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How to Apply | Single Subject Credential Program"What the educator does in teaching is make it possible for the students to become themselves" - Paulo FrierePotential candidate: We are excited for you to take this next step in your educational journey and apply to enroll in our teacher preparation program! The SJSU Single Subject Credential Program is known for effectively preparing transformative educators at the secondary education level in the San Jose region and beyond. See PayScale ranks SJSU education majors #7 in the nation for salary potential.Application UpdatesSummer/Fall 2021 applicantsWe understand that COVID-19 is impacting potential applicants’ ability to complete some of our normal admission requirements. We will update you on all requirements through this web page as we have further information. It is important to note that even if a requirement is waived or deferred, it strengthens your application to complete or show progress toward completing that requirement.Updates as of 9/8/2020 to the Pre-Professional Hours and Certificate of Clearance requirements are detailed below.Updates as of 9/18/2020 to the CBEST and CSET requirements are detailed below.Click here for a one page summary of current requirements. Further information about each requirement is detailed on this "How to Apply" webpage.For questions about current requirements, please contact our Single Subject Credential Program Coordinator Paula Oakes at [email protected] or contact the Teacher Education Department at [email protected]. We are happy to work with you on admissions.Overview of Eligibility and Application RequirementsTo ensure the quality of our program and compliance with California standards, qualified candidates must have a Bachelor’s Degree with at least a 2.75 grade point average. GPA for admission to the university is calculated by the last 60 semester units or by the last 90 quarter units taken or your cumulative GPA, whichever is higher.Note: International coursework may require additional steps of evaluation. See Graduate admission for more details (include hyperlink) (This requirement also reflects that during the program, you must maintain a B average or better to remain in good standing, and you will need a B average to be able to apply for your credential at the end of the program.).You will also need to submit the following materials as part of your application:An official, sealed transcript from each college you have attendedVerification of meeting the Basic Skills requirement (CBEST or equivalent) (Covid Flexibility--see below)Completed Certificate of Clearance1-page resumeVerification of your completed 45 hours of Pre-Professional ExperienceVerification of CSET subject matter competency or Teacher Ed Approved Subject Matter Preparation Program Form (Covid Flexibility--see below)Two letters of recommendation1-page cover letter (optional, unless you are applying for the Yearlong Residency Program, Critical Bilingual Authorization Pathway (CBAP), or Internship Program)Tips:Our Deadlines webpage will help you identify when you need to submit your application materials to SJSU via CalState Apply and to our Teacher Education Department.Admissions to this program occur on a semi-rolling basis, so it is in your best interest to apply as soon as you are prepared to.You should begin to schedule your CBEST and CSET exams as soon as you know you will be applying to this program. It can take time to prepare, receive your results, and retake if necessary.See below for required steps prior to application review. Note: each step may have a number of components.Step 1 | Attend an Applicant Information Session & Meet with Your Subject Area AdvisorRSVP and attend an Applicant Information Session. These sessions provide an overview of the program, address questions and introduce you to advisors and potential future classmates.Contact your Subject Area Advisor to schedule an appointment to complete the following requirements. The process and availability for each advisor will vary.Subject Area Advisor Meeting:Evaluation of Subject Matter Competency (SMC)You will have your transcripts evaluated to determine which CSET exams you need to pass, if any. If you do not have SMC via coursework, you have the option of either taking the additional required coursework or earning passing scores on the required CSET exams in your subject area.Your advisor will forward your SMC Report to the Department of Teacher Education. This required document must be signed by your Subject Area Advisor in order to be admitted into the credential program.Writing taskYou will complete a timed writing task that addresses a specific prompt. This writing sample is reviewed by Teacher Education as part of your application materials. If you need to retake the writing task, you will be notified by email. The writing section of the CBEST does not fulfill this requirement.InterviewThe interview assesses your dispositions toward the teaching profession and also screens for English oral language proficiency. Be prepared to discuss relevant experience, qualities, and interest in education. If your English oral language proficiency is not at the mid-level advanced as defined by the ACTFL you may be called in for further screening.NOTE: The English Education Department interviews are held only once each semester: in Fall, the first Friday in November; in Spring, the second Friday of March.Step 2 | Create Your SJSU Application via CalState ApplyTip: As you go through the application process, keep copies of everything you submit for your entrance application. You will need your documents when you apply for your preliminary credential after completing the program.Create your applicationGo to the Cal State Apply website, select the term you are applying for at the top of the page, and create your account.When searching for Graduate programs at San Jose State University, only enter San Jose in the search field (Do not enter SJSU, San Jose State, or San Jose State University ...just enter San Jose. Otherwise our programs will not populate.).If you're unable to find the semester you desire to apply for, and you know the deadline hasn't passed, go to the CalState Apply home page. Then scroll down and click on the "Select a Term to Apply For" drop-down menu. You should see all of the available semesters in that drop-down menu. Choose your desired semester and click Apply. That will take you to your application. If you click on the "Submit Application" tab at the top of your application, it will confirm which semester you're applying for.For any questions about the "Personal Information," “Academic History," and "Supporting Information" sections and the "Home" tab of the "Program Materials" section of the Cal State Apply application portal, please contact Graduate Admissions by email (preferred) at [email protected] or by phone at 408-283-7500.For any questions regarding the "Program Materials" section (with the exception of the "Home" tab) of the CalState Apply application portal, please read the Program Materials section below or contact us at [email protected] your transcriptsOfficial transcripts are required and must be sent to Graduate Admissions.If your university offers official electronic transcripts, we will also accept this method of delivery. If your university requires an email address to send an official, electronic transcript, the recipient address is: [email protected] mailed transcripts must be sealed and unopened to be accepted as official documents.Transcripts sent by mail should be sent to:Graduate Admissions and Program EvaluationsSan Jose State UniversityOne Washington SquareSan Jose, CA 95192-0017SJSU students do not have to submit SJSU transcripts with your application.International Applicants: Please also visit the SJSU Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations’ International Steps to Admission webpage for further instructions. If you have any questions regarding these instructions, please contact SJSU Graduate Admissions.Step 3 | Upload Your Program Materials to Your CalState Apply Application for the SJSU Teacher Education DepartmentIn CalState Apply Under "Program Materials" submit the following:Note: Keep your copies! Application documents are also required at the end of your successful completion of the program in order to apply for your preliminary credential.Verification of meeting the Basic Skills requirementCOVID Flexibility for Spring/Summer/Fall 2021 Applicants: We stongly recommend completing this requirement by the point of admission, but you do have the option to defer meeting this requirement until you apply for your Preliminary Credential after completing the program. You will not be able to apply for your Preliminary Credential without this requirement. If you have not completely fulfilled this requirement already, please fill out the COVID-19 Exceptions Form (read/follow instructions on form).There are several ways you can meet the basic skills requirement. View this PDF on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) website for a full list of possible options.If you plan to satisfy the Basic Skills requirement by an option other than the CBEST, please contact the SJSU Lurie College of Education Credential Services to have your documentation verified. Once Credential Services has reviewed the documentation, please upload the verified document(s) through the CalState Apply application portal.Visit our Test Preparation Resources webpage for several free resources to prepare for passing the CBEST exam.Upload a PDF copy of your verification to your CalState Apply applicationCertificate of Clearance (COC)There are 3 steps to obtaining your Certificate of Clearance (CoC). Do not wait until the last minute to request this item, as it can take weeks for the CTC to issue.(COC) Step 1 | Live Scan ServiceFor Live Scan Service locations, visit Live Scan Locations. Live Scan Services may also be available at the SJSU Police Department. Call (408) 924-2172.Print three copies of the Request for Live Scan Service form [form 41-LS] and take it with you to your Live Scan appointment.(COC) Step 2 | Certificate of Clearance ApplicationAfter you’ve completed your Live Scan, complete and submit the CTC Online Application for the Certificate of Clearance (CoC). The $50 fee for a CoC application is payable by credit card only.When requirements for issuance of the CoC are completed an email will be sent informing the individual that the document has been granted and can be viewed in 48 hours on the CTC website.(COC) Step 3 | Upload a PDF of the granted Certificate of Clearance to your Cal State Apply application or submit the COVID Exceptions Form if you are unable to complete the Live Scan due to COVID-19.Note: An emergency sub permit may be submitted in lieu of the Certificate of Clearance, as long as you ensure the department always has a current, valid copy.District-Level Fingerprint Clearance: In addition to the required Certificate of Clearance, some school districts also require a district-level clearance prior to student teaching. Candidates should arrange an appointment with the participating district’s Human Resources Department at least 10 working days before the start of the field placement student-teaching experience to ensure district-level fingerprint clearance is completed. Candidates may not begin their field placement without having both CCTC and, if required, district-level clearance.Your ResumePrepare a one-page resume that details your college-level academic, employment, and volunteer experiences. For each position you held, highlight the duties you performed and any accomplishments you achieved. Uploa Editd your resume as a PDF.Verification of your Pre-Professional Work ExperienceCOVID Flexibility for Spring 2021 Applicants: This requirement has been temporarily waived by the CSU Office of the Chancellor. However, we ask you to submit any hours that you have completed. If you have zero hours, upload the COVID Exceptions Form.