Jacob (J.J.) Jones

Disclaimer: While place descriptions and news events may coincide with the real world, all characters and the plot are fictional.
== Biography ==
=== Early Years ===
==== Book 2: Choose ====
J.J. grew up in West Linn, a Portland suburb about 12 miles to the south of PSU. His family are tight-knit, with a big extended family on both sides. His mom doesn't work, and his father is a respected member of the community - Lieutenant David Jones of the Portland Police Bureau. His dad coached Little League when J.J. was young, primarily so J.J. would have a team to play on. When J.J. was 12, his dad had the safe sex talk with him - both found it a painful experience. 
His parents are conservative, but CNN is their channel of choice and they insisted that all of their children watch the evening news and be prepared to discuss it. He can't remember when he decided to become a reporter. His first crush was on Christiane Amanpour, and he wanted to report from war zones around the world like her. 
At school, J.J. got good grades and never got into trouble. He was staff photographer for his high school newspaper/yearbook, which used a cloak closet in the back of the computer lab as an office. He has been doing video since he was 12, and has a small home video-camera that his grandfather gave him for his 13th birthday. 
In his high school years, he had made a few trips into downtown Portland, but mostly hung out with friends closer to home or at Clackamas Mall. His mother had brought her children down to the Christmas celebrations, like the tree lighting ceremony in Pioneer Square, because she thought it was important for them to experience it. 
The family went along to his dad's PPB basketball and baseball league games, and J.J's mom would make a game out of seeing if they could pick out who was who.
=== Education ===
==== Book 2: Choose ====
J.J. is the first on his Dad's side of the family to go to college. Orientation had a whole session on 'first-generation college students', which he'd found helpful.
In Fall 2020, J.J. starts as a journalism major at Portland State University, and signs up for News 101. He has classes four days each week, with one starting at 8am. Even though he has a monthly bus pass, J.J. stays on campus all day rather than go back and forth to West Linn more than once a day. So he has a lot of time for homework, and for doing assignments for EWN. On Thursdays, he has a history class in the morning.
=== Eyewitness News ===
==== Book 2: Choose ====
J.J.'s first story for EWN is about a new coffee shop on the corner of campus opening during COVID.
At noon on Monday October 12, 2020 J.J. runs up the stairs to the EWN newsroom. It's his signup time to go through checkout protocols for equipment. He's enrolled in the weekly News 101 course, but has come into the newsroom daily since the start of Fall term 2020. He's found that if he hangs out, Emily Andersen will give him a story to do. J.J. covets access to the equipment storage room with its professional quality video cameras. His assigned story that day is a feature on a doggie yoga class.
Later that afternoon, J.J. takes an EWN video camera kit to the BLM protest outside the Multnomah County Justice Center. He is recognized as a newbie by Turk, who point him out to Cage Washington. Cage stalks towards him and demands to know his name and what he's doing downtown with EWN equipment. J.J. assures him he checked out the camera properly, but Cage notices J.J. doesn't have a safety bag with gas mask, cap, gloves, and eye protection. Cage tells him to interview people for an hour, using only his notebook and pen, get their stories, then return to the newsroom to write it up into an article. If Cage sees J.J. after 9pm, he'll be banned from EWN for life.
At EWN that evening, Emily Andersen comments that J.J. is good with writing, not just video. Sarah adds that he can interview, that he asks good questions and captures who people are. Ryan also thinks J.J.'s article is really good.
At the News 101 class on Tuesday afternoon, Emily introduces Sarah, inviting her to share what she had noticed with the students' work the previous night, then does a brief workshop on quotes and mentions positives she noticed. She gives kudos to J.J. for his article, telling the other students to read it online, before warning them not to go to the protests after curfew. She tells J.J. to find Cage, who has asked for J.J. to be on his videographer team. The other students murmur in awe. Emily hands out story assignments, and tells the class that further assignments will be in their email. The class leave, other than J.J. who wants to know where to find Cage. Emily and Sarah ask him about the protests, and he wonders what outcome the protesters are hoping for. Cage comes in, overhears, and tells J.J. that his story assignment that night will be to go down and ask people that, but to return by 8pm to get it written up and edited. J.J. asks for a camera, but Emily says it will just get in his way. J.J. grabs his stuff and heads out.
