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78b5c6b
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"At last evil and corruption take over," Mearth laughed icily, her eyes filled with a wild glow. "Someday you'll become so unstable that you'll kill anyone you've ever cared about in your life, and when that happens I only hope that you leave any outsider witnesses alone as you fade out of the world." Alecto froze for a moment, completely silent, setting the camera down on the fence and thinking things over. Mandy could see him clearly now that he was on the video, but he looked obscure. "What's on your corrupted mind, pretty little Sydney Tar Ponds?" Mearth asked, dropping the wire cutters and stepping closer to him. "I hate you," he answered icily. "Oh, no you don't, you just think you hate me," Mearth insisted, her voice kind, caring, almost loving. "You didn't mean to try and kill me, you've been worn-out by life, you've been alive a very long time, your mind is a storm and your usual insight is gone." Mandy was inclined to agree with Mearth; he looked like a storm, his eyes had dark shadows under them, he was limping when he walked, he was shivering and coughing and his head was leaning to one side slightly. Nonetheless, he still seemed to be able to reason, because when he noticed Mearth's falsely cheerful words he glared at her hatefully, smoke trailing from his cigarette. "I'm going to tell Cheryl what you've done, all those times you tried to kill me, I'll tell her and she'll know what you did," he threatened. "No Sydney Tar Ponds, you won't," Mearth replied softly, "because if you tell her, I'll kill her and you'll have a few more super 8 home videos to add to the collection of celluloid memories." "...You wouldn't," Alecto exclaimed. "If you really do love her, if you really care about her and she's your friend, you'll stay silent," Mearth told him. "You think what I'm doing is cruel, sadistic, but it isn't... you aren't even a real person, you don't understand." Alecto said nothing back to her. The television screen faded to black and Mandy just sat there in the darkness, her expression blank."
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television
screen
sydney-tar-ponds
super-8
mother-earth
sadistic
watching
silent
movie
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Rebecca McNutt |
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5ac577c
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"With Pollution, emotion is irrelevant, it is not their nature," Mearth sighed, making a face as if she were talking to an ignorant small child. "I didn't create them, humans created the Pollution. Cheryl Nobel, Alecto Steele, Albert Sanders, Olivia Campbell, all my pretty little Representations, there aren't many of them left these days but they're still very dangerous! They're here to tell society all about its mistakes! You don't understand the world of Representations."
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suicide
earth
grief
loss
nature
fear
death
imagination
chernobyl
entity
hazardous
love-canal
tar
tar-sands
toxic-waste
sydney-tar-ponds
cape-breton
nova-scotia
recycle
hippie
disturbing
smog
mother-earth
imaginary
chemicals
representation
coal
green
steel
environment
canada
pollution
storm
dying
scared
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Rebecca McNutt |
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93fbd3c
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"Maybe a holiday miracle will change Mearth's awful behavior," Mandy suggested with optimism. "The only holiday miracle around here is that Mearth hasn't murdered us both yet," said Alecto, lighting another cigarette, his hands shaking erratically. He looked exhausted and terrified, his gray eyes soulless. "Do you know what Mearth likes, Alecto?" Mandy questioned. "Vegetables, she likes celery a lot, and lettuce," Alecto responded in a quiet monotone. "I don't know what else she likes. I've never asked her." "Well, she has to like something... doesn't everyone?" "Not her, Mandy Valems."
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present
miracle
murder
humor
going-green
hoiday
lettuce
mother-earth
comedy
cigarette
christmas
vegetables
gift
|
Rebecca McNutt |
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062ff0e
|
Joining a gang is like sky diving without a parachute. Oh, at first it's all fun, as you take on gravity in a thrilling and exhilarating free fall towards earth. The truth is, anything that is risky and dangerous always starts out as fun. But the odds are always stacked in gravity's favor, for you will eventually come face to face with the earth, and mother earth always wins those battles. The same thing can be said about being in a gang.
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fun
church-youth-group
early-death
exhilarating
free-fall
gang-involvement
joy-ride
parachute
risky-behaviors
sky-diving
thrilling
youngsters
thug-life
joining-a-gang
end-result
at-risk-communities
at-risk-youth
crime-prevention
gang-intervention
gang-members
community-policing
youth-clubs
youth-programs
mother-earth
consequence
street-life
risk-taking
excitement
dangerous
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Drexel Deal |
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18555b7
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Our ancestors said to their mother Earth: 'We are yours'. Modern Humanity said to Nature, 'You are mine'. The Green Man has returned as the living face of the whole earth so that through his mouth we may say to the universe: 'We are one'.
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universe
earth
nature
humanity
green-man
mother-earth
cosmos
|
Sharon Brubaker |
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a690594
|
"Oh, trust me Sydney Tar Ponds, you aren't the first Personification to be forgotten by somebody ordinary," Mearth sighed with a falsely-reassuring smile. Alecto stepped back from her, glaring hatefully. "Sydney Tar Ponds," Mearth added, "I've had so many ordinary people as friends in my life that by now I've forgotten all their names. At first it was difficult... very sad... to see them always leaving, dying, disappearing, ignoring, but after a while I realized that they weren't worth the trouble. I'd rather be in the company of other Personifications. At least they aren't always dropping dead like houseflies or sailing away to parts unknown. Nil sa saol seo ach ceo, i ni bheimid beo, ach seal beag gearr. Wouldn't you agree?" "No," Alecto told her. "I think you're insane."
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loss
human
death
friendship
housefly
mother-earth
personification
ordinary
pollution
friend
irish
forget
sad
insane
dying
memory
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Rebecca McNutt |