Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that resulted from a delayed communication about the results of the end of the American Civil War. Never trust bureaucracy to deliver a critical message on time. To note this event, we have Jodie Landon and Michael Mackenzie from a very early MTV Daria webpage, dated October 15, 1997. The quotes at right were from the same page. Celebrate the goodness in your own way.This is also the 193rd anniversary of a very strange battle that took place in what is now Canada. I don't usually like to go into military stuff here, but this 1816 tidbit is an exception. The Battle of Seven Oaks is the only known major conflict to have been fought, not between rival nations or political groups, but between rival business corporations. Both of them were British, too. (If you can find another such conflict, let me know.) The link explains all. And we thought businesses today played hardball. This is such an intriguing historical footnote, you wonder how it could be used in an alternate history story. That would be cool.
Question: Would any character from Daria celebrate Juneteenth or acknowledge it in some way? If Jodie did, I think it would be through some organization and she would treat it as just another thing her dad was making her do to look like Supergirl. Mack would do it if his family had a tradition of celebrating the day, especially if his ancestors had been slaves before the Civil War. Mack would enjoy the day. Jodie would not.
Random Thought: Mack's last name, Mackenzie, is Scottish in origin. Many Scots migrated to the North American colonies before the American Revolution, but many of those later migrated to what became Canada because they were Loyalists. How did Mack's paternal line get that name? There was a white U.S. Army officer named Mackenzie who commanded an African-American unit after the Civil War; he figures in Texas history, curiously, opening a Juneteenth connection of sorts. There was also a British general named Mackenzie who became governor of Barbados and ended slavery there. Fun speculation.
PPMB
- Action Stories 3: Two Knights Defense, by NightGoblyn (Part 6): AP parked the van, looked up at the building he’d parked near, looked down at the tracker, then back up at the building, and then frowned deeply. “Maverick, that’s the Gotham City Federal Building,” Lynn said. “Then Ronnie is visiting the Feds. Don’t we work for the Feds? Are you and I not, in fact, Federales?”
- Regifted, by Ajar (Part 5): Marina woke from a particularly bad trip that morning. The hallucinations that resulted from using a psychoactive drug, and the escapism that went with it, was an unwanted side effect of sensory enhancement, or so she told herself. Unfortunately, her emotions tended to project themselves onto her environment. It's going to take a lot to get back to my proper state of mind, Marina thought to herself. It in fact took a pot of coffee, two egg whites and a couple of uppers for her permanent smile to return.
- Tales of the Ringbearers: Camping, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): "You know, I'm so glad that the Ringmasters added a couple of minor mods to the transfiguration ability," Jane Lane said, looking off in the distance at Mount Covenant as he stood on the plateau of the Devil's Tower. "Makes camping on top of a mountain easier."
3 comments:
How did Mack's family get that name? Easy. If Mack's ancestors were slaves or descended from them, there's the very real chance that (a.) they kept the surname of their former owners, or (b.) upon being freed, took on the surname of a vary famous individual from pre-Emancipation times, such as a former U.S. President. That's why you see so many Jeffersons, Washingtons, Jacksons, Taylors, and so forth in the Black community. (Example: the section of relations on my mother's side that can trace their ancestry back to George Washingtion have always been the Allens. )
It's entirely possible, also, that sometime in the past, one of Mack's female ancestors married an Irishman with that last name, and the name passed down through the generations. Apparently that's what happened with my family; an ancestor four of five generations back on my father's side was an Irishman with the last name of ' O'Wright'; when my father applied to join the military (in order to keep his family from siphoning benefits (long story), he changed his name, but dropped the 'O'.
A couple of thougts on the manner.
I also don't think that any Daria characters would be too into Juneteenth because, while it's an important historical day, it's only really important in Texas. So, unless Mack or Jodie has family in Texas, I doubt they're too interested. Especially since the two states that we allegedly narrowed Lawndale down to being in (Maryland and Pennsylvania) don't even observe it as a state holiday.
I could see Daria or Quinn maybe caring about it, but only to comment about some perceived irony or hypocracy (Daria) or if there was a big party (Quinn).
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