a Costco, weren't they.)
I started off disliking this story, the initial mixing up of genders with traditional roles (female groom, male bridesmaid) gave the impression this was going to be a horribly preachy story about gender/sexual equality etc. etc.
Yeah, that turned me off almost IMMEDIATELY as well.
It wasn't strictly science fiction
I disagree: science (super-volcano kills the entire western half of the US) + fiction (clearly this didn't really happen). :)
My only original addition is: I think we should've been brought into the fact that Ravenna is the third member of what will become a poly triad marriage (or whatever the correct terminology is). At first I thought she was an adopted child, and then just a friend, and then, oh wait, she's another spouse... It felt a little out of the blue to me.
Overall I enjoyed the story as a gestalt being, but there were too many nit-picks for me to say it was a "good" story.
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My only original addition is: I think we should've been brought into the fact that Ravenna is the third member of what will become a poly triad marriage (or whatever the correct terminology is). At first I thought she was an adopted child, and then just a friend, and then, oh wait, she's another spouse... It felt a little out of the blue to me.
I disagree with you there. Maybe its because I'm female, but it was pretty clear to me almost immediately she was a third romantic partner.
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Maybe I heard it wrong, but did they refer to Ravenna as a "typical cornfed Midwesterner Goth"?
1. I was surprised to hear Mel refer to one of her betrothed as "cornfed" as I've only heard that as an insult for being overweight, referring to a woman as though she were livestock being intentionally fattened in order to provide richer tasting meat.
2. What exactly is typical about her? I live in the Midwest and I don't know a great deal of people who I would describe as having a Goth style, and even fewer that might be described as "cornfed". So, the way I read that was that women in the Midwest are typically both Goth and cornfed was a rather baffling statement. Perhaps it was meant to say that women in the Midwest tend to be more likely to be overweight? I think both men and women in the Midwest tend to weight more than in other US regions, but even then, I'm not really sure what the point of saying that was, either in the context of the story or for the character herself.
As for the story as a whole, this one didn't do much for me, I'm afraid. Not because of the lesbian polyamory, but because:
-I don't find wedding planning, or pre-wedding jitters, all that interesting. I've seen enough movies in which a wedding is the sole focus that I wouldn't be sad if I never saw another. Mind you, that's not a flaw in the story so much as my tastes. The relationship between the trio was interesting, and I could have liked it if that relationship had been a part of story that wasn't entirely focused on a wedding. Polyamory makes for an intriguing part of a story, because I don't understand how it can work. (I'm not saying it can't work, I just don't understand it)
-Everything interesting or tense happened in the past: the apocalypse, the meeting of Ravenna, the flight across the US to find a safe ground, the finding of the Warehouse. Yes, we see it all in flashbacks, but there's no tension in the flashbacks because I already know where they end up.
-The secondary characters were too much stock characters, Listener said it well "every story with lesbian protagonists has to have some guy who calls them dykes and says insensitive things. I don't think he was there for any reason other than to create additional tension, and I didn't think he was necessary"
-I didn't get that they were a trio until quite a ways into the story, as Ravenna was offstage and referred to in ways that I found rather vague. It's possible that I'm just slow on the uptake, but I could've used some more explicit mention of her being a bride as well earlier in the tale.
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Maybe I heard it wrong, but did they refer to Ravenna as a "typical cornfed Midwesterner Goth"?
1. I was surprised to hear Mel refer to one of her betrothed as "cornfed" as I've only heard that as an insult for being overweight, referring to a woman as though she were livestock being intentionally fattened in order to provide richer tasting meat.
That's strange. I always thought "cornfed" had a more literal meaning to it, i.e. they live in the corn belt and thus eat lots of corn. And of course all the generalized misunderstandings of living in that area being attached to that person, but still a pejorative term. But not necessarily meaning that the person is overweight. I'd always assumed it was synonymous with "redneck".
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_fed) and the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cornfed) tend to back me up on this.
2. What exactly is typical about her? I live in the Midwest and I don't know a great deal of people who I would describe as having a Goth style, and even fewer that might be described as "cornfed". So, the way I read that was that women in the Midwest are typically both Goth and cornfed was a rather baffling statement. Perhaps it was meant to say that women in the Midwest tend to be more likely to be overweight? I think both men and women in the Midwest tend to weight more than in other US regions, but even then, I'm not really sure what the point of saying that was, either in the context of the story or for the character herself.
I agree with you on the Goth part. I would not think that people from the Midwest are particularly pale of skin and dark of hair, nor of Goth temperament. This bothered me only a little bit, but I answered it in one of two ways: alternate reality, or the author, like any good writer, did no research whatsoever. This is not meant to fault the author, Stephen King himself said that you should not stop your writing to do research, and I'm an amateur writer and I never do. It was simply more pronounced in this case (if it were indeed the case). Like I said, it didn't bother me much.
