Community's Future

I wrote this shortly after the announcement that Dan Harmon was fired, but never got around to finishing it and putting it up here. It might not have the same effect because emotions aren't as powerful as they were that crazy three-day period, but I still want to share it:

Been watching a bunch of season one episodes. It reminding me of something I don’t need reminding. I LOVE this show. It’s so good. And in the midst of all this sadness of harmon leaving and the producers and writers and the day change and shortened episode numbers, It’s important to think of the positives. It’s always important to thing of the positives in moments of crisis. It brings hope. Hope is laughed at and mocked and such but it’s so necessary.  People think it’s foolish to be hopeful. People think they are better, smarter, than to have to rely on hope. But I say screw you.  I could go into a whole other thing about all that, but it would stray too far away from the point. Back to the point. 

The positives. It’s not cancelled. We get a season 4. That’s more than Arrested Development got, and now they’re coming back to do another season and a movie. There’s hope right there. The new producers have worked on good/great show like Happy Endings and The IT Crowd. Hope. But the most important positive to remember is that in the fall we’ll turn on NBC on Friday and we’ll still be at Greendale. And isn’t that what we fell in love with? Greendale? The study group? We didn’t fall in love with the show because it can pull off a genre parody. Of course, it’s one of the reasons we do love the show, its ability to successfully do an epic and fantastic parody of an action movie or spaghetti western or Apollo 13 or a video game. It’s great. And it will be a hallmark of the Dan Harmon era. But the reason why those episodes are fall-in-love worthy is because they don’t forget about the characters just to get the genre right. Modern Warfare was “the episode with the paintball,” will be what everyone says first. But the second thing that should be remembered about that episode is that it’s the one where Jeff and Britta finally have sex. ON THE STUDY ROOM TABLE. (Remember. The Table. Is. Magic.) The Claymation Christmas episode is not just the one where it’s Claymation but it’s the one where we understand a bit more about Abed’s psyche (of course there are like 10 episodes about this, my favorite being Intro to Film). Epidemiology is the zombie apocalypse episode, but more importantly it’s the one where Shirley and Chang have sex in the bathroom and she GETS PREGNANT.  There are the “high concept” episodes whose primary subject is the characters before the genre parody. Cooperative Calligraphy is a bottle episode. But they use the bottle episode format to get into the characters so much deeper. Remedial Chaos Theory could’ve been some awesome adventure of crazy timelines filled with crazy events. It was awesome, of course, but it was used to take a closer look at the group dynamic to see how it would be without one specific person. We love those episodes because of THE CHARACTERS. We love the second paintball because they were fighting. Not just fighting a paintball war in a spaghetti-western-turned-Star-Wars style, but because they were fighting FOR GREENDALE. 

When season Four starts we won’t have Dan Harmon. We won’t have the Russo Bros. We won’t have Chris McKenna or Neil Goldman or Garrett.  But we will have Troy and Jeffrey, and Annie and Britta, and Shirley and Pierce, and Abed and Jeffrey. And the Dean! And we have to believe, because it is true, that Harmon created enough of a foundation in these characters and that place that it will be hard to totally mess up by people with hardly any qualifications, let alone two people who are as capable as Moses Port and David Guarascio.

I’m not saying it will be the same. I’m not saying it will be better. I’m saying it will still be a place I want to go to every Friday at 830 after I make sure I don’t see a bit of Whitney. Greendale’s where I belong. The study group is who I love. Not a movie parody.

Occupy Selfishness

I thought I'd share my feelings/opinions about some current events. I would love it if you read it all. I know I write a lot and sometimes get carried away..

http://nhregister.com/articles/2012/06/13/news/metro/doc4fd82eab75d37784224319.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Here's just a list of some of my tweets on this subject before I get really into it:

I’m sorry but the grad speech/Occupy thing is Grade A Oscar Meyer Bologna. 

Taking the attention away from the other 300 kids graduating high school is what’s unfair.

Accusing the school of denying you the privilege of speaking at graduation bc of your political affiliations. #OccupyAttentionSeeker

Not accepting the simple fact that you missed the deadline for submitting your speech. #OccupyCommonSense

Leaving school for three months then coming back expecting to walk and speak at graduation. #OccupyCommonSense

Going to the news about being oppressed when you can't abide by simple deadlines.

 #OccupyCommonSense

Being the representative of a student body then leaving for 3 months and expecting a warm welcome upon return. #OccupyCommonSense

Being a typical attention seeking teenage girl and blowing it to even more obnoxious proportions.

"I just never knew about the deadline,” she has difficulty getting internet where she lives." Well too damn bad, missy.

I appreciate the father's statements in this article. #OccupyAtLeastTheresOneSanePersonInvolved

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Let's get one thing clear. Molly is a fine person. She's smart and all that jazz. I have no problem with the Occupy movement. I have a problem with people being selfish and going to obnoxious ends to extend that selfishness. I agree with a lot she has to say in her little essay there about the educational system and all that. But none of that is the point. Anything at all Occupy related, anything she was going to say in her speech. None of it is the point. I'm not even going to take into consideration her leaving school for 3 months. Still not the point.  