--Any explanation of your work with an interest in work with middle school, high school or other youth is helpful to the review process.Complete a minimum of 45 observation hours of "Pre-Professional Experience" and upload a completed/signed Pre Professional Experience form [pdf] to your Cal State Apply application.Pre-Professional Experience in a public middle or high school during the regular school day schedule is a requirement for admission. You may contact any California public elementary school school and let them know that you are applying to the SJSU Single Subject Credential Program and need to complete your 45 observation hours of Pre-Professional Experience. You should observe classes in the subject area you want your credential in. Twenty of the 45 observation hours may be from other experience with youth, such as: a summer school class at a California public middle school or high school (preferably in the subject area you are seeking a credential in), tutoring, camp counselor position, private school experience, etc.You may also document coursework that included work with secondary youth.If you need assistance with finding a placement to complete these hours, please contact the SJSU Lurie College of Education Student Success Center.Subject Matter Competency (CSETs or Teacher Prep Program)COVID Flexibility for Spring/Summer/Fall 2021 Applicants: If you are meeting this requirement via CSETs, we stongly recommend completing this requirement by the point of admission, but you do have the option to defer meeting this requirement until you apply for your Preliminary Credential after completing the program. You will not be able to apply for your Preliminary Credential without this requirement. If you have not completely fulfilled this requirement already, please fill out the COVID-19 Exceptions Form (read/follow instructions on form).CSET Subject Tests | PDF verifications of your passing scores for all of your CSET subtests must be submitted at the time of application, even if you have already submitted them to your subject area advisor. The list of CSET subtests is available on the CTC website. Visit our Test Preparation Resources webpage for several free resources to prepare for passing various CSET exams.Your Subject Area Advisor will identify the method of demonstration. While the advisor will send a copy to teacher education, you will need a copy of your approved teacher waiver program or CSETS. SJSU Lurie College of Education Credential Services can validate waiver programs from other universities.Two Letters of RecommendationTips: Be sure to use an early submission deadline for your letters of recommendation. You will want them to be available as soon as your file is reviewed so the the earlier the deadline you use, the better. In your message to your recommenders, include the name of the program you are applying for at San Jose State University - Single Subject Teaching Program - as well as the name of the Single Subject Credential Program Coordinator - Paula Oakes.This step is located in the “Recommendations” tab of the “Program Materials” section of your online application.Two (2) letters of recommendation are needed for the department application. These letters must be from people in a supervisory role who have known you in a professional or educational setting. Letters must speak to your ability to work with people, experience with youth, your work ethic, your intellectual capabilities, or other characteristics pertinent to teaching.You can submit your application after requesting recommendations. Once you submit your Cal State Apply application, however, you cannot go back and request more recommendations. Recommendations which are requested from within CalStateApply will be connected to your application once they come in. Additional or alternate letters can be emailed as a Word or PDF attachment directly to the Teacher Education Department to [email protected]. Recommendation letters are an essential component of your application.Cover LetterIf you are applying to the Bilingual Authorization Pathway (BAP), Internship Program, or the Yearlong Residency Program, (which begins during the summer term), please write a 1-page, single spaced cover letter that outlines your teaching and related experiences and skills that you believe make you a good candidate. Upload a PDF copy to your Cal State Apply application. Other applicants are welcome to submit a cover letter but are not required to.Next Step | Admissions DecisionCongratulations - if you completed the above steps, you have successfully applied for our SJSU Single Subject Credential Program! After your application has been reviewed by the SJSU Office of Graduate Admissions, which may take a few weeks, and the Department of Teacher Education, you will receive an email regarding your application status and any next steps. Some candidates are asked in for interviews with Teacher Education depending on their application status or program. You can check the status of your Cal State Apply application by logging into your MySJSU account.

Plague of game dev harassment erodes industry, spurs support groupsBy Brian Crecenteon August 15, 2013 1:00 pmThe greatest threat to the video game industry may be some of its most impassioned fans. Increasingly, game developers are finding themselves under attack by some of the very people they devote their lives to entertaining. And this growing form of gamer-on-game-developer cyber harassment is starting to take its toll.Developers, both named and those who wish to remain anonymous, tell Polygon that harassment by gamers is becoming an alarmingly regular expected element of game development. Some developers say the problem was among the reasons they left the industry, others tell Polygon that the problem is so ubiquitous that it distracts them from making games or that they're considering leaving the industry.The problem has become so pronounced that International Game Developers Association executive director Kate Edwards tells Polygon that the organization is looking into starting support groups and that while the harassment isn't yet having a major impact on game development, "we're at the cusp of where it could."Power and positioningFans are, by definition, fanatical.That passion for the books they read, the movies and television they watch and the games they play can lead to amazing things from cosplay to tribute operas, from charities to art. But that fanaticism can also lead to a level of obsession that can trigger some very bad things like threats of death, kidnapping, torture, stalking and financial ruin.Online harassment, no matter the reasoning, is always about power and positioning, about putting people in their place, said Nathan Fisk, lecturer at the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute."I think fans harass developers for a range of reasons, but again, it is always about power and position," said Fisk, who was featured in Bullying in the Age of Social Media. "Fans are invested in the stories and worlds that developers create, and certain design decisions can be seen by fans to threaten those stories and worlds. Harassment silences and repositions content creators in ways that protect the interests of certain fan groups, which again is no justification for the kinds of abusive behavior and language seen online today."The internet and the anonymity it grants has made harassment easier. According to several studies, Fisk said, the lack of social cues and perceived lack of consequences afforded online communication also changes the way people treat one another."HARASSMENT SILENCES AND REPOSITIONS CONTENT CREATORS IN WAYS THAT PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF CERTAIN FAN GROUPS.""This is particularly true in the case of harassment in gaming communities, as most of the abusive behavior is not grounded in local, offline relationships and social networks," Fisk said. "There are groups of fans harassing developers and representatives, and it can be assumed that very few (if any) of those fans have actually met those developers in person. Further, game developers are in many ways becoming public figures as they openly interact with gaming communities, and social networking technologies have made making contact a simple process."Fisk believes that online harassment is more of a problem for industries and professions which rely heavily on the creation and management of public image, than those that don't. And the video game industry's evolution to mainstream popularity may be playing some role in the problem."In particular, I think that the game developers — more recently independent developers — are struggling with becoming public figures," he said. "I also suspect that problems with online harassment have long been a problem for the gaming industry, but with the level of visibility provided by platforms such as Twitter and the growing public concern over various forms of harassment among gamers, that industry representatives are no longer willing to quietly ignore harassing or threatening comments."The rise in harassment in gaming communities can be linked to a number of factors, Fisk believes."First, traditionally gaming communities have developed around big, triple-A games, coming from developers and publishers large enough to have employed moderators and PR staff," he said. "With the recent explosion of independent development, there are small teams or individual developers managing the work of managing fans and expectations on their own, resulting in increased tensions and the potential for more publicly visible reactions. Second, gaming communities are experiencing growing pains as they become more diverse and mature, challenging the status quo. The recent debates over the portrayal of women and minorities in games are bound to generate aggressive and hateful comments, which again do the work of silencing and repositioning those groups to maintain dominance. Finally, I think there has been a reaction by gaming communities towards industry trends which are genuinely manipulative and restrictive, and while that in no way justifies abusive behavior, it certainly plays a role in the increase of online harassment by fans and gamers."Fisk said he and his colleagues were just discussing recent issues within the gaming community, including those surrounding Fez 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.Late last month, Treyarch studio design director David Vonderhaar took to Twitter to announce a patch to popular first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The seemingly innocuous changes included reducing the damage of one weapon and rate of fire on two others. The changes, which were fractions of a second, spurred threats of violence onlineand an editorial by Activision social media manager Dan Amrich.In the piece, Amrich cautioned calmer heads and noted that a vocal minority were giving gamers everywhere a bad name."If you enjoy your games," he wrote, "have a little respect for the people who make them — and stop threatening them with bodily harm every time they do their job."Four days later, game developer Phil Fish got into an online argument with writer Marcus Beer, tweeting "I fucking hate this industry" (for the negativity and criticism it's brought.) The back and forth ended with Fish tweeting, "I'm done. Fez 2 is canceled. Goodbye."He later confirmed the game's cancellation, and hasn't responded to press requests for comment since.Those two are just the most recent in a series of vitriolic responses to games and the people who make them this year.Adam Orth, a Microsoft Studios creative director, provocatively tweeted about always-online consoles in April in the thick of growing trepidation about that possible requirement for the Xbox One. The tweets spurred death threats, an apology from Microsoft and international news coverage. Orth left Microsoft about a week later.The botched launch of SimCity in March led to a flood of angry emails, tweets and the seemingly inevitable death threats focused at some of those involved with the always-online game.And those are just some of the more public cases of harassment. Stephen Toulouse, who for six years headed up Xbox Live's policy and enforcement, says the problem is omnipresent in gaming."I'm going to kill you""I have approximately 70 messages on Xbox Live right now and half of them are, 'I'm going to kill you' and 'I'm going to find you and destroy you' and I haven't worked (at Microsoft) in two years. Even to this day people who don't know I left Microsoft still come after me."But Toulouse seems more amused than annoyed by the messages. It comes with being the head banhammer at Xbox Live for so many years. It's to be expected, he says."The root cause of the problem isn't in what we do, making games, it's that there are so little consequences to this wildly violent approach of communication that we are simply one audience of many that are subject to this type of focus," he said. "There's no real penalty right now."For Toulouse that consequence-free harassment