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Entertainment July 9, 2017
She deserved more.
Poussey Washington, accent a droite, was taken away from us far too soon.
In season four of “Orange Is the New Black,” dopey Correctional Officer Bayley suffocated Poussey until she died. The show has gone on to address her death, making the entirety of this season the prison riot that followed.
While I may not agree with the way that’s being handled, I think we can all agree that we loved Poussey. Instead of focusing on how Poussey died, here are some things you may or may not know about her.
Poussey is a town in the northeast region of France in the Champagne-Ardennes region. The region does in fact have a military base. This explains why Poussey is fluent in French. Please don’t call her the other “p word.” It’s honestly just not that difficult.
Poussey not only speaks French, but she is fluent in English and German as well. Her father was stationed in Hohenfels, Germany. A blogger says that the town is affectionately referred to as “Hohen-hells” among the military community.
According to her, Hohenfels is in the middle of nowhere. And ironically, they don’t even have Netflix there! The area looks gorgeous in her photos though, and there seems to be no shortage of pretzels and beer. There’s also no shortage of nosy neighbors. So “Orange” got that right.
In the “Mother’s Day” episode, we get some insight into Poussey’s relationship with her mother. It appears that her relationships with both of her parents were strong and healthy. And Poussey, having been in prison for two years at the start of the series, lost her mother at some point in her second year.
Her mother was educated in Art History and shared her love of books with her daughter. It’s probably why Poussey is so passionate about literature.
The famous “I heart you” line from “Orange Is the New Black” happened in real-life first. Samira Wiley was just beginning to fall in love with show writer Lauren Morelli. Morelli was adjusting to her newfound sexuality and navigating the new reality in her marriage.
So the two started out as friends. Testing the waters in their relationship, Wiley opted to say the safe “I heart you” instead of saying “I love you.” The interaction ended up in the show, making people worldwide say “aw” and then immediately tell Alex that she could do better than Piper.
We heard Poussey sing “Amazing Grace” in the Christmas episode of the series in season one. Samira Wiley, a Juilliard-trained actress, has an amazing voice. She grew up in the Baptist church as the child of parents who were very supportive of the LGBT community.
Her parents were performing marriages in the DC area for same-sex couples in the 2000s and were themselves the subject of several articles. This mirrors the support shown by Poussey Washington’s own parents for her in the show.
Now that we’re all sufficiently sad about Poussey, remind yourself that Samira Wiley is living her best life with this video of her Lip Sync Battle.
