recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Satan

**Satan** is a human and an old friend of Idiot's. They are best known for their position as Monarch of Hell.

## Relationships

### Shoe

Shoe was Satan's boyfriend. When Po sees Satan, they are very rarely without Shoe, though there have been times that Po has seen them alone, namely riding their bike through the Union Lawn at the University of Florida.

### Idiot

Idiot and Satan have been acquainted for some time prior to their college careers.

## Personality and Traits

In high school, Satan was involved with Mu Alpha Theta. Now, they wear almost exclusively Mu Alpha Theta shirts. Po claims only to have seen them wear something other than a Mu Alpha Theta shirt twice, once being a dress and the other being a brown shirt.
Travellers

Travellers are a Social Group that is most likely to rent a bed, so they are most satisfied when that option is cheap. They also appreciate lights and warmth in the inn, as well as patriotic symbols of their countries.

Travellers cannot remain in one place for long; as the saying goes ''they never stick around long enough for a one night stand'' (though it might not always be true...). Looking for new adventures and challenges, they chose the life on the road – and the inn is like a safe haven to them.

Usually, more often than other groups, they want to get a good night's sleep. This does not mean, however, that they shy away from drinking and having fun. They do not lack money, though they also do not enjoy excess. Host them properly and they are sure to stop by again during their next adventure.
David

David usually draws his own profile pictures.

**David** is a veteran user in the server, having joined on December 20, 2016. Although he has an alias like most internet users, he prefers to just be called by his first name. He enjoys playing the guitar and making art.

The alias Porvia is a combination of the Latin words Porro (far) and Via (road), in a play on the translation of his Dutch surname, which can only be pronounced by the most alien of vocal chords.

One of the three winners of the MCD Art Tournament.
Steamed Hyams

**Chalmers**: Well, Seymour, I made it- despite your directions.

**Principal Skinner**: Ah. Superintendent Chalmers. Welcome. I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable luncheon.

**Chalmers**: Yeah.

**Principal Skinner**: Oh, egads! My roast is ruined. But what if I were to purchase fast food and disguise it as my own cooking? Delightfully devilish, Seymour.

**Singers**: Ah- Skinner with his crazy explanations~ The superintendent's gonna need his medication~ When he hears Skinner's lame exaggerations~ There'll be trouble in town tonight!

**Chalmers**: Seymour!

**Principal Skinner**: Superintendent, I was just- uh, just stretching my calves on the windowsill. Isometric exercise. Care to join me?

**Chalmers**: Why is there smoke coming out of your oven, Seymour?

**Principal Skinner**: Uh- Oh. That isn't smoke. It's steam. Steam from the steamed clyams we're having. Mmm. Steamed clyams.

**Principal Skinner**: Whew. Superintendent, I hope you're ready for mouthwatering hyamburgers.

**Chalmers**: I thought we were having steamed clyams.

**Principal Skinner**: D'oh, no. I said steamed hyams. That's what I call hyamburgers.

**Chalmers**: You call hyamburgers steamed hyams?

**Principal Skinner**: Yes. It's a regional dialect.

**Chalmers**: Uh-huh. Uh, what region?

**Principal Skinner**: Uh, upstate New York.

**Chalmers**: Really. Well, I'm from Utica, and I've never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hyams."

**Principal Skinner**: Oh, not in Utica. No. It's an Albany expression.

**Chalmers**: I see. You know, these hyamburgers are quite similar to the ones they have at Krusty Burger.

**Principal Skinner**: Oh, no. Patented Skinner burgers. Old family recipe.

**Chalmers**: For steamed hyams.

**Principal Skinner**: Yes.

**Chalmers**: Yes. And you call them steamed hyams despite the fact that they are obviously grilled.

**Principal Skinner**: Ye- You know, the- One thing I should- - Excuse me for one second.

**Chalmers**: Of course.

**Principal Skinner**: Oh well, that was wonderful. A good time was had by all. I'm pooped.

**Chalmers**: Yes. I should be- Good Lord! What is happening in there?

**Principal Skinner**: Aurora borealis.

**Chalmers**: Uh- Aurora borealis at this time of year at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen!?

**Principal Skinner**: Yes.

**Chalmers**: May I see it?

**Principal Skinner**: No.

**Skinner's Mother**: Seymour! The house is on fire!

**Principal Skinner**: No, Mother. It's just the northern lights.

**Chalmers**: Well, Seymour, you are an odd fellow but I must say you steam a good hyam.

**Skinner's Mother**: Help! Help!
Adrianna

> *"ARGH!"*
>
>

> Po, when losing to Adrianna
>
>

**Adrianna** was one of 🅱️lata Itkin and 🅱️uth Kim's suite-mates at Hume West First Floor Far Side. She was Marielle's roommate at Hume.

## Battle Against Lactose-Intolerance

Adrianna is invested in a long-standing feud with her lactose-intolerance. She claims to have thoroughly defeated it, and proves this by consuming various dairy products, and only dairy products, as part of her daily diet.