I took it to mean that Ravenna was a typical, down-to-Earth person from the Midwest. Not bothering herself too much with what could have been and what might be, but simply living the moment, like any good (I'm sorry about generalizing here) redneck farmer. This, in my opinion, went a long way toward explaining her personality, her kindness, her actions throughout the story.
Please don't call me a bigot or a racist or anything like that. I tend to think that I am not (in fact, the only people I hate for being who they are, are racists), and the views I express here are not my own, but simply how I understood the phrases. I know many people from the Midwest (my mother's family, for example) and many of them are not farmers, rednecks or partial to corn.
-I didn't get that they were a trio until quite a ways into the story, as Ravenna was offstage and referred to in ways that I found rather vague. It's possible that I'm just slow on the uptake, but I could've used some more explicit mention of her being a bride as well earlier in the tale.
Well, when the story started out with "... and one of her brides had trouble recognizing her" I knew something was up, and when Dr. Green said that Ravenna was with Cory and Mel responded with relief and "She and Cory are great together" I knew exactly who was getting married.
Although I admit the gender swapped roles from the widely accepted "standard" threw me off balance a little, but I liked it. Like I said, I'm not one for social conventions or base assumptions (even though I made some of my own, I was glad to have been proven wrong).
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That's strange. I always thought "cornfed" had a more literal meaning to it, i.e. they live in the corn belt and thus eat lots of corn. And of course all the generalized misunderstandings of living in that area being attached to that person, but still a pejorative term. But not necessarily meaning that the person is overweight. I'd always assumed it was synonymous with "redneck".
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_fed) and the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cornfed) tend to back me up on this.
The Wikipedia link you posted seems to support my interpretation "typically an overweight girl or woman from the Midwestern United States", and following the link on corn-fed beef says "As a high-starch, high-energy food, corn decreases the time to fatten cattle", the fact that it is applied to fattening cattle leads me to think the same is meant when applied toward when.
I would not think that people from the Midwest are particularly pale of skin and dark of hair, nor of Goth temperament.
Ethnically, much of the Midwest's longstanding residents have ancestors from Germany and Norway, both of which typically have pale skin and it's not unusual for them to have dark hair. Of course, your average farmer spends much of the year working in the sun so in a farming town darker skins are probably the norm from suntans. But outside of farming towns, pale skin is pretty common, due to the long cold winter. So perhaps that's what was meant. When I hear "Goth" I think more about conventions of clothing and makeup, and possibly dyed-black hair, more than natural skin tone and natural hair tone.
Not bothering herself too much with what could have been and what might be, but simply living the moment, like any good (I'm sorry about generalizing here) redneck farmer. This, in my opinion, went a long way toward explaining her personality, her kindness, her actions throughout the story.
"redneck" is another term that you generally don't hear in a complimentary light, generally being used to insult someone's intelligence and lack of sophistication. And the farmers I've met DO bother themselves about what might be--especially the weather and market prices for cattle and crops--it's a necessity when your entire well-being can be ruined by flukes of weather, hail destroying your crops or fields being flooded during the harvest.
And, though I lived in a farming town for more than ten years, it's probably a a bit of a skew to say that residents of a farming town are "typical" residents of the Midwest. I would tend to think that a demographic that could be described as "typical" are the most common proportionately--farmers are becoming a rarer breed as the population there is steadily moving away to cities, and as corporations take over family farms. Although the farmers are spread across lots of land, the cities still outstrip them in population, so "typical" is probably more accurately referring to a city dweller, though "typical" is kind of a wishy-washy vague word to use when referring to any region, let alone such a widespread one. I've lived in the Midwest my entire life, and if someone asked me what a "typical" Midwest resident was like I'd have no idea how to respond, and anyone who could make a guess they felt confident in would probably be basing it off of media representations like characters on Green Acres more than actual people they've met.
Please don't call me a bigot or a racist or anything like that.
No, no, you didn't say anything that I'd considered bigoted or racist, and neither did the author. It was clear from the context that the character was not trying to insult Ravenna there, it just jarred me to use that word in any non-insulting way. To give you some context, I'm guessing that if she'd called Ravenna "fat" most people would see that as an insult for being overweight, and would consider it odd in the context. I would see "cornfed" as being more insulting than "fat" because it's not only calling the woman fat, it's also comparing her to other generally accepted characteristics of cattle, such as being docile and of low intelligence.
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Max: I've talked to a few other people, and their interpretation of "cornfed" was more like yours than mine. It's possible that no one thinks it means what I think it means but me. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that I'd ever explicitly looked it up or discussed it with anyone, so I guess I just associated it with corn-fed cattle and discerned my own meaning from that line of thinking.
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Well, when the story started out with "... and one of her brides had trouble recognizing her" I knew something was up, and when Dr. Green said that Ravenna was with Cory and Mel responded with relief and "She and Cory are great together" I knew exactly who was getting married.