That evening, J.J. interviews Tabitha Lake and others at the downtown protest. He feels someone watching him, and sees his father in the police line. He does one more interview, refusing to be intimidated by his father, before going over to Cage, who is with two people. Turk praises J.J. for his article the previous night and introduces themself. J.J. recognizes the handle. He tells Cage he is heading to EWN, and Cage asks him to pass on to Emily that Carroll and Turk were back down at the protest that night. J.J. sees his father staring at Carroll, but leaves without saying anything. On returning to EWN, J.J. types up a short article about a business owner, why his store is closed, and why he's protesting. He then writes a longer article about what the protest organizers are waiting and hoping for. He waits while Emily reviews his articles, and explains the changes she makes. Emily sends the story to Sarah to copy-edit, and Sarah explains how to make his copy tighter and punchier. The piece on the store owner will lead the evening's broadcast over B-roll footage, and the longer article will be place online, anchoring the front of the site. He passes on the message from Cage about Carroll and Turk. When J.J. leaves EWN, his father is waiting for him in the car at the front of the building and orders him to get in. As they drive home to West Linn, Lt Jones makes it clear he does not want J.J. at the protests. J.J. responds that he's at college now, and it's his assignment with EWN - that they think he's good at it, really good. On arriving home, he talks to his mother before going downstairs to his room to read the EWN website, and listen to the evening news. His father joins him, and demands his attention. J.J. assures his dad he won't be downtown after curfew, but his Dad gives him an ultimatum: 'If you're going to continue under my roof, you won't go down there at all', leaving J.J. to wonder if he needs to move away from home. His father leaves and J.J. returns to the broadcast, watching the Protest Documentary after the news. He is horrified to see police, including his father, using batons and pepper spray on protesters, arresting them for just standing there and chanting. Finally he can't take any more, and turns it off.
When he arrives at EWN on Wednesday afternoon, J.J. asks Emily if anyone has interviewed police officers about what outcome they are hoping for. Emily notices he appears anxious and says that police have orders not to talk to media individually, and the PPB spokesperson just gives out an official line. She assigns him to work on EWN archives, creating a timeline of events both for himself and their readers. J.J. appears relieved.
That evening, after taking the bus home, J.J. goes up to the kitchen to say goodnight to his mother to find his father is sitting alone at the kitchen table. J.J. makes a sandwich, then joins his father. His father tells of meeting with his captain that morning, and complains that EWN never writes about what the police are going through. J.J. says the police won't talk to them, but they'd like to tell that story. Would his dad talk to a reporter like Cage? Lt Jones declines saying 'the department and union have decided there's nothing to be gained by officers on the line talking to reporters'. J.J. points out that reporters can't tell the police side of the story if the police won't talk to them. Lt Jones thinks J.J. is too young to understand what police face on the job, that they're just trying to do their jobs. J.J. asks him about stats on police brutality complaints, but Lt Jones says 'if you don't want to get arrested, don't do the crime; if you don't want bruises during arrest, don't resist'. He asks who Cage is, and J.J. gets up and goes to bed - for the first time in his life, he doesn't trust his father.
