Black Jack
Trapped between devotion to his troops, love for a French pacifist artist, and dangerous politicians, the highest ranking general in US military history joins the Allied forces to stop Germany and end "the war to end all wars".
At the turning point of history’s most terrible war, a devious US president and an implacable French prime minister leave the fiercely ambitious General John “Black Jack” Pershing twisting in the midst of their deadly struggle. The lives of his young troops and their veteran French comrades, as well as the fate of the world, hang in the balance.
Meanwhile, never before revealed, one of history’s most remarkable wartime love stories begins to unfold. A conflicted relationship between Catherine, a beautiful young French woman, and Black Jack, a virile older man. She is the artist and pacifist, he is the six star general committed to his soldiers. Each yearning for love but haunted by loss, their love risks their opposing aspirations … and their aspirations risk their love.
Amid the wild brushstrokes of Fauvism, the twisted shapes of Cubism, and the crimson aftermath of vicious combat, art stands at the nexus of war. Expressionism is born amid deadly new technologies, creating a world in which Black Jack and Catherine could find ecstasy, but could also suffer unimaginable pain and loss.
Cuz
Talented Creole clarinetist Raymond Dubois wants to pursue his musical passion in his Louisiana birthplace – but a raging world war leads him to France, setting him on a tempestuous path of self-discovery and romance, of hot war and hot music...
Raymond is caught in the middle: between white and black; between his training in classical music and his gut-level passion for blues and jazz; between his idealistic home-town sweetheart, Anne-Marie, and his artistic, seductive French lover, Gabrielle; and between France, where he finds friends despite patronizing racism, and America, where after his return from combat in the trenches, he sees his best friend in Army dress blues lynched by a New Orleans mob, his French decoration for valor stained by his own blood and vomit …
Raymond’s true language is music, where his burning rage and youthful passion find a voice. His clarinet travels with him everywhere he goes. From his home in Cane River to an audition for King Oliver and Louis Armstrong at their New Orleans club, then from the Western Front to fashionable Montmartre, and finally from Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club back to the deep South.
He forms his own band in the Paris of Hemingway and the Lost Generation, writing his own music to give voice to his anger. He fights to meld a great trumpet player into that voice... even though he is white.
Raymond's nemesis is hatred and discrimination personified, Guy Bonville. A cultured New Orleans lawyer, war-time staff officer, and post-war District Attorney, Bonville’s true self finally emerges – from under a white hood. The differences in their clashing ideologies become more apparent as they move towards a deadly climax in a New Orleans jail.
Raymond finally comes of age, overcoming immense odds to lead his reunited band before an adoring Parisian crowd – but when he heads backstage he finds Anne-Marie and Gabrielle, forcing him to choose once and for all between the two women in his life.
Footsteps in the Dust
Driven by a passion for robotics and a desire for acceptance in a male dominated world, a liberal young woman finds an unlikely ally in the U.S. Army, but must accept personal sacrifice to fulfill her professional obsession.
Ever since Lydia discovered R2D2 as a child, she has had a passion for robotics. Excelling in science and surrounded by men, she is eventually admitted to MIT, but still in the minority, endures patronizing comments by her teachers and peers. Nevertheless, Lydia perseveres and is ultimately first in her class.
Joined by a few friends, Lydia founds We Robots. The company begins work on its first project but struggles to make a working robot. Physically and emotionally exhausted, Lydia finally has a breakthrough when she recalls her early fascination with R2D2 and his versatile tractor treads. However, even with a successful product, the We Robots team cannnot afford to pay itself. Meanwhile, Lydia's relationship deteriorates as she invests all her time in her work. Broke and alone, she splits from her boyfriend and sleeps in her workshop.
As time goes on, Lydia encounters near-success after near-success as she struggles to find funding and prove her robots' worth. One day, she is sought out by a colonel in the U.S. Department of Defense who believes Lydia's work could be beneficial to soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. More hard work follows and Lydia produces the first successful robots used in the field, valuable scouts capable of saving lives. But even with immense success, Lydia is greatly disturbed by the tragedy of war she witnesses first hand.
Back home, We Robots toasts their success. Lydia, however, is already preoccupied with new goals. She shares a shy smile with one of the officers from Afghanistan before exiting the party and making her way through the dark streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, imagining her robots traversing the Red Planet.