Adrianna won a free cheesecake from Po by beating him at Smash Ultimate.
Solar Park

**Solar Park** is the site of Gatorloop meetings, thus making it Marik's home. There is a horse at Solar Park.

## Description

Solar Park is a large, fenced-off field near Apartment 226. The park is mainly open, grassy space, but there are several buildings strewn about the park and an area dedicated to solar panels. There is also a net, a fenced-in area for the horse, and typically several random pieces of equipment and custom devices in the park. In order to enter Solar Park, one must go through the gate using either a code or a remote gate-opening device. The gate is large enough for a standard car to pass through it. A small road leads through the gate into Solar Park, where it can then be taken to one of the buildings that exist in the park. There is a fork in this road shortly beyond the gate, which, if taken left, can be used to reach the Gatorloop garage. It is not publicly known where the right path leads.

The Gatorloop garage is a large garage containing materials and tools that members of Gatorloop use in their activities. A piece of a former Gatorloop vehicle and other pieces of propaganda lines the walls of the garage. The garage door faces east. There is a large table in the center of the garage, a flammables cabinet on the western wall of the garage, and several storage shelves and drawers on the southern wall of the garage. The Gatorloop garage is connected to the Liquid Propulsion garage by a small door on the northern side of the garage right by the entrance. Liquid Propulsion is a design team recognized by the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Gatorloop, the most important and defining aspect of Marik's life, meets at Solar Park. Marik has sanded styrofoam at Solar Park, and has brought Christoyam, Christoboor, and all former residents of Apartment 226 to Solar Park. Despite frequent visits to Solar Park during the pursuit of his B.S., Marik only learned the code to the Solar Park gate after his graduation from the university.

Solar Park's bus stop is the last before that of UC Apartments, and people travelling to UC Apartments tend to pull the stop signal on the bus immediately after the Solar Park stop is passed. Very rarely do people actually stop at Solar Park, since Marik and Derek (and, of course, 🅱️uth, by proxy and for exoskeleton purposes) are the only people who ever need to go there. However, Po has witnessed three people stop at Solar Park, one being an older gentleman who seemed to know what he was doing, another being an individual who Po assumes to live in the trees next to Solar Park, and the third being a confused individual who seemingly meant to stop at UC Apartments, pulled the signal, and felt shame for prematurely pulling the signal, leading him to exit the bus at Solar Park and shamefully walk towards UC Apartments from Solar Park.

There used to be ponies at Solar Park, but now there is only one horse. It is theorized that, at Solar Park, these ponies came together and morphed into one horse.
Johnny Was

Johnny Was September 2019 Issue

***Johnny Was*** is a fashion catalog that was sent to Apartment 226 on a monthly basis for some time by a brand of the same name. The catalogs are addressed to "Kunal S Patel or Current Resident," the former being a suspected past resident of the apartment.

## Description

The most notable aspect of the items featured in *Johnny Was* is their high prices, especially for items like kimonos. The residents of Apartment 226 had a tradition of finding the most expensive item in each catalog shortly after receiving it in the mail. *Johnny Was* is strictly against using plurals in its items' names, referring to items that are normally found in their plural form by their singular form (e.g. "pant" instead of "pants").

The name *Johnny Was* is often the subject of jokes between the residents of Apartment 226 due to the fact that "Was" is a homonym of the word "was," the first and third person singular past of the verb "to be." The residents have joked that the title of the catalog, "Johnny Was California" is a claim that Johnny was California, and is no longer.

*Johnny Was* tends to have great graphic design concepts, including allowing font to overlap two entirely different blocks of color, resulting in an impressive "no one is paying the graphic designer enough" look. Some drama has also been noticed between models in various issues.

It is often hard to tell apart models in *Johnny Was*.

### September 2019

The September 2019 issue of *Johnny Was* was the first catalog received by the residents of Apartment 226. It featured only two models and had text on the front that read "CALIFORNIA Dreaming." The most expensive item in this issue was the Long Kimono, selling for $2600.

### October 2019

The October 2019 issue of *Johnny Was* also featured two models, and had no text on the front other than the title that appears on every issue and the issue month. The most expensive item in this issue was the Long Fiori Coat, selling for $680.

### November 2019

The November 2019 issue of *Johnny Was* featured four models: two standard clothing models and two swimwear models. This was the first issue of *Johnny Was* received by the residents that included a swimwear section and more than two models. This issue aptly noted that "it's 80° somewhere" when introducing its swimwear. In addition to the text featured on the front of every issue, the November 2019 issue also included the phrases "holiday magic" and "ENJOY 20% OFF YOUR FIRST PURCHASE SEE BACK COVER FOR DETAILS." It is important to note that this issue also featured Ford the dog, who was wearing a Vintage Japanese Scarf on the first two interior pages of the catalog. The most expensive item in this issue was the Kuba Coat, selling for $910.
Imperial Monarch of the Po Empire

The **Imperial Monarch of the Po Empire** is the head of state and head of government of the Po Empire. The monarch serves as the chief executive of state, the chair of the National Party of Po, and commander-in-chief of the Po Empire Armed Forces.

The imperial monarchy was established in 2014 upon the founding of the Po Empire. The office was created and immediately assumed by Po, whose claim to the throne was later certified in 2016 during the first monarchical election, where he won the popular vote unanimously.

