Character-Based Brainstorm

[ Sarrah ] Gordys mom

[ Ambahr ] Gordy
[Thalia] Jr.

Gordy
Chapter

What our character does (if anything)

1
2

Slouching
Towards
Thanksgiving

1
6

Rowdy
Gives Me
Advice
About
Love

Jr., Rowdy, Penelpoe

1
8

Dont
Trust
Your
Computer

Jr., Rowdy, Penelope

-He(Gordy) had the sudden urge to prevent me(Jr.)
from hugging him.

2
4

Valentine
Heart

When Junior loses his grandma, gordy shows Junior

a book about grief by Euripides (a greek writer from
the fifth century BC. When Junior goes back to school
Mrs. Jeremy says We have a special quest. Arnold
Spirit Gordy defended Junior by slamming his book
and walking out.

Other ideas for how

this might fit into our
audio diary

Full Dialogue from Book

SLOUCHING TOWARDS THANKSGIVING:
Uh, actually, Gordy said, Arnold is right about the petrified wood. Thats what happens.
Thanks for what? he said.
I wasnt doing it for you. Gordy said, I did it for science.
I dont have time. he said, Mr. Orcutt and I have to debug some PCs. Dont you have PCs? They are
sickly and fragile and vulnerable to viruses. PCs are like the French people living during the bubonic
plague.
I much prefer MACs, dont you? he asked, Theyre so poetic.
Gordy sighed.
So, Mr. Spirit, he said, Are you going to bore me with your tautologies all day or are you going to
actually say something?
You dont know what a tautology is, do you? he asked.
Youre lying.
Yes you are.
Because your eyes dilated, your breathing rate increased a little bit, and you started to sweat.
Gordy sighed again.
A tautology is a repetition of the same sense in different words. he said.
Its a redundancy.
Yes.
Gordy smiled.
Thats not exactly a tautology, but its funny. You have a singular wit.
Gordy laughed too.

Whats so funny? he asked.

Well, I am a bit of an Anglophile.
Its someone who loves Mother England.
Im quite aware of my differences. I wouldnt classify them as weird.
Im going to be late for class. Gordy said. Youre going to be late for class. Perhaps you should, as
they say, cut to the chase.
Excuse me?
Gordy stepped back.
I assure you, he said, I am not a homosexual.
Gordy studied me now.
Listen, he said one afternoon in the library, You have to read a book three times before you know it.
The first time you read it for the story. The plot. THe movement from scene to scene that gives the book
its momentum, its rhythm. Its like riding a raft down a river. Do you understand?
Yes you do. he said.
The second time you read a book, you read it for its history. For its knowledge of history. You think
about the meaning of each word, and where that word came from. I mean, you read a novel that has the
word spam in it, and you know where that word comes from, right?
Yes, thats what it is, but who invented the word, who first used it, and how has the meaning of the word
changed since it was first used?
Well, you have to look all that up. If you dont treat each word that seriously then youre not treating the
novel seriously.
Whats your point? Gordy asked.
So you take your cartoons as seriously as you take books?
No, not at all. Gordy said, If youre good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of
the world, then it cant be wrong, dude.
But dont take anything too seriously, either. Gordy said.

You read a book for the story, for each of its words. Gordy said. And you draw your cartoons for the
story, for each of the words and images. And, yeah, you need to take that seriously, but you should also
read and draw because really good books and cartoons give you a boner.
You should get a boner! You have to get a boner! Gordy shouted, Come on!
Look at all these books. he said.
There are three thousand four hundred and twelve books here. Gordy said, I know that because I
counted them.
Yes, its a small library. Its a tiny one. But if you read one of these books a day, it would still take you
almost ten years to finish.
The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you dont know.
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Gordy said, Now doesnt that give you a boner?
Gordy blushed.
Well, I dont mean boner in the sexual sense. Gordy said. I dont think you should run through life
with a real ________. But you should

Rowdy Gives Me Advice About Love

Let me do some research on that
Hey, Arnold, I looked up in love with a white girl on Google and found an article about that white girl
named Cynthia who disappeared in Mexico last summer. You remember how her face was all over the
papers and everybody said it was such a sad thing.
Well this article says that over two hundred Mexican girls have disappeared in the last three years in the
same part of the country. And nobody says much about that. And thats racist. The guy who wrote the
article says people care more about beautiful white girls than they do about everybody else on the planet.
White girls are privileged. They are damsels in distress.
I think it means you're just a racist asshole like everybody else.
Don't Trust Your Computer
Hey is that somebodys posterior?
Whose butt is that?

How come he hates you?

But you still live there don't you? You are just going to school here.
If that were true then wouldn't all white people be successful.
Do they think you are a fruit or something?
Ah, so they think you are a traitor.
Well, life is a constant struggle between an individual being a member of the community.
Well in the early days of humans, the community was our only protection against predators and against
starvation. We survived because we trusted one another.
Oh, yes, we are. Weird people still get banished.
And me
Don't get so sentimental