New Short Story: Vigorous Representation

"Vigorous Representation"

Flash Fiction, by C. N. Nevets



"You know I did this right?"  He wasn't looking at me.

"I know you did this."  I nodded, and looked squarely at him, my hands stuffed in my pockets, my laptop bag slung over my shoulder, stuffed with files.

He nodded.  His upper lip disappeared into his mouth.  "But you still did right by me."

"I still did right by you."  I nodded again.

"You a church goin' man?" he asked, his chin still tucked low, his eyes only briefly meeting mine, and at an oblique angle when they did.

"I'm a church goin' man."  My words were paced, my tone even.

He scrunched up his face and kicked stubbornly at the floor.  "And you're alright with this?"

My posture was relaxed.  "I'm alright with this."

"I'm not sure I am."  He turned and walked away, without looking back.


Author's Note. 

Sporting News Next at 4:20

All---

Recently, UFC fighter Nick Diaz was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission and given a hefty fine because he tested positive for marijuana after UFC 143.

FACT.  Marijuana is known to enhance the mental acumen necessary for complex, strategic athletics.

FACT.  Marijuana is known to enhance the physical dexterity and muscle strength of athletes engaged in top level competition.

FACT.  Marijuana has been proven to give athletes an unnatural sense of composure under the pressure of the national spotlight.

FACT.  Nick Diaz was a role model to children the world over.  He was being invited to speak to kindergarten classes.  They were thinking about making a new Veggie Tales about him. 

Recently, UFC fighter (and title holder) Jon Jones was arrested for DUI.  He issued an apology.  He continues to fight.

FACT.  Drunk driving is a victim-less crime.

FACT.  Drunk driving is just one of those things we all do.

FACT.  There has never been a death attributed to the use of alcohol.

FACT.  Apologies make everything better.  For modeling this, Jon Jones should be invited to speak to kindergarten classes.  They should make a new Veggie Tales about him.

...

...

...

In case you ever wonder why people like me write dark, twisted stories that raise questions about human character, the nature of morality, and the priorities and ideals of society, this is a great example of why.  No, I'm not enraged about this issue.  No, I don't love Nick Diaz or hate Jon Jones.  No, I don't love dope or hate booze. 

This might make C + C Music Factory go, "Hmmmm."

I think it's dangerous to make light of the way that society makes priorities.

I'm not even saying I don't understand why these two scenarios played out differently.  After all, the Diaz suspension was related to a drug test specifically engaged by the athletic commission.  The Jones arrest was part of his personal life.  Still.

Could it also be that the UFC has fought so long to try and make a clean-cut image, that it would rather ally itself with Ted Kennedy than with Andy Dick?

Never stop asking questions.

Never stop taking the answers seriously.

.Nevets.

Forensic Anthropology: How Old is Too Old?

All---

I recently posted an overview of forensic anthropology.  In the comments, my blogging friend G'Eagle asked how old remains could be before they were too old.

One the tremendous things about forensic anthropology is that it lasts as long as the bones do.  Bones do decompose, and they subject to weathering and damage after death, but they do last a very long time, and as long as there is bone material left, there is some how for forensic anthropologists to be able to recover useful information.

Photo by 120

Biorachaeologists specialize in the excavation and analysis of historic or prehistoric human remains.  They use many of the same techniques that forensic anthropologists use to get at much the same information.  They use these techniques to examine radiographic images of Egyptian mummies, and have been able to recreate the likely scenario of murder of the famous Oetzi the iceman from 5,300 years ago. I have personally determined the age, sex, and some health history of individuals whose remains were 3,000 years old.  I have also been able to say something about peri-mortem wounds on skulls that age.

Forensic anthropologists work in the context of criminal investigations, so they're not worrying about remains that are that old, but this does suggest that, however old the bones are, the age of the bones is not necessarily a concern for forensic anthropology.

That said, completeness and preservation are important.  The more skeletal material is present to be analyzed, the greater the likelihood that an anthropologist will be able to recover useful information.  The better preserved the bones, the more accurate and precise that information will be.  Time itself may not be an enemy, but time does increase the odds of remains being subject to other destructive forces:

• Water
• Bacteria
• Crushing
• Cracking
• Sun
• Fire
• Gnawing by rodest
• Etching by roots
• and so many more

A dry environment that shelters the remains will preserve bones for a considerable time.  As soft tissue mummifies (which can happen naturally) this can help provide a leathery, protective casing for the bones that further shields them from damage.  The more moisture, animals, and open environment remains are exposed to, the more likely that bones will be scattered, damaged, or completely destroyed.

Since forensic anthropology usually works hand-in-hand with law enforcement, it is very often the context of the case which determines how old is too old.  One case I worked, we had a skull and some scattered other remains, and it was enough to show consistency with presumed identity of the victim and to piece together perimortem damage on a serial killer victim from twenty years previous.  

A couple other cases, we had remains that were less than a year old.  One victim was in a dry environment with little stress, and we were able to recover almost every bone and they were all in good shape.  Another victim was in a wet, highly organic environment, and most of the skeletal material was already badly damaged.  However, because of the legal context of the two cases, all they really needed from us was confirmation that the remains could be of a certain basic demographic, and we were able to provide law enforcement that information.

Any other questions?

.Nevets.

