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For many lesbian daughters of working-class straight women, opting out of heterosexuality exposes the possibility of another life path, begging the question for mothers, “If my daughter didn’t have to do this, did I?” Heterosexuality is compulsory for middle-class women, too, but more likely to be represented as a gift, a promise of happiness, to be contrasted with the ostensibly “miserable” life of the lesbian. The lesbian feminist theorist Sara Ahmed has offered a sustained critique of the role of queer abjection in the production of heteroromantic fantasies. In Living a Feminist Life, she notes that “it is as if queers, by doing what they want, expose the unhappiness of having to sacrifice personal desires . . . for the happiness of others.” In The Promise of Happiness, Ahmed argues, “Heterosexual love becomes about the possibility of a happy ending; about what life is aimed toward, as being what gives life direction or purpose, or as what drives a story.” Marked by sacrifice, misery, and failure along the way, the journey toward heterosexual happiness (to be found with the elusive “good man”) remains the journey.

FAVORITE THE WEST WING MOMENTS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER 4/? -> Josh & Donna in Season 3 Episode 4: Ways and Means

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Don't ever let Claudia Jean Cregg give you relationship advice. CJ what the fuck 😭

@heroofshield asked me about the crime committed by the writers when Andy was completely forgotten about the second she got off the phone with Toby, and didn’t get as much as a mention in the rest of the Gaza arc.

And it IS such a crime. It really.

Now disclaimer: every time I talk too much about this, I get some people saying that I’m just too stupid to understand what a side character is and it’s dumb to expect them to waste screen time on her more than necessary. I wanna make it so clear that I’m not trying to say Andy Wyatt should become some sort of vocal point in the Gaza arc, I’m very aware that as a minor occasionally recurring character she’s not going to be the centre of attention in this. I’m not saying she should be.

I’m saying that there is really no better few episodes where she could have been utilised as a side character than the Gaza arc. She really, by just adding her to the show the way she was part of the group in Debate Camp (mostly focused on Toby, but also interacting with Jed and Josh as part of the larger group), could have added a lot to almost every character’s own scenes.

The main thing that’s so important to remember here is that Andy was leading the delegation to the Middle East, and she had added the trip to Israel and Gaza specifically because she believed in talking to people who otherwise don’t get meetings with the US government in an attempt to get closer to peace. (Now that’s a naive thing in our world, obviously. But in the world of the show, where Jed Bartlet solves peace in the Middle East over the weekend by talking? It’s a lot less so.) She was leading this delegation, she has 11 month old twins at home, and she is the ONLY named character next to Donna who did not die. She also voted on the resolution for retribution against Palestine that Congress proposed about two days after the explosion: clearly, she went back to work very quickly. She’s involved in this.

She planned it, she believes in peace, she was the only one not injured and one of the only two not to die, she went back to work and voted.

Now, her presence could’ve added a lot to the negotiations and the discussions about this peace plan. A huge problem they face is that Congress wants retribution and then doesn’t want to back the peace plan. Josh and Toby spend a lot of these episodes talking to different members of Congress trying to get this passed and get a grip on this. There is one particularly outspoken member of the House who was literally just in Gaza, part of this delegation, watched her colleagues die, and firmly believes in peace. Give the woman a call. It would’ve been a simple addition to this process, and given a more clear face to the side of Congress that does want to help this administration.

Similarly, it’d give Jed someone in his corner who has the very recent and traumatic lived experience of the exact trigger for the Camp David discussions he’s planning. He has Kate, and Kate is great, but Andy is someone he is already more familiar with, someone the staff is obviously close to, and who would’ve made a more emotional impact on everyone involved by being a part of this conversation.

On the more emotional side, we see Toby’s reaction to hearing of the explosion, we see his relief when he hears Andy is alive, and we see his anger at the assumption that he’d only be ‘almost’ upset at his ex wife and the mother of his children being almost blown up. He could’ve lost her that day and the last ever thing he would’ve said about her would have been “she keeps hocking me about seeing the kids”. He is obviously dealing with the emotional fall-out of this, and that gets forgotten about so quickly. Adding Andy as a presence in the White House or during his meetings on the Hill or in Camp David would have made the emotional arc for both of them feel much more complete.

She could have died. She has eleven month old twins at home that he hasn’t seen in weeks and she could have died and he would’ve been responsible for them and they have to DEAL with that. Even just one conversation.

Similarly: Donna. Just. Donna.

Like I said, Andy is the only named character who survived this with Donna. She is the only person Donna could talk to who was there too. She is the only person who could’ve sat with Donna at the hospital waiting for her to be taken to surgery, who could’ve held her hand in the ICU until she really had to get on the military plane taking her home. She is the only person Donna knows who has the same last memories of the two Congressman, the young aide, and Chairman Fitzwallace, before they were blown up.

They don’t need to have a long heart to hear about it, it can be a quick conversation, it can be a hug, it can be the small acknowledgement that this is something they went through together. It can be the smallest mention that Congresswoman Wyatt was there alongside Josh waiting for Donna’s plane, or that she visited Donna at home. (I absolutely love the fic @pelorsdyke wrote about a potential conversation between them, it’s gorgeous, really recommend checking it out.)

On that note: add Andy to the episode and give Josh Lyman someone who also feels responsible for what happened to Donna! Andy lead the delegation that almost killed her; Josh sent Donna on the delegation that almost killed her. Let the two of them find some support in that awful guilt.