I misheard that line as "one of her bridesmaids". And I didn't make the other connection.
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When I hear "Goth" I think more about conventions of clothing and makeup, and possibly dyed-black hair, more than natural skin tone and natural hair tone.
Me too, and I think most people do (except for those people who think about architecture and end up being thoroughly confused).
And yes, trying to picture a girl looking like a pointy arch and flying buttresses made me giggle.
But back on topic, maybe she was just an unsophisticated city-dweller who likes dark makeup and leather? That would seem to fit all of the descriptions.
It also adds a little bit of spice to the relationship. You have a brain-damaged bank teller, a scarred ornithologist and an RV-jacking goth girl. Not exactly your typical group of lovers. But, in my opinion, is the beauty of the story.
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And yes, trying to picture a girl looking like a pointy arch and flying buttresses made me giggle.
:D Me too. Heck, just the phrase "flying buttresses" makes me giggle.
But back on topic, maybe she was just an unsophisticated city-dweller who likes dark makeup and leather? That would seem to fit all of the descriptions.
Maybe that's what was meant. The problem that I have with it is that I still have no certain idea what WAS meant. The fact that I even remember the phrase days after listening meant that I dwelt upon it way too long for what it was supposed to accomplish in the story.
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Dull. Sorry folks -- failed to engage on every level.
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Uhhh, not to twig on your long discussion, but, given many possible interpretations of a statement -some that makes sense, and some that don't- why not choose an interpretation that makes sense?
"Typical corn-fed midwesterner goth" could be interpreted to mean that midwestern goths are big, or that the protagonist thinks one of her soon-to-be spouses is fat, or it could just mean 'farmgirl gone goth'.
As someone who has been described, by friends who for all intents and purposes seemed to be complimenting me, or at least not trying to insult me, 'corn-fed' and for that matter 'built like a Jersey bull' I don't see 'corn-fed' as an insult (I'm a New Englander, not a Midwesterner). Plus, "Born Bred Corn Fed" by the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band is one of my favorite songs.
I'm always happy to point out and examine terrible language when it works its way into stories (I remember still with a shudder a bit in a recent PP episode where a girls breasts got described as being clay-like, ugh). However, when a literary construction is clearly designed in such a way as to not mean what you think its saying (contextual clues being key here) then why not allow that maybe there's another way of reading it?
Really, our culture hasn't come up with myriad and varied slang and insults for being fat that are less oblique?
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As for the story, I'm not bothered by the love story aspect here. I've agreed when people have complained about sexual content in the past, not because it involved gay sex, but because any sexual content has the risk of alienating, or in my case, boring the audience (if one can respect that different people are into different things, one must likewise admit that therefore, certain people are not into certain other things).
However, there was no sex in this story, it was just a story about love. If one can listen to a love story involving robots, aliens, and/or anthropomorphic animals (sometimes all in the same story) why does a story talking about three people trying to do something that symbolizes their love in the face of great difficulty oog some people out?
The story was far from perfect, however.
[start venting]
I have a peeve about the general tone of post-apoc fiction suggesting that the difference between happy neighbors living side-by-side, and hockey-mask-wearing leatherboy-cannibals searching the countryside for baby stew, is whether or not their flatscreens work.
I do not agree with almost any of his other works, but the American Sociologist Talcott Parsons famously said: "Society is sui generis" (self-creating). Society is not thrust upon us, society is something we all desire and create, inherent to being human.
I believe, with only my decent understanding of anthropology, sociology, and psychology to back me up, that if and when something like the disaster in this story happens, after the initial panic, people will actually pull together. Why? We'd all die out rapidly if we didn't. Man's greatest advantage is not the opposable thumb, it is the division of labor.
A Mad-Max world is the sweaty-palmed dream of people who keep Gun magazines under their mattress. Who, in my experience, are the first to start crying about there being no air-conditioning. [venting done]
Aside from my general peeve about the genre, I'd have to say that the attitudes of the characters were petty and foolish. This is not how people who've survived for over a year act. I've lived without heat, water, and electricity (separately and altogether), and lived around other people who've done the same, they don't act like this.
Also, the Chinese invasion: stupid, logistically impossible, and completely unreasoned. They would have to invade by coming across Europe (can't cross the midwest), and why would they try to take over the US, which is the actual epicenter of the destruction? Russia, Australia, or Africa would be logical and accessable targets.
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Uhhh, not to twig on your long discussion, but, given many possible interpretations of a statement -some that makes sense, and some that don't- why not choose an interpretation that makes sense?
I didn't choose an interpretation that makes sense because, to me, none of the interpretations made sense, and they still don't.
However, when a literary construction is clearly designed in such a way as to not mean what you think its saying (contextual clues being key here) then why not allow that maybe there's another way of reading it?
Context clues were what convinced me that my interpretation didn't make sense, but did not offer an interpretation that did make sense, so I'm no more illuminated than I was before.
