RocCityRoller Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Spring 2012: Karen is a suburban princess and has been taught she must get a degree to 'get ahead'. Karen's parents pay for extra study for her SAT. She gets a high SAT score. Karen wants to go to the fancy liberal arts college she has been accepted to. Until now daddy has given her everything she wanted, but now her parents who saved for a SUNY school can only afford to partially pay for her college. Eric grew up in the city, in a small apartment in an old run down building. Instead of learning math or science he was told to read 'White Rage' by the local school district and to be a victim because society is racist against black men. Eric had the library to study for his SAT. Eric's SAT score was below average. Eric was accepted to a few colleges, but is bright and has a mind for science. He has a grounded single parent home who could not afford a SUNY degree. His grand dad tells him to pursue a career instead of taking on debt at college. Both graduate High School. YR1: 2013 Karen: Big graduation party, $3k earned. Karen takes on 20k in loans to attend the 'elite' NE liberal arts college she was accepted to. She takes a lot of introductory courses. No marketable skills. Mom and dad pay some of her tuition and for her spring break. Eric: Listens to his grand-dad and goes to the local IBEW Hall and signs on as an apprentice electrician making $10/hr. It will take @8000 hrs experience to become a journeyman electrician. He puts in overtime to learn everything he can and become a journeyman electrician. Much of the work is grunt work, carrying and laying cable. He makes some mistakes but that is why a Master Electrician is there to check his work. Eric learns from early errors quickly. YR2: 2014 Karen: Takes on 20k more in loans and decides to fight systemic 'patriarchy' and becomes a gender studies major, despite the fact her dad gave her everything he could. Her NE school is 90% white. She has no marketable skills. Karen is argumentative at home, but her parents still pay for her spring break. Eric: Eric is in yr 2 of an apprenticeship to learn a skill at $10/hr, despite not having a dad in the house. He wants to be a self made man. At the end of the yr he has over 5000 hrs onsite, and a small bank roll to help his mom pay the bills. He makes fewer mistakes, and is always ready to help. YR3: 2015 Karen: Takes on another 25k in loans for her gender studies degree that has an inherent bias in her degree of choice. 9 of 10 of her professors is hard left in ideology. Group think starts to set in with Karen. Karen is now rude to her dad, and argumentative with her mom for 'being so soft' and 'not a real feminist'. No Spring Break now for Karen. Karen's younger brother also wants to go to college in a year, but the family can't afford to help pay for two kids to go to private college. Eric: Eric puts in more overtime to help reach the 8000 hr threshold, and studies for his journeyman test. His white foreman helps him, because of Eric’s work ethic. Eric shares his extra income with his family. They move to the suburbs where his younger sister can get a better education. He takes a small vacation to the Caribbean with his buddies paid for in cash. YR 4: 2016 Karen: Another 30k in debt, since the family has to help pay for two degrees and tuition has gone up. She is studying gender wage discrepancies for her dissertation. Karen has done well and is told she is an elite scholar. Karen must help women and minorities 'fight the system'. She graduates Magna ***** Laude with a BA in Gender Studies from a fancy NE college. Eric: Exceeds the 8000 hr threshold as an apprentice, and passes his journeyman electrician test. He is on job sites with white, black and latino workers daily. Together they help build a new mid-rise tower in their city. Eric now makes $30/hr as a journeyman electrician. He needs 4000 more hours, or two years to become a master electrician. End of YR4: 2017 Karen: 95k in debt. Her monthly loan payments are @$800 a month. She has troubles getting work with a BA in Gender Studies. Obviously the patriarchy is at its worst keeping her down because she is a woman. She can only find work in a call center for $12 an hour. Mom and Dad are stressed out figuring out how to send their son to college and help Karen. Karen moves back home to repay her loans, but buys what she feels she is entitled to, racking up 10k in credit card debt. Eric: Has no debt and a $35k bank roll. He has a job paying $35/hr. He lived at home, but payed half the bills to assist his mom. He has work buddies of all colors and backgrounds. His sister is also into a friend, but she is thriving in her new environment. Her new friends are teaching her how to code websites. He moves into a mid level apartment of his own at $1200 a month. YR5: 2017 Karen is in debt and stressed out living at home. She decides to date online. She sees Eric's profile and they meet for a date. Eric, flush with cash, takes Karen on a great date to the best restaurant in the city. During dinner Karen can not stop talking about systemic racism and sexism. She goads Eric to tell her of the systemic racism he has seen at work. He tells her of his poor education due to the city school district. He wished they focused more on STEM courses and life skills, instead of nonsense like 'White Rage'. He can not agree with her take on racism since his actual work environment is very diverse. When Karen finds out what Eric makes she goes on an embarrassing public rant about sexism and the patriarchy. How does a Magna Sum Laude woman from a top notch NE college only make $12 and hour, while an 'uneducated man' makes $35 an hour? This is obviously a sexist outrage! Eric takes her home, but will not date her again. Karen: Bought a SUV she can not afford, and resents her dad now who puts his son’s education above her SUV. She was Magna ***** Laude in Gender Studies from a fancy college. Eric: Leases a fancy car and turns in the keys and gets a new one when it gets old. His BMW is a symbol of pride he can afford, but he won't be stuck with a money pit. He also has no debt. Eric does not want a ‘car payment’ in the traditional sense, he wants to always have a new car and can afford it. YR6: 2018 Karen: takes 40k in loans to go back to college to get her Masters degree in Gender Studies, where at worst she can teach local college courses on the obvious gender inequality she has seen 'dating men like Eric.' She begins to date Joe, a guy affiliated with a group called ANTIFA. ANTIFA hates 'the current system' since it is inherently racist and sexist. They attend many virulent rallies in the name of women and minorities. Her colleges support this behavior. Eric: Finishes his 4000 hours as a journeyman, and becomes a master electrician in only two years. He now makes $50 an hour minimum. 