Imperial monarchs enjoy a life-long term length, at the end of which a new monarch is selected in a simple first-past-the-post election. Monarchs hold near absolute power during their terms.
Jaeson and Alan's Apartment

**Jaeson and Alan's Apartment** is the former residence of e and the residence of Idiot. The two moved into the apartment in 2019, and while Idiot continues to live there, e moved out in early 2022. Satan moved into the apartment in late 2022, after e's departure.

###

## Description

Jaeson and Alan's apartment is a third-floor condominium that is part of Campus View Place. It consists of two bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom. It also has a common area made up of a kitchen, a dining area, and a living area.

When entering the apartment, the bedroom on the right is the one that belongs to Satan. It connects to Satan's bathroom. The bedroom on the not-right is inhabited by Idiot and leads to Idiot's bathroom. The common area has a keyboard that Po sometimes plays. When Po visits, he stores his wallet, keys, and other belongings on Idiot's desk. Idiot hates it when people lay down on the upper half of his bed, so Po often threatens to do so.

The first time that Po visited the apartment, he was challenged by the two residents to determine which apartment was theirs before it was revealed to him. After examining the welcome mats outside each door, Po guessed the apartment correctly, claiming that the mat looked new and seemed to fit the style of e. Once he entered the apartment, Po then guessed which room belonged to which resident simply by examining the doors. Each door was slightly open, but one door was open wider than the other, a fact that Po was able to associate with the character of each resident. Po noted that the more widely opened door was indicative of the resident's careless, rambunctious nature, and thus identified the room as Idiot's. On the other hand, he noted that the other, slightly ajar door better matched e's character, and also cited the fact that "only Jaeson could fit through an opening of that size."

The living area consists of a blue couch, a yellow loveseat, a central coffee table, and a T.V. There is also a side table with a lamp, and various art pieces hand-made by e and Idiot decorating the walls, such as their string art in the shape of bubble tea. An important feature of the living area is Idiot's Nintendo Switch. The introduction of Idiot's Nintendo Switch near the end of 2019 resulted in a shift of group hangout location from Apartment 226 to Jaeson and Alan's apartment. One reason for this occurrence is Po frequenting the apartment to play Smash Ultimate. It is here that Po honed his Richter skills, mastered a zero-to-death combo, and successfully completed e's and Idiot's Smash gauntlet. The living area has doubled as Po's sleeping space in the past.

The kitchen contains standard kitchen appliances and wooden cabinetry that Marik has admitted to being jealous of. Po and e have made pie crusts in this kitchen, one of which was used for an apple pie. This particular pie was served with ethanol at a Valentine's Day gathering.

The dining area features a round wooden table and two matching wooden chairs. This table is where the residents consume their meals.
Bench

Tables, benches, and chairs are necessary if any patron is to be served.

​​​​​​​When placing these objects, make sure they are aligned correctly - a chair/bench will be linked to a given table only if the latter is highlighted in green, as seen in the picture.

Once a chair/bench and a table are connected, you can move them as one.
Career Low and High Points

Clem Martini in *Bitter Medicine* goes into depth about how his bother, and childhood friend, Ben Martini ended up taking his own life due to his schizophrenic illness. The passing of his brother seemed to resonate very hard with Clem as he explains how the sudden death made him reconsider his life choices and the way that he and others envisioned mental illness. Clem describes shame as a major feeling in his brother's departure. According to Clem his family was stuck with a stigma around the community, people were too frightened, embarrassed or anxious to talk about the death.

   The side effects of the various medications that Oliver took are shown throughout the memoir. Clem has stated that Oliver was taking Stelazine at one point which caused side effects such as tongue stiffness, rigidity and tremors. I would say this was a low point for Oliver as it seemed that with medications he would have to sacrifice another part of himself to remove the hallucinations. Some of the medications that Oliver took were so bad that they had given him suicidal thoughts. Zyprexa is among one of the many medications Oliver took that produced incredibly harmful side-effects.

Clem has apparently received much skepticism for saying that he designs books for a living. In response Clem has posted this

**Connor Pick**
🅱️lata

> "*Zlata? Who's Zlata?"*
>
>

> Po
>
>

🅱️**lata** (Russian: 🅱️лата Иткина ['vlɑtɑ ɪtˈkɪnɑ']) is "a human female," going by the words of Po. The lizard-lover and book fiend of the three Itkin twins, 🅱️lata Itkin is probably the most instrumental in Po's acquisition of the Russian language.

🅱️lata came out of the womb with a sickle.

## Diet and Interests

🅱️lata Itkin subsists on a specialized diet of carbohydrates. She has a particular focus on Cheerios™ and words—be they from books or otherwise—which she utilizes as food for thought.

🅱️lata maintains a list of the reptiles she intends on owning, categorized by increasing difficulty of maintenance. A harbor of herps **will** arise in due time. In due time. She can also transform into a snake.

All of 🅱️lata's friends are named Joshua.

## Weaknesses

🅱️lata is often mistaken for a twelve-year-old due to her height and appearance.

She is numerically dyslexic and cannot do basic arithmetic. She also has trouble reading clocks and being aware of any time-related concepts in general, like the day of the week. 🅱️lata often gets confused about what happened on which day.