The next day, J.J. is assigned a story about a store owner who has boarded up his store due to COVID, and commissioned a mural for the front of the store dedicated to the Wall of Moms. Cage has allowed J.J. to check out a camera for still shots. The store owner calls the artist, who arrives shortly after. J.J. interviews her about other murals she's done, and she walks with him through the downtown area to show them to him. He returns to the newsroom to file the story. Emily is pleased with the article, and sends him to talk to Joe Castro. Joe downloads photos from J.J.'s camera, and comments that J.J. is used to video. If EWN teach J.J. about still photography, his video work will improve too. The image captured is key. Joe walks J.J. through the images, showing him what worked, what didn't, and how to improve. Joe prints 4 of the photos and tells J.J. to give them to Emily, saying they're not bad for J.J.'s first time out. J.J. returns to Emily with the photos and she edits his article. He asks to talk to Sarah, and they move to the news set for privacy. J.J. tells her about his father being a police officer, and his concerns that he might have brought police attention to Cage. Sarah points out that Cage and he are both using their real names, so J.J. probably hasn't increased Cage's danger. She tells him that being torn between his family and his profession means that at some point, he may be forced to decide between them - and his Dad will assume J.J. will choose the family. Sarah tells him of her own family issues, and that she is making EWN her family of choice. J.J. asks if he needs to share with the other editors - he doesn't want them to distrust him - but Sarah says to leave it to her. She tells him to go home and get some sleep.
After J.J. and his mother watch the Fox News report on Friday morning, about men claiming to be cops demanding entry at EWN the previous night, J.J. looks for more reliable sources of information. The story has been covered by the Oregonian, local news stations, and EWN. His favorite independent journalists are commenting about it on Twitter. Ryan's voice-over intro is being replayed everywhere. The Washington Post, New York Times, Willamette Week and OPB all cover it. The story J.J. finds most interesting is written by Will Bristol, who has interviewed Rep. Sarah Gilligan, and gives details of Carroll's earlier abduction. She says there is an overlap between law enforcement and white supremacy groups. A linked video shows uniformed officers and Proud Boys at a Blue Lives Matter rally. J.J. is relieved his father isn't in the video but then the police shown in the clip are sheriff deputies not PPB. J.J. wonders if the EWN editors are aware of the differences between PPB, state police, county sheriff deputies and other enforcement agencies at local, state and federal levels. J.J. does, as he's been around them all his life.
J.J had agreed to work that from 7pm that evening as most EWN staff will be at Ryan's party. As J.J. is only 18-years-old, he's too young to attend as they can't have any under-aged drinkers there if police show up.
When he arrives at EWN, J.J. asks Will and Emily what they know about police departments, and the differences between various law enforcement agencies. Will's article had been about the PPB, but the linked video was of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Deputies with Proud Boys, and that was wrong - they think they're different and they are. The PPB has a certain look, a certain walk, their own vocabulary. There are minor differences between street cops, bike cops and detectives, but they have more in common with each other than they do with state troopers. And both state troopers and PPB have more similarities with each other than with sheriff deputies. Sheriff reserves are even more distinct. So news reports that mix them up lose credibility because they see the differences but EWN only sees what they have in common. J.J. is fairly sure the men on tape the previous night were sheriff deputies, and they don't have jurisdiction unless on a task force. But a task force would be a mixed group, and the men were all similar. So the reason they couldn't identify themselves was because they were out of their jurisdiction and had no right to be there. After Ben projects the video on the big screen at his desk so J.J can see it again, J.J. is confident that the men were deputies.
