#Thanksgivings Are Better Twofold

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector’s Edition: Thanksgivings Are Better Twofold

thMulder and Scully have many a checkered collection in Thanksgiving fic land-- some unpleasant times with family drama always at the ready; but it never holds them down for long, and the memories are worth it. 

This is truly a mixed collection-- some fics only a paragraph long, others taken from larger works or longer series-- but all are enjoyable in their own ways. 

(**Edited: Added a few stories below I missed on my first go-through.**) 

Loose chronological order below~ 

By Timeline 

Dryad’s (Ao3) 2790 Vine St. (Ao3) 

“"Wait just a minute, young man," she called. She turned him around, fussed with his jacket, rewrapped his striped wool scarf. "There we are. Now you look like a proper young man about to go to a Christmas party."

Fox grimaced and looked away from her too-bright eyes, her fixed smile....

How could they even consider going to a party when Samantha was only a month gone? And why did he have to pretend everything was okay?” 

Young Mulder and his parents spend Thanksgiving at a neighbors, where polite society ignores the gaping hole left in their lives. He wanders, distantly connected to his environment, observing his parents’ mutual distances. 

emmbright’s (Gossamer, LiveJournal) False Dawn  

“Listen and repeat: "Je me suis perdu. Pouvez-vous m'aider, s'il vous plait?"

Mulder listens and haltingly repeats, struck by the meaning behind the words he mouths. Yes, he thinks, I am lost.”

Post 3 Mulder is so guilt-ridden that he accepts Tena’s “please”s to join her for Thanksgiving. On his way over he finds Scully’s French language tapes and listens to them emptily. His misery only continues with Maggie’s next call.  

Juliettt’s 

All I Want for Christmas 

“Sometimes he would pick up the phone after hearing the caller identify him- or herself.  Usually he did so when it was Margaret Scully on the other end of the line.  Funny -- he would have thought she would be the one person with whom he would be afraid to speak, but it hadn't been like that at all.  The Lone Gunmen tired him with their overly enthusiastic theories and vain attempts to cheer him.  Mrs. Scully never tried to cheer him.  She would call him when she felt particularly blue or had an idea he might be.  She was usually right.  And he would answer and sometimes they would just sit there listening to one another breathe because there was nothing to say.” 

Pre-One Breath Mulder’s birthday wish-- for Scully’s return-- turns into a Thanksgiving wish turns into a Christmas wish as he dodges invites from Maggie and mires himself in guilt. A tombstone and a phone call end his cycle. 

Lullaby 

“If he found us awake he would sing old ballads to us.  Melissa was usually asleep." 

Mulder looked at her.  "But you stayed awake," he said softly. 

Scully nodded.  "It was the one time I had him all to myself.   I grew to miss that -- even years later when we had grown apart a little.  Even after we fought about my joining the FBI.  He couldn't understand -- I don't know if he ever really understood. 

AU Post Anasazi 1-- Mulder’s return from NM is rolled into a Thanksgiving celebration (incidentally, Melissa never died so no drama.) He overhears Scully singing lullaby, and she relates how her dad used to sing it to her. Mulder later hears it himself, but decides not to mention it.

(BONUS! i.e., Part 2 of the above fic:)

Marriage- Lullaby For a New Generation 

“No, Mulder showed his affections in rather more unique and creative ways.  Up until a few months ago he had routinely accompanied her in to work for early morning autopsy calls just so she would not have to go alone, and then he would slip out and buy her an extra large mocha and a croissant to be consumed after she was finished.  He'd make certain the car was always full of fuel when he knew she would need it.  Or he would sneak home during lunch when he knew she was going to be in meetings or the lab all afternoon and put a pot of spaghetti sauce or a casserole on to cook so that when they arrived home, hungry and exhausted, there would be a hot meal waiting.  And then, if she were especially tired, he would insist on doing all the dishes instead of simply drying them as he usually did, and maybe even run her a hot bath and leave her to soak the stress of the day away.  And then, too, he gave a mean backrub. . . . 

So what if he didn't give her flowers and candy and soft music?  He gave her his love and respect and time and gratefully accepted the same from her.”

AU Post Anasazi 2-- Mulder is happily married to Scully, and loves to sneak Will from the FBI nursery to his office as much as he can. Scully overhears him singing her father’s lullaby; and stuns him with her belief when he relates his past experience. 

httpspotter’s The Key to My Heart  

““Would you hand me the key for a second? I forgot something.”

She did, a bit confused. Was he mad at something now and regretted giving her the key? But Mulder just wrote his name on a piece of paper, glued on the key with duct tape and gave back to her. “There you go.”

“Thank you” she said, softly.

Scully knew that gesture meant how much he trusted her. Mulder was trying to say it was okay for her to go without him at his apartment, to pick up a file of a case they were investigating, or anything else. If he wasn’t home, she could still go and wait for him there. It meant a lot of things, and definitely it wasn’t about the fish.” 

Post One Breath Mulder is going to be out of town for a family Thanksgiving; and gives gives Scully a key to his apartment. She sees the motive under it all, and rewards his trust with mac and cheese. 

@sunsoakd/agenderleadingplayer’s up (where the world won’t let us down)

“he notices how no one says thanksgiving, wonders if it's a nebraska thing. she still hasn't said anything and he's almost worried until she takes a sip of her cocoa and the whipped cream gives her a white mustache and he laughs, and so does she, and he reaches out with his napkin to wipe it off and underneath it all she's smiling.”

S2-5? Mulder and Scully spend Thanksgiving in a diner, thankful for each other. 

@wexleresque/hllsteeth’s thankful  

““No, uh, it’s not cold,” He says. Scully raises an eyebrow at him but goes back to eating, looking perfectly content and unbothered. Mulder squints at his plate as if it’s done something to offend him before taking an experimental bite of the stuffing, drizzled with gravy. This bite is as bad as the last, oversalted and overpeppered. He didn’t even know it was possible to add too much pepper to gravy until this very moment.”

Post Redux ii Scully is deeply embarrassed by her recovering sense of smell and inedible Thanksgiving meal. Mulder is supportive, and the two strike a deal. 

@nowwhateinstein’s (Ao3) Don’t Know Much About History 

“But no amount of complaining would change Mother Nature’s mind. She’d be spending Thanksgiving alone and away from her family this year.

A knock at the door startled her out of her melancholy thoughts. Perhaps it was her building super, come to tell her to expect power outages due to the storm. She padded over to the door in stockinged feet and opened it. She was surprised to see Mulder standing there. He held two paper grocery bags, each full to bursting.” 

Gobble, gobble, Scully,” he said by way greeting, sidestepping his way into her apartment.” 

After Post Modern Prometheus, Mulder joins Scully for Thanksgiving after her flight is snowed out and she is left behind in DC. 

Pattie’s This is The Way Thanksgiving Should Be  

“A kitchen full of women. Why was that always the case? Scully reached for a small dish of chopped parsley. "Mom, how much of this do you want in the potatoes?"

"All of it, honey.  I measured it out." Margaret Scully smiled a knowing smiled at Tara.

"Navy wives, Dana!  Remember how you grew up? So many things timed just right and organized as good as a ship?" Scully felt a longing for that sort of arrangement. A family routine. "Yeah.  I do. It's been so long. But I do have my own routine down pat. Everything is to the letter as long as there are no surprises."

S5 Mulder pretends to have something better to do, but scoots over to the Scully Thanksgiving as a surprise.

@all-these-ghosts’s (Ao3) Thankful (Ao3) 

““I don’t think my mom has the wrong impression about anything,” Scully says slowly, and he has absolutely no idea how he’s supposed to interpret that, no sir, and then she continues, “She set up the air mattress for you.”

“Right,” he says, and finally puts his bag down. “Thanks for letting me…”

Her eyes are almost soft. “Of course.””

S6 Mulder somehow gets slotted into the Scully Thanksgiving; and further didn’t expect his “Truth or Dare” to be answered honestly, if mildly. 

@softnow’s (Ao3) thankful

“It has been twenty-five years since he celebrated Thanksgiving—really celebrated—and he’s never had one like this. There were so many people crammed into Maggie’s modest house, aunts and uncles and cousins he’d never even heard of. They hadn’t all fit at the dinner table; he’d eaten on the living room floor, styrofoam plate balanced on his knee, iced tea nearly knocked over more than once by one rambunctious kid or another.

He’d told Scully he was fine, she could sit at the table with her mother and brothers, but she’d refused to leave his side.”

It’s S6? Thanksgiving, and Mulder joins Scully for her giant family gathering. He’s surprised that she wants to eat with him on the floor, and even more surprised that she is happy to do so. 

@baronessblixen’s (Ao3)

Be Brave - Chapter 1

““Mom, we work together.”

“So? He’s your friend, isn’t he?” Maggie wonders if Dana realizes that she’s scrubbed the same plate for over two minutes. It’s clean. Carefully she takes the dish from her.

“It’s just not something we talk about.” But she wants to. Dana thinks she’s hard to read, difficult to understand. Not for Maggie. She glances through the window and sees Mulder and Charlie laughing together. Even Bill looks peaceful.”  

Maggie has decided enough is enough; and pushes Scully to make a move after their peaceful Thanksgiving dinner.

Unnamed Prompt 38

“This is exactly the kind of family gathering Mulder is used to. Yelled accusations. Past missteps. Oh yes, he knows this. Except it’s not his family. And no one, for once, is yelling at him. He’s outside on the porch, the sun trying to hide, too, disappearing quickly, going to sleep. Under him the wood creaks softly. No one but him hears it. They’re in the kitchen, Scully and her brother Bill. Mulder was in there with them moments ago. He doubts either of them even noticed when he slipped outside. Out here, their voices are muffled, but he can still hear them, word for word.”

Scully and Bill are at each other’s throats. Maggie finds Mulder disturbed outside; but convinces him to come in with pie after Scully drops the “boyfriend” word.

Rainy Thanksgiving Aren’t As Bad As They Seem

“He's sated, he's tired, but most of all, he's happy. There on the couch are Jackson and Katie, their two miracles, both pretending to watch TV, both struggling to stay awake. Mulder merely smiles at them and tiptoes out of the living room to find Scully in the kitchen drying the dishes.”

Post Revival-- It’s the first Thanksgiving as a knitted-together family; and Mulder and Scully soak it in as they miss Maggie and banter freely.  

@lotsoforangesoutside’s (Ao3, Alt. Tumblr) The Turkey Special (Ao3)

“One corner of her mouth perks up as she recalls that Bill was absent from the dinner table today; her Mother gushed over Mulder for the majority of the meal and packed Tupperware after Tupperware of food for Mulder and her to enjoy later.

Somehow, her mother knows with firm convictions that they have plans to spend the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend together.”

Mulder had always been a bum at his friends’ Thanksgivings. He is moved to finally belong at someone’s-- Scully’s.

@suitablyaggrieved/ScullyLovesQueequeg’s Avoidable Feast

““That—that is a large bird,” He says, and she glances over at him, to see what he means. He points in his leather gloves to the display of frozen turkeys that are stacked precariously for Thanksgiving, which is only in a couple of days. Scully feels a slight fluttering in her belly that she dismisses immediately, but there is no quelling the thoughts that she would soon vocalize:

“It’s going to be our first Thanksgiving together as a couple,” Scully says, brushing her fringe out of her eye.”

Both Mulder and Scully have a near-miscommunication over Thanksgiving plans; but assure each other they do, indeed, want to celebrate together.

@msrpolaroidproject’s Thanksgiving with Mulder and Scully 

““I had such a wonderful holiday, Mulder,” she murmurs, “Thank you.””

Scully had to skip out on Thanksgiving with her family to spend it with Mulder. It shocks him that grateful she is to do so. 

@msrafterdark's (Ao3) home for thanksgiving

“Dana is... Dana’s different now. She seems a little firmer, a little more stoic, and he’s sure from what little she’s told him about her current line of work thta is HAS to have an effect on her. The last several years have thrown so much at this family...agruably her most of all.” 

Charlies observes his sister; and is glad she is (finally) happy.  

@jinjoint/Jintian’s Seven Days 

““Maybe if you tell me what bothers you so much about visiting her.... Won't this be the first time you've seen each other since you were in the hospital?"

"Yes. But Scully, nothing bothers --" He stops. "Fine. Something bothers me. But I want to see how it goes before I say anything."

"I want to know how it goes, too, whatever it is," she says.

"I will tell you. Soon.””

Post Amor Fati Mulder is visiting his mother for a week. He calls Scully here and there to deal with Tena’s lack of warmth (and to mildly discuss their new relationship.) His worry for his paternity comes to a head over her birthday dinner, and leaves both with a fallout uncomfortable to both. 

Blueswirl’s The Simplest Explanation 

“She doesn't have to ask who he's talking about. She knew before the words even left his mouth. An ordinary boy, his sister gets abducted... 

"If you want to look at it that way," she says, gently. "But we both know it's more complicated than that." 

"Is it?" he wonders. "Maybe it's not. Maybe it's just that simple. And, just like with Weems, everyone who gets involved in his life becomes an integral part of his luck. It's just not much fun when it's all bad."

Post The Goldberg Variation, Scully finds Mulder in a dour mood over darker reflections on cause-and-effect and luck. She insists it doesn’t reflect back on his life; and struggles alongside him on a missing girl’s case. As the anniversary looms-- on Thanksgiving that year-- and the case has no conclusion, Mulder is able to answer some questions and find a measure of peace. 

@atths--twice‘s (Ao3, Alt. Ao3, FFN)

Thanksgiving on the Run 

““Hmm, yeah,” she hummed with a nod. “Though I think I would like to find a motel tonight. With a real bed? And a toilet we don’t have to drive to?”

“Yeah. I think we could do that,” he said with a smile, looking around and noticing the decorations adorning the walls. “Hey, Scully, is it… I think it might be Thanksgiving.” 

She too looked around and then let out a deep sigh. “I think you might be right,” she said quietly....

On the run, Mulder and Scully pause their mobile living in time to catch Thanksgiving. This spills over in a beautiful visit to the botanical gardens. 

A Thankful Morning  

““What time did you say Skinner would be here?” she quietly called to him.

“Uh.. he said three, I think. He’s bringing everything and he seemed pretty excited about it,” he answered, as he poured water in the coffee pot. He added the coffee and turned it on, walking back toward the couch and sitting next to her.

“It was nice of him to offer a home cooked Thanksgiving meal. I was set on cereal and toast,” she said, looking at him again.”

Post Revival-- Mulder and Scully, proud parents of their daughter, are enjoying a nice Thanksgiving with the company of Skinner.

@agentwhalesong/sadandangstyagent’s (Ao3) The Past is the Past 

“Bill saw him as soon as he entered the living room, the person who was the very reason why his sister had been away from home for so long. Mulder was helping Maggie with bringing food to the table, smiling and making her laugh as she ordered him around. He couldn’t believe how lenient his mother was with him, even after all the mess he had made not only in Dana’s life, but also in the lives of everyone else she had relations with. Maggie had been the one to suffer the most when she realized her daughter had simply vanished, leaving only a note in her wake that said she would be fine and that no one should go looking for her. Even if she didn’t say it, they all knew it was because of Mulder, so it didn’t make any sense to Bill that Maggie didn’t seem to hold any grudges against her daughter’s partner. Maybe she knew details about their story that Bill didn’t because, ultimately, he didn’t know a lot. He didn’t know anything, actually, if he was being honest.”