## Rivalries

> *"I hope that bird succumbs to natural selection."*
>
>

> 🅱️lata, about the terrible car alarm bird
>
>

🅱️lata has an ongoing feud with the car alarm bird outside her window, which thoroughly enjoys making ungodly amounts of noise from 7am-8am, or, after Daylight Saving Time, 6am-7am. Originally thought to be an actual car alarm, this reoccurring menace constantly ruins her sleep. Despite having perfected a sleeping position that allows for the pillow to cover both ears without having to strain her arm, the bird continues to pierce the otherwise quiet morning.

🅱️lata has furiously pounded at her window in various attempts to startle the bird as much as it startles her.

## Catchphrases

* "I'm having a crisis!"
* Any variation of "this took 30 years" or "it happened like 30 years ago"
* To Marik when playing Smash: "Осторожно!"
* "*Marik!*"
* [anything about reptiles]
* "This weather makes me sleepy."
Twelve

Promotional graphic used for twelve in the Google Play Store.

***twelve*** is a mobile puzzle game developed by Nobody and released on Android and iOS on December 13, 2021. The game was originally scheduled to release for December 12, 2020, but as is often the case with Nobody, they were late. The game features 72 levels about collecting twelve dots. It also features music composed by Idiot and artwork drawn by Shoe. The game was playtested with many of the members of humeboys for gamers™.
Skeleton

**Skeleton** is one of Po's former roommates. Originally a door decoration, he moved indoors and never paid rent.

Skeleton committed assault on Po and was promptly handcuffed to indicate his incarceration. Po, as part of a firing squad, threw a bullet at Skeleton multiple times as part of his punishment.

Now, Skeleton resides in the room of Marik at his family's home.
GutTurtle

GutTurtle, or Gutsy is known in the MCD, for his love for Rayman, Megaman, Bionicle, and well... Metroid. He is easily one of the nicer members of the server, easy to get along with.

Would be happy to discuss anything regarding Metroid, Super Metroid being his favorite. One of his more controversial takes is his views towards Fusion, but overall nothing too crazy.

Fun facts:

* His First Metroid game was the Hunters Demo on the DS.
* His name was randomly generated, and it kinda just stuck.

not really sure what else to put here. He's honestly just vibin'.
Ayamn Syamin Zyaman

> *"Coo coo!"*
>
> Syamin to Po

**Ayamn Syamin Zyaman** is a human male with a triple yammable name.

## History

Syamin was introduced to Po by 🅱️uth Kim in 2019, due to the onset of Hurricane Dorian. Upon meeting, they simply stared at each other.

During his stay at Apartment 226, Syamin introduced Po to the bird game.
Action

The aspect of “action” in Bitter Medicine is presented in a few ways. Chief among these is the illustrations by Olivier Martini sprinkled throughout the memoir. These illustrations depict Olivier’s particular actions and experiences throughout various parts of his struggle with Schizophrenia, such as his experience as a night-shift security guard for a security company (Bitter Medicine, pg. 103-111). Clem’s narration acts as a precursor to Olivier’s illustrations, providing the reader with the appropriate context with which to understand, and by extension, sympathize with Olivier’s situation and experiences.

Another aspect to “action” in Bitter Medicine is Clem Martini’s retelling of facts and statistics that he and his family accrued over the course of their experience regarding mental health, government support. When the full scope of these facts, such as provincial stipend caps (Bitter Medicine, 163), antipsychotic medication side effects (Bitter Medicine, pg. 173-175, 179-180), and the perpetuation of minimal government aid (Bitter Medicine, pg. 163-167) correctly evokes a level of outrage at the situation. Bitter Medicine’s retelling is, in its entirety, a call to action from Clem Martini to his readers to do what they can to improve the healthcare system and government regulations so that stories like Olivier’s become less and less common.

- Mark Philips
Structure

Bitter Medicine has two narrators which gives it a unique structure for a memoir, since multiperspectivity often conflicts with the self-reflective goal of a memoir. The memoir is written by Clem Martini through his point of view. Clem’s words are accompanied by drawings and narration by Liv Martini. There are several ways in which the voices of Clem and Liv interact with each other.

Often Liv’s drawings will reinforce what Clem is saying. While Clem is talking about how Liv had to take a job as a night-guard he describes a scene where Liv is expected to guard a hole in a wall from jewel thieves. Liv’s drawing depict the scenario exactly as Clem described it (p. 108)

Sometimes Liv’s drawing will not match Clem’s narration and instead provide additional context by depicting scenes that aren’t described by Clem. In part 5, after Liv has to quit his job as a night guard, Clem describes how he spent a lot of time with dad during this period but doesn’t go into detail. However, Liv’s drawings go into specific events, including a trip to the zoo, getting hotdogs and coffee, and an incident where his dad passed out returning to his apartment (p. 127)

Often Clem’s words will be followed by Livls drawings, but this is reversed at some key moments. During Liv’s trip to emergency care, Liv’s drawing depict how he never actually got care and was just shuffled around for the first two nights before Clem finds out and his narration mentions it. (p. 210 - 217)

Along with the use of multiple narrators, the structure of the memoir also consists of individual “parts” numbered one to eight. Each part contains a different episode/hospital visit that affect Ben or Liv. Between parts five and six there is an interlude, during this interlude Clem and Liv take a step back from summarizing the events of their life.