even included swatting, essentially tricking a law enforcement agency to respond to a person's house for what they think is a violent confrontation."Even the swatting thing, only now that Justin Bieber gets swatted, do prosecutors go, 'Oh, we should probably do something about this'," he said. "I couldn't get the Seattle police interested to save their lives, in prosecuting the kids who were doing this. I'm like, 'Come on, guys, they're sending your SWAT team out. What if you shot somebody. Don't you have an interest in going after these kids?' And they're like, 'No, because they are kids and at the end of the day it will be a juvenile sentence in juvenile court and that doesn't give prosecutors headlines.'"While adults certainly take part in online harassment, Toulouse believes that it is the younger harassers who are the worst."With the adults you get a lot of the bluster, but no follow through," he said. "Because they do have something to lose. They might realize on some level the difference between typing, 'I'm going to kill you,' and calling you and saying you're going to kill someone is a pretty big leap when you can be recorded.""The vast majority of adult vitriol is bluster."Toulouse says working as the head of enforcement for Xbox Live required him to have very thick skin, something not all developers have."You have to approach it from a very dispassionate point of view, and that's a really hard thing to do," he said. "Not everyone can do that. That's a tall thing to ask people to do. It's like, 'Yeah, I know they just said they're going to rape your wife, but you've got to let that bounce off you.' That's tough to ask people to do."In his role at Xbox Live, Toulouse said he was often asked to step in and help developers deal with these sorts of issues."A lot of developers just sit and make their games," he said. "Not everyone is Jonathan Blow, who is willing to engage. The vast majority don't, so they're almost constantly surprised when something happens."Here you are trying to create and in what manner does creation entail, engender or otherwise justify horrifically violent communication. It's not like we're making political or religious inflammatory content, we're making games. At what level does making a game trigger that bizarre overreaction and hatred?""AT WHAT LEVEL DOES MAKING A GAME TRIGGER THAT BIZARRE OVERREACTION AND HATRED?"Toulouse said that when he started at Xbox he analyzed the problems Xbox Live was having with this issue and determined that one solution was to have a single person as the face of enforcement for Live, a "sheriff.""Nobody knew who was actually processing those complaints," he said. "Customers needed to know that there is someone who is in charge of making sure this gets better. What came along with that, unfortunately, was SWAT teams and threats and abuse."One of the reasons Toulouse left, he said, was because Microsoft didn't know how to deal with that from a corporate standpoint ."Microsoft didn't know what to do," he said. "I would bring it up. I would say, 'Hey, I am putting my family at material risk, by you wanting me to be this public sheriff.'"Toulouse said he asked for security because people would tell him they were going to kill him at events like PAX."They were like, 'We don't do that,'" he said.Since Toulouse's departure, no one has stepped into those very public shoes. So while Xbox Live certainly still has a sheriff, it's not a person as approachable or harassable.The Cyberbullying Research CenterFounded in 2005, the Cyberbullying Research Center is a clearinghouse of information on the misuses and abuses of technology. Co-directors Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin have been researching the topic since 2002 and includes data from about 14,000 children about their experiences as both cyberbully and victim.One thing they've found is that there seems to exist a disconnect between a person and their conscience when they go online."When individuals are online they are sort of separated from their conscience and from social conventions and morals and norms and even the law, and they feel a little bit more free to say whatever they want to say," Hinduja said. "You can be spontaneous online and just listen to your emotions and just go off on someone without taking a moment to sort of assess the situation."While the organization saw its formation in the wake of a number of cyberbullying-spurred teen suicides, and was formed to deal directly with the problem in schools, Hinduja said that adults routinely contact the group seeking advice. The center also occasionally works with companies on cyber harassment issues."We hear these stories (like the game industry harassment cases) and we know that they are taking their toll on adults," he said. "We're seeing more and more of these cases surface."Hinduja sees the problem getting worse before it gets better. That's because he believes society is entering a new internet age, one that doesn't bring with it the decorum and manners formed over thousands of years of civilization.It's as if the internet hit a reset button for some people in terms of how they treat one another."It's almost like we're reverting to our primitive tendencies where we didn't know rules of social decorum and so forth," he said, and in the short term it seems to be getting worse, as if people are socially devolving online."I feel like how we've progressed over the years and decades, I feel like it's more and more normative to be cruel and then be JK, LOL, not really a big deal, even though we know that words wound," he said. "I think we're seeing a desensitization when it comes to acceptability and conduct, whether it's online conduct or even offline conduct, whether it's verbal or textual or the things we post to embarrass other people. We can try to cover our tracks or say we were just messing around, but the damage is done. That's why we have kids killing themselves based on what's been posted and sent and shared."Hinduja's hope is that at some point the social devolution will stop and people will start acting online how they do in real life."My hope is that, and hopefully this doesn't sound too idealistic, that over time people ostracize those who are jerks to other people, who are rude and cruel online and we just get to a point where we just don't do that anymore," he said. "Kind of like we don't really litter anymore. Or people don't use the N word anymore because we finally socially have gotten to a point where it is completely unacceptable. My hope is that we get to that point with this sort of stuff.""Graphic threats to kill my children"Jennifer Hepler left BioWare this week to begin work on a book about narrative design and do some freelance work. Her most recent job title was senior writer on Dragon Age: Inquisition. But it was Dragon Age 2that led to the death threats, the threats against her family and children and the harassment.When asked if the harassment led to her depature, Hepler told Polygon "No, leaving Bioware was for family reasons. I am going to be working on a text book on narrative design among other game-related freelance projects."After Dragon Age 2 came out in 2011, Hepler told Polygon, many of the people involved in the game's development received angry emails, abusive forum posts and petitions calling for them to be fired. About that time, someone dug up an old interview Hepler participated in six years earlier. In the interview Hepler mentioned that her least favorite part of working in the game industry was playing through games and combat. Some of the interview was put in the official forums as evidence that Hepler was to blame for changes in the game's combat. The forum post was removed and Hepler went on maternity leave. But then the following February someone created a forum post resurfacing the interview and called Hepler the "cancer" that was destroying BioWare."I had opened a Twitter account a few weeks before that, and this poster or others quickly found me there and began sending threatening messages," she said. "I shut my account down without reading them, so I'm not certain what they said, but other people have told me they were quite vile."The forum post and Hepler's initial response on Twitter, ignited a firestorm of hatred and harassment that included emailed death threats and threats against her children."I did my best to avoid actually reading any of it, so I'm not quite certain how bad it got," Hepler said. "I was shown a sample of the forum posts by EA security and it included graphic threats to kill my children on their way out of school to show them that they should have been aborted at birth rather than have to have me as a mother."Hepler also received harassing phone calls and threats on the BioWare Social Network.The impact though, she said, was mostly positive."The outpouring of support I received — large amounts from female and gay fans — was incredibly heartening," she said. "I got hundreds of messages from people who had been deeply moved by characters and scenes that I wrote and who had made positive changes in their real lives because of it. Without the negativity, I'm not sure that I would ever have heard from all of these people confirming that there is a need for characters that tackle touchy social issues, for characters who are untraditional or even unlikeable. It has definitely strengthened my desire to continue to make games that strive for inclusivity and that use fiction and fantasy to explore difficult, uncomfortable real-world issues."The incident also spurred Hepler to think a lot about how to raise her children who "won't have that sense of entitlement where if they don't enjoy a particular entertainment product they think it's fair to attack the creators personally.""I definitely try to make them understand that there are real people behind the shows they watch and the games they play," she said, "and even if they don't like the finished product, they should understand and respect the work that went into it."As with other game makers who have been harassed, others who have been attacked reach out to Hepler to talk about their own incidents."THAT'S THE BIGGEST RISK, IN MY OPINION: THAT WE WILL LOSE OUT ON THE TALENTS OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD MAKE FANTASTIC GAMES THAT WE WOULD ALL BE THE BETTER FOR PLAYING, BECAUSE THEY LEGITIMATELY DON'T WANT TO MAKE THEMSELVES INTO TARGETS.""It's something that comes up in almost every conversation with female developers," she said. "Overall, people seem to try to shrug it off publicly and fume privately, and younger women contemplating the field are reconsidering whether they have the stomach to handle what it currently asks of them. That's the biggest risk, in my opinion: that we will lose out on the talents of people who would make fantastic games that we would all be the better for playing, because they legitimately don't want to make themselves into targets. A lot of the best artists and storytellers (and quite a few great programmers too), tend to be sensitive people — we shouldn't lose out on their talents because we are requiring them to be tough, battle-scarred veterans just to walk in the door."Hepler, like many of the people who talked to about this, believes that gamer-on-game maker harassment is one of the biggest threats to the video game industry."Games cost much too much money to focus on a niche market," she said. "To survive, they need to be such a broadly popular part of entertainment culture that you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't play games. Women represent over 50 percent of the population, tend to be in charge of household finances, and are the majority purchasers of games (when factoring in games bought by women as gifts for husbands, children, friends, etc.). To indulge a community that is actively trying to alienate this powerful market segment (not to mention gay men, casual gamers of all types and anyone new to the hobby), is suicidal."It's important to listen to fans about what's important to them, but it's equally important to listen to people who are not currently gamers about why they aren't playing. Hardcore gamers want a product that is made specifically for them and is actively unfriendly to anyone new. They will beg and bully to get this product and then praise and wax nostalgic over any game that lives up to their standards even if the company that made it went bankrupt. They don't care about keeping companies in business or artists employed. Their only job as fans is to say what pleases them, and