A new chapter of my life is about to begin.

I’ll be attending a local university to pursue an M.A. in English with a writing concentration. I hope to use this degree to bolster my career.

This is something I’ve thought about doing for a long time. When I graduated college, I believed I could take on the world. My peers advanced in their careers relatively easily, it seemed. I was nervous, for sure, but I was confident I would make quick headway.

Then reality set in.

A few ill-fitting jobs and one bad economy later, and I found myself a struggling artist at a day job I didn’t much care for. It was like that for a long time. Yes, I did keep writing. I wrote many things. It’s my passion, and unlike what Mike Rowe says, I’m good at it. I’m a dreamer by nature. It’s who I am. If writers took his advice, they’d quit submitting stories after two or three rejections. Trust me, I know, because I’ve been in that boat (and it felt like the Titanic).

Someone suggested a few years ago I go to grad school. I wasn’t sure I could do it. I’d grown to hate debt, so I refused to take out more student loans. But after a little investigating, I learned I could become a teaching assistant to pay for it, so that became my goal. I took a class over a summer to make it happen. Unfortunately, there was either a lot of competition for a TA position or no openings. So, I waited.

Now the time seems to be right. If all goes as planned, I start in the fall. I plan to move to avoid driving up to two hours both ways to the university.

This is just one of several major changes I’m making. Honestly, it’s overwhelming. I haven’t liked my current situation, but I got used to it. “Better the devil you know,” as the old saying goes. It was my “normal,” even if I hated it. Now I’m making a paradigm shift so huge, it feels more like a paradigm earthquake.

I’ve realized, however, that (besides God and the fact that everything freezes) the only constant in the universe is change. We may fight against it, but it will come. Personally, I’d rather make the changes myself. Even that is risky, though. The outcome is rarely certain. I’m reminded of a Bible passage in James 4:13-15: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” Even if you aren’t a Christian, I think you can see the wisdom in this. It’s never good to assume an outcome because it’s uncertain. “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men,” wrote Robert Burns, “Gang aft a-gley.”

Perhaps it’s providential that I’m writing a second nerd/geek devotional with Eric Anderson, and its central theme is change.

Fear not, True Believers. I’ll still be writing. I can’t very well give that up.

What are some significant changes you’ve navigated? How did you do it?

It’s been a while, True Believers. My apologies for taking an unintentional holiday hiatus.

During that time you may have heard about a little movie called Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I saw it opening weekend and loved it. Unfortunately, not everyone did. The Internet was lit on fire. Battle lines were drawn. It had a 90-plus percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but the user score was in the fifties. Fans either loved it or hated it. It’s the most polarizing Star Wars film ever released. For many it wasn’t the film they were looking for.

I was shocked, especially when I heard why its detractors didn’t like it. With this blog, I wanted to address the major criticisms because I think they’re unfounded. (Warning: This will include spoilers!)

So, without further ado…

1. Rey’s Parents

Ever since The Force Awakens opened in 2015, fans have theorized that the new character, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), was as powerful as she was with the Force despite a lack of training because she had a special lineage. Theories included her being Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter, Han and Leia’s daughter, and (my personal favorite) Luke Skywalker’s daughter.

Guess what? Her parents are nobodies.

Yep. They were losers who sold her for drinking money. At least that’s what the villainous Kylo Ren said. It could be a lie, but I hope it isn’t. It’s far more interesting this way. It makes the Force magical and mystical again. Plus, it shows that greatness can come from ordinary places and that people don’t need a special heritage to be extraordinary.

The problem here, as is common with several of these complaints, is fans were so in love with the movies they’d written in their own heads that they couldn’t accept anything else. Some fans have this crazy idea that if they didn’t get what they expected, the film is bad. So, even if they’re given something better, they reject it.

2. The Mysterious Snoke

Supreme Leader Snoke is an immensely powerful Dark Force master who leads the First Order, which is he Galactic Empire reborn. He was only seen as a hologram in The Force Awakens. We knew nothing about him other than snippets here and there (and most of those were in The Last Jedi). Like with Rey’s parents, fan theories ran wild about him. They expected to have their questions answered in this film.