Post IWTB-- Bill is tired of picking fights, and finally, simply, OBSERVES. 

@this-is-surely-tru/your_truly’s Side-Effects May Include  

““How do you feel?”

He stroked his thumbs over the skin above his eyebrows. “Hung over. Like I told you I would.”

“You hadn’t slept more than three hours a night for almost a week, Mulder,” she said. “You needed to take the pill.”

Who could sleep when there was less than a month until the end of the world? Mulder couldn’t stop the spinning, no matter how desperately he wanted to get off the ride, and they both struggled with how alternately listless and manic he’d become in the past six months.”

Post IWTB Mulder is on the brink of depression; but Scully dutifully cares for him with sleeping pills and funny, lively nephews. 

@aloysiavirgata’s (Ao3, WBM, Gossamer, LJ, Alt. LJ) Unnamed (only link)

“The dishes are stowed away, leftovers marinating in their own juices and seasonings for the days ahead. Mulder has plans for turkey stock and a cranberry granita.” 

Mulder and Scully eat themselves into an over-stuffed stupor. 

2nd Anonymous’s Unnamed

“On this thanksgiving day Mulder falls asleep, his tummy full of sweet potato and Turkey on the couch cuddling with his equally full daughter.”

S11 Mulder and his daughter nap on the sofa; but still manage to lure Jackson and Scully to join them.

@fridaysat9′s (Ao3) Just a Thursday in November 

“Melissa smiled and placed her dish stack next to the sink. “Bill never changes, does he?”

Dana laughed a little and closed her eyes. No, he did not.

“I’m proud of you, Dana,” Melissa said. “Not everyone is brave enough to change careers. And beyond that, take a step off the beaten path and work in a department and with someone that others aren’t always fond of.”

“Mulder is a good partner,” she said, sensing her sister’s concern mixed in with her praise.

“I know he is,” Melissa said. “I can feel it.”” 

The Scully family’s full Thanksgivings slowly shrink as the years pass; but Scully still finds happiness as Mulder is added to her holiday. 

Canon-Divergent or AUs 

Sukie Tawdry’s The Way Things Are (2/2)

““You and your partner spend a lot of taxpayer money on wild goose chases.  How do your superiors justify that?"   Bill Mulder asked, voice sharpened to a fine edge.  

"We've solved some serious crimes, Mr. Mulder."  Scully knew she should keep out a family dispute but she couldn't bear to hear her partner's work denigrated.

"So far, our superiors are satisfied with our progress, Dad."   Scully detected an undercurrent of anguish beneath the calm determination in Mulder's tone.  Her partner placed his fork on his plate, perhaps having lost his appetite.

Was this a typical Mulder meal?  Tension hung in the air, as if a palpable presence.  Teena Mulder kept conversation moving, undoubtedly as she'd been taught to do as a proper hostess.”  

S1-- Mulder and Scully are in a committed relationship in consequence to a surprise pregnancy. They are happy, TLG are happy, her family is happy-- but Mulder’s job continues to brutalize him in his quest for answers, and his parents remain cold and indifferent. Scully sympathy and dry wit helps patch him back together and soldier on. And all ends happily (and hilariously) throughout. Thanksgiving is the big climax of the fic, so it counts!

Love this fic, and constantly return to it (while skipping part 1 entirely-- but that’s my preference.) Mount St. Scully is a downright hilarious terror.

@broadcastnews1987/inspl0tchess‘s (Ao3) At the Close of the Day  

“She’s cold and annoyed and shoeless and she is alive, alive, alive.

She balances on one foot on the log, still holding one of Mulder’s hands. “Well,” she says, her voice soft and even, “that settles it. I’m going to have to kill you.”

The snow is coming down harder around them. Mulder wipes his eyes, and she resists the urge to stomp her sock foot at him.

“I’m sorry.” He is not. “I’ll buy you new boots.” He’ll do no such thing. “Come here.” Because that went so well last time.” 

Scully is recovered from her cancer, and is happy to spend Thanksgiving on the road with Mulder, “slotting into place.” But she immediately stops him from pedestalizing her recovery; and makes moves to seal the deal. 

@cecilysass‘s (Ao3, Gossamer)  

How to Eat Pleasant Holiday Meals With Co-Workers (Ao3) 

“The last idea makes her stomach clench ominously, bringing to mind fears she’s been holding back. What if a baby does come between them, just as he worried? What if he feels trapped by the prospect of being the actual parent of a child? Kept from the work he’s always made clear is his top priority? What if she will eventually have to set him free to raise this child on her own?

She subtly tilts her head to look at her partner, watching goofy dancing reindeer on TV. His eyes are bright and amused by the spectacle. He looks like a boy himself.” 

IVF timeline-- Scully gets the stomach flu two days after transfer, and skip her family’s meal to watch the Macy’s Parade with Mulder. Scully spends all day worrying too much about burdening Mulder with obligation; Mulder, meanwhile, is being hit the reality of a possible successful transfer. His worry for both their health stuns Scully, finally and opens a conversation between them.   

How to Eat Holiday Meals With Co-Workers - Chapter 4 (Ao3)

““Mulder.” His voice sounds broken, like an old man’s.

It’s Lionel speaking. Lionel of Lionel and Reyna, who live in the farm house adjacent to their property. Lionel and Reyna, their nearest neighbors. Lionel and Reyna, his nearest neighbors.

Lionel seems to be asking him to dinner tomorrow. Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie.” 

Mulder is depressed, alone, after his breakup. Scully won’t call, and he knows she won’t answer his calls. He tries to preserve the last ounce of dignity he has left while avoiding his neighbor’s pity invite to a Thanksgiving meal.

How to Eat Holiday Meals With Co-Workers - Chapter 5 (Ao3) 

““What if Mick sees ghosts?”

In tandem they both turn back again to watch their small daughter. She has a stick and a leaf in each hand, and she is gesturing with them, making some kind of point to a group of unseen people.

“She could be surrounded by ghosts, Scully,” whispers Mulder. “So many ghosts.

“Oh Mulder, she thinks, turning back towards him and reaching out with her fingertips to trace his face. She’s not the only one.”

Mulder and Scully and their daughter Mick-- the nickname sticking until it wore Scully down-- are enjoying a peacefully reclusive Thanksgiving in their new home on the Vineyard until he sees her talking to imaginary friends and deduces they’re ghosts. When Mick says one of them is named Samantha, Scully has to pull him aside to prevent him from losing it. 

@catarinquar’s (Ao3, WBM) of saturdays secrets and maybe-babies (Ao3)

“Mulder bites his lip. “Maybe. Tell you what, though, your brother had us figured out.” At Thanksgiving, he had liked Charlie well enough, but he’s been a little—perplexed, since. Married with kids, but not bringing them for the holiday. Showed up for his father’s burial, but not for Melissa’s. Not when Scully lay dying. Still. “I didn’t know you were so close.”

She shrugs. “Just… younger sibling solidarity.”

“Yeah?” he says, thinks, absolutely not . ... “Scully, let me see you. Tell me about Charlie.”

It is minutes before she draws back far enough for eye contact.”

Early S7 IVF timeline-- It’s the Per Manum arc and a new relationship and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. Mulder is wrapped up in silent hopes and dreams before the transfer; but once the holiday is over and the process started, his questions about her family help elucidate his own role to Scully and their future to himself.

MD1016′s (FFN) The Sins of the Father (FFN)

“I glared at Mulder until he reluctantly looked my way, and then shrugged and offered up a lame, "What?"    

"Is this where you tell us Dana has developed some sort of eating disorder, or something?" I asked, ready to nail him with the blame the moment the words came out of his mouth.  He drove her crazy, that much was clear.  She easily could have developed all kinds of psychological disorders because of her associations with this guy.    

"She's not feeling well," he said slowly, carefully.  There was no way I could miss the extra flexing he did with his jaw.   Interesting.”

S7 IVF timeline-- Bill loved both his sisters; but as the years roll on, he found he could no longer understand them. After a huge uproar at Thanksgiving over Scully’s health, he finds out how much he truly didn’t know.

JET’s (Gossamer, mulderscreek) Small Lives Awake

““Scully," he said the night before.  He was turning a tea saucer over and over in his hands.  "Really, it's too much trouble.  I'm sure your brother didn't plan for extra company."

"Nonsense.  They as much as invited you anyway when they called a month ago."

She wrung out the rag and the wire scour while soapy water glugged down the drain.

He finished putting the pans in the drawer beneath the oven and sat down at his kitchen table.

"It's one week.  You need to get away, see your family."

"You're my family too," she said in a rushed breath, as though they were arguing.

He seemed slightly startled.”

S7-- Scully and Mulder aren’t dating (yet), but she wants him to come with her to Charlie’s. There she rediscovers pieces of herself, and even finds a little X-File for her and Mulder to preoccupy themselves with on their breaks from nephew chaos and migraines from the haunted curiosity shop. All is well, and moves are made.

(*Note: I personally think our duo began dating after The Unnatural; BUT, despite the timelines, it all shakes out to not be canon-divergent, or AU. Speaking of--*) 

1st Anonymous’s Unnamed

“William’s guilty eyes cross hers ; his fingers are sticky with yam topping.”

S9 AU-- 4 year old William wants ALL the food. 

Shoshana & salliejohn‘s

Empty Place Settings  

“I was happy to do anything they asked.  I wanted and needed to see my sister.  She's the closest thing to Mom I have right now, and I miss Mom desperately.  I miss her phone calls and her visits and her advice on child rearing.  I miss her care packages and long letters. I miss everything about her, even her curt responses to my snide remarks about Mulder. 

Of course, I'm not angry at Mulder anymore.  Just at the FBI.  The military, too, I guess.  They were in cahoots against him, permitting some hastily organized kangaroo court to sentence him to death.” 

A piece from a larger S9 AU-- Bill and his family reunite with Scully and Mulder for Thanksgiving. Both Scullys bond over the painful ache of their mother’s absence (she is in hiding with William), and even manage to bridge some gaps between Bill and Mulder. 

This is such a cool series-- it works up to Bill reuniting with Scully, beach-blonde Mulder, Scully’s new research job to (hopefully) work on a vaccine with the risk of getting caught, and deep emotional connections between all the characters. 

Girlie_girl7′s

Man to Man Talk 07 

“Will fussed on the way to grandma's house but at least he wasn't screaming like he had been 12 hours earlier.

"You okay Scully?" Mulder asks as he adjusts the rear view mirror so he can see her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine Mulder but you must be dead on your feet. You walked the floor most of the night."

"It's part of the job Scully and besides I don't take much sleep."

Post Existence Mulder, Scully, and Will are sleep-deprived and battling the baby’s infection; but Thanksgiving awaits, and it’s not too bad after all.

A 40 Day in the Life

““My foot is getting better," Scully tells her son as she usually does at least four times a day but she shows him her foot anyway.  It's still swollen and slightly purple but it does look much better than it did one week ago.  William seems satisfied and takes off out the bedroom door and down the stairs.

Next to annoy Scully is Mulder.  He comes in carrying their daughter.  Scully does admit he has the baby dressed cute.  She has on her black Mary Jane's with white socks and a blue velvet dress trimmed in white lace and somehow Mulder has been able to gather up enough of her 'brother cut' hair to put a barrette on top of her head.  "You sure you feel like going, Scully?  I mean if you're tired we can stay home," Mulder says trying to weasel out of this Scully tradition, 'Thanksgiving dinner at moms'.”

Mulder and Scully have (currently) two children, a busy career, and many, many close calls. Having recently recovered from flesh-eating disease on a case, Scully just wants a relaxing Thanksgiving without Bill ribbing her or any kiddo meltdowns. She gets neither. 

@blackcoffeeandteardrops‘s (Ao3) 

Mashed Potatoes 

“She thought about his comment regarding not remembering Maggie and nudged him in the side with her elbow. “You were a baby. Despite whatever circumstances that might have occurred to allow you to recall things from back then, it’s okay that you don’t remember her, let alone anything else from before,” she said, watching the way he tapped a finger against his leg, still staring at the floor rather than at her. “And Will?” she said, drawing in a deep breath, wanting what she said next to sink in. “It’s okay if you’re not okay today. I know that we...haven’t talked about it much, and I didn’t know if you really wanted to, but if you did, that would be okay.”

William shook his head, darting his tongue out to moisten his parched lips. They had talked about his life in Wyoming some, but it was always such a tricky situation. What had happened with his adoptive parents was his own experience, but given the lengths Scully had gone through to keep him safe, he felt a connection with her he wasn’t completely sure he understood.” 

AU My Struggle 2-- This is the last part in a longer series (1/ 2/ 3/)-- Will has been settled with Mulder and Scully in the aftermath of the world being saved from the deadly virus that, unfortunately, killed Will’s parents. Thanksgiving approaches; and, while Mulder recovers strength, Scully and Will bond over honoring their lost relatives while prepping for their Thanksgiving feast. 

This series is gold. Absolutely wonderful! 

Enjoy! 

[intheshadowsbehindyou]

Hello! I was wondering if you could write about the Merc's with a gn! reader who loves baking?

Btw, I love your writing style! It all feels so accurate and it's helping to feed this new fixation of mine <3 <3

I see we have some food lovers in the askbox, chat. *crackles knuckles* you ask, and daddy delivers.

Mercs with somebody who gives them food

Scout:

- Depends on your current location. The gravel wars isn’t short of moving from place to place. If it’s somewhere like japan he’ll go full weeb mode and eat nothing but fish related dishes. You know speed racer? In the fucked up TF2 universe there’s a speed racer themed restaurant. Take him there. (On second thought maybe don’t go eating with him in Japan he might eat the Hiroshima rocks.)

- He swears he’s on a diet but it’s inconsistent as fuck. This is the same guy who canonically eats radiation we’re talking about here. You hand him some warm bread you baked and he’s ecstatic. You catch him sprinkling something on his slice. It’s grounded up like pepper. He’s like “This? This shit is fuckin’ perfect. The person who owns my gym back in boston recommended it for energy. Tastes great.” You read the label and you realize it’s grounded up uranium.

- If you make him homemade fried chicken he’ll nearly choke up. Seriously. nobody’s ever done that for him before. Giving him food in general is also his love language but chicken? He thinks you want to marry him forever and ever now.

—————————————————————

Soldier:

- You don’t really know what soldier likes.. He doesn’t make anything very evident and tries his hardest to make his one defining trait being that he’s a veteran. But you know that’s not true. You decide to make him some sandwiches and he’s confused. “Huh.. Well that’s some weird tasting MREs. Not complaining. It’s actually really good. Shame that civilians can’t get the same luxury right now.” He says. You have no idea how to explain that WW2 is virtually nonexistent anymore.

- Finally you settle with something. Honey with warm bread. Instead of eating slices like a normal person he just swallows the entire loaf like a snake. You are worried for this man’s intestines. He seems to be fine however.

- Gives you either a romantic or platonic kiss on the head. Your pick. His breath smells sugary and sweet and you nuzzle your head against his collarbone in response. This is his way of showing he appreciated the food.

———————————————————————

Demoman:

- I sure hope you’re capable of producing stew because that’s all he eats when he isn’t unhealthily suppressing his own hunger with scrumpy.

- You get him to eat a variety of food somehow. Although he’s picky, he isn’t impossible either. Due to growing up in an orphanage he was no stranger to having to cook for himself at times when the caretakers just really didn’t care. You exchange recipes. For some reason he has an entire Scottish cookbook under his bed. As well as a book on “Leonerdo Da Fuq’s Basic Guide To blowing Sentries Up. And making it look like an accident.”