The interlude has Clem and Liv inform the reader on specific systematic failings that are hurting people with mental illness, keeping them in poverty and turning them into inmates (p.145). This interlude is important to the memoir as it establishes what Liv is about to go through, and explains why he is having so much trouble to the readers who think that not being able to find work is somehow a personal failing.

- Zach
Interviews

The Globe and Mail conducted this interview with Clem Martini in 2017 on the *Unravelling* a graphic memoir about their mothers struggle with dementia.

*The Comedians* is another book written by Clem Martini in which he displays the history of comedy, he is interviewed on the book here

Clem has also created another book titled, *Martini With a Twist: Five Plays.* Clem had gone on *NeWest Press* podcasts to talk further about his new book, this is the interview.

On being an author, Clem has also done an interview for the Writer's Guild of Alberta in which he briefing goes over his general behavior, motivation and word choice for his work in the literary field. The interview can be found here.

It does not look like Oliver Martini does interviews so Clem Martini is the only person I was able to find interview information for.

**Connor Pick**
Historical and Social Context

Mental illness, and in the case of Bitter Medicine, Schizophrenia affects the lives of millions of people. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, by the age of 40, about 50% of the population will have or have had a mental illness, with schizophrenia affecting 1% of the Canadian population. Furthermore, according to the government of Canada, the stigma around mental illness prevents many people from seeking the proper help that they may critically require.

Clem Martini discusses the lack of mental health support by taking the reader through a miniature treasure hunt to find their local psychiatric facility or hospital ward, remarking that the difficulty in locating it isn’t uncommon (Bitter Medicine, pg. 159-161). Additionally, Martini details the fallout of the stigma around schizophrenia affecting the way those with schizophrenia can regain some semblance of normalcy, remarking that most are almost doomed into homelessness because of the lack of proper support from the government (Bitter Medicine, pg. 163). Additionally, Martini details the various antipsychotics, like Stelazine (Trifluoperazine), that his brothers were prescribed and the alarming side effects that accompanied them such as Tardive Dyskinesia and Akathisia (Bitter Medicine, pg. 173-175).

In a society that is still breaking free of the stigma surrounding mental illness and how it’s treated, Bitter Medicine is an unfortunately common story that those affected by mental illness can relate to, but presents a call to action for readers to do what they can to better the healthcare system in order to take better care of those afflicted with mental illness and give them the support they deserve.

* Mark Philips
Significance of Title

The title “Bitter Medicine” refers to failures in the healthcare system that Liv faced because of his schizophrenia. One re-occurring element of Liv’s meeting with doctors and health institutions is that he is constantly prescribed new medicine, including zyprexa and olanzapine, which may have gave him diabetes, and clozapine. This is indicative of Canadian health care’s issues with mental health as a whole. The title “Bitter Medicine” refers to the variety of prescriptions that Liv takes, but also refers to the poor advice he received from doctors, the treatment he received in emergency care.

“Bitter Medicine” is also a common idiom that is used to refer to “something that is very unpleasant but must be accepted”. In this case, “Bitter Medicine” refers to how Liv is just expected to get a job and live like everyone else despite his schizophrenia preventing him from doing so. The truth or “Bitter Medicine” that Clem wants to reader to know about is in the memoir’s interlude.

“Oppressed by cares and concerns, unable to focus upon the necessities of life, you lose your job. Society places tremendous importance on employability and now, instead of a worthy citizen, you find you’ve morphed into a jobless, titleless nobody. You feel terrible—but worse things are in store.” (p. 140)

- Zachary Fisch
List of works

This page serves as the list of works from both Clem and Oliver Martini, each book will link to a page where it may be purchased.

**Oliver Martini:**

*Bitter Medicine* *(Graphic Memoir)*

*The Unravelling(Graphic Memoir)*

**Clem Martini:**

*Bitter Medicine (Graphic Memoir)*

*The Unravelling(Graphic Memoir)*

*One Hundred Stories For 100 years(Book)*

*Too late (Book)*

*The Mob (Book)*

*The Plague (Book)*

*The Judgement(Book)*

*The Life History of the African Elephant(Play)*

*Illegal Entry(Play)*

*A Three Martini Lunch(Play)*

*Jeopardy**(Play)*

*Selling Mr. Rushdie**(Play)*

*Martini With a Twist(Play)*
Awards

-         Won Woolworth Competition in high school

-         Governor General's Literary Award for A Three Martini Lunch an anthology of 3 play

-         Awarded three Alberta Writers Guild Prizes

-         Won National Playwriting Competition

-         ATB Healing through the arts Award

-         Pierre Berton House, Writer-In-Residence, Writers’ Trust of Canada

-         University of Calgary faculty association community service award

-         University of Calgary Common Reading Selection

-         Calgary Book Award

-         Short listed; Alberta’s favorite book award

-         Short listed; The Red Maple Award for Children’s literature

-         Killam Fellowship recipient

-         Short listed; The Willow Award for Children’s Literature

-         Nominated for Canadian Library Association Book of the Year award

-         Television and Screen Institute for Screenwriters, Writing for Young People Award

-         Short listed; The Bitty Mitchell award

-         Short listed; Governor General award

-         Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award

-         University of Calgary Songwriting competition

-         Praxis Screenwriting Competition Award Winner

- Ryan Sneyd
Media Appearances

Clem Martini doesn't appear to be very related to the media. Clem has done numerous interviews for students at colleges/universities but does not appear to often put himself in the spotlight. Oliver Martini has very little information about himself.

