elrhiarhodan

Title: Torch Song – Master Post
Author: elrhiarhodan
Artist: kaylashay
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, June Ellington, Clinton Jones, Diana Berrigan, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mozzie, Julian Larsen, Garrett Fowler, Reese Hughes, Kyle Bancroft, Evan Leary, Chloe Woods, Amanda Callaway, Phillip Kramer; Peter/Neal, Elizabeth/Mozzie
Word Count: ~56,000
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Expressions of homophobia, transphobia, past reference to a physically and emotionally abusive relationship.
Beta Credit: sinfulslasher, who, once again, was absolutely heroic in her work on this epic. Also, deepest thanks to my good friends and constant cheerleaders, theatregirl7299 and miri_thompson, whose endless encouragement helped me every step of the way.

Summary: An alternate universe partially based on the characters and location in "Upper West Side Story", but with a twist - of the "Victor/Victoria" kind. Neal Caffrey teaches European History, but has an interesting and potentially career-damaging gig at his godmother's nightclub. Enter Peter Burke, talent agent and an old friend of June's, who plays the fairy godmother role to the hilt.

Author’s Note: My deepest thanks to my artist, kaylashay, for being so patient with me. Her artwork inspired me with what I thought was a simple idea, but nothing, lately, is ever simple. I had so much fun writing this, I hope it lives up to the beautiful art she created.



Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven



I usually don't like to write extensive notes explaining my choices, but as the writing and certain news events progressed, I realized that I should explain some aspects of this story and how I ended up writing what I did.

Why did I write Chloe Woods as a transgender teenager?

When I sat down to do these notes, I drafted a thousand words in response to this question, but realized that (1) explaining my choices in such extensive detail shouldn't be necessary; and (2) I sounded like a blithering idiot.

Instead, I'm going to point you to my motivation: two very excellent posts in one of my favorite blogs, The Mary Sue: Fan Fiction is More Than Words, It's About Worlds, and How to Offend Everyone and Make Yourself Cry: Writing Diversity in Fanfiction.

I'd also like to add that I started writing this several weeks before Caitlyn Jenner's interview with Diane Sawyer was televised. I had been peripherally aware of her transition, but as I'm not much of a fan of reality television, it wasn't something I was actively following. I am, however, immensely grateful for the timing. Caitlyn Jenner's public statements and appearances – both to the television media and in her Vanity Fair interview – have put gender identity into the mainstream consciousness, and there has been significant public discussion and education about transgender issue.

I have tried very hard to treat this issue with respect - to be more than an opportunistic "tourist" using current events to advance a story. In writing this, I have learned so much and had my heart broken as I strove to educate myself on the difficulties that transgender and transsexual people encounter. If I've made mistakes in my portrayal of Chloe Woods, please let me know.

Isn't your portrayal of Amanda Callaway a little over the top? Educators don't behave like that.

Sadly, no, they do. In 2010, Clint McCance, a member of an Alabama school board strongly advocated for gay teens to kill themselves. George Takai called the douchebag out.


As for Callaway's comments to Chloe about "having a penis", they might as well been ripped from the reader comments to an article in the June 15, 2015 edition of the New York Times, Beyond Caitlyn Jenner Lies a Long Struggle by Transgender People:

Comment by "Concerned Citizen"

"No matter how you wish to spin it -- and this is clearly a "hot trend" today, mostly created by a media that can't get shock value out of gay marriage anymore -- transgenderism is based entirely on lies.

It is not possible to change your gender, anymore than you can chance your race or your species, your height or your eye color. You can disguise yourself, but you will never be the thing you wear disguise of -- it just is not possible.

A recent article about a white woman who was passing herself off as black was properly greeted with guffaws and disbelief. You cannot change your race, simply by adopting cornrows or an afro hairstyle. That is obvious enough even to lefty liberals!

But everyone is falling over themselves to claim that Caitlyn Jenner is a woman, when it is plain as day he is not. It's a kind of mass hysteria -- an Emperor's New Clothes. Few people will admit THE TRUTH. Jenner is a biologically normal MAN -- not intersexed, not deformed in any way -- who has married twice and fathered four children.

He can no more become a woman, than I can become a dolphin or a parakeet, just because I might dress like one of those. This is political correctness run amuck, and as such, it is a great detriment to our culture and society. It's time for decent people to step up and tell the truth."

Comment by "Ordinary Person"

"Another day, another boring and sanctimonious rant about this subject by this paper. Enough already. A man who think he's a woman is just a man who thinks he's a woman. He's not a woman. He isn't a tree or car or Asian either. Some things cannot be changed. A man is a man is a man. He's not a woman becasue he has a delusion that he is. Women like myself are sick of being told that we're supposed to see Lawurence Cox and Bruce Jenner as women rather than the mentally ill men they really are."

Note: These comments are part of a curated system (all NYT comments are reviewed before posting), and not from the blithering unwashed masses. They are not even the worst of the comments – but simply the most recent.

Talk to me about the music.

Do you want another 50k? I should hope not.

My dear friend and stalwart cheerleader, theatregirl7299 recommended quite a few songs, including the much disliked "Fields of Gold", but most of the songs were part of my teenage soundtrack, especially the Janis Ian and Gordon Lightfoot. Annie Lennox' music populated much of my headspace in my early 30s, and I do have to say that I fell in love with her album, Bare, about the same time that I fell in love with White Collar, and I still can't listen to it without thinking it is the soundtrack to Season One.

I will, in the next few days, put together a complete playlist of all the songs mentioned in the story.

There seem to be some loose threads. Any plans to tell more stories in this 'verse?

Yes. There simply came a point where I had to finish this and get it to my beta reader. But I have to write at least two timestamps:

1 – The track team showing up in skirts
2 – Phillip Kramer's exit.

That's it. For now. Thank you for being patient. I've never been this late with a challenge assignment and I have to thank my co-mods theatregirl7299 and kanarek13 for giving me all the time I needed to get this complete.