08-28-2016, 06:30 PM
Gwendolyn always believed that she was destined for great things. Perhaps because she'd always been told so. Rome, New York wasn't a place where she'd have much competition, especially as an only child to a single mother. Rachel Petersen was a career woman who'd built a moderately successful sponsored content empire online. At 35 she decided she didn't want to be alone anymore so she picked out a nameless deposit at a sperm bank with blonde hair and a purported 170 IQ. Nine months later came Gwendolyn.
Rachel was the quintessential drone parent of the millennial generation. She got Gwendolyn involved in any activity she chose, always pushing from afar and ready to swoop in and obliterate any obstacle to her daughter. But she was never emotionally close. Learning a foreign language was a must for Gwen, and she could speak Spanish and Russian at an early age. When Gwen was six, her mother required her to begin participating in a physical activity. After some minor messing around with soccer and dancing she settled on mixed martial arts: Jujitsu, Taekwondo and Krav Manga, as taught at the local MMA dojo. No boy was going to go around pulling on her pigtails. By her sixteenth birthday she'd achieved a second-degree black belt. She continued to do her martial arts exercises through adulthood as a part of her daily exercise regimen.
In high school, Gwen tried out for her school's competitive shooting team where she excelled in rapid fire pistol. The discipline, skill and focus she had earned through her marital arts studies paid off for her. In her junior year she placed second at the state championship and qualified for the 2024 Olympics. Unfortunately for her, however, budget cuts paired with anti-firearm sentiment under the Clinton presidency dashed her Olympic dreams, for private funds would only pay the way for the top contender.
Insulted, Gwen quit the team and decided to explore a talent that would demand the most confidence, skill, boldness and finesse so far, independent of anyone else: the theater. And it was here that she finally shone brighter than anyone else. This small-town beauty could not be frightened by any challenge on the stage. Oh, how they fell in love with her! How willingly people were to buy into the character being portrayed, and so easily able to suspend their disbelief. It was all a trick of confidence, and with that there was real power. All the world's a stage, and the better players win. The audience didn't see what you didn't want to show them. So one month she could be Katherine the shrew, the next sink as Eliza Doolittle to the streets of London before arising once again as Verra the demon goddess.
Sheer utilitarianism kept Gwendolyn from Hollywood, or later Phoenix (after the tsunamis devastated the film industry). Professional actresses were a vapid bunch, and seen that way by their peers as people who played for a living and had no credibility when it came to the real world. No, the real actors of tomorrow were in the media. They could change the world with their presentation. Gone were the days of impartiality. And why bother? The woman who controlled the flow of information could shape the opinions of tomorrow.
Gwen was of some financial means while young, but not entirely independent, which kept her from the most exclusive of schools, but she managed to get into Utica College where she pursued her BS in public relations and journalism. While there she pledged Theta Phi Alpha, to no small surprise. She was the ultimate small-town sweetheart, with a pretty face framed by blonde locks and a svelte body to match, with no shortage of orbiters both male and female. Theta Phi Alpha was dedicated to service work and inclusion, and whispers underground were that it was a sorority for DUFFs who wouldn't “fit in” elsewhere. To Gwen, however, it was a sisterhood of ready followers both at Utica and abroad, and she was able to use her service work to secure a scholarship to pursue her master's in broadcast journalism and communications at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Her Master's Thesis explored the ability and effects of dichotomy messaging through news reporting in order to frame a stronger central narrative.
From college it was starting over time. There was a long string of lower-level news jobs as Gwen strove to constantly climb the ladder, gaining experience, connections and – a few times – useful enemies on her way up. Relationships were plentiful but casual, lest something tie Gwen down from her target – evening anchorship of a flagship network. She finally secured this position at the age of 38 (though she tells everyone she's 32) at CNN Instant News, the premiere global multimedia news network. Billed as America's Media Darling, she didn't just have her finger on America's pulse. She held the beating heart of American public opinion in her fist.
In the instantaneous news reporting atmosphere of today, facts weren't as important as getting the message out fast since they could always be cleared up later after everyone forgot about the story. Newscasters weren't just reporting anymore. They were creating news and news controversy. When you kept people concerned, you kept them watching.
