Fictional Sheroes or Heroes by Jenn McKinlay

 JENN McKINLAY: When I was a kid, I read for entertainment but also for escape. Adolescence is hard, ya’ll. 

My favorite stories were the ones where the female protagonists were for lack of a better description – total badasses. And, of course, if they had a sense of humor as well, they were top tier. This is probably why comic books appealed to me so much. 

I spent an entire summer deep in a female pirate phase where I was obsessed with Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who were real lady pirates, but there was a preponderance of fiction about them at the time (late 70’s/early 80’s) and my town librarian, Mrs. Schneider, tracked down every single novel she could find for me – Yay, librarians! 

I stopped needing to have the sword wielding, uber strong female leads as I got older – probably, a good thing as female pirate is likely a worse job than female novelist most days – and I thought I’d put that crushing on a character thing behind me when I started listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and I met Eva Stratt. In short, she’s in charge of saving the world and I love her, in fact, much like when I read about those amazing female leads of my youth, I found I wanted to be her. 

Here’s a snippet between Eva Stratt and Ryland Grace:

“I gasped. "Wait a minute! Am I a guinea pig? I'm a guinea pig!" (Ryland Grace, protagonist)

"No, it's not like that," she said. (Eva Stratt, awesomest heroine)

I stared at her.

She stared at me.

I stared at her.

"Okay, it's exactly like that," she said.”

― Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary

Isn’t she fabulous? Connecting with her was a feeling I hadn’t had since I was a kid and it made me remember the heroines who had struck deep chords within me – Meg Murry, Cassie Logan, Lucy Pevensie, Kit Tyler, Anne Shirley, Egwene al’Vere, and Nancy Drew – to name just a few.

So, Reds, it’s your turn. What fictional characters have spoken to you so compellingly in your life that you were inspired by them or wanted to become them? 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Lucy Pevensie, definitely! She stands by her story–she knows what she saw. Meg Murry, the best. 

Also, do you remember Donna Parker? Hardly literature, but I still think about the Donna Parker series.  She was very resourceful, and spunky, and her mother taught her “If you want something done well, you have to do it yourself.” Which, now, may not be quite true, but we know what Mrs. Parker meant. 

ANYWAY. Donna was a big planner, and she would think about whatever event she was planning (like the prom, or international day) the night before, and imagine it just before she went to sleep. She’d envision it, and then realize what needed to be done. (Coat racks! There are no coat racks!) I do that to this day. Thanks to Donna.

And here’s a snippet from Donna Parker, Secret Agent. 

“Look, Tommy!” Donna pointed to a corner of the paper. “Did you tack these to a drawing board when you worked on them?”

 Tommy shook his head. “Never. Why do you ask?”

“Look at these little holes in the corner. And they’re in the other three corners, too.”

 Tommy looked at her blankly. “Well, I didn’t put them there. What does it mean?”

“It means,” announced Donna, “That someone has tacked them up on something. And the only reason I know for that is so they can be photographed. Somebody wants a copy of these plans!”

Author "Marcia Martin" is no Andy Weir, and she never met an exclamation mark she didn't use, but she changed my life.

HALLIE EPHRON: Definitely Anne Shirley who was constantly getting herself into trouble. Only the first book, Anne of Green Gables. And none of the movies based on the books have been right. She was NOT pretty, and the movies have a hard time with that. And of course Dorothy Gale of the Oz books. And Booth Tarkington’s Alice Adams, first cousin to Eleanor Oliphant.

I also fell in love with Eloise, Kay Thompson’s cheeky little girl who lived a free-rein existence in the Plaza Hotel with Nana and a dog and a turtle, brought to life so indelibly by Hilary Knight’s illustrations. I read it and reread it, and traced Eloise’s route on the foldout map of the hotel. 

JENN: I loved Eloise!!!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I never even heard of Marcia Martin,  Hank! Now I feel very deprived that I missed out on Donna Parker. I'm sure I'd have been a much more organized person.

 I never read Eloise, either, can you believe it? But Nancy Drew, of course. And Meg Murray was the absolute best. I devoured A WRINKLE IN TIME and all the books that came after–although I don't think any of them had quite the same impact. I loved Lucy Pevensie, too, although Susan was a bit of a stick. After that, my sheroes were the heroines in the Mary Stewart and Helen MacInnes books.

Jenn, I have Project Hail Mary on my Kindle. Moving it up the list!

HANK: Oh, Debs, I’m sure “Marcia Martin” is a made-up name.  It’s on the inside but not even on the cover! Anyone know?  (Oh, rats. I had to look it up. Her real name was Marcia Levin, and she died in 2006. :-(  )

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Jenn, I loved PROJECT HAIL MARY. Weir’s second book was a bit of a let down for me, but he came roaring back with this one.