- He’s very thankful. Demoman’s not much of a foodie. He eats to live rather than lives to eat. But your snacks hit different. They’re made with your love. That’s why they’re so much better than what he typically eats.

—————————————————————-

Engineer:

- WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU THATS HIS JOB. HE’S THE OVERBEARING GRANDMOTHER THAT WONT STOP SHOVING FOOD INTO HER KIDS MOUTH!!! NOT YOU!!!

- He eats everything you give him. Even if it doesn’t particularly tickle his fancy. His belly is big and swollen afterwards and you want to squish him so bad. That’s a pillow waiting to be laid on. He then tells you fond memories of thanksgiving and when his mother would cook his family an entire turkey dinner.

- He responds twofold by making you something as well. You wake up one day to find an entire breakfast platter laid on your end table. There’s a little sticky note there and although it doesn’t have a name on it — the dash alongside the expertly drawn symbol of his class is evident enough. Only somebody with expertise in blueprints would draw something like that. Hint hint.

——————————————————————

Heavy:

- Heavy isn’t a dumbass by any means but this is a certified Heavy L situation. He thinks you’re trying to offend him at first because people call him fat on a regular basis. Medic explains from afar that actually it’s a gesture meant to express hospitality, and upon realizing you were just being nice he looks embarrassed and rubs the back of his neck.

- Lets you spoon feed him your food. He likes it for some reason. He likes any kind of meat, and protein. He eats that shit everyday. Not just that but dark chocolate and other bitter tasting foods as well. Despite his massive size he doesn’t actually eat large portions at a time.

- He knows how to make mostly deserts. Takes on a sort of mentor role and tries to teach you how to bake cakes and stuff like that. You’ve never seen Heavy in such a domesticated setting. Watching him go about cooking without breaking somebody’s skull in for once was actually kind of surreal.

————————————————————————-

Pyro:

- Cook / get them nothing but sweets. They won’t eat anything else. You begin to wonder if Pyro is even remotely human because of how much unhealthy food they eat. (But then again you’ve seen soldier survive losing both his arms and Medic sowing them back on. It’s probably fine.)

- They are unbelievably excited to see you walk into the room with plates and/or boxes. You’ve unintentionally pavloved them into associating it with your food. They clap and make grabby hands. Wanting to see what sweets you’ve brought them.

- It’s actually quite odd.. You see them retreat into their quarters to eat their food. It’s clear they’ve eaten it because they always take the plates back but you’re never allowed to see them eat directly. They don’t attend dinner with the other mercs or even breakfast.

- DO NOT LET THEM NEAR THE FUCKING OVEN. DO NOT LET THEM COOK. THE ADMINISTRATOR MADE IT AGAINST THE RULES TO LET PYRO NEAR THE STOVE.

————————————————————————-

Sniper:

- “Bloody hell.. This for me?” His voice hiked up a little. A little shocked that somebody would even consider making or buying him food in the first place, Only his parents ever did that for him. He takes it hesitantly but his expression doesn’t seem negative. Just incredibly dumbfounded. You had got him some donuts from a market in tuefort. You figured it would go well with his coffee.

- Immediately starts eating them. Sniper is both a meats sort of guy and a sweets sort of guy. Looks from side to side to make sure nobody saw him take your offer. That would be a embarrassing. He grabs the entire box and retreats into his camper van like a rat.

- He then slowly opens the door.. “Oh, right. Bugger. This is typically the moment I comfortably invite you in.” He cringes at the thought. Leaving the door open for you, and moving aside to let you in. He begins telling you the basics about how to hunt your food. For some reason it’s all incredibly dangerous aussie animals though. Some of the stuff doesn’t sound edible but he’s apparently eaten. He’s especially passionate about how to properly cook crocodiles.

———————————————————————-

Medic:

- Pretentiously nitpicks the fact you brought him cupcakes. Citing his knowledge about how too much sugar consumption can kill you… whilst simultaneously eating the cupcakes.

- “Even worse yet —- they ruin your dental health. Hoo, i’d hate to be on the receiving end of a tooth filling by an angry dentist.” He says, shoving more of your sweets into his face. You wonder if he’s even self aware of what he’s doing to be honest. “Although I do envy their sadism! It’s much worse than mine, actually — Das schmeckt gut.” He adds.

- He frowns. You knew Medic had loved cupcakes in particular so you were confused at first. Well it wasn’t that. In fact it was something more stupid. “Well then again the consumption of sugar is important for our bodies, I must add. With the wrong diet we could die from low blood sugar. I wonder if it is possible to extract all the sugar from a human body using a sort of giant homebrewed syringe. It is in theory possible for me to—“ The man is at his chalkboard writing down mathematical equations again.

———————————————————————-

Spy:

- When you give him food for the first time he’s unbelievably pouty. Couldn’t you have asked him his tastes first? He hesitantly eats what you give him anyway. As long as it isn’t fried, fast food, candy or anything that wasn’t expensive as fuck.

- Incredibly good table manners. Incredibly good at cooking his native cuisine. For some reason he’s intent on insisting that french food is superior than any other food. When you’re eating with him he straightens your posture, politely puts your napkin in your lap and schools you on the fact you’re not using your salad fork or whatever. There’s way too much pointless shit on his table. Who the fuck created all these weirdly specific rules?

- Eventually he’s so tired from trying to teach you he loses his temper and crosses his arms like a discontent toddler while you eat nonchalantly. “What?” You say. Using the wrong fork again. He’s still staring at you. “What?!” You repeat yourself. “I love you, Spy.” You say. Shoving more food into your mouth. He keeps glaring at you.

[that-catholic-shinobi]

I have a twofold prayer request:

1) I’m pregnant and keep getting every single cold and virus I run across and as a result have been sick for over a month 🥲

2) I just got a new one cropping up this morning and I don’t want to miss out on thanksgiving 😭😭😭

I know this is kind of a silly one but can you just pray that I’m better by Thursday (and that I stop being sick in general, no fun while trying to grow a baby lol)

Of course! And congratulations!

[kabane52]

Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos

Happy feast of our Lady's Nativity! I have been struck for the past few years by the presence of a Marian hymn during the offering of the tithe. In honor of our Lady's Nativity, I offer the following as a potential exegesis of the unique significance of Mary in this context.

During our liturgy, we present our tithe on top of the Eucharist *after* it has been placed on the altar and consecrated by the Holy Spirit. In scripture, our creative development of the world is captured in the imagery of the land being made fruitful by the instrumentality of man. This fruitfulness compounds upon itself to increase the value of that which God gives as gift to His children. While capital (for lack of a better word) is signified according to the success of the harvest, we see throughout the text that this imagery is "fungible" with other economic assets as well: Cain harvests fruits from the ground and works them into food by fire. Tubal-Cain harvests metal from the ground and works it into craftsmanship by fire. God gives us the world as gift and endows us with the Spirit by whom we develop these gifts into the fullness of their innate potency. All things are given birth from the outflow of God's glory (Philippians 3:20-21 packs this imagery into a series of dense intertexts from the Psalter and prophets) and the human family is the instrument by whom that which is born is perfected and returned as thanksgiving (Eucharist) as inflow to God's heart- the nations which "flow" to Zion in Isaiah 2 to hear the word of the God of Jacob circle outwards and flow back inwards by Isaiah 65-66 so that the river of life on the holy hill carries with it the "wealth of nations" to beautify the altar.

To put it directly: 1) divine glory is the archetype for a creature's existence, 2) in biblical symbolism, its value represents its degree of correspondence to that archetype, so 3) the creative vocation of mankind is only realized in the Truth: that "every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from thee, the Father of Lights." The tithe and its liturgical context embodies these realities: a portion of the increase of our assets embodying the fact that the raw material which is increased, the power of its increase, and the very personal existence according to which that power is realized come from God at every point. He gives us Christ as outflow in the Spirit, and that which Christ works in us is returned, in love, to God the Father as inflow. (Procession and reversion).

All things find their perfection in the Church, the Body of Christ: the incarnate Logos is not merely the *abstract* archetype which models the fullness of Him who fills all in all. He *is the actual existence of that fullness.* We grow into that which is already given. That which we set upon the altar God already possesses. So what is added? Nothing with respect to God in Himself, but with respect to us, it is our participation in that fullness which makes the difference. "From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16). Through the Church, Man, the human family, is brought into the heart of this twofold motion. In the liturgy, Jesus makes Himself present on the altar and then in the body of those who receive Him. He gives Himself for that work to be accomplished in the coming week in the same moment He receives the work of the completed week. This, then, is why the tithe is placed on the altar *after* and only after the Gifts have been consecrated by the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul describes it in Colossians:

(Colossians 1:24)  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

Nothing is lacking in the work of Christ except the Spirit-woven participation of our will in that work. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church for one reason: the blood of the martyrs is the blood of Jesus. Mary the Virgin is the summation and personal embodiment of what it means for the church to exist as the church. As a creature, she participates in the work of Christ for the sake of the world. She *is* the living tithe of the human family, placed on God's altar, brought into His temple of stone, made by grace into a temple of blood and bone. The calling of Mary, the "most blessed of all women" is the calling of every Christian, summoned and empowered to "bear fruit" by the "living and abiding word of God" (1 Peter 1:23) sprouting leaves which will be for the healing of the nations (cp. Psalm 1:3, Ezekiel 47:7, Revelation 22:2). "For a little while", says the Psalmist, was man "lower than the angels." In the divine Son who made our nature His own, Man is "crowned with glory and honor" so that all things might be placed in lawful and blessed subjection to him. The Virgin Mary, the root who sprouted this day from the barren womb, is the permanent demonstration of the victory of life: born from a barren womb, she is reborn in the Son from a fruitful tomb.

The Son of God became "for a little while lower than the angels" so that we could, like Our Lady, become in Him "more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim."*

*The allusion to Ps. 8 is quite remarkable here: "crowned with glory" becomes "more glorious beyond compare..." and "crowned with honor" becomes "more honorable than." The fact that Psalm 8 is specifically speaking of angels further underscores the intertextual relation between these two hymns: the "angels" which these crowns exalt relative to are the "cherubim" and "seraphim."

[theoriginalladya]

Under cut for discussion of depression and suicide and the toughest job in the world as a mother.

As a mother, especially a mother of an adult child, it’s always been challenging because there are so many moments when my natural mom instincts screamed at me to protect my child ‘at all costs.’  It’s also very strange, because I did realize that at the time when it was happening, because I ended up having a sort of mental duel between the ‘oh help him!’ and ‘let him learn on his own!’ sides.  The proverbial angel/devil on your shoulder, I guess.  It’s never easy, and I like to think I found a balance in the way I handled the situations at those times - time will only tell, right? - but I know for a fact, that no matter how difficult it was, I did something right.

I have the absolute best kid in the world, I swear.  He’s been a good kid most of the time - typical rebelliousness of a teenager, etc., but that’s to be expected - and ever since his dad left, our relationship has only grown stronger.  I really couldn’t ask for anything more, in all honesty.  Not to say we don’t have our moments, but we eventually work through/around them and get back to common ground and things move on.  Like a lot of kids, he had issues with depression when he was younger, and recently I’ve seen him spiraling back in that direction (thank you, COVID, and the stress of being a senior in college), to the point where I had to actually point it out to him the other day; certain behaviors, etc. But again, he’s started working his way back around and things are looking up. 

Or, they were.  This morning when I got up to get ready to head to work, I had a text message from him asking that I wake him up, no matter the time, because he had something ‘important’ to tell me.  Turns out, someone he knew from one of his gaming groups - someone he called a friend though they weren’t super close - committed suicide yesterday.  It’s hit kiddo HARD, and he’s struggling in figuring out how to cope.  Among his group of friends/school mates, this is the first person he’s known that has died.  

We talked for a little while and I tried to reassure him.  He’d only had about two hours of sleep at that point and I’m sure he doesn’t recall now half of what he told me, but I emphasized it was okay to be sad; that something like this can shake up anybody, doesn’t matter how close you were; that grief is one of those strange things that affects everyone differently.  He knows most of the things I was telling him - the joys of being a psych major (his words at the time, not mine) - and even as tired as he was, we managed to have a halfway decent conversation.  He then went back to sleep and I headed to work.

On the drive home, I called to check on him and see what he wanted to do about dinner, and over McDonald’s we’ve spent some time just talking - about anything he wants to, to be honest.  I am supposed to be werewolfing later tonight, but I told him if he wanted me to just sit with him and watch a movie - or not - I would. He said no thank you.  I also reiterated if he decided that he wanted to do that at any point during the evening, he was to let me know and I would leave my game for him.  He told me he would keep that in mind.  

I think the purpose of me writing this is twofold.

First of all, being a mom is TOUGH.  I want to hug him, hold him, do everything I can to let him know that he’ll be all right, that it’s okay to grieve, that tomorrow will come and things will get better again.  That said, though, I am so PROUD of him for reaching out to me with that text, asking me to wake him so he could tell me. I don’t know who this person was - they are a total stranger to me.  But they were someone who was some level of importance to my son.  When he was far younger and troubled with his own thoughts of not wanting to be around in this world, he never came to me or his father.  Teachers, thankfully, noticed and pulled us in.  But this time, he came to me.  Reached out.  It tells me that, despite the ache I have in my chest right now for him, I’ve made an impact on my son, that he knows now how to ask for help when it’s needed, that it’s okay to ask for help.  It’s one of those ‘I am so damned proud of my kid, but I am also proud of myself for hanging in there despite my own battles trying to raise him’ moments; I made a difference to him, whether he actively sees it or not.  And that means the WORLD to me.

Second, it’s an eye opener for me as well.  Not as a mom, but as a friend to someone who was in a similar situation, years ago, and where half a world distance between us was too much.  I discovered last Thursday, on Thanksgiving day here, that a very good friend of mine who fell out of contact with me right after my son was born, died not six months later.  I have suspected this for years, in all honesty, for reasons I won’t go into here, but I’ve never been able to get confirmation one way or another, so there was always that hope he might still be alive somewhere.  But on Thanksgiving, I decided to do another google search, just to see if something new was out there, and low and behold, it was.  I know without a doubt, the record I found is his.  Right place, right information, all of it.  The hardest thing to accept, though, is that he died almost 21 years ago.  He was a good friend, one who faced a lot of challenges of his own and it was a far different time back then, but I truy hope he is at peace now.  

That same day, I mentioned it to kiddo.  He found me sitting at my desk crying and was worried.  Was that part of why he reached out to me today?  I don’t know.  I’d like to think he would have reached out to me anyway, but it’s just one of those things I’ll never have an answer to.  All I know is that today his life changed, and he made some good steps forward for himself even though it’s been one heck of a challenge.  I can only hope he continues to do so.

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 54

Today's episode of Quarantine is titled "Thanksgiving in May: the Pandemic Edition." We got some quite good news about my husband's dad, he's doing well enough that he will probably be moved to a rehab facility for awhile because they are optimistic that he might be okay for a bit longer. His health is super-fragile in like seven different ways, but he's tough and he is hanging in there, so we'll just keep praying! In anticipation of that happy event, I took his phone and charger, which he did not have in the hospital because he's been sleeping almost all the time and also because of deeply arcane rules about fomites, and I wiped them both down with 70% isopropyl alcohol and then sealed them in a ziploc bag, which I marked with the date. The novel coronavirus appears to only live on hard plastic surfaces for a limited amount of time, so a phone that has been wiped down with alcohol, sealed in a baggie, and put in a sunny spot for a few days ought to be as close to safe as we can get. We really want to be able to Facetime with him! 