it would be foolish to expect them to think beyond that. But to cater to those desires without thinking about how to bring new audiences in and make them comfortable will ultimately result in a stagnant and money-losing industry."I could go on and on about this, but I'm just going to consider one example: the word 'noob.' If you decide to take up almost any other hobby in the world, you can find beginning classes teaching you how to do it. If you want to knit, you can go to a yarn store and meet fellow knitters who will help you get the basics. If you want to play basketball, you can join a rec center or community league at a beginner level. And generally, the people already involved in those hobbies are thrilled to have someone with whom they can share their passion. But if you want to get started as a gamer, you get told, 'go home noob,' because people in this hobby hate newcomers so much they turned the word itself into an insult. How are we supposed to thrive as an industry if we are actively hostile to growing our audience?"A harassment support group"At the end of the day, it seems the number of hot button issues you can 'step on' increases every day," one triple-A developer told Polygon. "Soon, I think a lot of game developers will spend as much time going about avoiding those issues, time they could have focused on better game design, performance, art direction and balance."The topic of developer harassment has circled among special interest groups within the International Game Developers Association for awhile, but recently it seems to be coming to a head, said IGDA executive director Kate Edwards."It's gotten onto our radar," she said. "We're getting to a point where we're thinking, 'Yeah, it's becoming something we're going to need to talk about. It might be time to consider doing a more explicit support group or mechanism to help people who are dealing with this sort of thing."What bothers Edwards, beyond the very real impact it has the individuals targeted, is the potential impact it could have on the industry as a whole."It adds a layer of discouragement," she said, "especially to people who are just starting out or maybe they had a career at a studio, a larger studio, and they're trying to start an indie effort and now they're getting squashed right out of the gate, before they even really finished something. I don't think it's having a major impact (on the game industry), but I think we're at the cusp of where it could and I think there are a couple of major reasons for it."Edwards believes that some of the issues are tied to the rise in crowdfunding for game development.When a developer goes directly to fans to ask for money they're, perhaps accidentally, creating the illusion that those fans will have a greater say in the end product. And sometimes that's not meant to be the case. Social media, and the sense of relationship it creates among fans, can also lead to problems, Edwards said."When we put ourselves out there on Twitter and other social media we are inviting more of a conversation and I think the fanbase sees that as more of a conversation about the creative direction and not just a conversation about the fandom of that particular IP," she said.Finally, fans can be fanatical. And in some cases, that can become wearing.Edwards points to George Lucas' very public semi-retirement last year as an example. In January, Lucas told the New York Times that he was retiring, blaming in part the negativity of fans."Why would I make any more," he said, "when everybody yells at you all of the time and says what a terrible person you are?""If someone as successful as George Lucas, someone who has been arguably both creatively and financially successful, is basically hanging it up because he's tired of hearing the negative feedback, that's a pretty serious thing," Edwards said. "He is such a prominent person and to have him so publicly talk about that particular issue, it kind of resonates with a lot of people."And then there is Phil Fish, who so recently gave up the game development industry for similar reasons. Edwards worries that others will look at his example and decide to follow suit."Phil Fish and his declaration could get people thinking about, 'Maybe I should think about it as well. Is this something I really want to put up with?'," Edwards said. "I think it would be disappointing to see Phil and others like him not do what they're so passionate about on the basis of that kind of feedback."Harassment isn't new but we didn't use to see the kind of vitriolic harassment that we're seeing today. There needs to be a broader sense of how we're going to cope with this as an industry."Death threats and game development"It's definitely gotten worse," said Greg Zeschuk. "The threshold for a flip out or a major scandal has dropped. The smallest thing will set people off."Zeschuk is happily talking about the game industry as an outsider these days. As much as he loved his career — his second career, building Bioware with fellow doctor Ray Muzyka and creating franchises like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Mass Effect — he's happy he left it. And he's likely never to return.Now he's onto his third career: writing about, creating videos about and maybe one day even brewing craft beer.While he's no longer in the industry, he says he can't help but still watch it and he's noticed the flare ups of harassment. Perhaps that's because BioWare's Mass Effect 3 was the flashpoint for one of the most publicized recent gamer backlashes. At the time it seemed an unprecedented reaction by fans who were unhappy with the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy. While most fans displeased with how the game concluded simply expressed disappointment, a small, vocal group began threatening and harassing BioWare and its developers.Zeschuk said the studio was "without a doubt" shocked by the reaction to the game's ending and in particular to how virulent that reaction was. But he stops short of discussing what impact it had on his and Muzyka's ultimate decision to leave both BioWare and the game industry half a year later. But it was, he told me in January, a factor.Since the release of Mass Effect 3, and the over-the-top response to it by some gamers, Zeschuk believes that those sort of death-threat-laden reactions have become more common in the game industry."What amazes me is that all of the gloves are off on this stuff," he said. "It's just astonishing what people will do online now."Death threats have become the routine, the sort of knee-jerk minimum among cyber harassers. And Zeschuk has a couple of theories why.There is the ease at which someone can communicate their thoughts to a broad audience."Part of it is availability," he said. "It's this megaphone that's sitting on your desk and if you want to use it you can. And that moment when you're most angry and frustrated there's no reason why you can't send out an email or put a post up or do a video, and if you get more attention as a result all of the better.There is the increasing access fans have to the caretakers of their passions."It's unprecedented the access that exists today," he said. "It's a double-edged sword. It's not always going to be accolades, there are also going to be complaints.""IT'S NOT GOOD. IT'S NOT GOING TO LEAD TO GOOD STUFF."There is, as Zeschuk puts it, a new breed of opinion-makers who seem to deliberately inflame in order to grow their reach and popularity."A path to awareness on the internet is controversy and people drumming it up," he said. "I think it's almost like if more people throw fuel on the fire and there's more and more of that and some people think, 'Hey, I can do that. I don't need to work, I can be an internet personality and yell at people all day long. I win."Zeschuk, like Edwards, like most of the developers we spoke with, has big concerns about the lasting impact this sort of behavior is going to have on the industry. But unlike many, he thinks it's here to stay.Dealing with online abuse, Zeschuk said, is now an integral part of being a game developer."It's part of going out there and putting yourself out there," he said. "I just really wish it would get sorted out. I do think there are good, passionate people who get dragged into it and it makes their lives miserable. Making games is stressful enough, just making them, without having to worry about this."The impact of having all your brightest creators losing steam and going, 'Screw this,' it's not good. It's not going to lead to good stuff."Update: We've added Hepler's full quote about why she left BioWare to add a bit more clarity surrounding that subject.Make sure to check out our take on the secondary impact on this problem and our one year follow upto this story.MORE FROM POLYGONMoss reviewOscars 2018: Shape of Water gets love, Get Out’s Jordan Peele makes Oscar historyHouse of Cards’ final season teaser hails a powerful new chiefWatch the new teaser for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Mary Poppins ReturnsBlizzard celebrates StarCraft’s 20th anniversary with in-game giveawaysCOMMENTSDeath threats are never justified or cool. If you have a legitimate complaint about something, people are far more likely to listen if you have a calm, considered critique. What can we do to fix this?By ahitchen on 08.15.13 1:16pmHonestly, what can be done? I was at Evo 2013 and encountered the sort of people that are written about at length here in person. There is no making sense of what these people think. They often choose to surround themselves with like minds who see no problem with their behavior thus it just gets reinforced over and over. They are the same people that cause you to burst a blood vessel when you argue with them about anything. Super opinionated and living in a bubble where they can do no wrong. Everyone simply must agree because there is no other way.By NeoShweaty on 08.15.13 1:22pmAdvanced mute/ignore/three strikes functions integrated into every social network. I don’t genuinely believe abusers do such stuff out of hatred or malice, but because they can get attention without repercussions, and the internet gives them enough of a disconnect to overwrite their empathy. Having systems in place that’ll either gag them or make them invisible (at least to the victim) might make attention-seeking harder or inconvenient. I think it’s overdue, really – in real life, inappropriate behaviour will get you thrown out of many businesses, and we needed such safeguards on the internet since 2007 at least!Plus, the kind of awareness-building that’s in this article is already working. It needs to be made clear that receiving death threats is not just the background flavour of the internet, like it was in 2002 or something.By Seneschal on 08.16.13 11:03amI’d be in favor of every time you post anything online, you have to donate a penny, for that thought, to a charity of the venue that is hosting your voices choosing.This might make people think differently about their contributions, and the value of what they really want to say.By Kalex716 on 08.16.13 12:39pmThat makes for a cute suggestion, but in reality it would just mean rich people get to be meaner and have more of a platform to speak, which is an already-existing bug.By AmyDentata on 08.16.13 8:25pmIt is fixed… kinda. There is just a small group worth listening too, but the rest still have a voice. You can’t silence people.By GunFlame on 08.15.13 1:35pmWe can’t. Unless we get rid of the internet. We can’t change other people, we can only change ourselves, and a lot of people won’t because they don’t see, nor care, about the personal damage they are doing. And frankly, some people are way too sensitive, willing to take offense where none was intended.I’m probably going to get in trouble for this, but…If the internet has done one thing well, in all the years that it’s existed, is that it’s given the ‘crazies’ a place to belong, and a voice to be heard. And some of them are vitriolic and angry.By christopher.brady.71 on 08.16.13 4:38amThey’ve always been heard, and always will be… The loudest are generally paid more attention to.By poorleno on 08.16.13 3:19pmI don’t want the crazies on the internet, thanks.By Amberion on 08.16.13 7:54pmYou’d rather have them behind the wheel, interacting with real humans in public, or voting? The internet is a lot safer…for everyone concerned.By Scrutinizer on 08.17.13 2:51pmHas someone told these crazies that driving, interacting with “real humans” and voting are mutually exclusive with being on the Internet? Because