The simple, pathetic truth is that there was a deadline she did not meet. Speaking at graduation is a privilege, not a right. And I don’t care if that makes me sound like a pretentious asshole, it’s true. And since she's all learning in the real world and talking with "real people" (anyone else personally offended when she slammed EVERY STUDENT at NHHS for not being “real people”? seriously, Occupy Rude And Morbid Over-generalization) you would think she would have learned to be a Big Girl. Apparently she learned to value selfishness. What is she a member of the fucking Bluth family? Back to the point. She missed the deadline. She lost the privilege. Be a Big Girl and accept it and take responsibility for your decisions. 

But she did not do that. Instead, she decides to be selfish and make this whole thing about her.  Her not knowing about the deadline is her fault. Her not having proper internet connection is no fault of the school’s. What she does is takes her neglect for the deadline and turns it around, leaping to the conclusion that she is being oppressed because of her civic involvement with the Occupy movement. What? That’s like me saying I failed my Stats exam because John Kerry flip-flops. No. I failed my Stats exam because I didn’t study. Sure, I could have blamed Mr. Jackson’s teaching “techniques.” But instead I acted like an adult and took responsibility for my actions and decisions.

I could be a little more offensive here. She can’t use the Race Card, so she’s using the Occupy Card. Welcome to the new decade, everybody.

The fact the school is letting her come back from a near three-month hiatus and graduate is a huge act of generosity and I won’t even get into any possible conspiracy theories with that. There was sure to have been some bending over backwards for that to be arranged. Yet that’s not good enough? 

My brother says she’s just being a typical teenage girl, seeking attention. That may offend some females for sure, so I’ll edit it slightly. She’s being a typical CHILD. Not getting her way and throwing a tantrum, albeit a tantrum with less shrieking and more news coverage.

I know an argument can be made for her not being selfish. The fact that she’s fighting so hard is because she wants to share her experiences blah blah blah to her peers etc, etc. I get that. Unfortunately, you missed the deadline that would allow you to present it to your classmates. Fortunately, the internet exists. Allowing you to put your speech up there on the interwebs with the added benefit of anyone anywhere in the entire world having access and being able to read about your experiences. And no I hear she will be presenting it at some Occupy thing in Philly or someplace. Good for her. More people than ever will hear it now. 

And I hope that wasn’t some elaborate heist she fathomed weeks ago. To “miss” the deadline, make a fuss, and then manage to get media attention so that more people than normally possible would be able to see it. I don’t think that’s the case, because that’s too…too much like television.

But I still haven’t gotten to my biggest upset about this whole thing. (And bear with me, I’m wrapping up soon)  It was the first thing I tweeted about. Now, I don’t know the exact number, so I will round to 300. 300 other kids. 300 other kids graduating from high school. Some may not think it a big deal, but most do. (And any of you who’ve read my Glee posts know that I think it’s a huge deal) 300 other kids graduating from high school who will now just be known as the 300 other kids who graduating with Molly Gambardella. 300 other kids who got any attention and notice taken away from them because one girl had to bring her selfishness to unreasonable (and apparently newsworthy) proportions. Okay, I’ll need to reference her involvement in the Occupy movement to further my point. She became an outspoken member of the “99%”: a group of people with a common goal, a brotherhood with a like cause. Much like many people consider their high school class to be. She’s the president of the Class of 2012. And this stunt is not being a leader for them. What is a high school class’ common goal, like cause? No, not “to graduate high school, get into college, get a good job and get money” (what Molly so effectively connects to The Matrix (see, I can compliment the girl, too)). But to grow with each other, learn from each other, coexist with each other in the same building, same town, for 4, 7, sometimes 13+ years (from pre-K to grade 12). Growing, learning, coexisting: things Molly didn’t learn to do, apparently, until she became involved in the Occupy movement.  I’m glad that she learned these things, but upset that she has been unable to see the connections with that to her high school class. Her selfish actions, though maybe derived from pure intentions, have unconsciously caused her to weaken the special bond one has with their senior class and to steal away the attention of a large group of her peers that she so unfortunately considers to not be “actual real people.”

I will be attending graduation on Thursday. I will leave any potential protesters be. I will politely clap for Molly as she receives her diploma (to what I can only assume will be a glorious mix of thunderous cheering and courageous boo-ing from the crowd). Just as I will politely clap for every student that walks across the stage, shakes Dr. Dallai’s hand, and gets their picture taken (I hope it’s not as hot as it was in 2010, where it was so hot my face was as red as my gown was maroon). Most of my focus, though, will indeed be on my cousin, Cristina Capriglione. (Here’s betting our family can create a louder response to her crossing the stage than to anyone else’s. Cowbell FTW)

And that’s all I have to say about that.