Anyway, as sort of a celebration and because my mother in law already had a turkey breast defrosting in the fridge, I made Thanksgiving dinner. Usually Thanksgiving is a roast turkey, but we did our turkey breast up in the crockpot so we would also get turkey stock and because it is extremely low effort. I tried to make my grandmother's stuffing, but with bougie ingredients because we would've had to make a special trip to the store for the very specific and extremely basic ingredients that stuffing requires. I learned to make stuffing from all the women in my family because every holiday somehow involves all the women crammed into the kitchen and socializing or cooking or both all at once, but mostly from my mom, whose recipe is my paternal grandmother's. To make the family stuffing, you must have the following ingredients: 

Cheap stale white bread in massive quantities 

Imperial brand margarine (yes, the brand is important)

Frozen chopped white onion 

Celery

Chicken Bouillon Cubes 

Spice Classic Poultry Seasoning (this is a compromise solution, as Grandma's original blend was discontinued a couple decades ago)

The problem here was twofold, we are in quarantine and can't just be going to the store all willy-nilly, and my in-laws have a somewhat different food sensibility than my family. I ended up using: 

One loaf of brand-name wheat bread, made stale in the oven

Butter 

Fresh chopped sweet onion 

Celery 

Chicken Bouillon Cubes (I bought these myself on a previous visit because sometimes broth or "Better Than Bouillon" will not do at all.)

McCormick Brand Poultry Seasoning

It was definitely not the same as my family recipe, and of course it loses something from not actually being stuffed inside a turkey and roasted all day, but it had two full sticks of butter in it so it couldn't help but be pretty good. The gravy helped too. It was Williams-Sonoma but escaped being bougie because we bought it for 70% off after the holidays and therefore it is by definition awesome, plus it meant I didn't have to try and make gravy. Same for the cranberry relish, which was amazing. Rounded out the meal with brown sugar carrots, pineapple (because we need a fruit for Thanksgiving, I guess) and apple juice all around. We ate till we were stuffed, it was pretty great. 

Today was the first day of school on the new points plan for my son. We've been pretty ad hoc for the past month in terms of getting school done, but we've got another month and a half to go (We start school suuuuper late because so many high school kids work at Busch Gardens), and fatigue is already setting in for both the kiddo and me. He is getting frustrated by not knowing exactly what he needs to do and by wanting more electronics time, I am frustrated by the whining about wanting more electronics time. So I went back and dusted off a system we have used before, one that we developed while we were homeschooling, and tuned it up. Basically it involves a point system and two lists: a list of things you can earn points by doing, and a list of things you can spend points on. The basic units of exchange are that one point can be redeemed for ten minutes of electronics usage, and six points can be exchanged for a dollar. Larger point values can be redeemed for things like fast food meals, late bedtimes, and other special treats. Special treats are kind of thin on the ground right now since standbys like lazer tag and trips to the trampoline park are not available, but the important part is the electronics time. It is what almost all accrued points are redeemed for. 

He earns points first and foremost by doing school. In normal times, a full day of school earns twelve points (two hours of screentime or two dollars). Since these times are abnormal, we've revamped the school day to be a list of educational things that must be done. Finishing the list earns twelve points. A school day looks like this now (because this is dotted list day on Quarantine Journal!): 

Online class session with teacher and the rest of his class

30 minutes math practice on Dreambox, (sub in coding 1x/week)

30 minutes reading a book that is mostly words

30 minutes watching science or social studies videos, TedEd or Brainpop or similar, or doing an experiment

30 minutes creative art time, drawing, painting, building, etc.

Write 100 words, fanfic or any subject, spellcheck with Mom

We both like having lists and he really likes getting points, so this went very well today. He knocked it out in a few hours, even the dreaded writing, and immediately spent all his points on the iPad. The plan also allows him to earn additional points, mostly by doing chores and helping around the house. Today was just things like carrying trash, scooping the litterbox and cleaning his room, but chores like "doing loads of laundry" and "folding clothes" are lucrative enough that he's chomping at the bit to learn. I'll get this kid ready for college yet! 

Most of my spare time today was devoted to binge-watching a YouTuber I just learned about this afternoon, a woman named Micarah Tewers whose work is in the oft-overlooked niche of "comedy sewing tutorials." She is very, very funny. I still have no idea how to sew, but I feel much better about it now, and that's a good start. 

[wisdomrays]

WHAT IS THE IDEAL ATTITUDE EXPECTED FROM A BELIEVER BEFORE DIVINE FAVORS?

A believer takes all the divine blessings he or she is honored with as an expression of God’s infinite Mercy. Our merits, gifts, and the favors granted to us are all roses from His divine garden. When we ponder upon them, we begin to grasp that we derive not from ourselves, but from His divine presence. He is the real actor behind all that we do. Ignoring this fact should be viewed as daring to claim partnership with Him. Consider the verses, “It is God who has created you and all that you do”;1 and “You cannot will unless God wills.”2 Consider the verses next to the hadith “Whatever God wishes, happens, and whatever God wishes not to happen, does not.”3 People shaped by these criteria do not consider many blessings granted by God to be products of their own achievements; they do not take personal pride in those things they have done.

Favors from God are not supposed to lead us to pride, boasting, or arrogance, but rather, to thanksgiving, praise, and reliance in God. One can feel in his or her conscience that serving in the way of God is a divine favor not only for those who serve, but also for those whom the divine message is conveyed.

At this point, I would like to relate one of my memories. Once I happened to visit Australia and I saw that some of our people who shared the same thoughts and feelings had planned to open up a dormitory and invited some statesmen to the opening. They requested me to make a speech. Although uncomfortable, I had to make a short speech at the podium. After I finished, they introduced me to these statesmen. At that moment, I felt a bit dizzy, and then I felt sorry for them. I spoke to myself, “O Lord, I wish people showed interest in them, not in me, so that I did not see them feel alienated like that. I wish they did not feel that this dorm did not belong to them. I wish I was in their shoes, and that they were in mine.” I bent twofold with the feeling. Although we have some ambitions as a natural outcome of human nature, I wish all believers had such thoughts and feelings. So, stop feeling contempt for others, believers should see others as better and more virtuous than themselves.

In addition, apparent success at serving in the way of God is not the only indication of being virtuous in God’s sight. Sometimes, being a means to guide a single person to truth can be as good as guiding thousands, or as charitable as establishing thousands of institutions. In the words of Said Nursi “A few good deeds done for the sincere sake of God is preferable to numerous insincere deeds.”4 In this respect, others may seem to have failed in outward appearance, but in terms of the inner dimension, it is possible that their position could be far better. In this respect, we must definitely see others as better than ourselves, know them as better, and applaud everybody’s deeds for the sake of God.

On the other hand, a believer’s understanding to serve in the way of God does not let him take pride in himself. The great scholar Nursi never claimed that his genius was a product of personal insight: “Do not say: ‘I am an object of Divine manifestations. One who receives and reflects Divine beauty becomes beautiful.’ That beauty has not assumed a perpetual form in you, and so you may reflect it for only a short time…”5 So all the beauties manifested in us completely belong to the Creator, the source of all beauties. Again, he presents a different perspective on the matter by saying: “O my arrogant carnal soul. Do not be proud of your services to God’s religion. As stated in a Prophetic Tradition, God may strengthen this religion by means of a dissolute person. You are not pure, so regard yourself as that dissolute person.”6 If great figures such as Said Nursi, people whom God enabled to be of great service, see themselves as humble in their endeavors, then how can we illustrate pride in ours? I leave it to your considerations.

For people of discernment, talking about “us” is the least degree of associating partners with God; and saying “He” expresses refraining from it. When we go to bed, get up, sit down, think, open or close our eyes…in other words, in every moment of our life we should keep saying “He,” and at every instant we should keep up the awareness that everything and everyone comes from Him.

[dustinreidmusic]