Todd Akin seems to illustrate that they haven’t gotten the memo.By PhoenixBlue on 08.19.13 3:57pmThe internet is a lot saferApparently not anymore.By mwashburn1979 on 08.06.14 10:26pmFrankly, I don’t understand why developers deign to tell us anything at all about their games until they’re finished.Look at just about any other medium. Movies, books, music, whatever. The other media might as well have been conceived in a black box. We don’t know anything about them until their imminent release. They just appear on the scene, there’s not much advance discussion beyond “I wanna see that” and “can’t wait for that album.” If the work sucks, we make a point to tell our friends or give it a nasty review online. But aside from game developers and George Lucas, we generally don’t burn artists in effigy.Take movies, for example. Its probably the closest medium to games in terms of budget and production values. We don’t get updates from movie producers like we do with games. They don’t run ideas by us, or give us the weekly cutting floor status. Instead we get trailers when the film has already wrapped and then it’s out next summer in a theater near you. We don’t know a thing about them that isn’t contained in 30 second commercials or actor promos at the 11th hour. Sure there are film nerds, but there’s no significant 2-way communication between production and even serious movie buffs.Yet developers (with some exceptions) have to be transparent about a large portion of their game mechanics from the moment a game is announced to years after launch. It’s just expected. Nobody ever speaks out against the practice, and some games actually pride themselves on vetting just about every substantial mechanic with the public before release. Sure, we all appreciate the info, it helps save us from buying obviously bad games, but is it really necessary? Rockstar, Valve, and Blizzard are pretty tight-lipped and they seem to get away with it.If gathering feedback is the aim, just how helpful is that community feedback when the signal-to-noise ratio of good ideas to trollbait is so pathetically low. And whatever happened to creative vision? If we were capable of designing a better game than the devs, wouldn’t we do it ourselves? Where’s the conviction? If there was ever an industry that didn’t appreciate the full meaning of the saying “what they don’t know won’t hurt them” meant, it’s this one.The fact is, developers hang themselves out there. Every update and forum post creates expectations and contributes to the emotional investment in their product, and then, inevitably, the devs have to manage, change, and/or fail to meet those expectations. None of those are positive outcomes. The thin line between love and hate is the expectation of the emotionally involved. Assuming the professionalism and talent of developers, would they not be better off trusting their own professional instincts and, given enough time by their publishers, do their own work in the comfort of secrecy, then make their big reveal and marketing push? It’s not like they can’t do focus groups, NDAs, paid QA and beta consultants.Or is the transparency just cheap marketing to save publishing and TV bucks?Is it lack of upper management trust/confidence in the project?And why don’t movie studios have this problem? Pixar has never once asked me for my advice, thank God.The internet isn’t really the problem. The anonymity just amplifies what’s already out there: a user base that has been over-stimulated, with a serious emotional investment to products long before they can truly appreciate the full depth or lack thereof of that product’s gaming experience. A user base that will often create high expectations for a product even when the developer has set their sights low, and one that will almost certainly apply standards from other passably similar games whether it’s fair to apply those standards to a completely different product or not.It is a user base that can never be pleased 100% of the time, that really doesn’t know what it wants or what is best for it, and for which the best approach is to show it something that it had no idea it wanted or needed. Flaws, omissions, or otherwise.I’m not sure it’s one that needs the power it has been given by developers today.By ForkInSocket on 08.17.13 1:58amMan this is one of the most rational and coherent views on the whole matter. I’m pursuing game development myself and this gives me a very big thought to stew on.You having brought this up totally makes it so stupidly apparent that companies have made it a standard to give the ‘fans’ an incredible amount of power in the creation of the product which then leads to them feeling that they have ownership of that world.It’s interesting.By The Swine on 08.17.13 8:10pmThe stuff that good comments are made of, right here.By Eric Berggren on 08.17.13 8:45pmExcellent. This comment should be offered as an editorial reply to the above article. He pretty much nailed it.By hilljanelle on 08.17.13 10:22pmIt’s a great comment and it’s definitely something to think about but it still doesn’t excuse the behavior that is being exercised by the public.I am also still pretty sure that it won’t fix the problem as in, it still won’t go away.Perhaps it would better the situation somewhat. A tad at least! That’s what I think anyway.By jimmypedersen on 08.18.13 10:33amAt this point there is no solution to the ‘problem’ other than law enforcement doing the job they are paid to do and enforcing the laws. A death threat in writing is just as illegal as a death threat uttered via speaking. The internet is not anonymous in the least. Most games these days require some sort of game account. That account is usually linked to your forums account. Your forums account is linked directly to your IP address. Your IP address is connected directly to your physical address.There are ways around that, using a proxy as just a single example, but there is one thing people can’t get around. Purchases made with a valid credit card require all the information you could possibly want to identify who is sitting behind the computer (in most cases). In order for a person to speak on the official forums for a game, we need to have them registered with a credit card, for proper identification purposes.Get rid of the anonymity. Plain and simple. If you don’t have a credit card, then I guess you can’t be heard. Does it suck for those that don’t have a credit card? Yes. Is that sort of requirement potentially alienating and unfair? Yes. Is that something to blame on game companies? No.Anonymity doesn’t work. It never has and never will. As has been stated, people just don’t care what others think when they can’t be chastised in real life. So all that is left is having the ability to dole out a punishment yourself. If someone sends a death threat using the only means they have, a registered account which has their game(s) associated with it, then that results in an immediate ban from all access to the offending account.As registration requires a new credit card, the ban can be a comparison of name, address, and credit card. Thus, a person would have to have a new credit card with a different address on it in order to actually register to speak on the forums. Not exactly a just punishment for a person making a threat of physical harm, but it is a start and would get rid of 90% of this issue.The other thought is to just ignore the idiots making those statements. The problem there is that you can’t ignore a death threat. You have to take that very seriously. Hence why law enforcement needs to actually do something instead of outright ignoring this issue. There is no reason a person should live in fear of physical harm from an unknown source.Hunting these idiots down and prosecuting them costs too much? Well that is where law enforcement is wrong. It only costs a lot of money when you have to actually bring a ton of these cases to court. Make the punishment harsh enough and nobody outside those that would break any other law with wanton disregard would actually commit this offense.But you can’t harshly charge kids with this sort of thing!?!?! Who says you can’t? If a kid wants to make a death threat to an adult then they should be treated like an adult and punished accordingly. Then make sure that you bankrupt their parents, leaving their entire family destitute and suffering, and maybe you would actually see parents monitoring what their kids do on the internet instead of using the internet as a babysitter.Sadly, none of what I suggest will happen. Specifically from the legal aspect. The world as a whole has decided that it no longer cares about the important issues. Parents being parents, children being punished for wrongdoing, even holding people accountable for their actions are all ways of the past. In the end, this actually becomes a much larger issue than the vocal minority going way beyond appropriate displays of distaste, and it isn’t going to be solved until people stop letting this sort of thing happen with no consequences.I suspect nobody will really care until a game developer is actually killed by one of these people that keep making these threats. Isn’t that the saddest thing you have ever heard? We need someone to really be killed before we actually do the right thing…..By M3ATSHI3LD on 08.19.13 9:59pmFirst of all, games cost at least as much as a blockbuster movie to make, if not more. However, unlike a blockbuster movie, the market is much smaller for a game. Which means the price has to be higher to recoup the costs. This leads to two problems.First, if I want to know about a movie, I have a much larger pool of resources to tell me whether it’s likely to be one I’d enjoy or not. I have critics and friends and family and independent reviewers. For a game, if you’re lucky you have a friend that’s bought it, or a reviewer or critic who shares your tastes. So it helps to have a better idea of what the game will be before you buy it.It also helps the game devs know if they’re on the right track. That’s an awfully large budget, and a bad game can quickly lose a lot of money, whereas even a bad movie can survive poor box office amounts. If a dev knows before release though that there’s a problem, they can correct their course (assuming it’s a big enough problem) before it is even released.Finally, as said, this is an awful lot of money to shell out, on the basis of not much. I’m more likely to spend the full price for it if I believe it is good.By prydenpaine on 08.20.13 5:28amView All CommentsBack to top ↑Terms of Use / Privacy Policy© 2018 Vox Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Dress“It’s a dream. That’s what Don L said to me.”“I don’t understand. He wants a dress? A dress? For himself?”“Yes, a dress. But not for himself. Well, yes for himself but not in that way. He wants a dress created, hand sewn, created for a woman.“Who? What woman?”“That’s the second part of the project. I guess the most important part.”“Project? Problem. It all sounds a little strange. Don’t tell him I said that.”“I won’t.”“I mean it. You tell him everything. I don’t want him or his fantasy to be offended.”“If you help me then it won’t matter, will it? He’ll get his dress and be happy.”“For real? A dress?”“Yes, a dress. He was very specific this morning, says he’s been thinking about it for a few weeks now and he wants to see. See from all of us.”“See what? I don’t understand.”“He wants to see us all cooperate and create the dress.”“In the house? The estate?”“No, all of us. Everyone.”It took a week for Don L (we do not speak his name aloud for legal reasons) to decide on the color of the Dress. The first challenge of color was not simply what color but what shade of the color he would prefer. We started with basics: a color wheel one day. Brought it to him with his breakfast.Don L is old but not feeble. He swims and walks and gardens every day and even plays tennis with the guests so he was appreciative on the planning of this project, energized even. His attention for months now had been pleasant, meditative but a little somber. The calm melancholy of a man who has done some things. Some good things, some not so good things. He reflects now not on regrets but instead with a sort of meditative acceptance. He has lived long enough to understand both himself and others, his and their motivations. Both love and revenge understood, dissected, dismissed. A man at peace with reality.And now he desires to create something.The arch, the challenge being of course to bring us all together to do this thing. That is, yes, the challenge.I, his head assistant, for many years now have always been responsible for translating his ideas, his whims, his decisions. But finally, this was outside of my ability to understand. Which is why I took it to Rosalina who had been here longer than me, who was third as female head. Second to the daughters who lived in big cities and the first wife who died fifteen years ago, Donna. Of course, I took his request to her and even she was baffled.But I always take Don L seriously so I brought him a color wheel and he beamed happily at me and after an hour or two called me back with his decision.