Genevieve

"One of my favorite things is experiencing the origins of my friends through their eyes. Another is sharing my own with my dearest and deepest too. This sharing is a favorite memory. Paul Ricoeur writes that, “Memory is no longer the narrative of external adventures stretching along episodic time. It is itself the spiral movement that, through anecdotes and episodes, brings us back to the almost motionless constellation of potentialities that the narrative retrieves. The end of the story is what equates the present with the past, the actual with the potential.”  - Genevieve

Jessica Jones

You see, the trouble starts here

Cap'm America

Monica Rambeau was a police lieutenant from New Orleans where her cool demeanor and swift reflexes earned her the role of ‘chief hostage negotiator’. One day a negotiation turned into a bloody firefight at a munitions warehouse. The incident changed her trajectory. She's no longer seen in New Orleans. Some sightings place her in the mixed martial arts ring where they call her El Tiger. She can transform into a feral beast and attack her opponents with the stealth and power of a puma. Others say she has become one of the deadliest forces on the planet …a solitary predator with supernatural powers. There have been sightings across a wide range of the Americas covering more ground than any other mammal we know. Legend has it she can stalk her prey from miles away …then strike suddenly, without a sound …ripping their heart out and gnawing on it while it’s still beating …sending them into a world of torment that lasts an eternity in one of the outlier regions of the nether worlds where she has dual-parallel residency. It’s a unique status that allows her to coexist in several dimensions at once. Go figure. Sounds like the firefight in New Orleans spawned multiple versions of the original Monica …each traveling a different trajectory across the universe ..or multiverse as some like to call it.

Blondie

Blondie is one of the biggest ‘what ever became of her’ mysteries of my life. I was a first-year teaching assistant in grad school …experiencing insecurities I hadn’t felt in a long time. She came into the computer lab looking for tutoring help with statistics. She was my first. I was apprehensive about the material but it all came rushing back …only I was trying to explain it at the speed of thought. She looked at me …smiled and told me to take a deep breath …I’m going way to fast. I took this as helpful advice and took that breath, which made us both laugh. I dialed it back and broke it down into steps that she could follow. Days later I got a visit from a professor who thanked me …told me that Blondie had aced a big test …and that she’d credited me for it. Turned out to be one of the first steps in helping me get over my insecurities. Next time I saw her …she and her friend were racing excitedly through the stacks of research articles in the library. She was clearly someone who was into what she was doing …or perhaps, who she was doing it with. I smiled but didn’t want to get in the way of progress. I saw her again the following term ...only this time it was at a conference we were hosting on campus.  She was attending  a small panel discussion lead by a well-known expert from Columbia. She was dressed in a beautiful pearly white top, navy blue skirt and Evan Picone pumps. Stunning (I’d only ever seen her dressed in blue jeans and a tee). She was sitting by herself. My first impression was ...she’s seriously considering graduate school. Afterwards, I left to attend a small dinner party that we were holding for the panel leader. It wasn’t until later it occurred to me that, when I was where she is now, how helpful it would have been for someone to have noticed me at an event like this and invited me to a dinner with a big shot. If nothing else it would have given her a boost ...kind of like the one she’d given me a year earlier.

Danaë

It doesn't take much to turn someone into a zombie ...the right predisposition will do. A powerful enough disposition and you don’t even have to enter the bloodstream … contact with airborne pheromones is all it takes. At least that was the case with Danaë. Except for changes in hair and skin color… not even her parents could tell the difference. She was the same sociopath as before. Danaë says it doesn’t make much difference to her either ...as long as she has a reliable supply of gray matter. “It’s not nourishment I crave. I don’t need three meals a day the way you do. What I need is a healthy dose of somebodies life force. Helps me stay closer to the living end of the undead scale.” Fortunately she works as an assistant mortician. A fresh supply of brains arrive daily. She won’t deteriorate … won’t have to resort to pack behavior or join the hunt for brains on the street. “Some of the people working in the coroners office are zombies.” she says. “We’re even doctors and lawyers. It has it’s drawbacks of course. For one, you have to learn to deal with the personality swings that occur from brain to brain. Kinda’ like having an Identity Disorder. I guess it’s no wonder my friends and family haven't notice.”

After graduation

Los Angeles, CA: You know like when my dad comes to visit … how he always drives a rental car? I've been thinking ...that might be the ticket outta’ here. While he's busy helping my brother with his pitching or something, I'll offer to pick up tacos for dinner. I’ll get the keys …throw my bags in the trunk and head up 101 to Eureka. Stewart says he can get me a job working the Klamath. When I get there I’ll drop the car off near an airport then call the agency and tell them where they can pick it up. My dad can always rent another one. Minor inconvenience. I mean … it’s a small price to pay for his daughter’s happiness, right? You in …?