{"id":203,"date":"2016-02-05T23:08:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T05:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/?p=203"},"modified":"2016-02-05T23:08:18","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T05:08:18","slug":"power-writing-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/power-writing-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Power, Power, Who’s Got the Power?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two months. Yes, it’s been two months since I wrote a blog post. I am a horrible blog mama, eh? Actually, I am surprised that it’s been\u00a0only<\/em> two months because it feels like a lot longer.<\/p>\n

Part of the sabbatical was intentional. I wanted to step back, regroup, study my long-term plan, and make sure all the stars were aligning. I was able to step back, but the rest of my intentions went out the window when life decided that it was feeling a little ignored. I won’t go into the nasty details. Suffice it to say that recuperation has taken weeks, not days. Some things we really are just powerless over.<\/p>\n

Yes, that was a segue…a particularly bad one, too. Heh heh.<\/p>\n

It’s 99-word story day. (I know, are you as shocked as I am that I am getting this done DAYS before the deadline? It’s a first!) This week, Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch<\/a> has issued the challenge to\u00a0explore the question “what is power?” in a story. I like power as much as the next person, but I also recognize that power brings with responsibility and, unfortunately, trolls acting out of jealousy.<\/p>\n

Still, I’d rather be the one with the power. Power means access to (and control\u00a0over) the systems that define justice in society. I could jump up on my soapbox about\u00a0\u00a0how every movement in history has been borne of the need for someone without power to have access to it, but it’s Friday night and I’ a bit too tired to get riled up. This time. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Law and Order and Dominion<\/span><\/p>\n

Jack wanted to pull against the cuffs. Rule #1: Do not resist.<\/em> He focused on the linoleum floor at his feet, a vomitus green remnant from the eighties. Rule #2: Do not make eye contact.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the\u2014?\u201d The judge glared at the prosecutor. \u201cLittering?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The twenty-something prosecutor stood his ground. \u201cWe\u2019re asking the max. Three months, $500.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor cigarette butts?!\u201d The judge snorted, then growled at Jack. \u201cYou\u2014quit smoking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jack nodded. Rule #3: Show remorse.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2014find some real goddamned criminals.\u201d The gavel crashed down. \u201cDismissed!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jack shuffled by the judge. Rule #4: Be grateful.<\/em> \u201cThanks, Pop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Justice\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two months. Yes, it’s been two months since I wrote a blog post. I am a horrible blog mama, eh? Actually, I am surprised that it’s been\u00a0only two months because it feels like a lot longer. Part of the sabbatical was intentional. I wanted to step back, regroup, study my long-term plan, and make sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Power, Power, Who's Got the Power? A new 99-word story #flashfiction","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,16,44],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-carrot-ranch","tag-flash-fiction","tag-power"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WVQN-3h","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}