@danedespres Whoa, I had to make a few passes on the story to try to track the referential mileposts, and I know I'm probably only picking up half of what you just put down. Let's discuss. Jones = Bowie, but who's Roger? I'm guessing that's the listener? "Eleven year day" is probably my favorite phrase. I must say, I experienced a feeling like weeping, but not weeping, because I generally don't have the capacity for such overtly expressed sadness, reading your story while listening. You went so much bigger and deeper than I had expected. It really brings this little project something way more special than I had hoped. Thank you.

c@cyrusdespres Yes! I'm psyched that you like it! I had to do an "Ashes to Ashes" story; I simultaneously deeply dig it and am haunted by it. I remember being really creeped-out by the video as a kid, too -- all that freaky imagery. You're right; there are a bunch of references in the story, but at a certain point, I let the story tell itself, so some things have unintentional resonance. I hadn't thought about the Roger character being the listener, but that makes a lot of sense. Just as the lyrics to the song are filled with self-references, I also made a bunch of allusions in the story. I intended for his name to be an inversion of sorts of "Major Tom" (el ttoMmoss maA[re]goR) due to the reflexive nature of Bowie's singing about a Bowie persona in the song. The eleven-year day is a reference to the time period that separates "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes". My favorite reference is double "mother" in the story. Roger escapes from one form of controlling moral authority (like the Puritanical work ethic of "get things done" in the song's lyrics) to take on another, more rigid, almost ascetic form of self-abdication (Ground Control vs. MissionCommand and the protocols). The green substance is the third, more organic control/escape.

@cyrusdespres Cheesiest reference: the green stuff or the stench (funk).

@danedespres Your piece and the song are really resonating with me. I have so many thoughts... "E) I don't know." The narrative I developed about the characters (or Bowie; or me; or humankind) before getting to the end of your second part was perhaps a bit more hopeful than I'm reading from your last sentence. The oblique purpose, the development of self awareness, and then the letting in to action. The Action Man. Dichotomy. Hope, but with the forever lingering residual layers of funk. Matterhose. Being in and out of control at once. Pleasure. dot dot dot

@danedespres I was hoping for an "Ashes to Ashes" musing. I think I'm tracking with this LifePath™ narrative. Looking forward to reading part two tomorrow.

@danedespres Holy cow!