“Green?”“Yes, green.”“Light, dark, polka dot?”“I have the computer printing shades of green now. Ten choices.”Rosalina sipped her tea, perched at the kitchen island, as two chefs worked on the evening meal. They pretended not to be irritated at her watchful gaze, occasionally a soft but firm directive cast out over the cup brim. Somewhere between a mother and a wife, she knew by heart exactly how he liked his favorite dishes. She even knew how he liked new dishes he’d send down that he’d found in magazines. The chefs complained during cigarette breaks outside during dinner. But their work, old and new, Don L praised with smiles, cleaned plates and generous bonuses. Rosalina was always right.“His favorite color is red,’ she shook her head as if this were further proof of illness, madness.“We all like different colors for different things, no?”Rosalina shrugged, that woman shrug, that meant total agreement and complete resignation.“Bring me his choices. Get three from your computer ten and I’ll send one of the maids for fabric swatches to have at his hand by dinner.”For an hour during and after a light lunch of cold cuts, fruit and juice, Don L silently weighed the merits of the ten computer print outs of green. Light to dark. Each a finger push, a step, a slight nudge more and more.“If you choose, say three, then we can get fabric swatches and we can narrow It down from there.”Don L. nodded.I went for a walk through the gardens. I hate to hover. By the time I came back, he’d chosen number 4, 7 and 8.Rosalina nodded when I handed her the pages and by dinner she had ten types of fabric as close to the greens as possible. I took the swatches and put them at the place setting next to him and Don L eagerly ate and flipped through the fabrics. He would put down his fork and bring a fabric to his cheek. Close his eyes. Consider a feeling, a memory perhaps, and then eat some more.By the end of a two-hour dinner there three piles on the table.No. Maybe. Possibly.Maybe and possibly were only differentiated by sewing styles.Could this fabric be sewn in a way that it moved in a breeze or did it stay still like that one?I didn’t know. (Who could know these things? A seamstress?)Rosalina puts down the remote control to the TV she watches after staff dinner in the sitting room. She likes to watch sporting matches---boxing, wrestling, car races. With the sound off.“We haven’t had a seamstress since the girls’ proms and weddings and what not. We’ll have to hire someone. But we must be careful.”“Of course.”Because of the good and not so good Don L has done, hiring anyone for anything is a process. Most of my time is spent in this odious chore. Hiring, reprimanding, firing. Background checks, further reference checks, then three, sometimes four interviews. Most people pass on the job, can’t pass the scrutiny, get other jobs in the interim.Don’t get me wrong, Don L doesn’t want perfect people. In fact, a few of the staff have criminal records. We watch for patience, perseverance, respect for our process. The last interview we hint at who they might be working for. The ones who understand the necessity for discretion, generally I hire. If they ask more than three questions, questions about the old days, the stories, I generally pass on them.I’ve never hired a seamstress before. The children were grown and out of the house before my time. I research the skills of a seamstress on my computer.“Your computer. Window to the world,” Rosalina scoffs but she got one herself last year.Two women and a man arrive the next afternoon from an agency. There’s an agency for everything.The first woman is too fat. Asks about money too much. Complains about the bus ride.The second woman and the man tie in my head. Around my age, good references and both a portfolio book and clothing samples of their work.They both ask of the project and I say it is to be a dress.No, not a wedding dress, no, but just as beautiful. I honestly tell them all that my employer is creating it, it’s a gift of sorts so we’ll need both patience and instruction.The woman suggests several art/fashion books.The man suggests pencil and sketchpad to design the gown.By the next day, I have all of these materials for Don L, less my explanations as to why I’ve hired both and how the guest house is being turned into a design studio. Don L is impressed, happy and entranced with his homework and I must say, I too am happy at this project.For nearly two weeks Don L and his two ateliers go back and forth with notes, tagged pages from books, rough sketches, new fabric swatches, new greens looked at. I am always nearby, for security reasons, at the breakfast and lunch meetings, even sitting in when men and my laptop computer must make a fabric, a thread, a certain kind of bead arrive from some crevice of the fashion world. It is both fascinating and tedious to watch these three collaborate.Rosalina cracks open pecans with her thumbnails. “There will be problems. You’ll see.”“Thank you for your wishes.” What else can I say? I know she’s right.The first problem came from the female seamstress/designer at a point in Don L’s finished design.“Several times I thought I misunderstood him. Frankly because of his accent.”“Of course. I understand.”“But he’s serious.”She’s twisting and entwining rosary beads, red, in her slim, strong hands. They are nimble, I’ve seen her sew faster and faster, sometimes not even looking at the piece of fabric she’s impaling, piercing, stitching. Her eyes following a pattern, tracing a line on a page.What he wants is profane. I don’t think he’ll budge on this. Such a nice man. But the garment will be vulgar.”“Of course. I understand.” I don’t understand.“Look at this.” She hands me several sketches. I’ve seen The Dress a thousand times by now so I still don’t understand. She sees my ignorance and clatters the rosary bead onto the page, her long tapered fingers on one spot.“Of course. I understand.” I don’t still understand.“Do you?”“I don’t know. Of course, I understand that it is cut a bit provocatively but----no, I don’t understand.”“This spot. This space is to be like this.” She takes a pencil from behind her ear, they both keep pencils, her and her male counterpart there. It seems to be their badge. She sketches in body parts to the dress. Where parts will meet and separate.“Oh.” I understand. “Oh.”And now, I don’t understand.At breakfast the next morning, in the kitchen, I show Rosalina the sketches and explain the issue as delicately as possible. She is after all, twenty, maybe even thirty years older than me, her hair a shiny steel gray.She nods then shrugs that shrug that means everything and nothing. But I hear her laugh a little as I go to talk to the old man.After my discussion with Don L, I’m even more confused with his new requests, so much bigger than anything else I’ve ever done. A prude seamstress seems microscopic.“If you are so offended I understand. He is committed to that design aspect.” She looks up at me from her drafting table in the guest house the two use. She genuinely looked tortured between her faith and her career. I hate myself for pressing the next point but she must know this. “I am to start seeking models for the dress this week. The model will walk in the dress. Down a street.”“Dios.” She crosses herself. Twice. She picks up her bag and silently leaves.“We will need a very tall model. Over six feet so that everything can be appreciated properly,” the male seamstress/atelier offers.“I understand.”The hard part is not finding tall beautiful women. But explaining to them that they will model one dress walking, down a city street, for only a few minutes.The difficult part s explaining that I am one interview, Don L is another. And he will not be looking at their faces. Several women just hang up the phone; two make appointments but then call back to cancel. Finally, three both understand and agree to come to the estate.“Should I do anything first? Groom? Dye? Get it engorged?”“Oh. No, no. Just arrive. Arrive able to show it as if in a dress”I hang up the phone quickly, now I’m embarrassed.Don L sits calmly on a lawn chair and has each woman walk the length of the pool to him. They do so in bathing suits that Rosalina provided so that all our dignity can stay intact. Don L and George, the atelier whisper back and forth, making the women stroll and stride for over an hour. At least the weather is mild and we will pay them handsomely just for this time. George takes all three women’s measurements, making notes in a small green pad he keeps in his shirt pocket. He pulls a pencil form behind his ear and puts it back then takes it back out, again and again.I notice Rosalina watching us all from one of the unused second floor bedrooms that faces the backyard ad porch, cannot understand the look on her face---amusement, anger, sadness? All float across her eyes and in the biting of her lips.“Has this happened before?”Rosalina looks up at me from her newspaper, the fork, in her hand, eggs hovering. She keeps my gaze for at least a full minute then eats the eggs.“Many things have happened in this house, in Don L’s business, to Don L. Nothing like this. Nothing.”I lay out a map of his old neighborhood for Don L and point out where his home used to be. He smiles.“How far must she walk?”We still haven’t decided on a model. I’ve called several agencies and the total is close to twenty so far. Twenty women and only five were called for a “callback as George calls it.Don L places one finger at his old building, a dead end that faces a long one way street. Tenement buildings built and stuck together like Lego blocks. He traces his finger along the street, now just a blue line among dozens but he seems lost in memory at what these symbols represent.He doesn’t speak his memories aloud.“That’s close to six blocks. To walk? In heels? In such a dress? It will be a mob scene.”The two chefs look up at Rosalina’s poor choice in phrasing. She glares then down over the brim of her manzanilla tea then returns to the line on my map.“There are rules, stipulations, for how he wants her to walk.”“There are rules and stipulations. Agreed to about being here, never being out there again.”“Perhaps if you’ll just listen first, Rosalina?”“Of course, why make it easier? Go ahead.”“There are to be no cars on either side of the streets, all windows must be closed, curtains drawn, no faces visible, no witnesses, no cameras.”“The Sun and Moon, shall we move them too? Have them do a little dance together ?”“I’m only relaying Don L’s request. I don’t know how to do the rest. Get the rest done.”“This woman is to walk down the center of a barren street towards Don L at the end of the road. Unbelievable. Will they dance when she reaches him? A pas de deux?”“No. He will be sitting on a stool waiting for her.”“Unbelievable. They had a name for Don L years ago. Before you even born. I won’t repeat it but he has earned it twice over with this dress business. Call the emergency lawyer number. Explain this all to him. Tell him to contact Eduardo in the neighborhood to give us a tally of how much it will cost. To shut down and shutter off six blocks. It will be a big number. A big one.”“Yes, Rosalina. Thank you, Rosalina.”She goes back to her tea.After a week and a dozen more models, George rings me the head shots of the choice he and Don L have made.“Right height. Very good hips and breasts, then dress will hang perfectly. Perhaps she could gain ten more pounds? Her shoes should be custom made. At least six inches high. I’m going to design some tubing inside the dress to main the parting, truly spotlight her glory. Oh, and we’ll need to start considering hair stylists and maybe even wigs, her hair is much too thin. We’ll need a custom-made chair for the Don as well. Like the one’s in the study but six inches lower, cut off the legs compensate for her height to his line of slight. She’ll have to be have everyday just like say schedule to stay building it to her body, teaching her to walk so far in heels. Feed her, she’ll need the weight. Have I forgotten anything? Cobb salad. Can the chef make me a Cobb salad for lunch?”