Emily is teaching J.J. to edit the newsfeed for Twitter posts when Turk and Carroll arrive at EWN to say that Sarah Gilligan will speak on stage downtown at 9pm. Emily says they need video - and J.J. is the only videographer not at the Loft party. Emily tells him to return at 10pm so he can edit the clip to go live by the end of the broadcast. Turk tells Emily he will bring J.J. back safe, even if Carroll stays with their mother. Emily gives J.J. her rules: Stay safe, get the story, and get back. He leaves with Turk and Carroll to head downtown. Turk says they have to watch out for another grab at Carroll - they'll look out for each other because no one else is going to. They reach a position close to the speakers, and J.J. sets up his camera. Turk warns J.J. to put on his safety gear - gas mask, vest, and cap on, and gloves and goggles in his pocket. If the police declare a riot, J.J. should bag the camera and pull on his gear. Carroll introduces them to their mother and they get a sound bite before the speech starts. Once Sarah Gilligan is on stage, J.J. settles into filming and starts the live feed. He is so focused on filming, he doesn't see police march out of the Justice Building until they declare it a riot. As there is still 10minutes before curfew, Sarah Gilligan protests, and then continues with her speech. J.J. hears a whistling sound and Turk jerks up his mask and grabs his camera, keeping it steady and filming while J.J. struggles to get his mask in place. Turk and Carroll are tweeting on their phones, when Carroll drops their phone and screams. Turk grabs the phone, looks at it and pulls Carroll into a hug. Turk yells at J.J. they have to get out of there, police are arresting people. As Rep. Gilligan is being handcuffed, she looks at J.J. and mouths for him to go. J.J. grabs Turk and heads north to the transit mall, Turk is focused on keeping Carroll moving. They all catch the light rail back to PSU. J.J. asks Carroll what's wrong? Turk hands him the phone, J.J. takes one look at the screen and hands it back, saying he shouldn't see those pics. Carroll is hyperventilating, so J.J. talks them through steadying their breathing. On arriving at PSU, Turks heads to EWN followed by J.J. and Carroll. J.J. asks if someone sent the pics to Carroll, and they say the men photographed their torture, and now want to silence them by threatening to publicly release the photos. Turk asks what Carroll is thinking of doing, and Carroll says they will talk about it when they get to EWN. J.J. lets Carroll know their mom was arrested. Carroll says the PPB is arrogant and will regret it, they've just challenged a different power base - the state legislature - and they won't let it go. Carroll's mom will use it politically.
Corey opens the door at EWN when J.J. buzzes, and they all go upstairs. Emily tells J.J. that he has a five-minute time slot, and Ben will need it in 20minutes. J.J. says he has a good quote from Sarah Gilligan before her speech, and then her challenging the cops, and then her arrest, but he wants a quote from Carroll about their mom using this politically and that PPB have picked on the wrong person. Carroll says they've already tweeted it, and EWN can use that for Bianca to read. J.J. edits his video, and then Turk helps flush out his eyes and tells him to shower. When he returns, he watches his first solo breaking-news story go to air. Ben asks him to upload his entire live-stream, Corey will edit it for later broadcast. Ben heads to the party at the Loft, and J.J. sleeps on the couch in the newsroom after missing the bus home.
After spending Saturday window-shopping in the Pearl district, J.J. returns to EWN arriving the same time as Emily returns from her walk. Emily stations him at the door to let in people in he knows personally. Corey is the last to arrive and they go up to the newsroom together. J.J. sits at Carroll's feet during the meeting. Ryan starts with running through minor agenda items, then introduces discussion on the protests, the attempted raid, and what happens next. Ryan asks J.J. to team with Carroll and Turk that night in reporting the protests, then introduces the issue of the blackmail photos sent to Carroll. Corey turns around a big screen monitor, and Ryan warns the photos are disturbing, and may be a trigger for some. J.J doesn't want to see them, but wants to stay to support Carroll. He decides he can close his eyes if they become too much. Corey shows the six photos, each worse than the last. Ryan asks for opinions - do they run them as a story, and how. The decision to publish is unanimous.
That evening, J.J. goes to the downtown protest with Turk and Carroll, and Cage is roaming separately to them. J.J. interviews Tabitha Lake again, and listens to the speakers. As it approaches 10pm, police try to disperse the crowd. laughing while using pepper spray and paint balls and it becomes chaotic. Turk tells Carroll and J.J. to return to EWN, but Carroll wants them to stay together - they argue while J.J. continues to film the chaos. Carroll gets shoved down on one knee, and J.J. pulls them up. Turk yells at him to get Carroll out, the cops can't get their hands on Carroll. As Turk is arrested and zip-tied, J.J. helps Carroll get away but is hit by a non-lethal bullet from cop. Cage appears and grabs Carroll, telling J.J. to run to the corner. J.J. is in shock, repeating 'He shot me' several times on the walk back to the newsroom. Carroll sympathizes with the pain, saying it will leave a painful bruise but be OK. Cage suspects there's something more but is focused on getting them safely to EWN. J.J. eventually falls silent.