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Yes, in my experience, "corn fed" is not a derogatory term, but descriptive. I've generally taken it as somewhere between "Rubenesque" (ie - pleasingly rounded/plump but not exactly "fat") and, when applied to men and women alike, something along the lines of just "big" but also strong, in a natural, healthy way - like Lil' Abner or Daisy Mae. See the song "Cornfed Dames" by The Cramps ("there are many more things in Tennessee / than are dreamed of in your philosophy...")
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I seem to be in the minority here, but I really liked this story. I liked almost everything about it. Flashbacks usually don't work very well for me in audio fiction, but this time they did. Perhaps that's because the settings were so different between the present and the past. I thought the author did a really good job of creating a sense of the various settings in the story with a few details. Similarly, I thought she did a really good job of drawing each of the main characters. Sure, the minor characters weren't very fleshed out, but I got a good feel for each of the main characters. That's something that doesn't always happen in short sf, or if it does, it's at the expense of plot. In this story, I thought there was a good balance between character development, setting, and plot.
(As an aside, I live in the Midwest, and I'm pretty sure I know a few "typical corn-fed goth girls." She's a typical girl from a traditional small-town meat-and-potatoes upbringing who has adopted something of a goth aesthetic. A bit hardened from feeling the outsider in her home town, she probably wears Doc Martins and has multiple peircings and tattoos. Usually closer to punk goth than etherial High Goth. She will move to a city at the first opportunity.)
Also, it was nice to see a non-traditional relationship (and wedding) represented in fiction.
The story did feel like a study for a larger novel. But I wasn't bothered by that. It just made me want to read the novel, with everything hinted at here fleshed out.
Last but not least, as a geologist, I liked the science fiction aspect of the story. Super-volcano in Yellowstone blows, covering a third of the country in lava and covering the globe in ash? Cooool!
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What happens after the apocalypse? People make do, and have the same concerns and issues they did before the apocalypse, because you carry yourself forward, and you're still you. I love that about this story, and how it's about oddballs--the people who don't fit in anywhere in particular--finding a home inside of each other. I love it that one of those people is profoundly broken, and she's beloved and respected anyway. I don't really like Christmas or weddings, and almost passed this one up based on the title, but am really glad I didn't.
It reminds my of a Bertolt Brecht quote:
"In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing about the dark times."
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@Katie
That's a very insightful observation you made and it pleased me to read it. Loners and odd-balls probably would have a somewhat easier time psychologically adjusting to disaster scenarios since their coping skills and self-reliant habits are more developed. Just to survive and endure in normal times would require that. The gritty neighborhoods in old Detroit have far better survival and coping skills (of the kind that count) than the residents of Bloomfield Hills do I'll wager and should an apocalyptic event ever happen around here would probably fare better long term. Or so it seems to me.
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I think I have a unique take on this stories lesbian/polygamy. I don't mind such topics being central in stories, and I think escape artists deserves some credit for publishing stories some might find offensive (that's art). My issue with these lesbian stories is they use homosexuality as a shortcut to make a story edgy.
Instead of using homosexuality in some interesting way, this story just wanted to let me know that homosexuals are people too, and their love is perfectly natural...<yawn>. Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe those subjects are mind-bending to someone in their 50s.
I'd summarize this story as "not only can two women (one of whom started out bisexual) be in love, but indeed three women (one of whom is bisexual and another who is brained damaged and was bisexual) can be in love even in challenging circumstances". Not only is that a dull message, the story even conforms to stereotypical conservative trope about the dangers of homosexuality. Jerry Falwell could have preached this story, but with his final moral being "if we allow gay marriage you'll see polygamy legalized soon after, and these LGBT will refuse to have children, even if the future of America depended on it. The family will disintegrate."
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I'd summarize this story as "not only can two women (one of whom started out bisexual) be in love, but indeed three women (one of whom is bisexual and another who is brained damaged and was bisexual) can be in love even in challenging circumstances". Not only is that a dull message, the story even conforms to stereotypical conservative trope about the dangers of homosexuality. Jerry Falwell could have preached this story, but with his final moral being "if we allow gay marriage you'll see polygamy legalized soon after, and these LGBT will refuse to have children, even if the future of America depended on it. The family will disintegrate."
I'd argue the story only says that if the reader imagines it does. If you're looking to find ways to warp a story towards a hateful end, you can do that with just about any story ever told. That's not a weakness in the story; that's a weakness in the mind of the person who is looking to be hateful (I'm not saying that's what you're doing, I'm saying anyone who would go on to argue the point you suggest Falwell might).
I don't think the story is a "message" story at all. IMHO its just the story about the compexities of the relationships between these three women and how that came to be/was affected by the calamity. I really don't think it was trying to be preachy in the least.
