I was utterly surprised and amazed today to read a comment about my last blog post from Chip Coffey (see post "TV Shows about the Paranormal," and click on "comments."). I wanted to write back to him, but I searched blogspot and could not find contact information for him. It appears his last blog entry on blogger was in 2007. So, though I doubt he returns, I am going to write back here.
Dear Chip:
Thank you for taking the time to read my post about tv shows about the paranormal. I am pleased that you noticed and took time to write back your opinions and disagreement about my comments. I did not in any way consider your reply a flame. It was honest conversation.
I tell my students about the importance of a real world audience, but I don't often have one other than them myself. I will now have a fabulous example to use of someone reading and responding to my writing, even if only a blog entry.
I will also give Paranormal State another chance. I agree that it has a different focus. I guess maybe I didn't get that focus. I like the cool gadgets and the bells and whistles of GH, where the spiritual support for exorcising seemed a bit much.
Having said that, I certainly like(d)? (did it get cancelled?) that /the support you used in PK . I like the way you and the doc try to help children and their families accept their differences and how to use them. I remember one episode with a child who was afraid to sleep because the mother of her ghost friend was trying to kill her. You appeared to help her a great deal.
I guess my line, then, must be one of demons / possession. I'm not sure I believe in possession. And the episode of Paranormal State that I watched seemed to revolve around it, though in all fairness I was multitasking and not paying 100% attention to it. What was going on with Ryan? Have you helped him solve this crisis? I will set my DVR and try to figure out what happened next.
Thanks again for your response. If you are ever in Louisville, Kentucky, we'd love to have you come visit us at Jefferson Community and Technical College. My students love writing about the paranormal, so I imagine it is a theme I will use again.
Sincerely,
Professor Stacy
Stacy Hartlage Taylor
Assistant Professor of English
Jefferson Community & Technical College
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Thanks again for your kind words about "Psychic Kids." The show has not (yet?) been renewed by A&E, but we remain optimistic and hopeful that it will return to the airwaves. Those of us who were involved with the show, as well as a significant number of viewers, believe that "Psychic Kids" provided valuable assistance, guidance and direction to children and families who are/were experiencing situations that they could not understand, much less manage appropriately.
Many people seem to focus on the fact that "Paranormal State" has presented cases that deal with the demonic, something that other similar shows, to the best of my knowledge, have not done. In reality, only a handful of the 33 episodes already produced have dealt with demons or demonic forces.
I was raised Catholic and yet even I had trouble wrapping my brain around the concept of demons. But then, I came face-to-face with situations that felt so incredibly invasive, destructive and evil that I had no choice but to entertain the possibility that some negative supernatural force was responsible.
We live in a universe based on opposites -- ie: day and night, hot and cold, dark and light. If we believe in pure good (God? Angels?), is it not somehow logical that there must also be the opposite of this pure good, that being impure evil (the devil? demons?)?
Certainly, not every paranormal occurrence is demonic ... and yes, some people who are deep in the throes of unexplainable circumstances incorrectly "blame" demons (or curses or spells) for their misfortunes. It is sometimes easier to attribute the negative/bad things that happen in life to external sources than to take accountability or responsibility for our own shortcomings/failures/poor decisions.
There are, however, some occurrences that cannot be rationally, logically, scientifically explained ... and those occurrences are what I consider to be "paranormal."
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