​Star Wars is a Tragedy
 
I don’t rant that often but I have a bone to pick with the Star Wars universe. As much as I love interplanetary travel, the variety of alien life, and laser swords there is a profoundly tragic trend in the Disney canon. All the romantic couples are tragic. At least all the couples I know about. I’m a lifelong SW fan but I don’t consume all the media and there are tons of books and comics I have not read.
 

• Han & Leia - estranged, living separate lives
• Anakin & Padme - he is responsible for her death
• Jyn Erso & Cassian Andor - both killed on Scarif
• Han & Qi’ra - he was ditched by her, who knows if they ever meet again
• Obi-wan & Satine - both chose duty over love, she dies in his arms
• Kanan & Hera - he’s dead, leaving her alone
• Beckett & Val - she sacrificed herself for the team, he was later killed
• Ben & Rey - he’s dead, leaving her alone
• Poe & Zorri - we aren't sure the nature of their relationship, but since she was ready to kill him it makes this list.

 
I suppose if Cassian and Jyn had lived they might have been okay, but given Disney’s track record so far, I doubt it.
 
Of course this is all current canon. In the Legends books, the old canon that Disney scrapped, Han & Leia are married with three kids and they are as feisty as they ever were in the movies. Luke is married to Mara Jade. SInce there are several comics set after the original trilogy full of Skywalkers I can only conclude that Luke and Mara have kids (I’m sure a quick check on Wookiepedia would confirm this.)
 
Not so in the Disneyfied version Star Wars, which is weird considering Disney is known for it’s happy endings. To “disneyfy” something is a word in the dictionary.
 
verb. cause (something) to become reminiscent of a film or theme park created by the Walt Disney Company, especially in being sanitized or romanticized. (bold text, my emphasis)
 
Thus the crux of my complaint with Disney. Disney’s MO for most of their history has been to take out all the sad parts of fairy tales and give us a happy ending. Guess that only applies to European folktales. Walking out of The Rise of Skywalker, I was thoroughly depressed. They try to play it off as a happy ending, but the First Order is still out there, the big space fight in the movie was against only the Emperor's ships (the FInal Order) so presumably the legions First Order people are still around to contend with. There is no central government and our heroes are camping out on some jungle planet.
 
By contrast one of the absolute best things about Parks & Recreation is that all the couples portrayed are in happy, healthy relationships.
 

• Jerry & Gayle
• Leslie & Ben
• Ann & Chris
• Andy & April
• Ron & Diane
• Tom & Wendy

 
Even the player, Tom, learns how to have a good relationship by the end of the show. Parks & Rec is almost a celebration of good relationships. Most of the peer to peer connections are exemplary. The whole conflict of the final season, Ron & Leslie’s rivalry, ends with them as better friends than before their fall out.
 
Moving on…
 
If you want to get super picky Mr. & Mrs. Frog in the Mandalorian seem to be thriving and happy. So there, way to go Disney, we have one happy couple, tertiary characters, but sure, we’ll count it. Mando on the other hand avoids relationships like Anakin avoids sand. Presumably out of duty, but we don’t actually know why since we know he can care deeply about something, i.e. Baby Yoda.
 
Tragedy runs throughout many parts of the Star Wars universe, it is about a never ending war after all. If you Google “Star Wars” and “Tragedy” you’ll get plenty of hits examining all aspects of this idea. I wanted to highlight the central relationships since characters are what makes me, and most people, care about the story in the first place. It’s really sad to me that in such a vast and interesting universe no one seems to get a happily ever after ending.
 
This week’s chatter is about them bringing in Mara Jade into the current cannon so we’ll see how that turns out. Considering Luke is alone on an island during the events of The Last Jedi, it doesn’t look good for them. If you know of any happy couples in the Star Wars universe, please let me know, I need something to hope for.

Just finished reading another article about the the importance having a "platform" for new and established authors. I get having a presence, but this whole thing about authors HAVE TO have followers, and traffic stats to their website is a bunch of BS if you were to ask me.

First of all. I don't read blogs, so why would I write one? I know other people read blogs but I'm not one of them. I don't like spending my time on the internet, reading or writing. It takes up my time and creative energy trying to think of stuff to say so why would I use that energy on a blog and not my story. At least with a novel I can get a sense of accomplishment. Not so with this thing.

Second of all. The HAVE TO part really pisses me off. As far as I can tell there is no one way going about this whole writing thing. On one level I envy Phillip K. Dick and Issac Asimov, they didn't have to put up with this nonsense. I do recognize that I would not have the freedom to publish either my if I had been a part of that era, but they did things their way. Why can't I? There is more than one way to succeed and I doubt it will have anything to do with this blog. If the universe wants to prove me wrong, then go ahead.

Thirdly. Stephanie Meyers hasn't blogged anything since October. J.K Rowling doesn't have a blog of any kind, just updates on various HP things. Stephen King just posts stuff about his books. It's one giant advertisement. Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin admittedly have more interesting sites but nothing I'm gonna bookmark and check every week.

If those people don't have blogs, why should I HAVE TO? What those aforementioned writers do do is interact. On social media, in bookstores, on other people's blogs. THAT I am down for. Interaction. A conversation. Not this exercise in ego. Say something interesting so the agents will look at you. I don't want to trick people with click bait to going to my website just to get my numbers up. So dumb.

Having a website, yes. It makes sense to have a place where people can go and learn more about the writer and have the opportunity to interact with them but this list of do's and don't's is asinine. The only thing I've seen across all arenas of life, especially in art is persistence, perseverance, and long-suffering. And none of that has to do with a having a regular blog. I'm in this for the long game, it's a marathon, not a sprint. I've set my pace and I have my eyes on the target.

So having said that, I am abandoning this notion of HAVE TO. If I have something interesting to say I will will write something up. Usually if I have something interesting to say it will be on FB or Twitter but otherwise this page will now just be a digital archive of stuff I said once. 

Sayonara people.