“Of course.”I watch this flurry of a man and wonder if both he and Don L have lost their minds. They both speak of this insane project as if it’s perfectly normal.Maxine’s background check is waiting in the fax machine when I go back to my office. I call Rosalina to come and talk to me, it’s a matter of life and death. My own.“You did her background check?”“Of course. The first time she was here but I thought it beginning eight years ago, was in error. So, I did it again, with another company last week.“Is she a danger? Is there another problem? Don L and George seem very happy with her over the past two weeks. A small indiscretion I think we can let pass. I’ll tell Security to keep an eye on her.”“It’s more than a small indiscretion.”“What is it?”I hand her the report and pint out the ninth and tenth years, what Maxine was doing.Rosalina reads it twice, perhaps three times to be sure.“Oh dear.”“She is his first choice. There aren’t any more models her height in this country. Another search would take months.”Rosalina’s face, often flat and honestly, slightly harsh from age us still. Her line of lipstick and eye shadow sharp streaks making her face look tight, sharp, unrelenting, direct, begins to smile. She touches her lips with her fingertips several times. Her hand goes to square, ample hips as she holds the paper up to re-read again and again. Her body quivers.She’s laughing.She’s laughing because the irony of the perfect specimen, perfect exposed area by both Don L’s and George’s standards for his dress, did not begin that way. Everything within the dress was constructed, renovated, excavated, and designed by man, not Nature.“How to tell Don L?” I plead with this old cackling woman.This time her shrug is full of scorn, full of years of catering to a man, to a family, forsaking her own desires. A past of feelings are in the turning of Rosalina’s lips, these now pirouetting lips that are the same vicious gashes she uses to impale us all with, low and high staff, alike. But her ebony eyes are alight, are brilliant, with retributional joy.“Why bother? He likes her, no? Let him like her.”I cannot look at Maxine though she is here three days a week, walking ten times around the pool in her custom-made six inch stilettos. Then she has her lunch and changes into a bathing suit and does twenty laps in the pool. Don L and George have designed this four hour workday regimen for her. Once a week they weigh her, worried about muscle gain in her legs and hips but more worried about her being able to walk six blocks at noon.I can’t look at her.Rosalina makes it a point to being lunch out to poolside and compliment the all their hard work, especially Maxine. Even Don L watches the old woman with suspicion. Her congeniality is as foreign as Maxine’s nature is. Don L seems to chalk up Rosalina’s interest and barely concealed jollity as a mockery of his project, not his muse.I value so many things that I make myself scarce during those times, avoiding all four of them all their open, closed and misunderstood secrets.I do so as much as I can from my office, from my computer, from pictures sent to me by Johnathan, our man in the old neighborhood, way up north. But eventually I must fly there to begin negotiations with the neighborhood and prepare Don L’s trip back home to a country that several government organizations went of their way to peacefully but forcibly exile him from.“He wants to come here? I thought there some sort of neighborhood block party he wanted to throw. Like a tribute.”Jonathan and I are sitting in a small restaurant two blocks from the six blocks up for discussion.“I said that over the phone. For security reasons. Don L is not welcome here.”“No, he sure as shit ain’t. Coming here? Himself? This changes everything. Everything.”“Everyone must be gone from the six blocks. All of the buildings facing the streets. No one must see what will occur on the street. No cars. No witnesses. No cameras. No airplanes or weather helicopters either.”“That’s insane. Excuse me. Don’t repeat that to our employer. Shutting down that large of an area. Four buildings a block. Shit. Thirty-four buildings. All about six stories. Stores too? That’s a few thousand people at least. Impossible.”“It’s what he wants.”“A block I could do. Call it a gas leak. A water main issue. Pay off a few people. Post some rent-a-cops. It would be a production but I could get it done. This though?”“Multiply your plans by six.” The suggestion was made for levity, he looks at my smile like I’m the idiot.“This is a shitload of expenses. I’ll need money. Not just money. Cash. I’ll need a lot of cash. Hell, he might even have to just buy all the buildings out, put people up in hotels. The police, the media, everyone will notice this.”I nod and shrug at that. I raise my finger and take out my pad where I’ve made several calculations. “Maxine will need about thirty minutes at her present speed to get from the first block to the last.”“Who the fuck is Maxine?” Johnathan asks. He’s a reasonably young man, a lawyer from the firm that handles the Don’s business here. But he’s also from the neighborhood where the Don grew up. There are edges to him, understandings that only someone like him literally grown within the organization could understand. Personality peculiarities of powerful men like Don L.“Maxine is the model for the dress. She’ll be wearing it as she walks towards the Don.”“Is she pretty?”I sip my espresso as Johnathan stares at me.“She’ll be walking towards him?”“The dress is provocative, parts of her will be exposed. We need privacy.”Johnathan takes a long swallow of his water then smirks. “Get the fuck out of here.”I shrug, hauntingly, like Rosalina.I return to the estate and find Rosalina sitting on her porch, the two chefs busy making an elaborate lunch for Don L, his muse, Maxine, and George. And the cackle of live hens from the back garden. We buy live hens, fatten them up for a month and the Daughters, their children, their husbands come down for the holidays for the next three months. The house will be fill of children, adults, needs, demands, squabbles, requests, old grudges and the Daughters like each other. It is our busiest time of year.“You must talk to Don L about this project of his. When he wants to go for sure. I need to know. Eduardo needs to know. Arrangements must be made. Special arrangements. He can’t be there for too long.”“I understand.”“No, you do not. You must discuss with him where his tailor and model will go or gem how we ill or won’t explain his project. He is old, the Daughters could try to put a stop to it.”“I understand. In fact, speaking with Jonathan has shown me the impossibility, the cost of it. Perhaps the Daughters should---.”“No. They mustn’t be allowed to interfere.”“I don’t understand. Al the time you watch and say things. Little things that this project is----extreme.”“Now I am the one who understands. You are young. Old is your soul but a grape to aged, good wine like me and Don L. You can’t understand the extreme projects of aged wine. The reasons.”“But the Daughters? Surely..?”“Raisins. Worse than grapes.”The Oldest Daughter did not inherit her mother’s beauty. In fact, it seems to have intentionally avoided her. Which is a shame because then you could endure her bitchiness. She makes up for genetics ignoring her by punishing the world.Her breakfast must be served at 7:30am on the dot. The knock on her suite must be at precisely 7:30am. She will not open the door a minute before so over the years I’ve taken to standing at her door as the maid brings up the tray. My watch buzzes knock and turn down the hallway. The seconds it takes her to snatch open the door, the maid is approaching the door. I can’t trust anyone else to knock.There have been incidents in the past of early, late knocks.In my first year, there were several meetings about the k=breakfast. She has a health regimen, her doctor has her own a precise schedule, she seeps long hours. There were enough hours of discussing when to knock on her door that I made it a point to get it right.Rosalina cooks her food. Donna L died and Rosalina raised the Daughters. She is of course a superb chef but the other chefs resent the implication, occasionally said out loud that their food Is less than. They are culinary school trained, Rosalina has hands like flat, leather shoes and cooks by eye, smell, listening to the bubble, the crackle. Therefore, her recipes can’t be accurately replicated by anyone. I suspect she does so on purpose, to give herself purpose.I believe I get paid for the months leading to this one and Christmas and settle things afterwards. In my wake, everything must be perfect when the family is here, never arriving, leaving, shopping, on the same days, so for the Daughters, the Grandchildren, the Husbands, there can be a dozen different arrival times and dates----boarding schools and board rooms bring their own schedules.Of course, this then begs when we have the casual meals, the casual dinners, the formal ones, the buffet dinners, the bubbly parties, the musicians, the extra maids, rooms and suites and a whole wing closed almost eleven months a year, the cars, the drivers, the security for trips into the city?Yes, this is the bulk of my work in the months before and after. Food budgets, fresh flowers, linens, revised and expanded staff schedules, more attention to details, more new people to interview, screen, reprimand, fire.The Dress may seem like an odd project to others like Johnathan but it is relatively simple compared to managing a large family’s needs for weeks.Don L is happy these weeks of course. Singing and dancing, laughing and playing in the grass with his grandchildren and the dogs---did I mention there are always several dogs? Rosalina too is happy, I believe sitting on her porch to store up her energy t cook and coddle and direct and correct. We two sit at the big round table at least one meal a day with the family, part of the family, because yes, we are. Our eyes though are always watching, paying attention, signaling each other about maids, signaling maids, signaling each other about security, signaling security, our meals rarely touched nor finished before popping back up to get the next thing ready. We are all the hands and eyes of the family, allowing them to relax from being hands and eyes, to focus on being simply a family.To make breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinner and late snacks for five, ten, fifteen, twenty people requires the kitchen to never stop running, cleaning happening after midnight so it can be in service again by 5 am.The second year I almost quit, there is so much work to attend to. But Rosalina told me that it was a reasonably good family, few dark secrets, sadness at the deal of Donna L but joy, at the small bit of fortune in their hands None too greedy, some a little pushy to try and outrun that sadness. Prepare ahead of time each year get your suppliers in line, hire more than necessary, fire quickly and trust people to do their jobs.The third year I was like a well-oiled machine with backups in place, requests answered before they could be fully expressed. I learned to overspend a little, to have extras on hand, to train the staff weeks ahead of time.I learned how to do Rosalina’s job.“Lucky grape, La Dona liked people. I had to organize this for hundreds of people, every month. Lucky grape.”The Youngest Daughter is very pretty but she pays more attention to her books and science and children, having beat her husband to a heart attack, so she is adored, coddled, taken care of by us all. She’s simply not a friendly person, more a scientist and teacher than girl even. She dresses in khakis and long blouses and wears no make-up. She had given herself onto an altar, not of religion like some women near her age but instead to the Holy God of Science.It is odd to see these two women, daughters of Don L, notorious and scandalous as he was, be so---tight, reserved, proper. It’s as if all the bandito in his soul skipped them and settled into his grandchildren, perhaps. They are becoming teenagers now so there must be computer and WiFi in every room and a strict ban on cell phones at meals and jaunts into the city to shop and more jaunts into the city to shop and a few more jaunts into the city to shop. Which of course requires cars and drivers and security and cash sometimes and helpers, maids, men to carry back things, deliveries coming in, items going to the right rooms as they scatter and change and switch rooms. The food requests! Absurd but it is for this festival tie so we comply and have it shipped in.The Youngest Daughter insists on fresh fruits and vegetables which is how a side parlor got turned into a pantry with four industrial refrigerators. And four full freezers. Rosalina thought perhaps I’d gone too far in ordering them, but that year she had them labeled by foods and meals for the maids, chefs and delivery people.We are a good team.