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I read that comment that homosexuality needs to be interesting if it's included in a story, and wonder if heterosexuality needs to be interested if included in a story? I think about all the stories that have, as a central theme, the complexities of a man and woman in love, and in fact, think that's a huge part of most stories, even in scifi. Rarely, I think, is the heterosexuality particularly interesting, but the peculiarities and facts of the romance and individuals make the story. I think saying the homosexuality needs to be interesting is asking it to serve a higher standard merely because fewer people in the world are queer.
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Aside from my general peeve about the genre, I'd have to say that the attitudes of the characters were petty and foolish. This is not how people who've survived for over a year act. I've lived without heat, water, and electricity (separately and altogether), and lived around other people who've done the same, they don't act like this.
They may not act like this normally, but weird stuff happens on wedding days. And that's why I liked this story. Mel was going through what many brides, or grooms, go through. In Mel's case, she was trying to bring things back to before The Day, make things perfect for just one day. The promise she made to Cory to give her a princess wedding day trumped everything else, making her forget what they were trying to accomplish, ripping pages out of the wedding magazine in her mind's eye, and comparing them to her wedding day, when clearly that would be impossible. Paul was right, she had a chip on her shoulder, and should have been glad it was happening at all. No wedding goes perfectly, and too many bridezillas and groomzillas go absolutely haywire trying to make it so.
As far as the relationship goes, I was left wondering what Mel adds to it. Ravenna takes care of Cory, helps her recover, pushes her around, gives her comfort when Cory is having a bad time, etc. All Mel seems to do is get bothered about everything.
Note to self: Write "Jesus was a time-traveler" Christmas story for next year for the Christians.
In all seriousness, I understand that Christians want to keep the Christ in Christmas, but the day has far outgrown its religious beginnings and grown into a commercial mega-monster that most people identify it as. There's no getting that genie back in the bottle. So please enjoy your religious holiday called Christmas, and I will enjoy my commercial holiday called Christmas, that happens on the same day.
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@gamercow
If that's the case then we unbelievers should stop calling this mad spending spree we enjoy/participate in/endure "Christmas" any longer. But to try to bring this back on topic I don't think the author really meant for story's denouement to go in that direction. Just a thought.
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I skimmed over some of the comments, but decided to stop so I could hold onto the warm fuzzy feeling I got from this story. Being in a poly-amorous relationship myself it was nice to see a depiction that wasn't overly sexualized and understood that it isn't 2 + 1, it's 3. The description of the color spectrum fitted perfectly. Details aren't the point of this type of story, it's about reaffirming the spirit of the season.
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When I hear "Goth" I think more about conventions of clothing and makeup, and possibly dyed-black hair, more than natural skin tone and natural hair tone.
Me too, and I think most people do (except for those people who think about architecture and end up being thoroughly confused).
And yes, trying to picture a girl looking like a pointy arch and flying buttresses made me giggle.
But back on topic, maybe she was just an unsophisticated city-dweller who likes dark makeup and leather? That would seem to fit all of the descriptions.
It also adds a little bit of spice to the relationship. You have a brain-damaged bank teller, a scarred ornithologist and an RV-jacking goth girl. Not exactly your typical group of lovers. But, in my opinion, is the beauty of the story.
That's the way I interpreted "typical midwestern goth". The midwest isn't really known for it's goth scene, so I expect Raveena was a bit of a poser goth; learned about it from 3rd hand sources and did the best she could with what she had ... on weekends ;)
Also, please allow me to clarify one common misconception that seems to get propagated far too much...
Goth is the music and fashion movement
Gothic is the architectural and literary style.
The two are not interchangeable :D
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As far as the relationship goes, I was left wondering what Mel adds to it. Ravenna takes care of Cory, helps her recover, pushes her around, gives her comfort when Cory is having a bad time, etc. All Mel seems to do is get bothered about everything.
Now that you mention it...
I thought about it a little bit, and I think I have it.
It's like the three body problem in physics. Nobody can solve it completely, but they can point at certain relationships between every pair in the equation.
Ravenna and Cory have the relationship mentioned above, but left alone that would simply be a functional relationship. Mel's job is to add the love to the matrix. Mel and Cory love each other, and Mel and Ravenna love each other. Through Mel, Cory and Ravenna can love each other as well.
Even in the story Mel says that she can't really explain it, but she loves them both equally but differently (I'm paraphrasing, too lazy to listen to that bit again), and that the whole love triangle is complicated like that.
So, in a word, what does Mel add to the relationship? Love.
EDIT
Links on the three (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_body_problem) body (http://xkcd.com/613/) problem (http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Three_body_problem).
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As far as the relationship goes, I was left wondering what Mel adds to it. Ravenna takes care of Cory, helps her recover, pushes her around, gives her comfort when Cory is having a bad time, etc. All Mel seems to do is get bothered about everything.
Now that you mention it...
I thought about it a little bit, and I think I have it.
It's like the three body problem in physics. Nobody can solve it completely, but they can point at certain relationships between every pair in the equation.
