jennifer and jeremiah

by nick nelson

jennifer lives in apartment 3-f. jeremiah lives in apartment 5-k. they have never met, or seen each other, except one time on the elevator, when neither took any notice of the other. jennifer cares. she wishes the world were a better place, that people everywhere could get along, and that every child on the planet could be guaranteed a decent life. she especially cares about climate change, and the rights of women. not that she does not care about racism, homophobia, trans rights, and colonialism. she believes in science, as long as it respects the ancient wisdom of indigenous peoples. her favorite book is the color purple, by alice walker. she does not have a favorite movie, and does not watch television. she puts in time as a volunteer at a homeless shelter three times a week. jeremiah only cares about himself, not that he takes particularly good care of himself. he believes that the world was a better place when it was not only controlled by straight white men, but when their supremacy was never questioned. he belonged to a fraternity in college, and still maintains contacts with many of his fraternity brothers. his favorite movie is the godfather, and his favorite tv show is tucker carlson tonight. he is an alcoholic, and also abuses drugs. his only joy and purpose in life derives from laughing at the suffering and humiliation of others, especially people of color. there are eight billion people in the world. four billion of them are jennifer. and four billion of them are jeremiah. there is really nothing else to say. br>