Every so often a question gets stuck in my head, and like on previous occasions, I have asked others to weigh in it. Earlier this year, I asked folks what questions were being ignored during the GOP presidential debates. This time around, I decided to have just as much fun, but go in a completely different direction:

If you could spend a day with one fictional character, who would it be, and why? Okay – if the character in question is part of a group, you can bring them in, as well.

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I am, as ever, grateful to those who took time out of their lives to indulge me.

If you could spend the day with a fictional character . . .


Sean Fitzgibbon

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An instructor at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, Sean Fitzgibbon (http://www.seanfitzgibbonart.com/) teaches classes in Advanced Drawing, Advanced Graphic Illustration, 2D Design, Art Appreciation and Studio Art Fundamentals The artist/writer of the graphic novel DomestiCATed, he is also working on a graphic novel about Norman Glenwood Baker, a charlatan who ran a “medical clinic” in Eureka Springs in the early days of the 20th century.

gnatius from the book Confederacy of Dunces. I’ve never seen the Twilight movies and I have no desire to do so but I might enjoy seeing it with him.

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Edward Armour

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52 years old, Edward Armour is a current resident of Salt Lake City raised in a USAF family, born in the beautiful Azores Islands of Portugal. He is also a past resident of three other foreign countries and seven States

Victor Hugo’s Jean Valjean. A testament to the trnasformative potential of our character as we learn through the struggles and challenges of our lives. We are always capable of doing great things and experiencing great joy if we are willing to remain true to our inner selves. His was restored through the Bishop’s gift of freedom

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ValJean learns and “pays it forward”. A thought expressed in many religions of the world, it remains a quintessential HUMAN truth. My Grandmother distilled it into “when you do good, good comes back to you.”

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Thea Phipps

Thea Phipps (www.TheaPhipps.net) is a volunteer teacher in Fayetteville by day, and a comedic mystery writer by night . . . when all sane people are sleeping. She has personally proved the words of Gracie Harmon to be true: “Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum.”. She has written two mysteries, Charades with a Lunatic and The Doll in the Wall, and is working on her next in the series.

I had to think a bit to answer this one, the problem being that all the best characters really lived. I have a long list of real people. But fictional characters? When I was nine it would have been the Hardy Boys. They solved mysteries all the time, but without parental interference. In fact, their father was proud of them for getting tied up by thugs and discovering secret passages, calling them resourceful when they outwitted the bad guys. If I had done any of the above my mom would have called me something else, certainly not resourceful. That word would have never even come up. Besides, I had a horrible crush on Frank.

If you had asked me that question when I was a teenager, I would have said any of the studly heroes that made their appearance in Mary Stewart’s books of Romantic Suspense. Didn’t matter which one. Any of them. All of them. Whatever. I would have been thrilled. Just as long as my day with them happened somewhere in Europe.

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But when I hit 18, my answer would have been Vicki Bliss, in the series by Elizabeth Peters. Vicki was unorthodox, had a sense of humor, and refused to conform to standard plot formulas. For example, in the first book she appeared in, Borrower of the Night, she refused to settle down at the end of the book with the handsome hero. Instead, she squeezed a prestigious job offer out of a kooky little German Professor and followed him to Munich where she worked in a museum, solving even more mysteries.

Now, at 50, I would still have to say Vicki Bliss. No, none of your deep, complex, or noble characters from the classics for me. I have no use for someone else’s special issues. I have enough of my own. I would want to go to exotic locales, solve mysteries, and laugh, while drinking beer and eating chocolate (Vicki works in Munich, after all).

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Laura Phillips

Laura Phillips is on the Board of Directors of the Northwest Arkansas Center for Equality. She also attends the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fayetteville and is one of the youth group leaders there, in addition to being a local equality activist.

Doctor Who. Preferably the 10th doctor, as portrayed by David Tennant. He’s cute, he’s smart, he’s helpful, he has a TARDIS and wears Converse. What’s not to love? It’d be a fun, never ending day cuase he’d be able to get me back at the same time we left. Time machines FTW!

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Kathy Agel

Kathy Agel is a NY Yankee’s fan, lifelong TV junkie and voracious reader of multiple genres – fiction, nonfiction, and fanfiction. A Municipal retiree, she is a Jersey Girl now happily enjoying the Central Florida sun with her husband of 32 years, and their two dogs.

Wow — if I could spend a day with a fictional group? It’s pretty hard to narrow it down, because there are so many fictional worlds that have captured my attention over the years.

Ultimately, I’d have to say that I would love to spend a day on board the fictional submarine Seaview, from the TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, interacting with her crew. The series started out as action/adventure, then deviated into science fiction (which was, admittedly, pretty cheesy in the later episodes, with their “monster of the week” format). But, as silly as it could be, the show engendered a lifelong interest in submarines.

I’d place a special emphasis on the executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton (played by Robert Dowdell), who was the epitome of grace under pressure. No matter what Seaview ran into — enemy agents, enemy submarines, monsters from outer space or the depths of the ocean — he kept his cool and kept Seaview running, while Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane handled the emergency of the moment — or ended up being possessed by one entity or another. But whatever the situation, he maintained an even keel.

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David Quin

A former military brat, David Quin graduated from the U of A in Fayetteville with a Masters in Historical Archeology. He has enjoyed over over 25 years being a Federal Civil War Reenactor, and is greatly interested in history, especially military history.

I guess today, it would be Doctor Who. The ability to see history, in person, would be too tempting to pass up. And of course, the desire to alter history here or there (just like the Doctor does now and again) would be very strong and would have to be avoided (more for the unknown consequences.) But it would be Doctor Who. And of course, an opportunity to see the TARDIS.

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Quote of the Day

Man is a thought-adventurer. But by thought we mean, of course, discovery. We don’t mean this telling himself stale facts and drawing false conclusions, which usually passes as thought. Thought is an adventure, not a trick. – D.H. Lawrence

rsdrake@cox.net

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