DR. JOHN BIO

“All my sisters married doctors”, said Dorothy Cronin Rebennack, the mother of Mac Rebennack. “ But only I had a Dr. John”. Indeed, there can be only one Malcolm Rebennack, aka “ Doctor John Creaux, the Night Tripper”. There can only be one walking repository of the storied city of New Orleans’ thriving musical history. There can be only one author of such classic songs as “ Right Place, Wrong Time”, “ Such A Night”, “Litanie Des Saintes”, and “I Walk On Gilded Splinters”. There can be only one torchbearer for the Crescent City sound as it second-lines its way into its fourth century. So Mrs. Rebennack was right -- physicians are indeed a dime a dozen in this doctor-clogged country; but a musician of her son’s caliber comes along but once in a very blue moon. Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. was born in New Orleans a full month after term on Thanksgiving Day (November 20) 1942. Weighing a full ten pounds, Mac, as he came to be called, was born into a music-loving family in America’s most musical city. While still an infant, Rebennack starred as a model for various baby products, and showed remarkable musical ability in early childhood. By the age of three he was already hammering out melodies on the family piano, and soon exhausted the talents of the nun who was hired to give him lessons some years later. “If I play what his next lesson is going to be”, the sister complained, “he will play it right behind me, note for note”, His good-timing Aunt Andre, who it can be safe to assume had funkier taste than the nun, taught him the “Pinetop Boogie-Woogie”. My aunt was a groovy old broad”, Rebennack recalled in “Up from the Cradle of Jazz”. “I used to drive everybody mad playing it”. Malcolm Rebennack Sr. was an appliance store owner who, as is traditional in New Orleans, also stocked the latest hit records. Thus young Mac was privy from early childhood to almost any music he wanted. Some years later the Rebennack appliance store was forced to close, and Mac lost his pipeline to the goldmine. But soon his father found work in a line even better suited to those of musical bent: PA system repair. The two Rebennacks would often be seen trundling in tandem to various nightclubs around town, bloodbucket dives with names like the Pepper Pot and the Cadillac Club. Always forbidden to enter the clubs, Mac would wait for his father to repair the system, and then peer in and dissect the musicians. It was at the Pepper Pot, in fact, and in this manner that Mac first saw Professor Longhair’s magical keyboard frolics. At the age of seven Rebennack suffered through a bout of malaria. Even as a child, the over-modest Mac had decided that he could never cut it as a pianist in New Orleans. As he remembered wondering, “How was I going to complete with killer players like Tuts Washington? Salvador Doucette? Herbert Santina? Professor Longhair himself? And the list only began there”. He had, even before his illness, agitated to take up the guitar. His long convalescence enabled him to air his plea with such incessancy, such vehemence, that his beleaguered parents finally gave in. He was sent for instruction to Werlein’s Music Store on Canal Street, already at that time a New Orleans institution and still in business today. His teacher soon sussed that Mac was going to be a difficult, if talented student. The instructor delivered a verdict along the line of, “Good ear, will never learn to read music”. The fancy, store-bought lessons ceased forthwith; but Mac was still hard at it. He locked himself in his room for weeks on end, learning by ear the licks of his twin idols of the time: T-Bone Walker and Lightning Hopkins. “If I can’t make it as T-Bone, I’ll try Lightning, he told himself. His father, seeing that his son had a talent and drive, and being himself connected in the music scene, made a wonderful decision. He persuaded Walter “Papoose” Nelson to instruct his son. Papoose was Fats Domino’s lead guitarist (and the son of Louis Armstrong’s lead guitarist) and had long been a hero to Rebennack. As Mac recalled: “The first lesson, Papoose listened to my chops and said ‘Hey, man, you can’t play that shit and get a job. What are you, crazy? That outta-meter, foot-beater jive. You gotta play stuff like this’. Then he started playing legitimate blues, which I was on the trail of with T-Bone Walker. It was the Lightning shuffle that was off the wall as far as Papoose was concerned”. Papoose’s primary contributions to Mac’s musical education were twofold. First, it was Nelson who finally won Mac over to the benefits of learning to read music. Second, to impart musical discipline, Nelson would force Mac to play rhythm guitar for hours on end, never allowing him a solo. Mac’s next teacher, Roy Montrell, also imparted a valuable lesson. To his first lesson with this new teacher, Mac bounded in with his brand new guitar, “a cheap but flashy-looking green-and-black Harmony”. Roy took at the guitar and (said) ‘Why’d you bring this piece of shit over here?’ ‘It’s my guitar’, I said. ‘Give me that guitar’. He took it, walked outside into the backyard, laid it on the ground, picked up an axe, and split it right in half. Then he broke it in pieces and threw it in the neighbour’s yard”. That done, he called Malcolm Rebennack Sr. on the phone and arranged for Mac to come back next week with a second-hand Gibson, an axe that Mac found himself working overtime with his father to pay for. By the time Mac was on the cusp of his teens, he was a somewhat streetwise musician, hanging out in black clubs and scoring drugs in the projects for his older “junko partners”, or drug-buddies. Soon he was smoking pot himself, and in due course he progressed to pills, coke, and eventually junk. All the while, he was attending the south’s most prestigious Catholic high school, New Orleans Jesuit. In class, he daydreamed and wrote songs, which he would deliver to the offices at Specialty Records, and plotted gigs with several high school bands. Something had to give, and as one can imagine, it was school. He dropped out a year of graduation and later, while in prison, obtained a correspondence course diploma. Not that in his lines of work he needed any such qualification. Soon he was a fully-fledged constituent of the New Orleans underworld. In addition to his burgeoning songwriting work, his session playing, and road gigs both local and regional, Mac attempted half-hearted sidelines such as pimping, forgery, and as an auteur of pornographic movies. His running buddies included street characters with names like Opium Rose, Betty Boobs, Stalebread Charlie, Buckethead Billy, and Mr. Oaks and Herbs. Meanwhile, he entered into a star-crossed, drug-sodden marriage to Lydia Crow. Lydia, though no shrinking violet herself, did attempt to go straight from time to time. But Mac would hear nothing of it, and their marriage ended by 1961. His personal life a shambles, Mac’s professional life was faring better. He was kicking serious ass in the studio, and it is his guitar one still hears today on Professor Longhair’s, “Mardi Gras in New Orleans”. Mac-penned tunes like “Losing Battle” (a hit for Johnny Adams) and “Losing Battle” (recorded by Jerry Byrne) (the same song?) were just two of his fifty compositions recorded in New Orleans between 1955 and 1963. But (as is well-known today) the record companies of the 1950’s were not exactly ready coughers-up of royalties, so most of Mac’s compensation came from his sessions, gigs, and mostly ludicrous street tough sidelines. One such example of the corruption of the New Orleans music business of the ‘50s will suffice. Rebennack wrote a song entitled, “Try Not To Think About You” which languished unrecorded in the offices at Specialty Records for a while. Unrecorded, and more importantly, uncopyrighted. It eventually came to the attention of Lloyd Price, who changed the title to “Lady Luck”, switched record labels, and changed the composer’s name to - you guessed it - Lloyd Price. It would have been Rebennack’s biggest hit up to that date. After literally stalking Price, gun in hand (Mac planned on wasting him backstage after a show) for some time, he finally cooled off and chalked it up to bitter experience. An absurd coda ensured, when Rebennack’s parents unknowingly hired Price’s own attorney to sue Price for the royalties from “Lady Luck”. The lawyer, Mac related, “pocketed the change and did nothing. for a minute, I was afraid if I ever ran across that bastard, I’d kill him, too”. Such chicanery aside, New Orleans of the 1950s was a paradise for musicians. Always a wide-open town (by American standards), the Crescent City was never more raucous and hard-partying than it was then. Gigs abounded in the all-night bars, bordellos, tourist joints, society haunts, and neighborhood taverns. That Rebennack was far ahead of his time regarding race helped him find work, but also earned him some less-enlightened enemies on both sides of the color line. He began to run into flak from the two musician’s union (one black, one white) for having the temerity to play with opposite-hued musicians. Eventually these unions and the crusading, publicity-seeking New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison were to conspire to run Rebennack and most of the rest of the New Orleans music scene right out of town. The union began levying exorbitant fines on Rebennack (officially for playing scab sessions) and blacklisting record producers (like the legendary Cosimo Matassa) who dared to buy the latest equipment. Their short-sighted thinking was that new equipment would equal less studio time instead of more polished records and bigger hits. Garrison, for his part, launched a crusade on vice which closed down the thriving whorehouses and gambling dens, both important sources of income for both the music and tourist industries. Rebennack’s troubles were only beginning. A fracas with a Jacksonville, Florida hotelier resulted in Rebennack getting the ring finger shot nearly off his left hand. Doctors reconstructed the finger to a degree, but not to the point that would enable him to resume making a living with a guitar. He was forced into playing bass with the tourist-oriented French Quarter Dixieland bands, a gig that convulsed him with boredom. He sank deeper than ever into heroin, and it was then that his marriage ended. To top it all, he was busted by Garrison’s goons for heroin possession, a charge that was to send him eventually to a Federal prison hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. There he served as a guinea pig for the various and infamous rehabilitation experiments then -as now - rampant in the land. He was released embittered but not in the least rehabilitated. He returned briefly to New Orleans and was given some pointers on the organ from Crescent City keyboard maestro James Booker. However, he soon soured on Garrison’s Brave New Orleans and at the invitation of an old friend (saxophonist/arranger Harold Battiste) flew out to Los Angeles. A contingent of New Orleans musicians had already set up shop in the City of Angels, and Rebennack fell quickly to work doing studio odd jobs under the auspices of Battiste. Battiste was the brains (ahem) behind Sonny & Cher, and was a close associate of Phil Spector. Battiste mortared Rebennack in on some of Spector’s sessions, but Mac did not enjoy being just another brick in the ‘Wall of Sound’. He called it, “a monument to waste with echo all over the place! It was just padding the payroll, as far as I could see”. He held down a brief stint as Frank Zappa’s pianist, but found that stultifying as well. This gave him an entrée into the acid rock world, in his words, “all these little acid groups springing up like mutant fungus after a chemical spill”. He attempted to work with Iron Butterfly, whom he termed “Iron Butterfingers” and Buffalo Springfield to little if any effect. A frustrating term as in-house producer with Mercury Records followed, but Rebennack and his cohorts suspected that it was just a tax dodge. He was more musically frustrated than he had ever been in New Orleans, and his drug woes continued unabated. As a parolee, he was under the watchful eyes of a great many government agencies as well. But slowly, the concept was forming that was to take him to heights he wouldn’t have dared dreamt possible. Growing up in New Orleans, Rebennack had eagerly immersed himself in the City’s myriad native traditions and home-grown Afro-Latin religions. He himself was a half-hearted practitioner of gris-gris, New Orleans’ own unique branch of the voodoo tree. In his avid studies of the history and religion of the city, he had thrilled to the stories of John Montaigne aka Bayou John aka and most frequently, Dr.John. John was a Senegalese of self-proclaimed royal lineage who had been taken from Africa by slavers to Cuba. There he won his freedom, and shipped out as a sailor before eventually choosing to settle in New Orleans. He set up shop as a shaman, telling fortunes, healing, and selling a cornucopia of hexes. He was good at his job, and eventually prospered to the point where he even owned slaves himself. The kicker for Rebennack was coming across an account of a 19th Century vice bust in which John was arrested with one Pauline Rebennack for voodoo-related offences and suspicion of operating a whorehouse. For years, Mac had felt a spiritual kinship for Dr.John, and this account raised the quite possibility that one of his family had had the same feelings. Even so, the idea that Rebennack had been ruminating cast his friend Ronnie Barron in the roll of Dr. John. But when the project was finally greenlighted, Barron had other contractual duties and Rebennack reluctantly assumed the mantle himself. Between Sonny & Cher sessions, virtually on the sly, Rebennack recorded the “Gris Gris” album with a band of New Orleans natives. Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun was at first displeased with the move. “Why did you give me this shit”?, Rebennack remembers Ertegun bellowing. “How can we market this boogaloo crap”? Eventually the canny Ertegun sniffed something in the late-’60s zeitgeist that could enable an off-the-wall act like Dr.John to sell, and he (to Rebennack’s surprise) released the album. On “Gris Gris”, Rebennack played very little keyboard, contributing only organ parts on two tracks (“Mama Roux” and Danse Kalinda”). His aim was to introduce America to New Orleans’ mystical side, and also to “let us musicians get into a stretched-out New Orleans groove”. The album sold well enough to appease the suits, with very little backing, and meanwhile Rebennack’s fertile mind was cooking up a killer road show. Drawing on the venerable southern minstrel tradition and the pageantry of the Mardi Gras Indians, Dr.John and the Night Trippers’ road show boasted snake-festooned dancers, magic tricks, and costumes manufactured from the carcasses of virtually every living creature that ever crawled, slithered or flew in the bayou country. As Rebennack recalled, “When this stuff started coming apart in pieces, I had to start hanging around taxidermy shops big-time, scavenging new material.” He and his similarly attired band of New Orleans roughnecks unleashed this act the acid-drenched southern California of 1968 to no little astonishment. But by the time “Babylon”, the Night Tripper’s second album came out, the band began to dissolve. Rebennack (along with the most of the rest of America) felt the end time was at hand, as the title implies. The album reflects Rebennack’s chaotic personal life - his drug use and police persecution, his dissolving band -- and the state of American life in 1968, a year in which it seemed that violet revolution was at hand. It was a year in which both Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King fell to assassins, riots consumed black ghettos in flames from Miami to Watts, and the Vietcong launched the ferocious TET offensive. The album features odd time signatures (11/4, 5/4,10/4), doom-laden lyrics, and hybrid Afro-Caribbean/avant-garde jazz feeling. As Rebennack later said, “ It was as if Hieronymus Bosch had cut an album”. Who better to chronicle those disorderly times? Things were about to get extremely untidy for Rebennack again, as well. While touring in support of “Gris-Gris”, the Night Trippers had been busted in St. Louis, and Rebennack as frontman shouldered the load. A lawyer arranged a deal in which Charlie Green (the manager of Sonny & Cher and Buffalo Springfield) was to pay off the St. Louis bail bondsman. The bondsman, unbeknownst to Rebennack, never collected. Green and partner Brian Stone then confronted Rebennack with the proverbial “Offer you can’t refuse”. Since he had gotten Rebennack sprung, Green put it to Mac, we get to manage you from now on. Rebennack, frazzled, saw no alternative. Green proved to be the worst of all managerial archetypes, the would-be star. Mac recalled, “He thought of himself as the star and me as the roadie of the operation. Even though I wasn’t on no kind of star trip or nothing, I didn’t want my manager hanging around, running some kind of Jumpin’ Jack Flash number and trying to upstage me. Beyond that was the basic problem: a drugged out band hooked up with a starry-eyed manager results in a chemically unbalanced situation and, in general, a fearsome sight to behold.” While at work on “Remedies”, the third of five of Rebennack’s Atlantic releases, Green and Stone persuaded Rebennack to check himself into a loony-bin, with an eye toward having him declared incompetent. This move would allow them to help themselves to a slightly higher percentage of Rebennack’s earnings than their current 25%, something more along the lines of 100%. Rebennack quickly wised up, escaped from the asylum, and exiled himself to Miami. Meanwhile, the managers had released the unfinished “Remedies” album. One of Rebennack’s chief aims for the album was to spread the news about Louisiana’s notorious Angola Farm, then as now America’s most deplorable and inhumane prison. Rebennack, incommunicado in Miami, was thus unable to put wise the Rolling Stone reviewer who took his lament Angola Anthem to be a protest song about the nation of Angola. A disastrous European tour followed, one in which was Mac was hamstrung by a third string band (most of the Night Trippers were unable to get visas). The tour was augured in by Mac from backstage the electrocution death of the Stone the Crows guitarist Les Harvey at a festival. At Montreux, his bass player without warning dropped his bass and brandished a trombone which he had concealed in the wings, and proceeded to (Rebennack related) “start dancing around the stage, playing Pied Piper to the audience’s mountain villagers”. At the end of this arduous road, Mac headed for London to round up session players for the album “The Sun, Moon, and Herbs”. Graham Bond, Eric Clapton, Ray Draper, Walter Davis Jr., Mick Jagger, Doris Troy, and a battery of drummers from virtually every West African and Caribbean country were on hand for a days-long, Opium and hash-fuelled epic of a session. He delivered the finished article to Green for post-production work a happy man. Some weeks later, Rebennack returned to find his beloved album chopped, diced, and filleted by Green. Material was added and deleted, more was overdubbed. Most of what Rebennack felt was the best music was simply gone. In addition, it came to his attention (when he was alerted to a pair of bounty hunters at his doorstep) that Green had not, in fact, bailed him out of anything. Green was summarily dismissed, and Rebennack and some engineers endeavored to salvage what they could of the “Sun, Moon, and Herbs” album. He signed next with manager Albert Grossman, of Joplin, Dylan, and The Band fame. He was the manager who “electrified” Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, which touched off a brawl between himself and folklorist Alan Lomax in front of several thousand bemused folkies. Lomax, though, was not the only one in the music scene who wanted a piece of Grossman. Soon enough, Grossman and Rebennack came nearly to blows. Grossman’s style was to play it cool with his artist, while his “bad-cop” flunkie Bennett Glotzer delivered such news as, “Thanks for signing with us. We now control 1/3 of your publishing”. Glotzer and Rebennack had two punch-outs, and things got so bad that Rebennack turned to his native gris-gris. He would each day leave a dead bird on Glotzer’s doorstep, surrounding by black candles and sprinkled with “goofer dust”. Eventually, this hell-broth boiled over when, in a tête-à-tête with Grossman, an enraged Rebennack snatched Grossman’s beloved peyote button, a pet psychedelic Grossman had been nurturing for three years, and devoured it, skin, pulp, stem and all, in front of his very eyes. The relationship dissolved into a maelstrom of threat and counter-threats, and now Rebennack had not one, but two oddball ex-managers scheming for his destruction. Somehow, Mac found the time to sit in the Rolling Stones’ “Exile On Main Street” sessions, and also to record one of his best albums ever. (While in the studio with the Stones, he discussed with them his and New Orleans songwriter Earl King’s idea for an album of dirty blues tunes. Back in the fifties, when he played the after hours joints, he had often played for an audience of street characters x-rated versions of old blues tunes. The Stones demurred, but later released “Cocksucker Blues” on their own, which irked Rebennack. He felt that since he had given them the idea, he should be compensated) His own effort produced “Gumbo”, an album steeped in the New Orleans of his youth. Featuring covers of songs by King, Professor Longhair, and several other lesser lights of that time and place, the album was his most direct tribute to his home turf to that date. To back the album, Mac ditched the voodoo shtick he had employed on the road since 1967 in favour of a revue format. As Mac termed it, he had “enough of the mighty-coo-de-fiyo hoodoo show”. The Gumbo tour, backed heavily by Atlantic, reached Carnegie Hall and other such bastions of the high life, and a single, ”Iko Iko”, cracked the top 40. The dark cloud to this silver lining was that hard on the heels of his chart success, several of his past employers saw fit to release albums of demos. Among them were Green, Huey Meaux (with whom Rebennack had worked as a session producer) and an unknown cast of characters. This very collection is one such unfinished product. Meanwhile, Rebennack had seen fit to employ yet another volatile, less than 10% straight forward manager. Phil Walden, who had hit the big-time managing Otis Redding was then cresting on the Allman Brothers doomed wave, and he also handled Rebennack’s New Orleans chums, The Meters. Clearly Rebennack thought, here at last was a manager with the Midas touch. In 1973, Rebennack and the Meters hit the studio together to record “In The Right Place”. At first, things with Walden and the album went swimmingly. Walden booked Mac and The Meters on some Allman tours, on which Rebennack enjoyed himself immensely, both professionally and personally. The album scored him both his biggest hit (the title track) and perhaps his most enduring composition. “Such a Night” is a stone-cold classic, a song that sounded as old and enduring as music itself from the very day it was waxed. This writer was astonished to learn that it was written by Rebennack in 1973, as I had always assumed it emanated from Cole Porter or some such. The relationship with Walden, which had been going so well, came to a screeching halt when Rebennack returned home road-weary to find his house bereft of furniture, furniture that had somehow found its way across town to Walden’s recording studio. It was this move that finally put an end to Rebennack’s reliance on anyone else to handle his business affairs. Since then he has managed himself. Later in 1973, a collaboration with white bluesman John Hammond Jr. and Mike Bloomfield brought forth the “Triumvirate” album. Meanwhile, Rebennack embarked on a tour of shows benefiting the Black Panthers, which, he recalled, “had the immediate effect of bringing serious federal heat down on our asses! I discovered that we’d jumped into a whole new level of criminality. We weren’t garden-variety dope fiends any more; now we’d become political activists, the most fouty-knuckled lames of them all”. The year ended with Rebennack attempting to aid a drink- and coke-addled John Lennon make the album “Rock ‘n’Roll” with Rebennack’s old boss Phil Spector. As active and fruitful as 1973 seemed (in addition to the above there were sessions with Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr), Rebennack was still broke and very bitter. He seriously pondered retirement, and had developed a reputation as a pain in the ass. The rest of the early seventies passed by in a blur of drug abuse and fallen sidemen. James Booker, the classically trained, extremely eccentric genius of the New Orleans keys, came and went from Rebennack’s band several times, before dying of a cocaine overdose in 1983. Ray Draper was whacked by New Jersey loan-sharks. Percussionist Albert ”Didimus” Washington was killed by a Cabbage-juice diet designed to heal his ulcers. As the seventies wore on, though, things very slowly began to turn around for Rebennack. A collaboration with legendary New York songwriter Doc Pomus (“Save The Last Dance For Me”, “Lonely Avenue”, “Suspicion”), produced the song “There Must Be A Better World Somewhere”, which B.B. King later picked up and won a Grammy. Tommy LiPuma persuaded Rebennack and Pomus to sign with his A&M-affiliated Horizon label. “City Lights”, the label’s second release, quickly followed. The album is something of a semi-autobiographical rock opera, co-written by Rebennack, Pomus, and Henry Glover (“ I Love You, Yes I Do”; “Drown in My Own Tears”) concerning the exploits of some ex-pat New Orleanians in the Big Apple. “Tango Palace”, another Mac-Pomus offering, came hard on the heels of “City Lights”, but not soon enough. The label foundered almost immediately after “Tango’s” release. Rebennack recalls the interlude with Horizon, during which he also gigged with 50’s R& B legends Hank Crawford and Fathead Newman, as being rewarding musically, if not commercially. In 1980, Rebennack began an association with Jack Heyrman’s Clean Cuts label. Heyrman persuaded Rebennack to confront a personal bugaboo and record two albums of solo piano and vocals. Rebennack had always had nightmarish visions of this being his end, that “I’d end up a solo-piano lounge act, staring at Holiday Inns or bowling alleys for the rest of my natural life”. Nevertheless, two Clean Cuts releases, “Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack” and “The Brightest Smile In Town”, ensued. On them, Rebennack erased the last vestiges of the Gris Gris act and tackled some more sophisticated and older forms of music. He wanted to appeal to “a spiritual awareness, not just that low-down meat level”, but hastened to add that, “The hardest thing to do is let the spirituality flow and turn the meat on. Doing that is creating art, radiating the 88’s”. Rebennack expanded on this with 1989’s “In A Sentimental Mood”, a collection of classics this time presented in a combo format. A duet with Rickie Lee Jones on Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson’s ”Makin’ Whoopee” took home the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Duet, and the album was one of the top-selling jazz albums of the year. Two more albums in a jazzy vein, “Bluesiana Triangle”, cut with Fathead Newman and the great Art Blakey; and “Bluesiana II”, cut again with Newman and others followed in the next two years. In 1989, Rebennack ended his 34-year relationship with heroin, and three years later released “Goin’ Back to New Orleans”, one of his most ambitious projects to date. Like “Gumbo”, “Goin’ Back” is solely a New Orleans affair, but it takes a much broader approach. Songs dating as far back as 1850 were recorded, with each of the ensuing cuts representing a stylistic breakthrough that has occurred since then. There’s a Mardi Gras Indian tune, homages to Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden, Louis Jordan, Professor Longhair, James Booker, and Fats Domino. The Neville Brothers, Wardell Quezergue, Al Hirt, and Pete Fountain, among a great many others turned out in support of the project. Any one volume CD that endeavors to cover 150 years of music from America’s most tuneful of cities is bound to fail, through as Rebennack says, “ the only thing that can beat a failure is a try”. Ultimately, the album ranks in the top 5% of all New Orleans releases, a too-brief primer lovingly and excitingly presented by the best musicians the city had to offer at that time. By turns wistful, violent, joyous and tragic, it never loses the twin hallmarks of the city that birthed it - a sense of humour at the absurdities of life (and death) and some of the world’s most pulsating rhythms. In 1994, Rebennack wrote with co-author Jack Rummel the excellent autobiography, “Under A Hoodoo Moon”. From it most of these notes were cribbed, and though this has proven to be by far my most verbose liner-note project, not one tenth of the story is yet told . Far from being a typical rock & roll, ghost-written autobiography, it is a hilarious, tragic, brutally honest, and inspirational tale of one erudite and talented man’s struggle to make some good music in a country in which this has become increasingly difficult. The chapter in which his reminiscences of Professor Longhair are recounted in side-splitting detail is alone worth the price of the book. The rest of the mid-nineties saw Rebennack’s voice become seemingly ubiquitous on American television, singing the praises of Wendy’s Hamburgers, among many another strange fruit from his American orchard. He has released several anthologies and two albums of new material - “Television” on GRP in 1994 and “Afterglow” on Blue Thumb in 1995. Any questions regarding this bizarre genius’ contemporary relevance were abolished in 1991 and 1993 when P.M. Dawn and Beck, respectively sampled his “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” for their own recordings, with utilising the Doctor’s tune in his breakthrough anthem, “Loser”. In 1997 he recorded a smoking duet with B.B. King on his collaboration with Doc Pomus, “There Must Be A Better World Somewhere”. He continues to tour and record, and still there is no bowling alley or Holiday Inn big enough to hold the audiences that pay to see him. Like the city he came from, Mac Rebennack is a survivor. So is the music that they share. That indefinable blend of French, African, Caribbean, Spanish, and American ingredients, that gumbo of a city and a sound, the certain je ne sais pocky way hollers out Crescent City, has no living acolyte truer or more faithful than Rebennack. Long may he ramble! ~John Nova Lomax, November 1998