It's midnight by the time they arrive at EWN. Cage gets them all in the elevator, stopping it at the second floor and telling J.J. to get cleaned up while he gets Carroll to a place upstairs where they can rest. Sarah is the only person left in the newsroom, and calls out when she hears the elevator door ping, but there's no response. She finds J.J. hanging from the pipe that runs the length of the ceiling in the men's room, struggling. He has removed the straps from his camera bag, tossed them over the pipe and cinched them around his neck, then stepped off the sink counter. She grabs his legs, shoving them up to release the pressure on his neck. J.J. tells her to let him go, he wants to die. Sarah says not tonight, not on her watch. Sarah keeps holding J.J. up, despite the strain on her arms and shoulders. J.J. repeats that his dad shot him, he can't go home and has no place to go, and to let him die. Sarah refuses, and tells him of being was injured in Afghanistan, and that he has his whole life ahead of him. She tells him of her own family's rejection of her, because she's gay. She hears the elevator start up and yells for Cage to come.
J.J. wakes before dawn on Sunday, shouting that he won't go home. Sarah is in the same room at OHSU, and calms him, telling him that Cage's father has said J.J. can stay with him. J.J. says he wishes Sarah had let him die, and she tells him he has a bright future ahead, that this may be night, but with dawn comes another day. She reminds J.J. that he has a lot of friends at EWN, and he has a gift for friendship. While he's only 18, they can see him being EIC someday. She buzzes for the nurse, who gives a sedative to J.J. and pain medication to Sarah.
After J.J.'s parents leave OHSU on Sunday morning, Sarah tells J.J she had talked to his father, and told him that J.J. was no longer his. That if J.J. wanted to reach out in the future, that was up to him. J.J. says he has no family, and Sarah replies that when her family rejected her, she told herself she would never allow herself to care again. But she's choosing to build a new family, and she chooses him. Life never gives you everything, you have to sometimes make hard choices, but he's not alone, he has her, and she has him.
==== Book 3: Don't Go ====
On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 J.J., Cage and Sarah are seated in the waiting room laughing, when Rev Washington arrives at OHSU at 11am. Cage has been telling J.J. about Ryan and Rafael. Dr Clarke takes Rev Washington into her office to complete paperwork, and tells him that she is still privately concerned about J.J., and that if he wasn't going to the Washington home, she'd lock him down for 30 days. Cage, Sarah, Rev Washington and J.J. go outside together. J.J instinctively likes Rev Washington, although his head feels like it's stuffed with cotton, and nothing seems clear. He feels bad about Sarah being in a wheelchair, but she has assured him it's temporary, and she doesn't seem mad about it, so he decides he doesn't have to feel guilty. Carroll is waiting for J.J. outside. They have been visiting J.J. daily, to sit and tell him the news of the protests and their lawsuit against the cops that abducted them in June 2020. Carroll made J.J. laugh with descriptions of the independent journalists, and of Carroll's mother, who has been getting headlines for her illegal arrest. On another day, Carroll told J.J. of their flashbacks and nightmares, and how the blackmail photos actually helped them clear some of the confusion between present and past events. He feels that if Carroll can move on from the abduction and subsequent stalking, he can survive too. Carroll asks J.J. if he will be back covering the protests, and J.J. says he's not sure EWN will allow him back. Cage tells him that Emily has him on the schedule to work the following afternoon for on-campus news. J.J. ask Rev Washington if he can do that, and Rev Washington says he's not J.J.'s keeper, he gets to decide that himself. J.J. says he can go to EWN after his history class the following morning. Cage says he'll tell Emily to expect J.J. then, he and Sarah need to get to class. He hugs J.J. and his dad, and tells them he'll be coming out for supper that night. J.J hugs Sarah and Carroll, who says they will come to EWN the following day to see J.J. Rev Washington takes J.J. back to the Portsmouth parsonage, telling him he has people to meet.