Ravenna and Cory have the relationship mentioned above, but left alone that would simply be a functional relationship. Mel's job is to add the love to the matrix. Mel and Cory love each other, and Mel and Ravenna love each other. Through Mel, Cory and Ravenna can love each other as well.
Even in the story Mel says that she can't really explain it, but she loves them both equally but differently (I'm paraphrasing, too lazy to listen to that bit again), and that the whole love triangle is complicated like that.
So, in a word, what does Mel add to the relationship? Love.
EDIT
Links on the three (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_body_problem) body (http://xkcd.com/613/) problem (http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Three_body_problem).
Also keep in mind that this is from Mel's point of view, and her positive traits or lack thereof may be an artifact of her own perceptions. If we'd seen the story from Ravenna's POV, it might seem that Ravenna is the third wheel.
Also, Mel is very stressed from the wedding, and is clearly not her usual self on this particular day.
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Also, please allow me to clarify one common misconception that seems to get propagated far too much...
Goth is the music and fashion movement
Gothic is the architectural and literary style.
The two are not interchangeable :D
Silly me... and I was thinking Goths were an east-Germanic tribe in the third century :-P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth
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I skimmed over some of the comments, but decided to stop so I could hold onto the warm fuzzy feeling I got from this story. Being in a poly-amorous relationship myself it was nice to see a depiction that wasn't overly sexualized and understood that it isn't 2 + 1, it's 3. The description of the color spectrum fitted perfectly.
Yeah, warm fuzzy feelings here too. Personally I'm hetero and mono, but as Boy George once said, "Any love is good love." :)
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Finally listened to this one, and I have to say it's one of my least favorite EP espisodes so far. :-\ Maybe it's just because I was expecting something Christmas-y and for me this one had oblique ties (at best) to Christmas. For example, someone mentioned how they thought The Day was on Christmas. Actually, it was near the holidays, but not identified as Christmas Day. "They'd planned to make Christmas cookies together later, the most subversive thing she could think of for two queer women to do on a Saturday night." The relevant section is at the 14:46-15:16 mark for reference if you want to check.
Also, really? A goth chick with black hair named Ravenna? This is just one example of completely unnecessary telegraphing of characters.
My favorite part of the story was how Mel predicted the apocalypse correctly but the favorite prediction was stupefaction from bad tv would allow the government to run amuck without anyone caring.
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@gamercow
If that's the case then we unbelievers should stop calling this mad spending spree we enjoy/participate in/endure "Christmas" any longer.
Many have so stopped, I believe. I've seen cards that wish "Good Yule" (or, trying to be cute, "Göd Yul" or other variation). Plus I know plenty of people - well, some people - who wish "Merry Newtonmas" (since Isaac Newton's birthday actually is December 25) or "Merry Squidmas" or something about Festivus or some other alternative.
Plus, just ask Bill O'Reilly: every time someone says "Happy Holidays," it's an Attack On Christmas, doncha know.
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Plus, just ask Bill O'Reilly: every time someone says "Happy Holidays," it's an Attack On Christmas, doncha know.
(http://207.199.174.56/img/EckzkmShbV_o-reilly.jpg)
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Also, really? A goth chick with black hair named Ravenna? This is just one example of completely unnecessary telegraphing of characters.
So what's the problem? I mean, part of the Goth image is having black hair (which can be died) and having a Goth name (which can be made up). If she were blonde and named Bambi, most people wouldn't call her Goth.
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Also, really? A goth chick with black hair named Ravenna? This is just one example of completely unnecessary telegraphing of characters.
So what's the problem? I mean, part of the Goth image is having black hair (which can be died) and having a Goth name (which can be made up). If she were blonde and named Bambi, most people wouldn't call her Goth.
Actually, I would equally object to a blonde character named Bambi, especially if she were ditzy or in some other way filling a stereotype. Or a redneck guy named Bubba, etc. I just have a preference that names either be "random" (Mel, Cory) or have the meaning buried a little deeper (Ariadne in Inception).
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Some have mentioned the complexity of the relationships, but I didn't sense any complexity. I know there must have been, but it just looked like three women who loved each other and wanted to marry each other. I didn't sense any challenge or tension in the relationships.
Interesting that with all the progessivity, the main conflict is a girl wanting her wedding day to be perfect. Very chickflick.
I've mentioned my little observation before and the forum has in general poo-pooed and looked askance. But when you have a female author and a female main character, the focus of the story will usually be the MC's romantic relationship. Men get to solve all kinds of problems and save worlds, and women get to fret about their significant other(s).
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Also, really? A goth chick with black hair named Ravenna? This is just one example of completely unnecessary telegraphing of characters.
So what's the problem? I mean, part of the Goth image is having black hair (which can be died) and having a Goth name (which can be made up). If she were blonde and named Bambi, most people wouldn't call her Goth.