[pamphletstoinspire]

The Five Foundations for Discernment On the Path to God’s Peace

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  - Romans 8:5–6

I have struggled many times with aridity in prayer. I didn’t even know the term aridity until I stumbled across it and my eyes were opened to this common spiritual challenge. When I became Catholic, I experienced a rapid heal­ing — in particular through the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and a Jesuit priest, Jean-Pierre de Caussade.

In Teresa I found a kindred soul — one that understood what a real relationship with Jesus looked like. In de Caussade I found a way to see a vision of God in all things, in every moment. These writers helped to reinforce my commitment to prayer and to filling my mind with truth. This helped me to better see God and yield to Him as I experienced circumstances and situations that brought fear, anxiety, and despair to the surface — to be healed.

Next I encountered the wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola through the indispensable writings and reflections of Fr. Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V. This was the beginning of the end of the final strongholds that seemed to be too strong to be overcome.

My aim now is to move from my personal story into what I would call a simplified understanding of the practice of discernment of spirits.

Foundations of Discernment, Path to Peace

Some important foundational truths must be understood. They are what I would call a Paradigm of Ascent and are the necessary foundations of discernment and the path of healing and peace that God has provided for all of us. These truths are foundational in that if they are not all present in some substantive way, the practice of discernment of spirits is impossible to follow and the promise of peace is impossible to experience.

First Foundation: A “Yes” to God

The first foundational truth is that we must have an authentic “yes” in our heart to God to begin and complete the journey of healing in heaven. It is not enough to merely know about God or even to practice our faith — we must know him intimately. This is the path of the mystics, but it is also the path to heaven.

This path is often obscure to most Catholics because it is not common for someone already in the Church to hear a call to conversion. However, this call to conversion and even the warnings of hell were offered frequently by Jesus to those who were His close followers. Though we have been baptized and confirmed, we still must constantly recognize our need for God and for the conversion of life that draws us ever more closely to Him.

Second Foundation: Confession & the Eucharist

The second foundational element is the most important sup­port for our “yes” of the heart, and it consists of two of the sacra­ments, the Eucharist and regular confession. The Eucharist is the most powerful sustenance of our faith, and we should pursue participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as frequently as possible.

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation is also absolutely necessary to support our “yes.” Too often we underestimate the power of this sacrament. We might think of it merely as a remedy for sin, which is vital and true, but it is also a great grace to strengthen us against falling into sin. The Sacrament of Penance both provides forgiveness of sins and strengthens us in our efforts to fight sin. Regardless of either emphasis, if we are not reconciled to God and not living in a state of grace, we are cut off from the life of grace and will not be able to discern the difference between the inspirations of God and the temptations of the devil.

Because of the poor catechesis of our time, I must be clear. Living in a state of grace means that we are living without having unconfessed mortal sins, and we are following the teachings of the Church.

Third Foundation: Daily Prayer

The third foundational element to authentic and effective discernment is daily prayer. The most powerful daily prayers are twofold: mental prayer and the Rosary.

Sts. Teresa of Avila and Alphonsus Liguori consider daily mental prayer as necessary for salvation because of the impact on the soul of those who daily draw near to their Savior. The Rosary, as revealed by our Blessed Mother, is necessary both for our salvation and that of the world.

Together, these two daily prayers provide both protection and a kind of shield and nurturing to our “yes” that allow us to move forward in faith.

Fourth Foundation: Ascesis

The fourth foundational element to our discernment is ascesis. This ancient Greek word simply means “exercise.” In our usage, that exercise is to exert daily and deliberate effort away from sin and toward self-giving to God and our neighbor. Ascesis is simply self-giving and self-denial — saying “no” to the draws of our lower nature in order to say “yes” to giving ourselves completely to God and to those whom He has placed in our care or circle of influence. Ascesis is simply what it means to truly follow Jesus.

This final element completes what I like to call a “saint-making machine.” These basic elements are in place in the life of every saint and everyone who makes progress in the spiritual life toward God and peace and away from sin and the sorrows of sin. This Paradigm of Ascent is also the necessary basis for beginning to distinguish between the voice and influence of God and the voice and influence of the enemy of our souls.

As we begin to implement these practices, we will lay a founda­tion that is, in and of itself, the most powerful healing force we can know. We will begin living by what is known in Catholic Tradi­tion as a “rule of life” or what we call in our community a “plan of love.” A plan of love is simply a set of concrete commitments that we make to God on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. A simple plan of love might look something like this:

1. Daily Mental Prayer — Wake up at 6:00 a.m. and pray for ten minutes, focusing on the Gospel Reading of the day. 2. Daily Rosary — Pray one decade in the car on the way to work. 3. Attend Mass every Sunday without fail. 4. Go to confession every other week.

Fifth Foundation: Review Your Day

The final step in our foundation is what is known as an exa­men prayer:

https://jesuits.org/Assets/Publications/File/The_Daily_Examen.pdf

or an examination of conscience.

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/penance/examinations-of-conscience.cfm

I encourage practicing the examen in a way that is focused on God’s redemptive power and mercy, not only our weakness. As St. Paul recalled, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ . . . for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The approach I recommend looks something like this. At the same time every night before going to bed, take five minutes to review your day. Slowly go over your day from morning to evening, asking two simple questions:

1. What have I been able to do, by the grace of God, that is honoring to Him and others? When you discover these things, express praise to God. This can be as simple as “Thank you, Lord, for the ability to pray according to my plan of love when I didn’t feel like doing so.”

2. How have I failed to honor God and others in my life? When you discover these things, you still pray in thanksgiving something like this: “Thank you, Lord, for revealing my sin to me so that I can be forgiven and strengthened to overcome this sin in the future.”

Now, this may seem very simple — and it is. However, don’t be fooled. This powerful practice is no less important than a compass to someone seeking their way through the wilderness. It keeps us awake to our progress on the narrow way to heaven, and it helps ensure that we stay on the path.

BY: DAN BURKE

[randomfoggytiger]

My Encyclopedia of My X-Files Fic Lists, Analyses, Fan Vids, and Fan Fiction Resources

So, I pushed all my little anthills into one dust pile because I got sick and tired of having to manually search through my colonies to find that ONE drone. 

~~~X-Files Collector’s Edition~~~

Overview

The Fics That Started It All 

Meet the Mulders

Car Accidents, Injuries, and Fluff- Oh My!

Creepy and Cozy Cabins

Redux II Samantha Was Real

I Want To Be Leaves (Fall Fics) 

 Mulder’s Early or Late Birthdays (Season 1)

Mulder’s Early or Late Birthdays (Angst)

Amor Fati(gue) 

Amor Fati(gue) AUs

Time Travel, Time Loops, and Just Wrong Timing 

Happy Halloween with the Mulder-Scully Family  

Many Mondays and “The Creeps”

Ghostly Hauntings and Experiences- AUs 

Thanksgivings Are Better Twofold 

Flying for Christmas 

Christmas and Emily’s Fate 

New Year, New Relationship   

Canonical-Esque Crack Fic {Edited}

Off-The-Wall Crazy Crack Fic  

Coming Home to Their Unremarkable House 

Little Samantha’s Life in Capture 

Car Wrekt  

Friendship Fix (According to Various Authors) Part 1 

Friendship Fix (According to Various Authors) Part 2  

Valentine’s Day, the Platonic Way

MSR Kicks Platonic Valentine’s to the Curb

Mulder and Scully Fight Insomnia  

Scully’s Arcadian Birthday 

The X-File That Started It All 

Diana Fowl(ey) Play-- All Parts 

S9 Mulder Stays or Returns While the Mytharc Barrels On

Anasazi– Shot and Emotionally Fraught

Pranks and Other April Fics

Celebrating Passover and Easter 

Poll Results: Fic Niches and Polls 

Fics That Deserve More Comments (Part I) 

Fics That Deserve More Comments (Part II)

Fics That Deserve More Comments (Part III)

Fics that Deserve More Comments (Part IV)

Fic Moments That “Hit Different” 

Fics That Fit My Niche "Dad!Mulder" Likes

MORE Fics That Fit My Niche “Dad!Mulder” Likes

Dad!Mulder, His "Mini Me"s, and Sports 

Fight the Future Fics (Part I)

Fight the Future Fics (Part II) 

Crazy X-Cops (and Watching the Tragic Ep. Later)

S9, The Season of Secret Dad (Long Fics) 

MOTW but Rinse and Repeat 

The Field Where I Fix-It Fic-ed

Beefy Revival Mulder

S8 Mulder Resurrects to a Miracle 

X-Files Collector’s Edition: Mulder, Scully, and Scents

A Short Fic Tribute to Samantha's 50th Anniversary

Mulder, To Jew or Not to Jew

It’s the Most HTGSC Time of Year

Mulder and Scully and Dancing

Sins of the Eaten Flesh

Mulder, Scully, and Courthouse Weddings

Cars and Conversations (Part I)

Cars and Conversations (Part II)

Bill Scully, MSR, and Pain (Part I)

Reviving that Love

randomfoggytiger’s Comfort Fics

Unseasoned Agents-- Early Love and Miraculous Do-Overs

Mulder, Scully, and Childhood AUs

Reworking Requiem and Mulder's Return (Part I)

Reworking Requiem and Mulder's Return (Part II)

Reworking Requiem and Mulder's Return (Part III)

Reworking Requiem and Mulder's Return (Part IV)

Reworking Requiem and Mulder's Return (Part V)

All IVF Arcs Must Come to Their End

~~~Curated Authors Collection / Short Entries~~~

randomfoggytiger’s Son of Egypt

randomfoggytiger's Fictober Wrap Up

randomfoggytiger’s Chariots of Fire 

Eight Nights of Mulder 2023 

randomfoggytiger’s “You Had Nothing” 

randomfoggytiger’s “The Next Chance”

randomfoggytiger’s “Mr. Mulder, I Know Something About You”

randomfoggytiger’s “You Up For Joining Us?” 

randomfoggytiger’s “Think He’ll Call You Tonight?”

randomfoggytiger’s ”You're Not Here, Dana-- You're a Million Miles Away"

randomfoggytiger’s "You're Only Going to End Up Hurting Yourself"

randomfoggytiger’s “Because the FBI Has Nothing to Hide"

randomfoggytiger’s "Creating This Whole Scenario to Fulfill a Dream"

randomfoggytiger’s "I've Already Lost One Sister to This Quest You're On"

randomfoggytiger’s The Hospital Where You Slept

randomfoggytiger’s "I Know You. It’s What I Do."

randomfoggytiger’s “Did You Really Have to Bring That Thing?” 

randomfoggytiger’s “You Just Have to Know Where to Look” 

randomfoggytiger’s “You Feeling Any Better?” 

randomfoggytiger’s “I’ve Never Met a Sweeter, More Courageous Little Girl”

randomfoggytiger’s “I Think It’s About Fate”

randomfoggytiger’s “I Had You Big Time” 

randomfoggytiger’s Grandmothers

randomfoggytiger’s “Tofutti Rice Dreamsicle”

randomfoggytiger’s The Little Things

randomfoggytiger’s "I Have a Life" 

randomfoggytiger’s "It's Not a Choice, but a Calling"  

randomfoggytiger’s "You Follow Your Heart, and It'll Take You Where You're Supposed to Go"

A Happy Family (Curated Baroness Blixen’s S9)

Curated Baroness Blixen’s Millennium Fics  

Curated Jamie Greco 

Alligator Moon by jordan  

Still Waters by XP1 

Everything But the Kitchen Sink by Amy Schatz

Morse Cody by grumpysimon 

Fox’s Den I/II/III by Thalia D’Muse 

Curated suitablyaggrieved/ScullyLovesQueequeg’s Cancer Arc Fics

Haze and necromance by astronaught 

fragility by homecomingserf 

Just Another Day on the Oil by Vickie Moseley  

Skyland Mountain (AU) by JenAndrews 

My Favorites Curated Fics and Quotes by suitablyaggrieved 

X-Files Fic That Irons Out the Mytharc... by touchstonea

Curated muldertxf Fics 

Curated melforbes Fics

Curated settle-down-frohike Fics

Curated Baroness Blixen’s Car Conversations

~~~X-Files Fan Fiction Resources~~~

Collected Resources

~~~Analysis~~~ 

Mailboxes in Arcadia: Allegory, Leitmotif, and Chekhov’s Gun

Arcadia Analysis: Scully Was Enjoying Herself Immensely 

Arcadia Analysis: Mulder’s Struggle

 Arcadia Analysis: Their Worst Nightmares and Trauma Responses 

Babylon Dance: An Alternative

Mulder Did Not “Lose Himself” in His Early VCU Days 

Biogenesis’s BIG Problem with the Alien-Human Hybrid Virus 

One Son: An Intense, One-Shot Analysis of “You’re Making This Personal”  

Never Again: An Intensive Essay 

Mulder: Sick Fic Vs. Reality

MSR Communication Summed Up

Mulder and Scully’s Most Defining Moment-- “You. Help. Me.”