Then Kylo killed him. The end.

Fans lost their minds. They decried their unanswered questions. They called it a wasted opportunity. To which I say, “Before the prequels, did you ever want to know the Emperor’s backstory? I doubt it. He was there to serve as an irredeemable villain to help propel the other characters’ stories. Snoke serves the same purpose” Again, fans were too married to their theories and expectations.

3. They Ruined Luke Skywalker and then Killed Him!

In this film, Luke Skywalker, the childhood hero of a generation, is a bitter and cynical old man who has cut himself off from the Force. During a flashback we see he had a fleeting moment of weakness and nearly killed Ben Solo (aka Kylo Ren) when the villain was his student. He refuses to help Rey or the Resistance because he blames himself for Ben turning to the Dark Side and helping the First Order to rise.

Many fans said this ruined their childhoods. Their hero was gone. He had lost his happy ending from Return of the Jedi. They probably even preferred the old Expanded Universe (now Legends) version of Luke who is overpowered and perfect.

I’m sorry, but the new film version is more interesting. It makes sense that he would do this. Plus, by the end, he becomes that legendary hero again, but not how you would expect him to. It borders on being a meta-commentary, now that I think about it. Luke uses the Force to astral-project himself across the galaxy to help the Resistance and make Kylo Ren look like a chump. But it strains him so badly he “dies” (i.e. is raptured to the Force like Obi-Wan and Yoda). His story espouses some of the richest and most interesting themes I’ve seen in a Star Wars film in a long time. It’s far from a disservice to the character.

4. So-Called Social Justice Themes.

This has been both criticized and commended. The problem is I think both sides are reading into things. I’ll tackle the most frequent examples:

a. Vice Admiral Holdo and Feminism

Some call this a third-wave feminism film because, as they see it, all the men are weak and all the women are strong. Their go-to example is the new character Vice Admiral Holdo (played by Laura Dern). For whatever reason, she refuses to tell hotheaded flyboy Poe Dameron her plan to help the Resistance escape the First Order, often berating him for stepping out of line. Poe leads a mutiny because of this, although it’s shut down by General Leia after she awakens from a coma.

This was seen as a woman in power emasculating a man for being angry and pushy among other stereotypes third wave feminists throw at men. I didn’t think that at all. Call me naïve, but all I saw was a conflict between an older, cool-headed leader and an impulsive youth. I didn’t care that the person in authority was a woman. Given their personalities, it was natural for them to clash. This is writing drama 101. The problem is no reason is given for her to keep her plan a secret, which gives viewers leeway to read into it. That’s a story problem, though, not an ideological one.

Canto Bight Casino and Decrying the Rich

Finn and a new character named Rose (more on her later) go on a side quest to a casino planet to locate a computer hacker to help the Resistance. The place is the Mos Eisley cantina meets Las Vegas. There’s gambling, drunkenness, animal exploitation, and slavery. The money that flows into this place was garnered from arms dealing. In fact, the merchants on this planet sold weapons to both the Resistance and the First Order, essentially fueling the war to maintain their market.

Some saw this an SJW commentary on the “one-percent,” who are exploitative and unscrupulous.  In other words, all rich people are evil. I, on the other hand, didn’t get that message. What I got was, “War profiteering through arms dealing is wrong, especially when they sell to both sides.” Capitalism isn’t inherently evil, but it can be used for evil purposes, as seen here.

c. Rose Tico and Diversity

Rose is Asian. Finn is black. Poe is Hispanic. Some have sarcastically called these characters “diversity hires” or said it was about time Star Wars didn’t have all white characters (to which I say, did you forget about Lando Calrissian?).