To Gwen, whose message it was didn't matter as much as having the ability to keep people watching and politicians groveling for positive press. The rise of the Cold-War tensions between the US and the CCD promised to keep this gift going for quite some time, and the announcement that “magic” is a real thing sought to be a tremendous boon in the hands of the right newscaster bound on shaping the conscience of a nation.
Rachel was the quintessential drone parent of the millennial generation. She got Gwendolyn involved in any activity she chose, always pushing from afar and ready to swoop in and obliterate any obstacle to her daughter. But she was never emotionally close. Learning a foreign language was a must for Gwen, and she could speak Spanish and Russian at an early age. When Gwen was six, her mother required her to begin participating in a physical activity. After some minor messing around with soccer and dancing she settled on mixed martial arts: Jujitsu, Taekwondo and Krav Manga, as taught at the local MMA dojo. No boy was going to go around pulling on her pigtails. By her sixteenth birthday she'd achieved a second-degree black belt. She continued to do her martial arts exercises through adulthood as a part of her daily exercise regimen.
In high school, Gwen tried out for her school's competitive shooting team where she excelled in rapid fire pistol. The discipline, skill and focus she had earned through her marital arts studies paid off for her. In her junior year she placed second at the state championship and qualified for the 2024 Olympics. Unfortunately for her, however, budget cuts paired with anti-firearm sentiment under the Clinton presidency dashed her Olympic dreams, for private funds would only pay the way for the top contender.
Insulted, Gwen quit the team and decided to explore a talent that would demand the most confidence, skill, boldness and finesse so far, independent of anyone else: the theater. And it was here that she finally shone brighter than anyone else. This small-town beauty could not be frightened by any challenge on the stage. Oh, how they fell in love with her! How willingly people were to buy into the character being portrayed, and so easily able to suspend their disbelief. It was all a trick of confidence, and with that there was real power. All the world's a stage, and the better players win. The audience didn't see what you didn't want to show them. So one month she could be Katherine the shrew, the next sink as Eliza Doolittle to the streets of London before arising once again as Verra the demon goddess.
Sheer utilitarianism kept Gwendolyn from Hollywood, or later Phoenix (after the tsunamis devastated the film industry). Professional actresses were a vapid bunch, and seen that way by their peers as people who played for a living and had no credibility when it came to the real world. No, the real actors of tomorrow were in the media. They could change the world with their presentation. Gone were the days of impartiality. And why bother? The woman who controlled the flow of information could shape the opinions of tomorrow.
Gwen was of some financial means while young, but not entirely independent, which kept her from the most exclusive of schools, but she managed to get into Utica College where she pursued her BS in public relations and journalism. While there she pledged Theta Phi Alpha, to no small surprise. She was the ultimate small-town sweetheart, with a pretty face framed by blonde locks and a svelte body to match, with no shortage of orbiters both male and female. Theta Phi Alpha was dedicated to service work and inclusion, and whispers underground were that it was a sorority for DUFFs who wouldn't “fit in” elsewhere. To Gwen, however, it was a sisterhood of ready followers both at Utica and abroad, and she was able to use her service work to secure a scholarship to pursue her master's in broadcast journalism and communications at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Her Master's Thesis explored the ability and effects of dichotomy messaging through news reporting in order to frame a stronger central narrative.
From college it was starting over time. There was a long string of lower-level news jobs as Gwen strove to constantly climb the ladder, gaining experience, connections and – a few times – useful enemies on her way up. Relationships were plentiful but casual, lest something tie Gwen down from her target – evening anchorship of a flagship network. She finally secured this position at the age of 38 (though she tells everyone she's 32) at CNN Instant News, the premiere global multimedia news network. Billed as America's Media Darling, she didn't just have her finger on America's pulse. She held the beating heart of American public opinion in her fist.
In the instantaneous news reporting atmosphere of today, facts weren't as important as getting the message out fast since they could always be cleared up later after everyone forgot about the story. Newscasters weren't just reporting anymore. They were creating news and news controversy. When you kept people concerned, you kept them watching.
To Gwen, whose message it was didn't matter as much as having the ability to keep people watching and politicians groveling for positive press. The rise of the Cold-War tensions between the US and the CCD promised to keep this gift going for quite some time, and the announcement that “magic” is a real thing sought to be a tremendous boon in the hands of the right newscaster bound on shaping the conscience of a nation.