Pynchokami

A group of three individuals, two men and one woman, stand on a bridge-like structure with a natural, hilly landscape in the background. All three are wearing teal-colored jumpsuits. Below them, a golden banner with black text reads "BILLIONAIRES' BUNKER".

A still image from the TV show Mythic Quest. Poppy stands in a server room, grinning excitedly. She holds both of her hands up near her face in a playful, almost frantic gesture. Behind her, two large monitors display lines of code. White, all-caps text at the bottom of the image reads, "DINNER PARTY."

Watched E1 of the new series Billionaires' Bunker and it has me thinking. From this to the Nazi server in Mythic Quest (S1E3, "Dinner Party"), the fantasy is the same: put the most toxic users in their own gilded cage.

High above them all, a single quadcopter drone adjusted its position, its black-glass eye staring down. The final speaker finished. A beat pulsed from the PA. The rally was over. The march was beginning. (9/9)
#BerkeleyTapes

A few feet away, Ben (The Techie) was glued to his phone, his thumb a blur. He had a dozen social media posts queued up, ready to launch the moment Mira gave the signal to march. (8/9)
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Jess paused. "That guy they're talking about... Amir Hadad... I think he might have been my GSI. He was... kind." Sam felt a wave of protectiveness. She wasn't a protestor, just a good person. (7/9)
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Inside the unicorn costume, Jess (The Reluctant Participant) was dancing. Her floormate from Ridge House, Sam (The Pragmatist), stood nearby, holding the air pump. He’d convinced her to come by promising a spectacle. (6/9)
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Nearby, Chloe (The Documentarian) knelt to get a low-angle shot of a student in a full-body inflatable unicorn costume against one of the officers. "I'm documenting joy as a form of resistance," she said. (5/9)
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Her younger brother, David (The True Believer), paced beside her. "This is what they want," he muttered. "A circus. A sanctioned, harmless pressure valve." (4/9) #BerkeleyTapes

At the edge of the crowd, Mira (The Organizer) watched the bored UCPD officers. Her meticulous planning was a desperate attempt to build a cage so safe that the wolves couldn't get in again. (3/9)
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From the stage, a tenured Ethnic Studies professor roared, “They use the language of safety, the language of dialogue, to obscure the language of control!” (2/9) #BerkeleyTapes

The air in Lower Sproul Plaza was clean, filtered by a bay breeze that rustled the banners of the dozens of student groups gathered before the steps of the MLK Jr. Student Union. A coalition of the willing and the worried. (1/9) #BerkeleyTapes

Image: A park bench with a weathered brass dedication plaque reading "In Loving Memory of Sylvia Rosen" and the epitaph, "Art Lives Here." (Photo taken by the author in the Berkeley Rose Garden; AI tool used to fictionalize names.)

The stage is set. In the crowd, a mosaic of hope and worry. Meet the six young people at the heart of the protest, before the day that changes them.

#BerkeleyTapes #SpecFic #BookSky 🧵

There is no net if a character falls. Or rather, there is a net, but each time they bounce back, they are never the same as before. Thank you for being here to witness the fall, and the change. (3/3)

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A published novel, if it ever arrives, is a year or more away and will surely be different. The characters you're meeting now may find new names, new paths. We are discovering their stories together, in real time. (2/3)

#BerkeleyTapes #AmWriting

From the Writer's Desk: A note on what this project is (and isn't). You're reading a serialized for Bluesky version of the first draft of Chapter 1. The truth is, there is no Chapter 2 yet. This plane is being built while it's still in the air. (1/3)

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4/4 The participants, in turn, accept these strictures as a sign of safety, a promise that their voices can be heard without fear. They celebrate their freedom inside a cage.

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3/4 And there are the bag checks, a modern ceremony where officers ensure that signs are made of cardboard, that water bottles are sealed, and that no one carries anything that could disrupt the day's carefully negotiated performance of free speech.

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2/4 There are permits filed, stages erected, and speakers reminded to keep their remarks within the allotted time. There are barricades that create the illusion of a sacred space, but function just as effectively as a pen.

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1/4 There is a particular anatomy to a sanctioned protest. It follows a choreography of dissent like a liturgy that serves the comforted as much as the concerned.

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A weathered brass dedication plaque on a park bench. It reads: "IN MEMORY OF FOR ELEANOR GOSSE. 'Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes.'" Photo taken by Pynchokami in the Berkeley Rose Garden; AI tool used to fictionalize names.

Before the march, a word from our correspondent on the anatomy of a sanctioned protest.

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It's about a group of activists who find moral clarity from a chorus of ghosts who remember a time when the fight was clear. A history lesson in how to, for lack of a better term, punch Nazis. (3/3)

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It’s the anxiety of watching a world you love slide into something unrecognizable and not knowing how to respond. DEDICATED BENCHES is my attempt to answer that question by wrapping it in a ghost story. (2/3)

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From the Writer's Desk: This story began with a question that I think haunts many of us lately: Am I overreacting, or am I underreacting? (1/3)

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Update: I've stepped off the Elevator Isekai for now. A new story, DEDICATED BENCHES, is here, a near-future tale of resistance, history, and ghosts. Live writing the first chapters soon. My regular posts will continue.

📖 MEDDY & FRANK: 1ST Draft Complete! (100%)

#M&F #BookSky #WriterSky #SFF

YouTube video by ScandalVEVO Scandal, Patty Smyth - Goodbye To You (Official Video)

Thinking about the art of the mixtape title, that perfect phrase that scores a moment in your life.

Meddy's would be "A Gorgon's Guide to Goodbyes" with Scandal on the first track.

#Prompt: What title would your MC slap on a mixtape right now?

#M&F #WriterSky #AmWriting

youtu.be/_50-gOeBilc?...

YouTube video by Kenshi Yonezu - Topic Lemon

#Mixtape: Learn a language in 4 months for 1 song?

For Japanese, my vote is "Lemon" by Kenshi Yonezu.

It's about grief's "bitter scent", perfect for my MC Franko, haunted by a life he never lived.

#Prompt: What's your OC's 4 month song?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NNh...

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YouTube video by Soheil Koushan One Tin Soldier - The Original Caste [Original]

Original "One Tin Soldier" by Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter, performed by Coven (1971). This thread is my reimagining, inspired by the structure but addressing today's conflicts.

The Original Caste version
youtu.be/cTBx-hHf4BE?...

Coven version
youtu.be/6asItlu-fYQ?...

(14/14)

In the original “One Tin Soldier” the reveal was that the treasure was peace all along. Today, our treasure is, or I fear was, our connections and our dependence on each other. This I fear we might not see again, or not for quite some time. At least, until our ice soldiers melts away.
(13/14)

(Last Refrain)

Go ahead and fear your neighbor,

Go ahead and build a wall.

Do it in the name of "Freedom,"

So your culture doesn't fall.

There won't be any angels singing,

When you've turned them all away,

On the silent morning after...

One ice soldier melts away.

(12/14)

(Final Verse):

But the thaw revealed the ruin,

And the soil, hard and cracked,

For the “threat” that they had ridden

Was the stream that kept them fed.

(11/14)

(Verse 6)

They stood their watch all through winter,

Their frozen hearts still held fast,

Believing that their pure valley

Was a culture built to last.

(10/14)