Clem Martini has published a good synopsis about his book *The Plague* in 2005, but within this written piece done by himself he addresses some questions such as, "Did you do any acting when you were younger? If you did, do you remember your first role"? For more info regarding this self interview visit this link. Additionally, Clem also published the first book to *The Crow Chronicle* series titled, *The Mob* in which he has another self answered Q&A where he answers some questions about his new book in the series and also some general questions. For more information on the Q&A on *The Mob* visit this link.

Currently Clem Martini still teaches classes at the University of Calgary, because he is a playwright he teaches drama at the school. It would appear apart from scholarly duties Clem doesn't often seek the public's attention.

**Connor Pick**
Images

As detailed in the article on structure, the images in Bitter Medicine are an important part of how the story is told. Unlike other graphic memoirs, Bitter Medicine’s images are often divorced from the text and are instead given their own narration and point of view.

The images in Bitter Medicine are drawn by Liv Martini, they don’t contain a lot of details and often have scribbly line work. They do not not contain any colour or shading of any kind. The exception to this being a few drawings that are solid grey with white lines, and a portrait of Clem that is fully rendered. The images are very frequent, every page or two of words is accompanied by several pages of drawings. The relationship between Clem’s words and Liv’s drawing can vary between just depicting Clem’s words to scenes not mentioned by Clem at all.

These techniques are able to reinforce the “THEMES” of the memoir in several ways. CAMH states that symptoms of schizophrenia include “difficulties with attention, concentration and memory.” The rough linework and simple shapes are  able to show how Liv’s perspective of the world was changed by living with schizophrenia by depicting his memories as something fleeting and lacking a clear grasp on the specifics of what happened.

- Zach
Early Life

### Clem Martini

Clem Martini was born on August 25th 1956 Calgary, Canada. Clem grew up in Bowness, a town that got amalgamated into Calgary in 1964. During that time Bowness had a population of around 6000 people. As a kid Clem liked animals, reading and the outdoors. Growing up his family had dog, rabbit and cat. Unfortunately, his dad mistook the cat for a rat and killed the cat by slamming the door on it. Clem’s favorite book series were the “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis and the “Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien (Clem Martini, n.d.). He also was a fan of science fiction one of his favorites being “Dune” by Frank Herbert. Clem spent a lot his time with family camping, hiking and cross-country skiing (Clem Martini, n.d.). On his camping trip Clem and his three brothers Liv, Nic and Ben would go looking for dinosaur teeth. Clem’s oldest brother Liv or Olivier was the oldest brother who Clem always thought would grow up to become a paleontologist because he found the most dinosaur bones. At school Clem’s favorite subjects were English, Social Studies and Art. (Clem Martini, n.d.) English was his favorite especially when it came to writing. Clem liked short fiction in particular and after his teacher pushed him to enter, he won the Woolworth competition for writing in high school. (Clem Martini, n.d.) It was at this point Clem knew he wanted to become a writer. Clem then went on to study being a playwright studying at the university of Calgary where he earned in Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in play writing. Clem was also one of the first graduates of play writing in the national theater school in Montreal. Unfortunately, while going the school Clem’s brother ben was not doing so well. Ben ended up developing schizophrenia and killing himself with a shotgun in his parents’ basement. Ben was only 19 at the time.

### Olivier Martini

There is very little information regarding Olivier’s life growing up. He also was born in Bowness, Alberta. Olivier also developed schizophrenia shortly after Clem graduated for the University of Calgary. Due to his illness Olivier had trouble securing a job. Eventually Olivier graduated from Alberta College of Arts where he obtained a visual arts diploma. (Olivier Martini, 2019)

- Ryan Sneyd
Communism

> "Senator McCarthy? *I have an addition to your list.*"
>
>

> Po
>
>

Communism is a political and philosophical ideology that is often referenced by Po, due to his absolute abhorrence for the concept.

## Indicators of Communism

There are several clear signs of someone being a communist. This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

* Being Russian
* Wearing red
* Making any reference to the left direction
* Discussing "sharing" and "equal distribution" in any capacity
* Being Marik or 🅱️lata Itkin (or 🅱️uth Kim, by proxy)

As of the beginning of 2020, Po has deemed the words "l\*ft" and "r\*d" to be vulgarities. Nobody believes that the color favored by communists is green, due to their colorblindness.

## The R\*d List

Po keeps a top secret list of communists that he refers to as the "r\*d list." He adds to the list anytime he witnesses someone partaking in activities that indicate communist leanings.

