[video] Leslie Knope: Socio-Linguistic Coordinator

[lesliemonster]

Hello, everyone. This is Leslie Knope.

[Sounding much more energized than her last audio! And this one is a full on video. She's sitting behind her trusty desk, hair neatly coiffed, suit jacket lint flee. To her side: a stack of idea binders!]

We've got a few exciting things coming up. Keep an eye out for the next book club meeting: we will be reading The Great Gatsby, a book that should ring especially true to life considering the most recent breach. Get your copies now!

But today, I'm contacting you to gauge interest in an upcoming event, inspired by Ms. Romanoff's call for linguists. If we were to host a barge-wide language exchange, who among you would be willing to offer to share their own language skills? It's a unique -- literally, a once-in-a-universe opportunity -- to broaden our cross cultural understanding and get to know one another just a little better.

Comments

[lesliemonster]

No. It's not that. It's about how the pursuit of the American dream corrupts. It's--

[Oh, shit. Thanks for the upcoming insight, evil gangster Leslie!]

It's about the game.

[omar]

[You have his attention, Leslie, but also potentially more of his scorn. He raises a brow.] You wanna say more on that one?

[lesliemonster]

[She's saying this while she figures it out, and is deeply regretting that she didn't reread Gatsby the day after she was turned into a gangster.]

It's about one man wanting to remake himself, completely. And he does. He gets new clothes, a new house, a new car. Works his way up and up, by crimes that are left vague. And all the while, he thinks that he's doing it to marry this woman. But by the end, you realize that he doesn't even know her.

He's chasing a fantasy, and it's the chase that he finds meaning in. And it's not that the reward, the riches -- they still mean something to him. But they're part of the chase, part of the cycle. And that's what's come to define him.

Sorry -- I don't know if I'm explaining it that well.

[omar]

[To his credit -- or, more likely, to hers -- he listens, not only patiently but actively.]

I only skimmed the thing. [This is an admission.] Seem to recall that's all treated as some real unforgivable business by that white boy narrator, though. If it about the game, yo, it's about the wrong game.

[lesliemonster]

Nick Carraway is the living worst. You're right though -- the book is all his observations, his moral filters. Textbook unreliable narrator.

[She should save this for book club but Leslie really likes talking about books, Omar.]

A fairly popular theory is that he was more aware of Gatsby's criminal activities than he was letting on, and remains obtuse about it through the narration to keep his own hands clean.

[omar]

That some cowardly nonsense, then. [He frowns, but at least he looks intrigued.]