My favorite childhood/teen heroines were the ones in Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels, which have the feel of fantasy, but are actually carefully crafted science fiction, as the descendents of human colonists who settled on the planet Pern struggle thousands of years later with a biological menace -  acid spewing, soil destroying worms that fall from the sky. What stops the “threads?” FIRE BREATHING DRAGONS that people ride! Ah, yisss. The first in the series, DRAGONFLIGHT, centers on a heroine snatched up from her life as a drudge to test as a possible dragon rider - and who imprints on the newly hatched Queen, making her the de facto leader of the community. I think I was twelve or thirteen when I first read it, and the tale of Lessa fighting past her fear and anger to claim her power was straight-up heroin in my veins. 

Jenn: OMG, how did I forget? I was a total Pern head back in the day. LOL.

RHYS BOWEN:  I loved George from the Famous Five series when I was about ten. She wore shorts, ran wild and did everything boys could do. Also she and her cousins were allowed to go camping alone on uninhabited islands!  In my teens it was Arwen from the LoTR. In fact I tried to change my name for a time to hers. I loved that the elf women were not wimps!

LUCY BURDETTE: Aside from the often mentioned Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Cherry Ames mysteries, I remember loving The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Caddie Woodlawn, and my very favorite, THE PINK MOTEL, also written by Carol Ryrie Brink. It's really a perfect prequel to the Key West foodie mysteries--just read the description from this old New York Times article and you'll see it would be a miracle if I hadn't written a quirky Florida series! (I just now noticed that Brink also wrote a book called The Highly Trained Dogs of Professor Petit. Isn't that a fabulous title?? Must go look it up...)

All right, Readers, it's your turn. What sheroes or heroes of fiction have you connected with as a reader? What impact did they have on your life?

Modern Day Heroes

Virtual Event Tonight: Join Red Julia Spencer-Fleming in conversation with Maine author Paul Doiron at 7PM EST! Find out more at the Print Bookstore Facebook or sign up directly here!

LUCY BURDETTE: I’m sorry to be nudging us to talk about more COVID-19 subjects, but it’s hard to think about much else isn’t it? I manage to get away a bit if I get into my manuscript (ha! As if!) or if reading a really good book or watching a good TV show, but then the TV and online news drags me back. So I started thinking about how some people rise to a terrible challenge in a great way and others...don’t. We have a new set of heroes these times and I thought we could chat about that. Here are a few of mine… The first is Governor Andrew Cuomo. I admire how he’s handled the burgeoning crisis in New York-- his calmness, his candor, his caring as he tries to lead through this impossible time with his own state at the epicenter, and sharp politics to navigate.

I absolutely loved this sentence from "What the ‘Cuomo 2020’ Fantasy Says About 2020 Reality: by Matt Flegenheimer: (NYT) because it described me so perfectly:

"His is a new coalition, couch-bound and spooked, finding small comforts where few had sought sustenance before: in the tender embrace of a disaster briefing by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo."

Next is yoga and other exercise teachers. They have flocked online to lead classes that help people manage anxiety and feel strong in a terrible time. I’m taking yoga classes three times a week, and now we’ve discovered that our pilates teacher in CT has a facebook presence. Exercise aside, the classes are such a great way to feel less alone.

My favorite yoga teacher, Ali Beale

Obvious heroes are the medical people on the frontlines. Many of you will have seen this photo of my daughter in her “moon suit.” She’s an ER doc and this is what they wear to intubate a patient, which is a very dangerous point for spreading the virus.  (With gloves on of course!) My nephew is an ER resident and honestly, we are terrified for both of them. And they are scared too--but they do what they are called to do. It’s not only doctors--all the medical professionals and paraprofessionals are in danger, and yet doing their jobs. 

And last, ministers. They aren’t all heroes (don’t get me started on those who are insisting on continuing to meet in person), but we belong to two lovely churches, one in Key West and one in Madison. Neither wasted a nanosecond realizing they needed to move services online. I find watching them to be a huge comfort--more familiarity and love in a horrible time.

Our dear friend Steve Torrence at an Easter sunrise service, with friend Cathy

(And ps if you should wish to try either of those services, both are on Facebook, https://www.Facebook.com/mcckeywest and https://www.facebook.com/fccmadison/)

Who are your heroes right now?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Dr. Fauci. I believe every word he says, and he knows what he’s talking about. That’s astonishingly reassuring. Listening to him, we get the facts. If he doesn't know something, he says so. Honesty and intelligence and true science. That’s all I really need.

And the people who work in grocery stores, and  the food delivery people. I almost cry every time they come to the door. How brave of them to take care of us.

