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…In which Bryan preaches your face off.
I almost feel compelled to apologize for how preachy this chapter is. However, it fits with Bryan’s struggle with his parents’ money: it’s not something he’s comfortable about, nor is it something he’s proud of. With Ty, he saw a part of the city he had been effectively removed from, and he’s been shaken up. Which is good for him.
This is also where we get a better idea of what the Collective is. They’re often referred to as anarchists, which is only a small part of who they are. Their storefront down the Strip is a home to a lot of left literature, books about socialism and communism and anarchism, and all the -isms that make folks in the suburbs squirm, but their main focus, more than anything, is social action. They’re not looking to lead a revolution to overthrow the suburbs of Gateway City. They just want to foster social change in the area. So there’s a lot of literature from groups that seek social change (again, socialists and so on), but more often than not, they’re really just the twentysomething kids on the street with clipboards trying to gather signatures.
Ty knows the Collective because of TJ, who sent her their way because he knew some people that would teach her how to skate. From there, Ty started hanging out more regularly after school. They taught her how to fight, how to protect herself should she find herself out on the street alone at night, but more importantly, they taught Ty social activism. And so, Feldman Skatepark.
The story is this: 13-year old Ty gets harassed by a cop for skating out in a parking lot. Ty heads back to the Collective to complain and Jes (a woman we’ll likely never see, but I really should put her into the next Java story, dammit), Ty’s mentor, asks her a simple question,
“What are you going to do about it?”
So with the help of the Collective, Ty organizes a group to go to city hall, design in hand, and with the names of three hundred teenage skaters in the area, and convinces them to build a skatepark in Feldman park. So Ty’s first taste of social activism got results.
She’s embarrassed and proud at the same time, so that she keeps a flier for the opening of the park, but won’t tell Bryan why. She doesn’t want the attention, but at the same time, attention goes along with activism. And so, for right now, she has soup kitchens and a poster on the wall, until something comes along again.
As always, any questions you have are always welcome.
[g]
You… are a mean mean man. I was going to use this commentary to ask this question anyway–then you preempt me. Damnit!
Okay, so among other things, you know I’m researching Zines right now. I looked through some and something I was struck by was how sloppy many of them are and how… random. Not good random.
Then there’s another problem that’s been nagging me as I wish for the death and silence of Bella Swan: strong women characters are practically non-existent in fiction. I had several examples, but I’m just spazzing right now. Think about Garret Wang talking about how they neutered Janeway. And well, you know what I’m talking about. You and Joss have *much much* in common.
Well, I’m rambling and not doing it well, so I’ll just jump to the end:
I was going to ask you to make a small Ty Zine. (Technically a truly strong female Zine.) …You know on top of all that other trifly stuff…completing “7 Days” getting “Boat” up and on it’s feet, work, living. Whatev. ^_^
_Sometimes broccoli must dance_