Persons known to appear on the list are:

* Mark Itkin
* 🅱️lata Itkin
* 🅱️uth Kim
* Mikhail Nikitin
* RUIZ

The identity of other persons on the list are not known to anyone except Po and Christoyam.
Adult Life

### Clem Martini

After university Clem became a teacher in drama and playwriting at the Calgary Wood’s Homes. The Calgary woods homes is a mental health center that provides treatment and support for youth with mental health issues. The center was founded in 1914. (Clem Martini, n.d.) Interestingly, troubled characters that have trouble finding out who they really are is a common there in his Clem’s plays. Clem worked there for 15 years. Clem wrote his first play in 1988 called “The Colour of Coal” about miners that got trapped in a mine after an explosion. In 1995 he wrote “Illegal Entry” about three teens that steal from parties and get trapped in garage. Because of Clem’s past with schizophrenia in his family he wrote “Nobody of Consequence” in 1990 and “Selling Mr. Rushdie” in 1997. Both plays had the protagonists be placed in a situation where they had to reflect on who they are. “Nobody of Consequence” was about a man who loses his body in a trash compactor, lives and tries to reconnect with his wife. “Selling Mr. Rushdie” was about three men kidnapping a man who claimed to be the famous Mr. Rushdie but was in fact not. Clem as a child always had a love for animals and wrote three books “The Life History of the African Elephant”, “Secret Life of the Octopus” and “Feather and Bone: The Crow Chronicles”. (Clem Martini, n.d.) Clem married Cheryl Foggo another Canadian author, director, screenwriter and play write in 1984. Clem did some collaborations with Cheryl including “Turnaround” and “The Devil We Know”. Clem currently works for the University of Calgary as a professor of drama.

### Olivier Martini

Olivier continues to do sketches, paintings and prints that have been displayed at the Marion McGrath Gallery. His works have also been published in the Alberta View magazine and has been part of the Canadian Mental Health Copernicus Project. His most notable project is “Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness” and “The Unravelling: How caregiving safety net came unstrung and we were left grasping at the thread, struggling to plait a new one”. (Olivier Martini, 2019)

- Ryan Sneyd
PC Engine

Simply put, the greatest piece of video game hardware ever invented. A shame it never got any Metroid games...

Discord member Vectrex28 is a big fan of the PC Engine, often praising the console in chat, much to the dismay of several unenlightened members who prefer modern gaming (bet they haven't played Soldier Blade once in their life...). He owns 7 different pieces of PC Engine hardware, including the rarest model, the PC Engine LT, which he often posts in chat.

MCD member Sherwin expressed his approval of the PC Engine, calling it a "chad console", and so did Galterius during his Rise of the Planet of the Apes stunt. However, other members such as TyrantLizardKing or Strince have yet to see the light.

## Trivia

* The PC Engine is known as the Turbografx-16 in the USA
* According to MCD member Bon, Vectrex28's first words were "Turbografx". Vectrex has yet to confirm or deny the allegations.
Strince

Strince is one of the Moderators in the server. His favourite Metroid game is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, though he has also been seen in the ranks of the Fusion Defence Force. He is devoted to taking care of The Baby, despite being the cause of his anime addiction and subsequent relapses after Anime Rehab. Still, Strince genuinely cares about The Baby's well-being.

Just like his fellow moderator Vectrex28, Strince is a Slav in disguise living in Switzerland. However, he has differing opinion to those of Vectrex28, most notably his rejection of Vectrex's tossing Other M in the bin rhethoric.
MCD Graveyard

## Overview

The MCD Graveyard is a term that describes a conceptual place where banned or past users and removed features go to from the MCD. To get into the Graveyard, you must have a reputation before you get banned. While many people may join the MCD graveyard, the tombstone by which they're known by will be more infamous the longer you stayed in the server and more influential you were.

## Obituaries

Here are some of the members/features that have passed into the MCD graveyard (oldest to newest):

* Zim
* Smug > You
* Fifth
* Galterius
* KingFlowers
* Mr Doggo
* Mona
* Darren
* Tittom
* ChronicBlast
* Sonicfar64
* Blacklight
* Tubes
* Regular Role
* Lonely Ladle
* Jones the Bone Lord (AKA Bulbous Toad)
Characterization

Throughout the course of Bitter Medicine, Clem characterizes some minor faces and names, but primarily focus on characterizing a few key people to the memoir, those being his youngest brother Ben, his second eldest brother Olivier, and their father.

Ben was considered the smartest and best looking of the four siblings (Bitter Medicine, pg. 16-17). Shortly after graduating high school, Ben’s condition began to deteriorate, becoming more irritable, hallucinating other-dimensional interactions, and becoming increasingly paranoid (Bitter Medicine, pg. 21-25). Ben was later diagnosed with Schizophrenia, however despite attempts at treatment and reclaiming some semblance of normalcy, Ben’s struggle resulted in his suicide, much to the shock of his family and friends. His suicide marked a point in the Martini family’s life that they would never really recover from, his death forever changing the dynamic of their family.

Olivier is the second eldest brother in the family. Clem had always pictured as a child that Olivier would become an paleontologist, and described his physical appearance as being the same as himself and his eldest brother, Nic, “The rest of us tended toward being too bony, too gangly, and we were cursed with dad’s long, aquiline nose” (Bitter Medicine, pg. 15-17). Once Olivier began showing the same sort of hallucinations as their brother Ben (Bitter Medicine, pg. 59), Clem took immediate action in helping his brother seek what they thought would be the proper care. After spending years on the antipsychotic Stelazine (Trifluoperazine), Clem developed Tardive Dyskinesia and Akathisia.