My next door neighbors. On one side, Maureen, who emailed me today to see if we wanted a few masks and a box of gloves. She had extra, she said. ::amazing::

And on the other side, neighbor Amy. Who goes to the produce store for us when she goes for her family. We give her our whole milk and potatoes, and she gives us access to lettuce and apples. 

Teachers. My step-daughter teaches kindergarten. She now teaches her littles via zoom, while handling an 11 year old son and a 16 year old son and a husband who works from home in a two-bedroom/living room-dining room/kitchen in crowded Brooklyn. HOW does she do that?

Moms of all kinds, in fact. My editor is home with a 2year old and a 4 year old. SHe takes care of the kids, and home schools, from 6am to 2pm, while her husband uses the bedroom/office. Then she does her editing work from 2pm til 10pm, while her husband handles the kids. AND! They just got a new dog. The dog’s name is Lucky. 

RHYS BOWEN: We have encountered nothing but kindness and consideration. My daughter Clare bakes bread, does shopping and leaves items at our front door 

I have three family members who are teachers and have all had to come up with online methods of teaching and reaching out to students. This has involved a steep learning curve especially for my daughter-in-law who is a special ed coordinator and my daughter who was charged with setting up the online teaching environment for her whole school.

Obviously the medical personnel but the store clerks are my heroes too. Each time we brave the supermarket they have been caring and cheerful, handing us a sanitized cart as we enter. 

My son is a healing specialist whose practice is closed but is putting out wonderful daily chats on how to cope. My daughter Jane is another hero. She owns a swim center that she has had to close but continues to pay her employees and has set up online fitness and yoga classes. It seems most people rise to the occasion except a few of my daughters club members, one of whom wrote, in all caps: why the hell should I pay dues for a club that is closed?

Stay safe everyone!

JENN McKINLAY: My college roommate, Annette, is a hospital nurse. Needless to say, I am in awe of her ability to provide care and support not only to the patients she’s charged with but also to her fellow healthcare workers, who are all working with insufficient equipment. I can’t even fathom the mental toll this is taking on all of them.

Like Hank, I am boggled by the awesome teachers who scrambled to take their curriculums into unfamiliar online forums - my god, they are heroes! I mean if I had to homeschool the Hooligans, they’d be dumb as bricks. 

Next up, the grocery/pharmacy/retail store clerks. Putting themselves at risk by exposure to an invisible enemy just so we can get our Pop Tarts and bottles of Lysol. I will never take my grocers for granted again - never - not ever.

HALLIE EPHRON: Definitely the doctors and nurses and hospital staff that are responding in this crisis. Like Lucy’s Molly, our friend Pat’s daughter who’s a doctor in Austin has volunteered to work an emergency room in NYC. My daughter’s dearest friend, a nurse, who manages emergency medicine at a major hospital in NY and sent her husband and little boy to her parents while she’s working 10 hours a day. She knows it’s only a matter of when, not if she’ll get sick herself.

My children who’ve hammered it into my head that I am not to run errands. 

Dr. David Price of Cornell Weill Medical Center NY whose calming video Rhys shared yesterday. 

https://vimeo.com/399733860

My neighbors on one side, he’s a senior State police officer who goes to work every day. His wife, a reading specialist who’s been driving all over the city trying to deliver learning materials to her students. My neighbor on the other side, an electrical worker who’s “on call” 24/7. Our OTHER neighbor’s grandkids who left lovely chalk messages on the sidewalk for us all to feel just a bit more connected.

 The staff at my local Stop n Shop on Newport Ave in Quincy, MA. THANK YOU!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Some of my heroes are the people who are doing videos and podcasts and radio shows from their living rooms to make me laugh - Noah Trevor at the Daily (Self-Distancing) Show, Peter Sagel on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, Samantha Bee doing BEEing at Home from the woods behind her house - I love knowing that they’re in the same straits we all are, and are carrying on being funny at a time when it can be hard to find anything to laugh about.

One of my heroes is my young friend Jess, who is working 50-60 hours a week at a small local chain of grocery stores and shopping for us and dropping off groceries and special goodies from her store every week. Her help, after long hours on the job, means none of us needs to go out to stores.

Also, going out to the box to fetch the mail has become a highlight of the day, and I’m deeply grateful that the men and women of the US Postal Service are out there every day, picking up and delivering mail. I’m going to leave a thank-you note in my mailbox to let ours know how much I appreciate him!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Yes, definitely on the mail carriers. A thank you note is a good idea, Julia. And our UPS and FedEx drivers, who are working long hours to get things to people. All the health care workers and first responders, and all the grocery store employees and delivery people. My friend’s ER doc son who got drive-through testing and telemed off the ground for his Florida hospital and is spending long hours away from his wife and three-year-old. And I’m with Julia on all the folks that are entertaining the rest of us from their living rooms.