Charlie Scully in Beyond the Sea

Reasons Why John Doggett Is the Best

S8 Scully Would Not Have Let Essence and Existence Happen

Mulder Would Never Let Scully Walk Away with Words Left Unsaid 

Mulder’s Necessary Emotional Growth in One Breath 

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part I): Colony and End Game

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part II): The Past Is Important to the Present

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part III): Dissecting the Dynamics in Demons

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part IV-1): The Death and Redemption of the Man Who “Threw In”

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part IV-2): Bill Mulder’s Tainted Legacy

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part V): Tena Mulder’s Relationships Begin to Change

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part VI): Talitha Cumi and Tena’s Lies

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part VII): Childhood Damage in Herrenvolk

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part VIII): Tena, Amor Fati, and Who’s the Daddy

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part IX): Tena Mulder’s Suicide and Saving Mulder from Himself

The Mulder Family In-Depth (Part X): Samantha, Spitfire and Stardust

Mulder Was a Father, Even in the Desert 

S8 Scully Healing Before Deadalive

We Don’t Value Skinner Enough 

Scully’s Complete Change From One Breath to Herrenvolk

S5 Is a Pretty Dark Time for Mulder

The Glaring Ideological Difference Between Mulder and Scully

I Wish: Post Three Words and Mulder

Ascension: Mulder and Maggie’s Bond

Mulder Saw That Scully Was Alone in Redux II 

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part I): Childhood and The Pilot

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part II): The First Christmas Death

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part III): A Facade and a Funeral

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part IV): Luthor Lee Boggs, Love, and Letting Go

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part V): Miracles, Lyle Parker, and Psychic Charlie?

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part VI): Maggie Scully and Mulder Meet

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part VII): Mulder, Maggie, Melissa, and the Snake

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part VIII): Maggie Calls Mulder "Fox"

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part IX): Mulder and the Two Scully Sisters

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part X): One Breath and the Scully Men

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XI): The Last Conversations of One Melissa Scully

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XII): Prophecy, Death, and the Question of Fate

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XIII): The Erosion of Scully’s Security, on Tape

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XIV): When Nature Turns So Cruel

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XV): "Other Fathers", Deleted Scenes, and "Things to Prove"

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XVI): Crouching Cancer, Hidden Motives

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XVII): The Doubting Thomas

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XVIII): Best-Laid Schemes Often Go Awry

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XIX): Eyes Averted, and Final Decisions

The Scully Family In-Depth (Part XX): The Brotherhood of Miscommunication 

Spooky Jr. Was Born in a Ghost Town

Mulder Is a Brooder; and Scully Is His Concluder

Scully and Christmas Ghosts

I Love the Unanswered Questions of the X-Files

Mulder Respects Scully’s Medical Choices in the Most Baffling Ways

Scully’s Failures and Her Villains

Mulder Has Max Fenig’s Cap in Beyond the Sea

Scully Is the Conduit Conductor and Mulder Is the Dancer

Mulder Didn’t Use Scully’s Apartment Key Until He “Belonged”

Frohike is THE Man

Mulder and Scully Picked Exes With the Most Red Flag Names Possible

Mulder, the Arcadia Trophy Husband

Mulder Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn?

Scully Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn?   

Arcadia Mulder and His Pillows

How Scully Taught Mulder to Hug

Alpha In-Depth: All Parts

Mulder and Dreams

Milagro In-Depth: All Parts 

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas In-Depth: Full Analysis

Scully's Speech in HTGSC Proves Mulder Is Her Ouroboros

Mulder and Scully Didn’t Want a “Network” Outside of Each Other

All Souls, Lost Girls, and Grief

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part I): Waking Up to Miracles 

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part II): PTSD and Guilt

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part III): "Processing" How to Fit Back into a Healing World

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part IV): Passive Mulder Turns Passive-Aggressive

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part V): The Mutual Pain of Reconnection

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part VI): Bonds Once Forged Cannot Be Broken

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part VII): Trickery, Terror, and Tears

Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part VIII) UPDATED!: Missing Conversations and Mulder Gettin’ His Groove On

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part IX): An Episode of Mad About You

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part X): The First Touch, and Unconscious Limbo 

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part XI): Sons and Shared Trauma

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part XII): A Campaign of Disinformation 

Movies Were Mulder's Comfort Placebo Pre-Scully

Mulder and "Killing" Scully

Scully, Snakes, and Reincarnation

CSM Inflicted Insanity On the Syndicate

Mulder’s Little Smile in the Paper Hearts Morgue

Mulder and Scully and the Graves of Many Little Girls

Elegy: A Lie Between Two Truths

Mulder and His Nests

Mulder’s Dichotomy in Three Words

Skinner’s Regrets

Fire and False Romance, Ice and Love

All IVF Roads Lead Away from The Unnatural and to Millennium

X-Cops and Vince Gilligan’s Mulder

The Cancer Arc and Scully's Reliance on Mulder's Strength

Tomboy Scully and Pretty Boy Mulder

Mulder and Scully's Love Story: Season 1

You’re a Magician, Scully

"Proving" Mulder Knew He Was the Father of Scully's Baby

Mulder and Scully Broke Each Other’s Patterns

AU Samantha and Schizogeny Thoughts

Explaining the Never Again Script

Dreams, Alternate Realities, and Agency

One Breath Walked So Firewalker (and Episodes Proceeding It) Could Run

The List: Setting the Stage for Scully’s Loneliness and Mulder’s Panic

Elegy Explanation (and Realization)

Scully and Matters of the Heart: S1-4

Gethsemane, Bill Scully Apologia, and Maggie the Emergency Contact

Mulder: Jewish or Religious References (and His S8 Funeral)

Little Green Men and Teliko Parallels

I Want to Believe: A Character Study in Disordered Writing

HTGSC: Old Tricks and New Lessons

Mulder and Vulnerability

Developed Psychic Ability and Death

Psychics Developed Their Abilities Through Alien DNA

Attractive Monsters and Mulder

Disproving CSM’s Conjecture in En Ami

An Evolution of Mulder and Scully’s Forehead Kisses

Bill Scully Kept Melissa Scully’s Photo in Baby Matthew’s Room

Update: The Therapist in The Red and the Black

Scully's Abduction, Emily Sim, and the Lost Scully Baby

Mulder’s a Big Wig in the Conspiracy Community (and Colonization Thoughts)

Mulder and Scully, Past Lives, and the White Buffalo Calf

Scully the Honest, Mulder the Relentless

The X-Files and Werewolves

Attachment Styles: An Avoidance Shared by Two

Scully and Emily Parallels

Scully and Relationships: Initial Commitment and Cyclical Self-Doubt

Scully’s Survival Broke The Field Where I Died’s Cycle

Diana Fowley, the Four-Poster Bed Instigator (Perhaps)

Dreamland II: Golf Clubs, Diana Fowley, and Mulder’s Father

Charlie Scully’s X-Files Relationship Status

Scully’s Lies and Self-Edits

Fight the Future Hallway: In-Depth

Shoulda Woulda Coulda: Create a Cohesive Canon by Eliminating the Mulder-Scully Baby

If Mulder and Doggett Were Partnered in Season 8

Mulder Reliving His Childhood Traumas

All Things: Fellig's Fate, Scully's Immortality, and Waterston's Healing

Mulder's Heart: Alluring Temptations, Denial, and the Slow Burn 

The X-Files: the Madonna-Whore Complex

Dying with Each Other's Wounds on Their Bodies

Revival Mulder Was Diagnosed with the Wrong Depression (+ actual-changeling’s Addition)

The Journey of Scully's Faith, in Brief

The Rules of Ghosts and Spooks

Unrest, Faulty Memories, and and Lost Sisters

“My Touchstone”: the Turning Point 

Diana Fowley: the Definition of Manipulative Comfort

~~~Typing~~~ 

How to "Type" Personality Types: An Ultimate Resource 

MULDER, The Spooky INTP 

{{Extraction: Proving Mulder Is Not an INFJ/INFP}} 

SCULLY, The Enigmatic ISTJ

Mulder and Scully: Love and Touch for INTPs/ISTJs 

Dissecting ‘One Son’ (Part I)   

Dissecting ‘One Son’ (Part II) 

‘Never Again’ and Fear 

KRYCEK, An Unstoppable Manipulator

INTPs In Their Own Words 

SKINmanNER, The Bald and the Beautiful 

MAGGIE, The Passionate Scully

MELISSA, The Soulful ISFP

BILL SCULLY, Junior and Senior (and Charlie?)

~~~Musicals/Fan Vids/AMVs~~~

Fight Club (Finale)