100k is now an easy reach if he wants it. His sister has become a strong coder too. She helps Eric create a small business web site. YR7: 2019 Karen takes on another 40k in loans and finishes her gender studies Masters Degree. She is more radicalized than ever and believes women will never 'get a fair chance'. She attends any rally over any 'outrage'. Even with a MA in Gender Studies, she can only get a call center job paying $12/hr. Joe has the same type of job, but likes craft beer and his beard. Eric: Works with some business partners he worked with in the past and proves himself to be a very good project manager. Soon construction companies are asking if Eric will strike out on his own. He buys a small house in the suburbs and finds out he has good neighbors who help each other out. His neighbor only charges him 50% of rate to fix his plumbing. He fixes a neighbor's electrical wiring for 50% of cost. He has been accepted 'in the circle.' His website is gaining traction due to the efforts of his work and his sister. YR8: 2020 Karen: Is living with ANTIFA Joe in a small apartment in Eric's old building. She has her MA in Gender Studies, and Joe has a MA in Anthropology. They are locally sourced vegans and host parties of like minded broke radicals from other colleges. Karen owes $1k a month in student loans, as does Joe. They barely scrape together the rent. They support Bernie Sanders in the 2020 campaign because he will magically wave away their student loans at tax payer expense. Eric: Decides to open a small business in the old neighborhood he grew up in, and speaks to the high school he attended about his path. He hires his sister as a % of his business. He downplays radical politics and racism. He supports the virtue of STEM education. Eric brings on 2 new apprentices from his former high school at $12 an hour and teaches them the virtues of hard work. March 2020 - COVID: Karen and Joe: As basic call center workers, Karen and Joe get to collect unemployment from NYS and the Federal benefit of $600 a month. Eric: Since Eric is a small business, he has to shut down and can not collect any benefits at all according to New York and Andrew Cuomo. His 2 employees are left in limbo. May 2020 - Greg Floyd Murder: Karen and Joe: They have been waiting for this moment. Rallies have occurred due to the racist murder of Greg Floyd by Officer Chauvin all over the country. Most have been peaceful. But the Karen's and Joe's of the city dress up in their ANTIFA 'riot gear' and head out to the peaceful protests to stir up trouble. Rioting occurs and local businesses in the neighborhood are not spared. They fire bomb every business they can in the neighborhood. No one knows why other than anarchy. The bank on the corner gets fire bombed first. The Autozone is next. Eric and his apprentices speed toward their business. They park haphazardly and rush out of the car. Eric rounds the corner. It is already too late for his neighbor. The riot has smashed and looted the Korean grocery store next to Eric's business. It gets set to flame after being pillaged. That was a first generation American family, what did they do to deserve this? A woman in a baliklava lights a molotov cocktail. Eric yells to her to stop! He sees her and recognizes Karen even in her riot gear. She sees him, and delights in what will happen next. The guy next to her smashes in the window to Eric's business, and she throws in the lit Molotv Cocktail. The building standing since 1845 becomes ablaze. Eric rushes into the blaze trying to rescue the people living in the apartments upstairs. Karen and Joe yell ‘Black Lives Matter’ and run like cockroaches. Eric never came out again. He was consumed in the flames trying to rescue the family above his business. No one survived. Karen, Joe and other members of ANTIFA continued to rage destruction on the neighborhood in the name of ‘Black Lives Matter’, and were never held accountable for their actions. JG “I hear a lot of talk these days about our direct action program alienating former friends. I would rather feel that they are bringing to the surface many latent prejudices which were always there.” MLK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregPersons Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Cute story. Some logic gaps and questionable decisions with the prose. But I'd say you have a real shot at the title for best short story from a fifth grader in the region. Did you become so engrossed in writing this story that you began to feel it was real? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxx Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 simple logic here... Eric is educated, Karen is schooled. amiright @GregPersons?? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Guy In Pants Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 1 hour ago, Foxx said: simple logic here... Eric is educated, Karen is schooled. amiright @GregPersons?? Or....... Karen is an easily manipulated and stupid B word Eric is an independent thinker with a desire to be a good person. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocCityRoller Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 On 6/14/2020 at 6:05 AM, GregPersons said: Cute story. Some logic gaps and questionable decisions with the prose. But I'd say you have a real shot at the title for best short story from a fifth grader in the region. Did you become so engrossed in writing this story that you began to feel it was real? I know and grew up with an Eric. I am proud of him. I am happy to report he is doing better than me. I went to school with a lot of Karens owing 50-100k in student debt with bull#### BS (or as you prefer BA) degrees What race am I GregParsons? Where did I grow up? What was my environment? What is my education level? Since it seems to be a point of pride to you. I'm so happy you are 'fighting for me'. Must be easy for you to figure out since I disagree with you on almost everything. If I am 'one of those' will you call me a coconut, or maybe an Oreo, maybe an Uncle Tom? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocCityRoller Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 On 6/14/2020 at 6:05 AM, GregPersons said: Cute story. Some logic gaps and questionable decisions with the prose. But I'd say you have a real shot at the title for best short story from a fifth grader in the region. Did you become so engrossed in writing this story that you began to feel it was real? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 I think this should serve as the official 'Karen' thread. I love this *****....and I actually know this one that is blowing up today in CA. She's a hateful witch who deserves every bit of what she's getting. https://www.comicsands.com/park-ranger-karen-racism-asian--2646352812.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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