Timeless Character Review: Lucy Preston

The new group of characters I will be reviewing is…the characters from Timeless.

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the television series Timeless. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the first two seasons.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

In this series of weekly blog posts, I will examine character using the characters from Timeless to explore how writers can create fully dimensional, human characters that audiences and readers can relate to.

There is a myth about smart girls. She has the brains, but not the looks or the social intelligence. In Timeless, Lucy Preston (Abigail Spencer) breaks that myth entirely. Lucy is a history professor who is hired by a private organization to join a team that will travel through time and stop a terrorist from changing history.  The other members of the team are Wyatt Logan (Matt Lanter), a former member of the military and Rufus Carlin (Malcolm Barrett), a scientist who is also in charge of piloting the time machine.

Though Lucy is the brains of the outfit, she is not the damsel in distress and not seen as less than compared to her male colleagues. Lucy is smart, tough and can roll with the punches. She also has an interesting relationship with Wyatt, which starts off as strictly business, but becomes more complicated as they get to know each other.

To sum it up: When it comes to how women are portrayed on the page and on the screen, they are often put into a box and kept in the box over the course of the narrative. Lucy Preston stepped out of the box in the first episode and never looked back. Though she is smart, she is not just relegated to the smart girl box. She is thoroughly capable of being part of the team and able to stand on her own two feet.

Writers, whether they know it or not, can change the world. The writing team behind Timeless understands this, especially when it comes to how women are portrayed and seen in popular media. In creating Lucy, they are not only changing the fictional world in Timeless, but helping to advance women in the real world to real and lasting equality.

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Throwback Thursday-16 and Pregnant (2009-2014)

Becoming a parent is the hardest task anyone can take on.

It’s even more difficult when the mom to be is still a child herself. 16 and Pregnant aired on MTV from 2009-2014. Each episode follows four young ladies who find themselves to be pregnant. Not only must they deal with everything that comes with being a teenager, they are also faced with the fact that within a matter of months, they will have a child of their own to raise and care for.

Shot documentary style, 16 and pregnant explores what it is like to have a baby when you are still a baby yourself. Some have argued that this program glamorizes what it is like to become a teenage parent. Other have argued that it has helped to decrease the level of teen births in America. I watched this show briefly as an adult, so I can only review the show based on my experiences as an adult. My perspective on 16 and Pregnant is that while it is still a reality show, it takes a hard look at a what it is like to make adult decisions when you are still young yourself.

Do I recommend it? Maybe.

Letters to a Young Feminist Book Review

Phyllis Chesler is one of the pioneers of the second wave of feminism.

After spending a half a century in the movement, she has learned a thing or two. In her 1997 book, Letters to a Young Feminist, she is not only writing to the up and coming generation of feminists, but she is also breaking down the movement into digestible ideas. In the book, the list of topics she writes about includes parenthood, marriage,  why the right to choose important, the cattiness that often occurs between women, etc.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it because what Ms. Chesler is writing about needs to be talked about openly and honestly. While she writes with authority, her writing does not come off like an adult scolding a child. She is using her experience to guide the women who will one day pick up the mantle of feminism and continue what Ms. Chesler and her colleagues started decades ago.

I absolutely recommend it.

It’s Called A Public Library For A Reason

If a book is a treasure, then the public library is a temple with countless and priceless treasures.

Paul Dorr is a Christian activist from Iowa. Displeased with a local Pride event last week, he burned several library books that belonged to the Orange City Public Library. The books were burned because they encouraged the reader to see beyond the stereotypes of the LGBTQ community.

While freedom of speech guarantees that Mr. Dorr can say what he likes without fear of repercussion, he cannot just burn books just because he disagrees with the subject matter. Especially books that are not his.

History has taught us that when books are burned, bodies come soon after.

It’s one thing to disagree with the subject of a book, it’s another thing to destroy it because it does not fit in with your personal beliefs.