“I know this is a busy time for you but we have details to review.”“Of course, I understand. Jonathan, tell me.”“Six blocks of buildings are a lot of people.”“Yes.”“Roughly two thousand people per block, you understand.”“Oh, my. I understand.” I’m just starting to understand.“I talked it over with some trusted people and we agreed on a fake movie filming. Aside from a city or government reason that’s the next best thing to shut down such a space. Our employer’s history precludes us getting city, government people too deeply involved.“Of course. I agree. I understand.”“I got to thinking, creatively, you know? I reached out to the city’s filming movie and TV shows office and got a schedule of productions happening around the city. I found a small production, a student production that wanted to film so =e B roil, secondary, like filler shots in the area. We can sort of tag along in their production, I’m thinking. It’s weird but I think it will work if you do it right.”“I don’t understand.”“You—our employer—-needs to pay to expand their film, go into the movie business.”“It’s now going to be a film? The Dress project?”“No, no, Rosalina, we won’t let them film it. Jonathan thinks we should meet with the students, pay them to expand their filming, is to film to shut down the neighborhood., ensure the people from the buildings only a on the morning, pretest to film and leave.”“You’re going into the movie business now? Don L is? Unbelievable.”“George and Maxine will be back after the Daughters leave. He said to both Daughters in front of me that he let a designer friend use the guest house.”“See, grape, I told you. Wine. Raisins.”I sleep on the plane, a seven hour flight to meet the young students making this film They explain to me how their film is an exploration of oppression.I explain that sounds very interesting.They explain that there will be a full hour of nudity to deconstruct how the viewer sees the main characters.I tell them that sounds very interesting.They tell me, especially the one with the pink hair how women are not fully represented into the cinematic word. I tell them I think that is very interesting.They tell me that the entire neighborhood is in a way a character in the movie and will get a much more lavish treatment for the extra filming.I tell them that will look very interesting.They tell me that the amount they agreed to accept is almost five times their original budget.I tell them that money makes things interesting.They tell me they’ll be happy to clear out the buildings, putting people in the facing apartments up in some hotels or to their park festival scene.I tell them the people will have an interesting time.They tell me it’s a lot of work to partition off a few hours this way but they swear to get it done.I agree this an interesting project.They tell me I have an interesting accent.I nod at Jonathan.He takes the cashier’s check out of his jacket.“No one missed you.”“Of course, not, Rosalina. You cooked them spectacular meals.”“Is the movie going to be made?”“Yes, Rosalina.”“What’s interesting about this is that Don L had a dream, it has become so much of a project, the pieces are a secret in the guest house and now it will soon be a secret part of a movie. We are all doing this but none of us can see it. There will be no record, film of this that is being filmed around. No pictures even.”We stand in the kitchen, looking at one another, considering this.The day after the Daughters leave, Rosalina announces she’ll be taking her vacation for two weeks. She barely spends any of her paychecks because everything is provided here but I know she gets a good bonus every year. She’s a rather ordinary looking woman who goes to Paris, France and buys a large trunk of designer clothes. House dresses mainly. Perhaps she even has a lover there. She’s not too old for one.I will take my vacation and bonus two weeks after Don L trip, there is still much to do.Jonathan flies down and I meet him in the nearby city where I was born, an hour away from the estate. The true work is upon us getting Don L back to his old neighborhood.“Technically it’s not illegal for him to leave the country. To go there.”“I know this.”“But he made agreements with legal people and other people to never return. They paid him handsomely to never return.”“I know this too.”“So far only we two know about this. The money there for the film kids come from an old account, put side for a long time. Hidden. For emergencies. To pay me, to pay others.”I didn’t know this. “Do you need more?”“No, no, compound interest has been good to me. I see it as a more than enough, if he wanted to spend ten times more there’d be money left over for me. The problem is logistical. Getting him there. Security. Discretion.”“What do you suggest?”“Something unorthodox. You drive him there. We can get you to the border. No airplanes.”When I get back to the estate Rosalina is not at her perch in the kitchen. I find her in her enormous suite that faces the sunset. She’s sitting up in bed, watching TV, drinking manzanilla tea. Instead of dresses, this year she bought bed linen and huge comforters. Frette.“Jonathan wants me to drive Don L to the old neighborhood.”“Longer but less conspicuous. You can trust Jonathan and Eduardo in the neighborhood. Loyal men. They cried at La Dona’s funeral. That’s how I counted the loyal ones.”“It’s a long drive.”“Take some sandwiches. You’ll see the country.”“You could come with us.”“No, grape, this is your adventure, your defining deed to Don L. I’ll drink my tea. Have some?”I pour myself a cup from the service on her nightstand.“In the drawer for taste.”I open the drawer and among the medicine bottles is an expensive bottle of rum. From France. I put it into the tea.“I will make dinner tonight for myself and Don L. I gave the chefs the night off.”“Of course, I understand.”I watch Rosalina and Don L sit by the garden eating the stew she made them. I realize this is her good-bye to him as were to leave in a few days.The next morning I go to her suite to tell her I am uncomfortable with transporting Don L alone and she must come.Rosalina is afloat her Frette sheets and pillow, quite dead.I sit by her bedside, have a cup of cool tea and rum then get up to make the final arrangements.The drive cross country is sort of fun. Don L insists that we share the driving and because we have weeks to arrive I the city before the filming dates, we have time to stop at nice hotels, good restaurants, site see a great many places.It is better than flying.No one recognizes us when we arrive in the city. We are an old man and his son or perhaps his grandson. Eduardo meets us at a modest house a few miles north of the old neighborhood.George and Maxine have been there for a week and have perfected the Dress and it is beautiful to behold. Or maybe it’s become so much of my work is to arrange something and then I rarely get to participate in the finished product. The month of driving, talking to Don L I’ve learned ow important it is to create a life for one’s self. To create, period.To my credit, I had two security teams following and ahead of us, discreetly, the whole time and our route was chosen by me and painstakingly revised to avoid too many cameras or large groups of people. Our hotel rooms were readied by an advance team and the two chefs prepared and shipped many of the meals we had on the road, restaurants happy to load up baskets in our truck. I could not risk unscreened wait staff getting too close to us.The insulation that must be maintained for a man like Don L is my primary responsibility. He knows this. He believes we’re simply driving. He trusts that I have provided for his protection and discretion even if he cannot see it. That is what I do.I drive to the old neighborhood several times and see the beige trailers and lights and crew that Don L has indirectly paid for. I’m treated by the producers, the pink haired one has now dyed it purple----it suits her, as the beloved, benevolent king. I graciously accept their accolades, allow them to shower me and then I talk to Jonathan in a private trailer he has on the set.“They think I’m watching your investment,” Jonathan explains in the lavish trailer. “We can bring Don L here to his spot the day of. I’ve arranged for the surrounding blocks to be patrolled by our people. If the timing is right, Maxine will walk on a block and we’ll shut off the block behind her, ahead of her as the ones he’s on. The trailers will be parallel will be like blinders the eventually box of the neighborhood as the kids film a big scene two blocks away at the park. We’re hiring a circus, free food, whole damn neighborhood will be there before 7am.”“Perfect.”“You gave me the job. Thank you.”“Don L gave you the job. George, too. I make no decisions, only arrangements.”“But you knew. Ms. Rosalina knew too. She said something to me once.”“She did? What did she say?”“That it----me----I was well crafted to her eye. That no one’s eyes would know..”“Well crafted. Yes, she would say that. Yes, I would have to agree.”“She told me you were a grape and that I was a plum who had become a peach.”I leave the trailer, laughing into the night.Rosalina’s ghostly gaze is eager for the final moment.Don L chooses to wear linen. The weather is brisk but he’ll only be outdoors for a few minutes. Standing in front of the full-length mirror in his private trailer a block away from his precious six blocks, I can’t help but to see him as almost a movie star. However all the trappings of a film and there are no cameras. Jonathan and Eduardo have checked the security half a dozen times at the half a dozen point blocks for cell phones. Only walkie talkies are allowed.The park festival begins the people are already there for prizes, food and a chance to be in the film that been inflated. There are monitors going through the buildings. The best Johnathan and Eduardo have done is issue orders that all facing windows are closed, drapes drawn people gone. We watch and hope that for thirty minutes we can create privacy in the middle of a city.Don L sits on his stool, in front of the building he grew up in a handful of decades before. He elegantly crosses his thin legs and I whisper into the walkie talkies from the lobby behind him.Somewhere too far to see straight ahead, Maxine begins her walk.The sun rises and George grasps my arm ad I help but gasp. The sun’s light pours down the street directly at this building onto the Don, the only thing behind the sun is the confidentially striding Maxine. She is first a shadow, a corona by the light, coming up from the horizon. Her stroll takes just long enough that the glory of light crawls up her legs, around her form and then the light behind her sears through, bleeds the front and back panels of fabric closer to one, to translucency and we see the profane effect of the light upon the provocative cut.Sunlight enshrouds her, pours from betwixt her well crafted lips, her long legs, each step making almost a wink, a glare from the back to the front, through her thighs. The light travels straight ahead.To Don L’s face.She arrives in front of him, her singular pelvic radiance spotlighting his face. The last thing I see is him moistening his lips.George and I move quietly to the side of the lobby to see this in profile. Maxine stands still and then by some pre-designed order from him, told only to her, she leans down and says something for only Don L’s ear.I look at my watch and when we are eleven minutes over schedule, I break the utter silence and call for the dark SUV that comes speedily around the corner Though we’re all surprised, we’re not surprised, as the security men and I first try to direct Don L into the car but then must admit the truth and ease his dead body back into the dark leather cocoon.Copyrighted 2019 The Dress by Kyle Phoenix from Escapades 2: A Collection of Short Stories available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. All rights reserved.#KylePhoenix#TheKylePhoenixShow