Around 3pm on Monday, October 26, 2020 Emily asks J.J. to go to University Relations for a review copy of Professor Black's new book titled 'Fertility Symbols in Pre-Colonial Mexico', to take it home for Ryan that night.
Early on the following Wednesday, Cage cooks breakfast as his parents come into the kitchen followed by J.J. and Rafael. Ryan hugs Rafael and pats J.J. on the shoulder. J.J. whispers to Ryan he got the story from Carroll and Turk: Sarah kissed Emily; Cage saw, and then kissed her too, and said to let him know when she decided which kind she liked better; and then it's Sarah who ends up living with him. Cage tells J.J. that if he's gossiping about him, J.J. will be doing stupid little features for Emily forever. Everyone pitches in to help Ryan and Rafael get on the road by 10am.
==== Book 4: Hold Me ====
* Tuesday December 1, 2020
** Noon: J.J. is already at EWN when Emily arrives. Emily tells them they have a positive COVID test on staff, so they need to think about how to contain it. But more than that, they need to discuss how to cover it, because she thinks it's going to be bad. She relays Cage's briefing to the staff, and starts assigning tasks. Emily has J.J., who reported on sports in high school, to take a camera over to the gym and see what they know, as apparently the outbreak started with the tournament in Boise. After arriving there, J.J. calls Emily to say the gym is a madhouse, much worse than they've allowed anyone to know. He thinks that there's a coach on a respirator in Boise, who didn't even make the flight home. Emily wonders if Portland took it to Boise, or if Boise gave it to them. J.J. says he overheard a PSU coach shouting over the phone to a coach in Boise that they gave it to Portland. Emily asks if they're testing the players, and J.J. says he heard they tested them that morning, which is why they were all in the gym - but about a third of them weren't wearing masks, saying why bother? Emily tells him to take one more walk through to see what he hears, and then return to EWN, but shower, change his clothes, and clean his equipment before entering the newsroom.
** 6pm: Emily tells J.J. to liaise with the independent journalists downtown and let them know what's happening with the Crow's Next and that they're welcome to come to the newsroom if they're exposed or get sick or just need a safe space. He should get some film while he's there. She also tells him to stay at the Goose Hollow apartment that night, as he can't return to Portsmouth til they're sure Gregory didn't expose everyone at dinner the evening before. J.J. checks out equipment and leaves.
** 11pm. When J.J. arrives at the Goose Hollow apartment, he apologizes and says he was editing video with Miguel for the news broadcast. J.J. asks if Cage watched the EWN broadcast, and Cage says they were talking and missed it. J.J. tells him the clinic is a mess. He had found Cage and Turk and updated them, but the BLM is restricting protests to 3 nights a week as they don't want to be a super-spreader event. Cage gets out bedding for J.J. then goes to bed himself.
* Wednesday December 2, 2020
**7am: J.J. wakes to Sarah cooking breakfast. He goes over for a hug then helps her into her chair and to the table. He sets the table and brings over the food. When Cage arrives at the table, and Sarah can hear Emily in the shower and says she'll be there before they finish. J.J. says he's noticed Emily doesn't eat enough. After Cage adds a spoonful of eggs and a piece of bacon to Emily's plate, he splits the rest with J.J. Sarah gets a message from Lam, and Emily suggests she FaceTime him back. Lam says that he's concerned that some stories for Folio have not been copy-edited yet. Sarah says a bigger problem is that his cover story is about the ten best movies to watch during a pandemic, and that there is no one on campus to pick up the paper. Emily recommends the cover story be changed to something like ten things to do to be safe in a pandemic, and move the movie recommendations inside. J.J. says he should get Will to write a piece about the Health Center problems and substitute that - perhaps they could pull stills from the video that Karin and Jason took. After Cage receives a call from Gregory, he goes to his room to call his parents. When Cage doesn't open his door after 40 minutes, Sarah tells Emily to go and check on him. When they come out, Cage tells J.J. to walk with him to EWN, and they can talk on the way.