Mr. Martini, the father of the four brothers, was described by Clem as being a man who held a lot of regrets about his past decisions (Bitter Medicine, pg. 83). Their father had immigrated to Canada and lived a hard life through the Great Depression, becoming a very frugal and paranoid man, “…saved scraps of every useless kind – rubber bands, paper clips, old shoes of any size or disrepair, paper bags – preparing for the next economic downturn” (Bitter Medicine, og. 83). Clem goes on to detail that his father was a fatalist, numerologist, and a pessimist, frequently saying the phrase, “Tout est perdu au Canada” (All is lost in Canada) (Bitter Medicine, pg. 84-85). Lastly, Clem remarks how the differences and struggles between their father and mother finally came to a head after Ben’s death, resulting in their divorce and their father’s subsequent and self-appointed eviction from their family home (Bitter Medicine, pg. 87).

* Mark Philips
Hatchling Role

## Hatchlings (Role)

The **Hatchlings (role)** is a removed role that was automatically given to all new users in the MCD. The role was a dark blue color, and existed to easily identify new users and users who were not regulars (see History) to the server. The role had a negative connotation to a few users in the MCD, thanks to the fact that there had been problematic hatchlings in the past. Users with the hatchling role were also more likely to cause problems over users with the regulars role, due to the fact that they were usually new users.

### History

It is unknown the exact date the role was created, but it dates to at least the Darren era, which was around 2018. Due to many complaints regarding the hatchling/regular system, the role was eventually replaced by the Metroid Role system and eventually colored roles.

### Features

Users with the hatchling role would be able to read messages as well as type in text channels, and use the audio channels. The main purpose of the hatchling role was to easily identify which users are new.
Voice & Tone

The narrative composition of Bitter Medicine is unique compared to other memoirs of its genre. Clem Martini helms the narration, with his brother Olivier Martini providing illustrations that tie in with key narrative moments. Clem Martini’s style of voice consistently conveys a tone of persistence in the face of irreparable loss, while deftly communicating the frustration and isolation that comes from having family members that suffer from mental illness.

Clem Martini details these particular moments a few times in the memoir, one in particular about their community’s reactions surrounding Ben’s suicide, “One lady took the time to craft and send a painstakingly detailed letter, warning us that Ben roasted in Hell as a result of his mortal sin” (Bitter Medicine, pg. 55). These moments evoke the same emotions of anger and discomfort that Clem and his family likely felt at the time, further showing Martini’s command of tone and emotion.

Conversely, the minimalism and straightforwardness of Olivier’s illustrations plays in contrast to the narrative detail of Clem, creating this dichotomy that mirrors the effects of schizophrenia as described by Clem, “It seizes people, it confiscates relationships, it snatches peace of mind and slips it away in some deep, secret, interior pocket” (Bitter Medicine, pg. 247). Clem’s narrative style and tone opens the eyes of the reader to the harsh reality of mental illness and vividly conveys his feelings of sorrow and frustration for his family.

- Mark Phillips
Tron

Tron is a member of the Metroid Community Discord.

He joined the server roughly on 3/31/2017. Tron is male young adult who loves various media franchises, as well as making jokes and being humorous in the server. He is easy to get along with and fits in well in the community.

He is well known for his love for the Kamen Rider series, and is occasionally seen posting images or gifs from the series. He uses them primarily as reaction responses to someone or something else. He also does the same with the Power Rangers franchise, which he also is a fan of.

Another thing he is known for his love of the Tron series, where fittingly, his name comes from. Tron enjoys talking about this franchise and is knowledgeable of it,

Tron is also a Destiny player and fan, and likes to talk about the game and the happenings of it. A running joke in the server is how big of a fan he is of a bad game. Doggo likes to joke around with Tron in a humorous way.

As of 4/10/2022, Tron was added as a moderator for the MCD.
Moderator

The moderators, known as the "Mawkin Tribe", (Originally known as the "E.M.M.I.") are members of the Metroid Community Discord who enforce the rules, regulate the server, and maintain events. Below the Mawkin Tribe are the Rezbits. These users are considered mini-mods and have limited permissions. Their sole purpose is to maintain order within each channel and keep watch for suspicious users.

After the destruction of the Metroid role system and the addition of color roles on June 24th, 2023, the moderator system and names changed slightly. Instead of using E.M.M.I. as the name for the moderator role, it changed to the Mawkin Tribe. Moreover, a role above the moderators was added. This is the Thoha Tribe role, and these members are considered the administrators of MCD. The Rezbit role was left unchanged.

## Thoha Tribe (Admins)

* Vectrex28 (Owner)
* Habreno

## Mawkin Tribe (Moderators)

* Strince
* FastReptilicus4
* Questboy1
* Tron
* ChozoLightshow
* MXSKED
* Rumpatump
* Blanket

## Former Moderators

[NEEDS INFORMATION]

* JKMaxx
* cheetahblades
* Dracosity
* metroidman
* Zim
Nzkiwibro

**nzkiwibro,** often simplified as **Kiwi**, is a user on the server.

He's a master ninja. Formerly living in New Zealand's famous Tower Burger Mines, Kiwi now lives within the desolate wasteland known to the masses as.... "Australia". He has a smoking hot Japanese Waifu Girlfriend that he defends from the deadly Australian wildlife ranging from bootspiders, clockspiders, and skin walkers.

## Trivia

* Became a genius after a head injury caused an underflow glitch which set IQ to the maximum value.
* One of the original destroyers of the Anime Kingdom