Actually, I would equally object to a blonde character named Bambi, especially if she were ditzy or in some other way filling a stereotype. Or a redneck guy named Bubba, etc. I just have a preference that names either be "random" (Mel, Cory) or have the meaning buried a little deeper (Ariadne in Inception).
Okay, bad example. How about an 8 foot tall dark-haired musclebound lumberjack woman named Bambi. My point was that Ravenna no doubt arranged both her own hair color and her own name--I'd say that's just a characteristic of the Goth subculture, not bad writing.
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For the first 10 minutes or so, I was all set to dislike this story. "Not another alt-sex story from Vylar Kaftan..."
But then, I have to admit that it won me over with its optimism. I'm always a sucker for disaster porn, I guess, and I have to admit that an super-volcano apocalypse is a pretty creative way to go. I think Ms Kaftan did a great job drawing the reader into the story. While I still found the protagonist overly-whiny, I ended up relating to her, and I was rooting for her at the end. And really, who doesn't love a good wedding?
I do have some criticism, though. Overall, I felt the story lacked action and had too much exposition, i.e. "telling" the reader instead of "showing" the reader. I also personally found the idea of 3 unarmed women traipsing around in an RV, during a time of the complete collapse of law and order, to be rather unrealistic. In general, it felt like the people in story would have reacted far worse in a real disaster. If hurricane Katrina was any indication, you'd have looting, arson, murders, rape, and probably stressed out authorities enacting martial law and summary executions trying to impose law and order. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think Burning Man hippies, even trained in survival, would be equipped to deal with such a situation. It's one thing when you have a festival where similar people more or less want to be there. It's quite another thing when you have hordes of people sick, dying, and desperate trying to get what they need to in order to survive.
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Also, really? A goth chick with black hair named Ravenna? This is just one example of completely unnecessary telegraphing of characters.
So what's the problem? I mean, part of the Goth image is having black hair (which can be died) and having a Goth name (which can be made up). If she were blonde and named Bambi, most people wouldn't call her Goth.
Actually, I would equally object to a blonde character named Bambi, especially if she were ditzy or in some other way filling a stereotype. Or a redneck guy named Bubba, etc. I just have a preference that names either be "random" (Mel, Cory) or have the meaning buried a little deeper (Ariadne in Inception).
Okay, bad example. How about an 8 foot tall dark-haired musclebound lumberjack woman named Bambi. My point was that Ravenna no doubt arranged both her own hair color and her own name--I'd say that's just a characteristic of the Goth subculture, not bad writing.
Haha, now that would be hilarious. Little John and the like. :)
I guess I'm assuming that the author named her Ravenna to telegraph some of the character's main characteristics. However, it seems like you're coming from the interpretation that Ravenna herself took on that name (somewhere in the character's backstory) when she took on her goth lifestyle (i.e. she had had a different given name). The best example of this that I can think of right away is Rogue renaming herself once she learns of her mutant powers. If that was the case I would think it's a cool detail and not give it a second thought, but that's not the interpretation that my mind jumped to when hearing the story.
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Interesting that with all the progessivity, the main conflict is a girl wanting her wedding day to be perfect.
Yes, but not for herself. At least that's not how I heard it.
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Also, please allow me to clarify one common misconception that seems to get propagated far too much...
Goth is the music and fashion movement
Gothic is the architectural and literary style.
The two are not interchangeable :D
Silly me... and I was thinking Goths were an east-Germanic tribe in the third century :-P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth
LOL!! Of course we can't forget the original Goths. :D
But I wasn't trying to be comprehensive, just trying clarify that the modern Goth culture should never be called Gothic and the architectural (and literary) style should never be called Goth. If we stick to those clear rules, there will never be the confusion of
trying to picture a girl looking like a pointy arch and flying buttresses
;D ;D ;D
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As someone who was recently married (if you listened to podcastle over the summer, you already know all about that ;D), I loved this story. It really made me feel good about the little things that didn't go just so at my wedding, though there were moments this summer when it really felt like an apocalypse wouldn't really be so bad compared to what was already happening.
On the other hand, as someone who has been in a relationship long enough to get married, the main characters' relationship(s) wrang hollow for me. Making a relationship with one person is hard enough, and I have it on fairly good authority (from people who have done it) that most forms of poly-fidelity are even more work. I'm not judging their value or applying a standard of "normalcy," I'm just sayin' that in the past five months of marriage (and five years of relationship), I've learned that balancing one person's needs against the demands of work and self care is really, really hard. Adding another person can't make it easier. Having one member of the relationship be brain-damaged can't make it easier.
So, when the author glossed over "hard times," it felt a bit false. This is fiction. The "hard times" of relationships are what I come here for. You can't just imply that they happened and not tell me about them.
I get that the story was about one day - the wedding day - and the rest of it is content. I understand that we aren't going to get a lengthy scene of the brides-to-be having problems. However, I feel that the gloss sucked a lot of the dimensionality out of the characters, and there had to be a better balance between focusing on the moment that the story happened and providing context.