== Physical Appearance ==
=== Book 2: Choose ===
In October 2020, J.J. is 18-years-old, and looks even younger. He has pale skin, the kind that looked bruised around the eyes which are big and dark. He has the slight build and dark curly hair of his mother's side of the family. He's 5-foot-9, and looking at his cousins may max out at 5-foot-10, and fill out a bit. 
=== Book 3: Don't Go ===
Cage says J.J. weighs 130 pounds. 
== Personality ==
=== Book 2: Choose ===
J.J. has wanted to be a reporter for a long time. Although he played Little League as a child, he's never been athletic, choosing the school newspaper over sports. He reads a lot. 
He doesn't like confrontation, doesn't like arguments. 
Since starting university, J.J. has become adventurous with his food choices, ordering from food trucks and working his way down the menu. If the cook makes a recommendation, he just nods and eats whatever the man puts in the sack. He finds it's all good. 
He idolizes Cage. Sarah says she expecting him to wear a hat like Cage. 
Sarah describe his personality before his suicide attempt as bright, shiny, and bouncy like a puppy. 
=== Book 3: Don't Go ===
Sarah says J.J was probably taught to fall in love with a nice girl and get married, and both lose their virginity on their wedding night, and she's not going to be the one to introduce an innocent to multiple genders and the multiple ways people can be attracted to each other.
== Relationships ==
=== Family ===
==== Book 2: Choose ====
J.J has an older married sister. His two younger brothers - 13 and 12-years-old - are already as tall as him and take after their father. He also has a large extended family on both sides. He adores his mother, and admires his dad.
Although he's over 18, J.J.'s mother won't allow him to watch R-rated movies.
J.J. wants his Dad to be proud of him, but there's a lot his Dad doesn't understand about college. His father wants him to change to a different major, like business or law. J.J. doesn't argue with his father, he had learned long before to let his father make his pronouncements and then do what he wanted to do. On Tuesday, October 13, his father gives an ultimatum: if J.J. is living under his roof, he won't go to the protests at all. 
His dad has always been J.J.'s hero. J.J. had thought being a police officer was the coolest thing ever, second only to being a superhero. When he was five, he thought his father was a superhero in disguise: keeping peace; putting away the bad guys. Reading had opened his eyes - police are not always the good guys - but until Tuesday night, he had not related that to his father. Watching his father's behaviour in the protest documentary had shocked him. 
J.J's mother watched Fox News on Friday October 16, and saw that men claiming to be cops had demanded entry to EWN the previous night. She asked J.J if he knew anything about it, but he shook his head and escaped to his room to find a more reliable source. At lunchtime, J.J.'s mother calls him to the kitchen and they chat about his classes and whether he's met any nice girls. He packs a bag to take with him to work that night and goes with his family to his brother's junior varsity football game that afternoon. His mother tries to diffuse tension between J.J. and his father by sitting between them. J.J. has never been on the outs with either of his parents before. He doesn't like distrusting his father, but they haven't spoken since Tuesday night. 
After the game, J.J. tells his mother not to wait up, he'll sleep on the newsroom couch if it's going to be late and catch a bus home in the morning. He nods to his father, and heads to the bus station. That night, J.J. sleeps on the couch in the newsroom after missing the bus, wary of going home. J.J. doesn't think his parents would have seen his news story, or have much interest in what he's doing - other than his Dad's fury over the protests. On their own they probably wouldn't even look.
On Saturday evening, J.J.'s mom texts asking when he will be coming home. He replies that he'll stay in town another night. His mother texts back he needs to return home immediately, his dad is angry. J.J. can't think of any response that won't hurt his mom, or make his dad less angry. Later, his dad calls, and J.J. lets the call go through to voicemail. His dad's message is furious, telling J.J. not to continue to go around with 'rioters and vandals'; that he's just a kid, not a reporter; that journalists who a friends with 'criminals' deserve to be treated as criminals; to go home and they will talk in the morning about J.J. transferring to Clackamas Community College. J.J. looks at the people in the newsroom - black, brown, white; straight, gay, fluid - his father called them criminals, but J.J. wants to call them friends. He turns off his phone.