Your turn Reds, who are your heroes right now?

And one more thing, we miss seeing our friends in person so much, but hoped you might like to share our first zoom...thanks for being with us today and every day you can!

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr

Martin Luther King, Jr.

In a world that seems incredibly shy of well-spoken (ahem) visionaries, it is heartening to me that we have set aside a day to remember and celebrate the life of a leader, unparalleled in the fight for civil rights, who is also one of the greatest orators our country ever produced: Martin Luther King, Jr. To that end, I thought it would be fitting for each of the Reds to share their favorite quote by the Reverend with their thoughts on why it has meaning for them. 

JENN McKINLAY: Here is mine. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I love these words. To me, they are a trumpet call to my courage, which in times of strife wants to crouch deep inside of me, hiding from disapproval and ostracism. But this sentiment reminds me to be accountable for my action and inaction. It makes me straighten my wobbly legs, stiffen my spine, and stand up strong and tall for what I know is right even if it is met with derision and scorn. 

LUCY BURDETTE: Once you start reading them over, it's hard to choose. He was so wise. Losing him was tragic. But here's one I love because the world seems so filled with darkness and rage right now. The temptation is to give in to that, but we mustn't:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." 

I think is why Oprah's speech was such a rousing success last week!

INGRID THOFT: My favorite MLK quote is one that seems especially apt these days: 

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

I cling to this quote as a reminder that fairness and goodness are the defaults to which we can return, if we persevere. 
Another quote caught my eye when I was making my choice:

"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." 

The universe may bend toward justice, but we must be diligent and attentive citizens to help it on its way.

RHYS BOWEN:
It is hard to choose a favorite quote because so many of them seem so apt right now. Like the one that says "nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance."

But the one that has always resonated with me is "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

What a wonderful man. It's good to be reminded that there are people of great wisdom and humility and godliness in the world.

HALLIE EPHRON: When I read quotes from Martin Luther King, I hear his soaring voice with its majestic cadences… and also remember the context of the fight for desegregation and against the Vietnam War. It still surprises me how much…and how little has changed. The “I have a dream” speech is loaded with inspiration and calls to action: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I had a moving experience a few years back when, visiting family in DC, Ross and I took our kids and our two young nephews to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which had just opened up two years previously. We arrived after dark, and walked past the huge stone to see the image of Dr. King emerging from the mountain. He stands with his arms crossed, looking directly across the Tidal Basin towards the Jefferson Memorial, as if challenging the slaveholder who was the architect of liberty.

The walls around the statue are lined with Dr. King's quotes, and we walked about, reading them aloud and discussing them with our nephews. It felt like a great honor to be there, which is probably the best definition of a memorial I can think of.

JENN: Julia, you wrote two fabulous pieces about Martin Luther King, Jr. I enjoyed both immensely while I was going back through the Jungle Reds archive. I am putting the links here for our readers to revisit:

http://www.jungleredwriters.com/2016/01/on-martin-luther-king-day.html

http://www.jungleredwriters.com/2014/01/heroes-holiday.html

JULIA: As for quotes, my favorite piece of Dr. King's writing is "Letter from Birmingham Jail," a treatise on nonviolent resistance that rivals Gandhi "Satyagraha." This stands out for me, especially - as many of us have noted - in these times. 

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Jonathan was at the I Have A Dream speech! Amazing. Though I’m not sure how many people waaaaay back in the crowd could actually hear. We watched a PBS show about Peter Paul and Mary the other night—and of course they sang there. It must have been extraordinary. And we talked about what a moment in time that was. It also shows how one person can make a difference, and a whole lot of ‘one persons’ can make a difference, too. And that at every turn, we need to make decisions, big and small. Whether its writing the next words in a manuscript, or deciding how to react, or learning to forgive, or taking a stand. Not everything we do is of global importance, certainly. But we can have faith and strength and goals on our own.  As Dr. King said:
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hank, that last quote made me think of what Pope Francis (another of my heroes) said in his New Year's speech about the small actions of ordinary people, praising "...all those persons who, every day, contribute with small but precious gestures to the common good, who seek to do their duty as well as possible." 

As for Dr. King, what a difficult choice. So much of his writing is both humbling and inspiring--and unsettling, as I'm sure he meant it to be. But two stand out for me particularly. This one, as we deal with a loss of reason in the face of "fake news": "Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think." And this one, so timely in our era of constant social media mudslinging: "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend."

What about you, dear Readers? What quotes by the late Dr. King inspire you? Or do you have another quote or motto that guides you?