Guess what? I don’t care. A character’s skin color doesn’t matter to me. I barely acknowledged their ethnicities when I saw the film. They were just cool new characters. Unless viewers are looking for diversity because they think they can only relate to characters who look like them, I doubt anyone cares. This isn’t Star Trek where the diversity was meant to be a statement about humanity of the future evolving past prejudices. Even then, it was only brought up when it was necessary. In these new Star Wars films, nobody makes a big deal about the characters’ ethnicities. Only fans do.

There you have it. My rebuttals to the major complaints against The Last Jedi. That isn’t to say it’s a perfect film. I do have some story issues with it, but they’re minor by comparison to the good stuff. This is a challenging film, so I can understand why some people don’t like it, but I think that’s what makes it as good as it is.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? Why or why not? What’d you think of The Last Jedi?

Happy Thanksgiving, True Believers!

It’s that time of year again! As usual, I list the many things I’m thankful for since, well, that’s what Thanksgiving is about. It’s not just food, family, and football. Admittedly, this list only changes a little bit from year to year, but I’m thankful for the same things every Thanksgiving.

So, with that, here’s my list for 2017.

1. God the Father
2. Jesus Christ
3. The Holy Spirit
4. My salvation
5. The Bible
6. My wonderful family
7. My two nephews
8. My amazing friends
9. My equally amazing writer friends
10. The Fort Wayne Ballroom Company (FWBC)
11. My “dance family” at FWBC
12. That I continue to perform at FWBC’s showcases and other events with wonderful instructors/partners
13. Ballroom/social dancing
14. For all the conventions I attended this year
15. My car, which I named Silver Sable (235,000 miles and still going!)
16. My church
17. My gaming consoles and video games
18. My book collection
19. My movie collection
20. My laptop
21. My music collection
22. My new podcast, Kaijuvision Radio
23. My day job
24. That I’m 2+ years ahead on my student loan repayments!
25. My cosplays
26. That I’m a published author
27. Hades Publications, which published my first novel and still has me under contract
28. CreateSpace, which publishes my self-published books
29. That I’ll have a new co-authored novel coming out soon! (More on that later)
30. My strong sense of justice
31. The house I live in
32. My talent for writing
33. all for One Productions
34. Volunteering for afO
35. My YouTube channel
36. For being part of the team writing at Children of the Wells
37. That I’m creative
38. My intellectual mind
39. My poet’s soul
40. My warrior’s heart
41. That I can read
42. My iPhone 7S
43. That I’m an American
44. That I’m a Hoosier
45. Summertime
46. October (the “sweet spot” of autumn)
47. Changing seasons
48. Christian Gamers Guild
49. GameChurch
50. Theology Gaming
51. My sense of humor
52. The North Webster Community Public Library
53. The Constitution, which lists my unalienable rights.
54. My “superpowers” (rarely get sick, my “BS” sense, look much younger than I am, heal fast from injuries).
55. My health
56. Netflix
57. That I got to meet Stan Lee this year
58. My camera
59. My knack for photography
60. Pretzels
61. Exercising at the gym.
62. My comic book collection
63. Chimp’s Comics
64. E. Comics
65. My board game collection
66. My nerdiness
67. The police and their service
68. The military and their service
69. My journal(s)
70. My website (NathanJSMarchand.com)
71. My fandoms
72. Gen-Con
73. The family pets
74. Bookstores
75. Spaghetti
76. Highland toffee (the family recipe)
77. Amazon.com
78. Movie theatres
79. My college degree
80. Running water
81. That I’m tall
82. That I still have all my hair
83. Football
84. (Most of) My coworkers
85. The generosity of others
86. The TUFW Alumni and Friends Center
87. That I attended TUFW
88. The YMCA
89. For living in the countryside
90. Plumbing
91. The Internet (though I sometimes wonder if it’s that great…)
92. My big tax refund
93. Facebook (again, sometimes I wonder if it’s worthwhile…)
94. Holidays
95. Family reconciliation
96. My intelligence
97. Arizona Tea Herbal Energy Tonic (cheaper than any energy drink!)
98. YouTube (though again, it’s merits are often debatable)
99. Candy
100. And finally…MORE STAR WARS!

     What are you thankful for this year?