As J.J. helps Carroll hobble away from the chaos at the downtown protest that night, he sees his father in full riot gear on the other side of the road. He continues to walk away, and sees his father raise his gun, and aim at them. J.J. pulls Carroll into the park and down, and the non-lethal bullet hits his shoulder.
==== Book 4: Hold Me ====
* Wednesday December 2, 2020 - 7am: Sarah King tells J.J. that he needs to think about it, but she suggests he contact his mother, who must be frantic with worry about him. J.J. says he called her the previous night when he knew his dad would be at work. 
=== Friends ===
==== Carroll ====
===== Book 2: Choose =====
On Monday morning, October 19, 2020 Carroll visits J.J. in OHSU while their mom waits in the car. Carroll tells J.J. about the broadcast the previous night, and that Will had identified one of the men. Carroll can't stay long is they have a press conference to attend, but agrees to come back and see J.J. again.
Friday, October 23, 2020 - lunch: J.J. meets Carroll at the Transit Mall, and they go to a pho shop together for lunch. 
Saturday, October 24, 2020 - J.J tells Ryan about lunch with Carroll the previous day. Ryan says a lot of people care for J.J., and they don't want to see him get hurt. Carroll might not mean to hurt him, but he could still get hurt anyway. J.J. says Carroll sees people differently, they point out things that J.J. doesn't notice, or make J.J. frame things with his camera to see them. Carroll sees friends as interesting individuals, but the sex thing isn't there at all. It's weird, but good too. If J.J. were to be attracted, it would be similar to him being attracted to any woman who wasn't interested. It is what it is. 
== Residence ==
=== West Linn ===
==== Book 2: Choose ====
When J.J. starts at PSU, he still lives with his family in West Linn, a Portland suburb about 12 miles to the south of PSU. He travels to PSU by bus, which takes an hour each way. They have a split-level home, with a tidy yard and a two-car garage. J.J. has his own room and bathroom in the basement. The dining room is only for company. They usually eat in the kitchen, do homework, or having serious parental talks there. 
=== Portsmouth ===
==== Book 3: Don't Go ====
On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 Rev Washington picks up J.J. from OHSU and takes him back to stay at the Portsmouth parsonage, giving him Cage's old bedroom.
The following Saturday night, J.J. offers to keep an eye on Rafael while doing homework in his room, so Ryan can go to therapy at OHSU. He tells Ryan he's getting the hang of the bus route from Portsmouth to PSU.
==== Book 4: Hold Me ====
* Wednesday December 2, 2020 - 10am: Cage tells J.J. of Rev Washington's hospitalization, as they walk from the Goose Hollow apartment to EWN. J.J. decides to go for a walk rather than going in to the newsroom. He asks Cage if his dad would mind if J.J stopped at a synagogue to pray for him? Cage says his father would be honored. J.J. leaves heading north on 12th Avenue.
----
----On December 18, 2020, J.J. is injured while filming a protest in downtown Portland, and Ryan takes him to OHSU. He has a bruised rib, some burns and concussion. Turk picks him up when he is released.
When the university president asks EWN in January 2021 to coordinate a teach-in day on Oregon's racial history, J.J. brings fresh ideas on a collaboration between university and middle school students. He invites Tabitha Lake to EWN to discuss the project with Cage. As well as making it a better learning experience for everyone, he sees this as a way of combating the influence of white supremacy groups on young students. Middle school teaching techniques are more hands-on than the usual lecture style offered at university level, including music, poetry, writing sessions. Cage is impressed and introduces Tabitha to Andrew McShane. Emily invites J.J. to become part of EWN's leadership team.
Category:Character
Category:EWN