So in the end I don't feel like I can give this story more than three out of five zeppelins. The apocalyptic context was neat, the characters were interesting (but unfortunately gutted by the enormous gloss), and I appreciated the wedding day blues, but I can't say the story moved me.
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If hurricane Katrina was any indication, you'd have looting, arson, murders, rape, and probably stressed out authorities enacting martial law and summary executions trying to impose law and order.
FWIW, the rapes and murders were exaggerated. There were something like two deaths in the Superdome, one was a suicide and one was a junkie killing another junkie. There was looting, but there was also looting in the story. Also, I was in New York for the big blackout 8(?) years ago. There was no looting, violence, or overzealous law enforcement. I'm not trying to discount your criticism, I just think that large groups of people can be unpredictable in the face of disaster, a lot of times they band together. Though even if 9 out of 10 people will form a peaceful coalition, that 1 can make life really hard and scary for everyone else.
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I'm always a sucker for disaster porn, I guess, and I have to admit that an super-volcano apocalypse is a pretty creative way to go.
The idea of the super-volcano apocalypse wasn't created by Kaftan. I saw bits of a made-for-TV movie 2 or 3 years ago based on this exact same thing happening, with half the US blown off the map by it, and that claimed to be based on scientific evidence that this could happen and it's just a matter of time.
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I'm always a sucker for disaster porn, I guess, and I have to admit that an super-volcano apocalypse is a pretty creative way to go.
The idea of the super-volcano apocalypse wasn't created by Kaftan. I saw bits of a made-for-TV movie 2 or 3 years ago based on this exact same thing happening, with half the US blown off the map by it, and that claimed to be based on scientific evidence that this could happen and it's just a matter of time.
And don't forget the movie 2012. (I understand you may want to, but...)
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Yellowstone super volcano is a possibility. It has erupted before.
(http://www.cuttingedge.org/Yellowstone_SuperVolcano.jpg)
There are many many ways humanity can be ended. Its humbling when you think about it.
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Yellowstone super volcano is a possibility. It has erupted before.
[snip img]
There are many many ways humanity can be ended. Its humbling when you think about it.
Or as a wise friend of mine once said: "The world is a dangerous place, and it wants to kill you."
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Yellowstone super volcano is a possibility. It has erupted before.
(http://Just kidding)
There are many many ways humanity can be ended. Its humbling when you think about it.
So... are you worried about all of our eggs being in one fragile basket? Why not volunteer (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/10/space-volunteer-way-mission-mars/) for the Mars mission?
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I'm always a sucker for disaster porn, I guess, and I have to admit that an super-volcano apocalypse is a pretty creative way to go.
The idea of the super-volcano apocalypse wasn't created by Kaftan. I saw bits of a made-for-TV movie 2 or 3 years ago based on this exact same thing happening, with half the US blown off the map by it, and that claimed to be based on scientific evidence that this could happen and it's just a matter of time.
And don't forget the movie 2012. (I understand you may want to, but...)
Darn you, I've been trying to forget that movie and now I have to start all over. Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting....
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And don't forget the movie 2012. (I understand you may want to, but...)
Darn you, I've been trying to forget that movie and now I have to start all over. Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting....
2012.
2012.
2012.
2012...
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And don't forget the movie 2012. (I understand you may want to, but...)
Darn you, I've been trying to forget that movie and now I have to start all over. Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting....
2012.
2012.
2012.
2012...
You just lost The Game.
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For your edification, here's an article on the Yellowstone supervolcano that, probably, won't erupt and destroy most the US in the next few years.
Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110119-yellowstone-park-supervolcano-eruption-magma-science/)
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Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110119-yellowstone-park-supervolcano-eruption-magma-science/)
That's what she said.
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I expect that was awkward
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This was beautiful. Really well written. I got choked up a bit during the ending (when Mel walked into the church). Thank you for sharing this with us (that's to both the author and the EscapePod cast).
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So here I am...listening to this story right after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Had I listened to it a few months before, around Christmas time, I think I would be a lot harsher on the story. I found the apocalyptic story far more appealing than the wedding scenes. But listening to it now, I'm softer to the wedding scenes. I still think the story would've done better if it had been told without the flashbacks.
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Note to self: Write "Jesus was a time-traveler" Christmas story for next year for the Christians.
In all seriousness, I understand that Christians want to keep the Christ in Christmas, but the day has far outgrown its religious beginnings and grown into a commercial mega-monster that most people identify it as. There's no getting that genie back in the bottle. So please enjoy your religious holiday called Christmas, and I will enjoy my commercial holiday called Christmas, that happens on the same day.
Some window-dressing poinsettias and mistletoe, and including the word "Christmas" in the title, and releasing it near December 25 doesn't make this a Christmas story. I listened to this one along with many other EA holiday stories on a road trip to visit family around the holidays and it just didn't fit with the rest of them.