Crank Up the Jurisprudence

All---

By now, I hope that you'd read my last post, the short story, "Cops and Robbers,"  It is perhaps a little long for a blog-posted piece of flash writing, but I hope you can find some time to check it out.  As is often the case with literature, it's an expression of thoughts that hopes to evoke an understanding -- in this case, an understanding of how complicated the legal world can be, and how brutalizing that complexity can be to the soul of those who spend their lives dedicated to and immersed within that world.

The story, "Cops and Robbers," was in  part inspired by a number of folks I met during my time doing forensics, but especially by a couple of cops I met and talked with for hours around a bonfire one night during forensic entomology training camp (maggot school).  In part, though, the story was also inspired by the terrible story of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman and all the families, friends, and loved ones that are "collateral damage" any time there is crime, hatred, and injustice of any sort.  In retrospect, I wish the references to the Trayvon Martin case were a little more oblique than they are, but I make it a principle to not revise flash fiction, so I've left it be.  I didn't set out to write about the actual case, for I honestly don't have the evidence in front of me to make any commentary on the specific case.  Instead, I wanted to tell a story about jurisprudence -- about laws work (or don't) and how that impacts both the lofty ideal of justice and the feet-on-the-ground reality of people.

My own interest in jurisprudence came pretty naturally.  I love order.  I love rules and forms and structures.  Even more, I love finding ways to effectively navigate or manipulate rules and forms and structures.  It's much more fun for me to create my own play space in a world of obstacles, than to be set out in an open field with an open-ending allowance to just go nuts.  On top of that, I love words, and I believe nuance, implication, context, and precision are not semantic trivialities but at the very core of verbal meaning.  All of this made it easy for me to fall in love with laws and learning how they operate.

I'm the guy who, when it's time for a supreme court report (on any case!), turns up the radio and hopes every one stays quiet so he can listen.

I realize that not everyone has this sort of natural appreciation for or love of or even tolerance for the verbal, logical, and ethical gymnastics that go into the law. It's something that I work into my writing from time to time, usually in terms of (as Jeeves would say) the psychology of the individual.  Anyone who is caught up in the law must grapple with a lot of mental and moral challenges, and those do have an impact on them personally.  If a story I write occasionally gets a reader thinking about, asking questions about, or just curious about jurisprudence and the ways laws work, I'm a happy writer.

.Nevets.

Step Into My Parlor

All---

Feels like a day with enough swirling good and bad around me that it's probably a good time to share a few likes and dislikes, and let you get to know a bit more about the quirks behind the Nevets.

First, the really exciting news: I've completed Sublimation, just shy of 100K words at this point.  I'm in the middle of one final solo revision, and then I'll be handing it over to a few readers and an editor.  Then, assuming there's not too much major work to be done, I'll begin querying agents.  I'm incredibly excited about this book, a dark psycho-philosophical thriller about rules and gamesmanship in a surreal vortex of violence and personal collapse.

Another good thing going on right now is improved health.  I've not really talked about it or made a  big deal, and I will continue to do neither, but I wanted to share this as an encouragement.  Over the course of the past eighteen months or so I've lost about sixty pounds.  I'm still not at my ideal weight, but I already feel much better, and while I still suffer from terrible allergies and some other health issues, there's no question that I have more energy and stamina to get through the day.

On the other hand, something that frustrates me more than it should.  Things should just do what they're supposed to do. When a door doesn't open, a container holds food other than it's labelled for, or a video glitches and fails, it really jars me.  Even worse, when a book is interrupted by another book . . .

What's that?

Yes, today I received my copy of Stories for Sendai. I asked Rose to take my picture with it when she had a chance, and then, as I was flipping through the pages I started to get confused.  Apparently Michelle and JC had used some excerpts of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland in among the stories.  Strange choices, but editors will be editors.  It seemed extra strange that they included artwork.  Even stranger, that there was a table of contents for Common Sense.  Then, I realized that these weren't excerpts.  They were entire books.  A book nested within a book, nested within a book.  And the interruption was right in the middle of a story.  Jarring.  Frustrating.  Agonizing.

But after a quick conversation with Michelle to confirm that not all the printed volumes were shipping like that, I was able to use the pains-free, questions-free Amazon replacement process and I have a corrected book shipping to me already.  It's being well handled, but it definitely played straight into a hangup of mine.

Charles Frederick Gill,
image by Leslie Ward
for Vanity Fair (1891)

On a more ambiguous note, without reference to any specifics, I will also say that the past few days (between Battlestar Galactica and the news), I've been once again reminded just how much I get into jurisprudence.  I don't mean trial news or courtroom drama.  I mean the actual legal, philosophical, and ethical nuances which go into the operations of a legal system, especially our American adversarial system.  Always gets my heart beating just a little faster.  Even when I was just tutoring students in comm law, which is pretty dang boring.  Jurisprudence really is, in its own right, a battle between rules and gamesmanship, both of which I adore.

Little known fact: There was a time I was thinking seriously about law school, but was frightened off mostly by the money.

Less known fact: When I was thirteen or so, I checked out several volumes of the Indiana code and read through them so that I could understand the difference in nuance between larceny, burglary, and grand theft.

And then, ending on a really positive note: I got to have a brief exchange with writer and Twitter-friend Shopgirl about the Chinese langauge today and how cool the Beijing accent is.  Makes me grin.  I really don't understand it, but there's no denying it: as much as I enjoy other languages, there's something about Mandarin Chinese that just hits deep inside me and resonates from head to toe.

.Nevets.