‘Goodbye May Seem Forever

Who I see:

Who I think of:

Theodore Roosevelt listed Ulysses S Grant as one of the greatest Americans in history (alongside Washington and Lincoln). This was said in 1900.

Only fifty-so years later, President Dwight Eisenhower would state that Robert E Lee was one of the greatest Americans of all time. 

This post is not an assassination of Lee or his character-- that’s not the point of this. What I am curious about is how this reverence of Grant, who played a key point in keeping our country together and helping African Americans get the right the vote during his Presidency, could then turn so sharply to a reverence of Robert E Lee (a man who, despite his personal disapproval of secession, still fought on behalf of the Confederacy). This strange twisting of reverence is a clear example of the Lost Cause narrative taking root.

We weren’t taught much about Grant’s Presidency during Social Studies/History class. We barely touched on him as a General in the Civil War, except as the man who was called The Butcher and who drank a lot. 

So my question is just how much has this Lost Cause infiltrated our own History books?

Mark calling Chloe the way he did at the end of episode 6 season 3 made me really angry as much as it broke my heart. Because if he had really succeeded in ending his own life the way he wanted, then his daughter would have had to live with that final conversation for the rest of her life. Chloe would have undoubtedly blamed herself if he really had died, wishing she’d gone to find him like she had wanted during their phone conversation. 

Just saw a teenager dressed up as a pirate on a bycicle blaring Monster Mash as he was cycling through a parking lot. Is it Halloween? I would say so.

Heart and Soul Nebulae 

My older sister is really getting into Outlander now, I think.

This post fascinates me because I love psychology and a few months ago I labelled the Broadchurch characters as to what personality type they were, and when I looked back at the list I’d made, Alec was INTJ.

Broadchurch: Alec Hardy [INTJ]

OFFICIAL TYPING by Charity / the mod.

Introverted Intuition (Ni): Alec is reluctant to draw conclusions on evidence until he has fully explored all the possibilities, but he does so internally without brainstorming with Ellie. He often says that he has “a feeling” about how things will turn out, but no evidence to support his hypothesis. Alec is so out of touch with “how things work” (lacking Si) that he fails at social niceties and customs, and sometimes over-compensates as a result (“I got you flowers… and chocolate… and wine; I didn’t know which to choose, so I got them all”). He is able to read people very well, in a short time, and gauge their abilities.

Extroverted Thinking (Te): He wants to finish the job and doesn’t mind who gets the credit. He demands facts, evidence, and “proof.” When confronted with a dead child, he immediately runs through all the usual procedures as well as makes due with the resources around him (including CCTV cameras). Alec demands a high work ethic from his employees and puts in the same hours himself. He has a frankness when dealing with people, and always points out the logic (or lack thereof) in their decisions. “I don’t care about anything but this case,” he says, inferring they can tell him anything that doesn’t have to do with the murder and it won’t wind up in his police report.

Introverted Feeling (Fi): No one knows he has a daughter; he does not open up about his marriage, his former cases, or his illness, instead preferring to deal with his guilt and pain on his own. Alec’s compassion is not often evident, but does run deep; his method in “protecting people” is to warn them not to talk to journalists and to threaten said journalists in order to get them to back off. He is rarely emotional in public and does not like to discuss his feelings.

Extroverted Sensing (Se): Even though he is very ill, Alec continues to work—pushing his body beyond its limits, into a total collapse. He is so eager for a physical human connection that he propositions a woman, who says no only because she’s “afraid [he will] collapse on top of me.” He has almost no connection to his own inner sensations, and as a result, overdoes it; he is also semi-reluctant to engage in his environment on a regular basis, down to his eating habits.

My two favorite words of the English language: flabbergasted, and gobsmacked.

Have you ever thought about the fact that skulls all look like they’re smiling?