Fight Club: Finale Redone with Less Kathy Griffiths

TINH: Scully’s Solo

S2 Abduction: Mulder’s Torment 

Drivin’ Right Along

Hungry: Everything Is Food

Our Town: Everything Is Food

Krycek and Marita: You’re My Little Choochie Face

Irresistible: I Whistle a Happy Tune

Syzygy: Everything You Can Do I Can Do Better

Mulder and Samantha: Miracle of Miracles

Amor Fati: If I Never Knew You 

Arcadia: People Will Say We’re in Love 

Scully, Far from the Home She Loves

CSM and Diana: The Riddle  

The Mulders: Sunrise, Sunset

HTGSC: Christmas Can Can

Melissa: Mother Earth and Father Time

Monday: There’s Always Tomorrow

Memento Mori: I Bring You a Song

Pilot: I Ride Alone

Milagro: Hellfire

Paper Hearts: Lovely, Lonely Man

Darkness Falls: Walk Outside

Emily: Come to Me

Talitha Cumi: Misty Mountains

Season 6: 9 to 5

Maggie and Dana: Everything's Alright

Samantha Mulder: God Help the Outcasts

~~~Extras~~~

React: "Return to Me" from the POV of Someone Averse to RomComs

React: Watching I Want to Believe for the First Time (and Losing My Mind) 

What Happens Later: Misdirection and Miscommunication

Reverse the Curse: David Duchovny’s Heartfelt Period Piece 

Personality Typing: Return to Me

Personality Typing: Bringing Up Baby

Personality Typing: Hank Moody, Maggie Scully, and ESTPs

What Happens Later: ESTJs, ESFPs, and Building Back Love ‘N Trust 

David Duchovny’s Face: an Aesthetics Study

Seasonal Color Theory: a Reference Guide

Seasonal Color Analysis: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson

Seasonal Color Analysis: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Their Colors

Seasonal Color Analysis: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson-- Skin Tones and Tricky Fashion Tips

Kibbe Body Types: Gillian Anderson

Kibbe Body Types: David Duchovny 

Kitchener Essence: Gillian Anderson

Kitchener Essence: David Duchovny

Makeup Myths and Acne Realities 

Paparazzi, Celebrity Deals, and David Duchovny 

CHRIS CARTER'S MISCOMMUNICATION: "Platonic", "Cerebral and Sexy", and the Romantic Dynamic of The X-Files

[bona-parte]

Top Effective Ways To Get Rid Of Cold

At the point when you're feeling terrible in view of a chilly, you simply need something to fix you—if not to fix you, in any event to help you briefly feel much improved. Sadly a ton of cures are fake treatments, yet a few things in the drugstore work superior to other people.

The best decongestant is behind the counter

On the off chance that you have a stuffy nose, pseudoephedrine is the genuine article. In the past times, you could discover it on the store racks. Sudafed was one brand name. (Sudafed, pseudoephedrine, get it?) But pseudoephedrine can be decently effortlessly changed over into methamphetamine, so a 2006 law limited its deal. Set aside the effort to demonstrate your ID to the drug specialist in the event that you need the great stuff.

Nectar works shockingly well

Nectar won't fix your cold, yet it appears to calm sore throats and soothe hacking, in any event a tad. Studies frequently show it works better than over-the-counter hack syrups. (Is this since nectar is incredible or on the grounds that hack syrups sort of suck? Potentially the last mentioned, frankly.) But don't waste time with nectar based hack syrups—indeed, these are a thing—simply get some real nectar and blend it into some high temp water or tea. That is less expensive and simpler.

A significant proviso on nectar, incidentally: nectar isn't viewed as sheltered to provide for babies under 1 year old. There's a little danger of botulism, and infants are especially powerless. Nectar won't help that much, so it's not worth the hazard.

Most prescriptions are of touchy adequacy

Phenylephrine is the decongestant that supplanted pseudoephedrine in over-the-counter items. It doesn't appear to work quite well, and as per a few examinations it doesn't work by any stretch of the imagination.

Dextromethorphan, the hack suppressant, is in like manner not powerful, nor is guaifenesin, an "expectorant" that is planned to disperse bodily fluid to make it simpler to hack up. A Cochrane audit reasoned that there's insufficient proof to state whether any over-the-counter hack prescriptions really work.

Tylenol and ibuprofen accomplish will in general work to mitigate torment and decrease fevers, in spite of the fact that they're likely not what you're considering when you consider cold medications. (Tylenol, or acetominophen, is in a ton of cold meds as a feature of a blend of fixings. In case you're consolidating drugs, ensure you're not twofold dosing on this fixing.)

There's a great deal of futile stuff on the racks

Essentially every youngsters' virus medication is trash. The ones with decongestants and antihistamines aren't viewed as safe for kids under 4. In any case, in case you're in the medication walkway in any case, "common" brands are there to fill that hole with blends of nutrients, nectar, and home grown enhancements. These don't generally do anything, either, yet by one way or another they cost like eight bucks a container.

Skirt the Over-The-Counter Meds for Your Kids' Colds

For Thanksgiving this year, my whole more distant family ventured out to Disney World. Six grown-ups and four

Know more

In both the children's and grown-ups' areas, you'll find homeopathic cures, which are essentially tricks and ought to be unlawful. Watch out for whatever says "homeopathic" or that has fixings estimated in "X" or "C" rather than a genuine unit like milligrams. These aren't just regular enhancements, as the names now and again propose; they are recipients of an unusual escape clause in FDA strategy that permits them to be showcased as medications while professing to work by enchantment. I want to be causing this to up, however I'm most certainly not. Set aside your cash.

[starlightomatic]

How to Write Jewish Fanfic Characters

1.  Please don’t write them as “Jewish in name only.”  For one thing, that essentially takes away representation, which is hurtful, and for another, trying to prevent assimilation is a really big thing in the Jewish community.  The characters’ parents died when they were kids?  Write them as having been raised by other Jews (eg family members).  Honestly, doing otherwise is a cop out.  For centuries, people who hated us have wanted us to leave our Jewishness behind and fully assimilate.  You are inadvertently tying into that when you do write the characters as “Jewish in name only.”

2.  Consider writing them as at least somewhat religious.  Of course, there are certainly secular Jews in real life, but there are hardly any religious Jews in media and it gets tiring.  There would absolutely be practicing Jewish wizards regardless of whether Harry is religious; if we can keep our traditions despite progroms, the Holocaust, forced assimilation, and the American melting pot, being wizards won’t faze us.  There are religious Jews who participate in many cultures and subcultures around the world.  That there are no explicitly religious characters in Harry Potter is more of a function of Harry’s inability to notice these things (and JKR’s struggle with portrayals of minority groups) than an indication that there are no religious wizards.

3.  Even if they’re not religious, please write them as being at least culturally Jewish.  What I mean is, have them participate in Jewish culture. They celebrate Chanukah, for instance (if Harry celebrates Christmas, the Goldsteins can celebrate Chanukah, even if they’re secular).  They know some words in Yiddish, Ladino, or another Jewish language. You don’t necessarily have to write that in, but it should be the background in your head.

4.  Don’t have them celebrating Christmas, unless they’re doing it solely for the benefit of Christian or culturally-Christian friends.  Cultural Christians tend to see Christmas as secular and universal, but for us, it’s not.  I don’t know any Jews who celebrate Christmas who aren’t part of interfaith families.  This may not seem like a big deal, but it is.  Christmas is a major signifier of complete assimilation.  When you write Jewish characters celebrating Christmas for themselves, you’re making a much stronger statement than you intend.

5.  Consider including positive details.  This is not strictly necessary (for fanfic writers, that is; JKR and Stuart Craig should have done it) but it is nice.  Positive details are little things that won’t disrupt the flow of the story, but will be recognized by your Jewish readers and will make them happy.  Examples can include a reference to candlesticks on a mantelpiece when describing a room, or mentioning that Passover is the reason a character is visiting his sister-in-law but not going into detail about the Seder meal.  Here’s an excerpt from a fic I wrote:

It is three years later (but somehow, it feels so much shorter), when Newt finds himself sitting in the afternoon sunlight, Tina by his side (her hands folded in her lap and somehow still breathtaking at the age of 109), looking up at the couple standing in the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves twined into the posts of their wedding canopy. His grandson, grown into a handsome and capable young man, and Luna, as ethereal as she was at age twelve but now carrying herself with the maturity of someone who has seen all the horrors the world has to offer and has decided still to view the world with wonder, stand face to face, gently clasping one another’s hands and exuding quiet strength.

They are clearly following the Jewish custom of having a wedding canopy (chuppah), but I do not explicitly mention that it is a Jewish custom, and while it is clearly mentioned, it is not the focus.  The advantage to using positive details is twofold; it ensures representation without distracting from the focus of the story, but it also portrays Jewish customs as normal for Jews.  When I’m performing a Jewish ritual, it’s just a part of my life – I don’t stop and think about the fact that it’s Jewish, or think it’s at all out of the ordinary.

6.  Omit negative details.  These are things that would be inappropriate for a culturally or somewhat-religious Jewish character.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but they interrupt the flow of the story for me.  These are things like having a character eat something blatantly unkosher (pork, shellfish, dairy-and-meat-together).  It’s possible that they could be doing this if the character is very secular, but I already addressed that in Point 2 and, if this is the 1920s, plenty of secular Jews actually kept some level of kosher.  It’s entirely possible that secular Jewish characters in the 1920s could even have a fully-kosher kitchen.  That might seem very strange to you if you are culturally Christian, but Christianity and Judaism are very, very different.  The idea you have in your head of “religion” isn’t entirely applicable to Judaism.  Keeping kosher has cultural as well as religious significance.

7.  Mention major Jewish holidays if your fic takes place on or near them.  You don’t need to go into detail, but it would be odd to have, say, a fic during April with not even a single passing mention of Passover.  Likewise October and the fall holidays. This can be easily avoided if you simply set the fic at a different time.  If you’re not sure when the holidays are, Hebcal is a great resource.  Google “hebcal [year]” or “[holiday] [year].” Something to be aware of: Jewish holidays do not fall at the same time on the Gregorian calendar every year. So, Chanukah is not always at Christmasstime; it’s often in mid-December, and one year it even overlapped with Thanksgiving.

8.  Consider going into more detail.  This is not necessary by any means, but it a lovely thing to do and will certainly get you a reblog from @jewish-harrypotter if you let me know about it (fics with a lot of positive details will, too).  

9. Access Resources Point 8 is hard because it requires more research, but I’m always available as a resource.  I can’t tell you exactly what Jewish life looked like in the early 20th century, but if you’re okay with the fic not adhering to precise historical accuracy I can tell you what Jewish life looks like now (and the most basic aspects of the rituals haven’t really changed much).  I also very much recommend My Jewish Learning  as a resource.  Also, if any Jews reading this are also available as resources, please comment on this post. @writingwithcolor and @returnofthejudai are also good blogs to ask, especially in general terms of how to portray Jews. You can also post questions in the “jewish,” “jumblr,” and “judaism” tags.

10.Listen to Jews.  If a Jewish reader points out that something’s off, trust them to know what they’re talking about.  If they’re telling you that Christmas is not a universal holiday, don’t tell them it is.  No one expects someone who isn’t Jewish to know about Jewish culture or religion, but there’s a difference between not knowing something and rejecting what someone is trying to tell you.

Hope that helped!  Thank you for reading!  I know writing about a minority you’re not part of is hard, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this to find out how to do it better!

If you found this post helpful, please consider buying me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/G2G1F9JY

[rentalcarsuae-blog]

Normal Cost of Renting a Car

What is the normal expense of leasing a vehicle? That resembles soliciting what's the normal cost from an aircraft ticket: regardless of whether you could make sense of the appropriate response, it wouldn't be especially useful in your genuine life.

The expense of leasing a vehicle will rely upon a ton of elements, including your age, the kind of vehicle you need to lease, your pickup area and the time you lease.

The most effective method to Get The Best Deal

To set aside cash, book early, search around, and do your due constancy! With a little ability, you can set aside a great deal of cash. The top vehicle rental organizations as indicated by Top Ten Reviews are Enterprise for Best Overall, Thrifty for Low Cost, and Hertz for Best Perks.

Normal Cost of a Car Rental

Economy Car (1 Day/Week Rental) – Enterprise: $67/$288 ; Thrifty: $62/$276 ; Hertz: $93/$228

Smaller Car (1 Day/Week Rental) – Enterprise: $68/$297 ; Thrifty: $64/$280 ; Hertz: $94/$234

Full Car (1 Day/Week Rental) – Enterprise: $76/$335 ; Thrifty: $74/$316 ; Hertz: $101/$291

Numerous components add to the cost of leasing a vehicle – here are the most significant ones:

Components That Determine Car Rental Costs

At the point when You Book: Renting a vehicle is a great deal like looking for a carrier ticket in numerous regards. The prior you search for a vehicle, the better of an arrangement you will get. In the event that you have to book a vehicle for the following day, you are going to pay much more cash than if you enable yourself at any rate seven days to search for the best arrangement before you have to drive.

At the point when You Drive: Most vehicle rental administrations in little urban areas profit principally on the weekdays with business voyagers who need a vehicle to get around a new city. All things considered, you are probably going to show signs of improvement rate in the event that you are leasing a vehicle for end of the week travel than if you need it for weekday travel. Be that as it may, in the event that you are leasing a vehicle in a visitor area, for example, NYC, rates may be higher during the end of the week when sightseers are bound to be around the local area.

Another extraordinary open door for rental vehicle organizations to make cash is around the special seasons. In the event that you need a vehicle directly around Christmas or Thanksgiving, you'll should be set up to spend more cash.

Where You Pick Up: Renting a vehicle at the air terminal is fantastically helpful – and unfathomably costly. You'll pay for accommodation in vehicle rentals, likewise with whatever else. In the event that you are flying into a huge city that has advantageous rideshare administrations or taxicabs, think about searching for bargains in suburbia close to the air terminal. You may spare significantly more than the taxi expense, and it may merit your time and energy.

Where You Drop Off: Thinking of doing an excursion in a rental vehicle, lifting it up in one area and dropping it off in another state? You can do this, yet it will cost you. In any event, dropping off your vehicle at an alternate area crosswise over town can almost certainly include extra charges that can raise rapidly, particularly on the off chance that you drop it off some place too advantageous for you (like the air terminal).

To what extent You Drive: Generally, the more you book a vehicle for, the lower your per-day rate will be. Remember that most places won't let you lease a vehicle for less than 24 hours, so regardless of whether you just need a vehicle for a couple of hours, you will at present be required to pay for in any event one entire day of utilization. Also, on the off chance that you cut your excursion off, you may not really set aside all that a lot of money by restoring your vehicle early.

Vehicle Type: Every vehicle rental help has an alternate method for ordering the vehicles they lease, yet as a rule, the fancier and bigger the vehicle, the more you will pay. An Economy vehicle, normally a little vehicle, is ordinarily your least expensive choice. An extravagant games vehicle may cost as much as 50 percent more to lease, which you may have suspected. In any case, shockingly, even a minivan can cost about twofold to lease as a standard economy vehicle does.

Regardless of whether You Refuel: It generally pays to drop off your rental vehicle with a similar measure of gas it had when you lifted it up. It is a torment for rental organizations to refuel their vehicles – they need to send a representative to a service station and sit around idly that the vehicle could be all over the place profiting for them. Along these lines, you will regularly pay twofold or triple the value per gallon than you would on the off chance that you paid at the siphon on the off chance that you return a rental vehicle with less gas in the tank.

Notwithstanding, don't feel that you will get cash back by being a decent Samaritan and restoring a tank with more gas in it – you likely won't be compensated financially for your endeavors, which means you simply set aside the organization cash after you previously profited!

How Old The Driver Is: If you're under 25 years old, rental organizations will charge you anyplace in the area of $20-$70 every day. Regardless of whether there's another driver who is 25+, you will even now need to pay if any of the drivers are under 25.

Any Extras You Purchase: No issue where you lease, the organization will attempt to sell you on additional items to expand their benefits. One of the most widely recognized is additional protection – most significant Mastercards will cover you for a rental car you pay for utilizing their card, and between this advantage and your standard protection, it's impossible that you really need to buy extra inclusion. It's a smart thought to check with both your charge card organization and protection operator in advance.

[catholicwatertown]

Pope Francis: Message to mark 100 years of the Pontifical Oriental Institute

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is also the Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

The Pontificium Institutum Orientale, or “Orientale” as it is known in Roman shorthand, was founded in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV, and became part of the “Gregorian Consortium” including also the University and the Biblical Institute, under the direction and tutelage of the Society of Jesus.

In his Message, Pope Francis makes note of the high achievements in the twofold mission of research into liturgical, theological, ecclesiological, and spiritual sources of the Christian East, and the preparation of instruments by which to make the riches of the Eastern Christianity more readily available and accessible to Christians in the West.

The Pope also calls on the Orientale to mindfulness of and solicitude for the enormous challenges facing Christians in the East.

“Keeping intact the attention and application of traditional research,” Pope Francis writes, “This Institute, through research, teaching and testimony, has the task of helping our [Eastern] brothers and sisters to strengthen and consolidate their faith in the face of the tremendous challenges they face,” challenges which, in the present day, include strong temptations to leave their native homelands, and often forced displacement under threat of persecution and even martyrdom.

The Holy Father concludes his message, “In joining myself to the thanksgivings to God for the work it has done over these 100 years, I hope that the Pontifical Oriental Institute will pursue its mission with renewed impetus, studying and spreading with love and intellectual honesty, with scientific rigor and pastoral perspective, the traditions of the Oriental churches in their liturgical, theological, artistic and canonical variety, better and better responding to the expectations of today’s world to create a future of reconciliation and peace.”

(from Vatican Radio)

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[apostleshop]

Pope Francis: Message to mark 100 years of the Pontifical Oriental Institute

Great News has been shared on http://apostleshop.com/pope-francis-message-to-mark-100-years-of-the-pontifical-oriental-institute/

Pope Francis: Message to mark 100 years of the Pontifical Oriental Institute

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a Message to the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is also the Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

The Pontificium Institutum Orientale, or “Orientale” as it is known in Roman shorthand, was founded in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV, and became part of the “Gregorian Consortium” including also the University and the Biblical Institute, under the direction and tutelage of the Society of Jesus.

In his Message, Pope Francis makes note of the high achievements in the twofold mission of research into liturgical, theological, ecclesiological, and spiritual sources of the Christian East, and the preparation of instruments by which to make the riches of the Eastern Christianity more readily available and accessible to Christians in the West.

The Pope also calls on the Orientale to mindfulness of and solicitude for the enormous challenges facing Christians in the East.

“Keeping intact the attention and application of traditional research,” Pope Francis writes, “This Institute, through research, teaching and testimony, has the task of helping our [Eastern] brothers and sisters to strengthen and consolidate their faith in the face of the tremendous challenges they face,” challenges which, in the present day, include strong temptations to leave their native homelands, and often forced displacement under threat of persecution and even martyrdom.

The Holy Father concludes his message, “In joining myself to the thanksgivings to God for the work it has done over these 100 years, I hope that the Pontifical Oriental Institute will pursue its mission with renewed impetus, studying and spreading with love and intellectual honesty, with scientific rigor and pastoral perspective, the traditions of the Oriental churches in their liturgical, theological, artistic and canonical variety, better and better responding to the expectations of today’s world to create a future of reconciliation and peace.”

(from Vatican Radio)

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[telecloud-blog]

It ain't substantial, it's my tablet: an audit of the Nook Color We've put the Nook Color Android tablet through weeks of testing.

The energy of an early introduction

The present fixation on item bundling in the blogosphere can once in a while (alright, commonly) verge on the woeful. Be that as it may, there is a sensible supposition behind all the nerd bundle porn: any organization that considerations enough to make wonderful, practical bundling has most likely given some genuine thoughtfulness regarding the item itself. Refined bundling insights at a refined client encounter.

Barnes and Noble has taken in this lesson well. Its new NOOKcolor tablet—which I will hereafter allude to as the "Niche" out of challenge at this silly manhandle of the letters in order—comes perfectly bundled in a lengthened white cardboard box. When I hauled mine out of its transportation container, I was quickly awed and after that doubly astonished when the case's base popped open on a paper pivot to uncover the Nook inside without expecting me to unlatch, unfasten, or cut anything.

The Nook's container seems to contain four magnets: two to hold the pivoted bring down segment shut and another two to hold the pivoted segment open (when swung back, it appends to the back of the case with a fantastic pound). I've opened a ton of device encloses my day, and I need to admit a silly pleasure at opening such a magnificently finished built box; I more likely than not swiveled that pivot open and shut twelve times before swinging to the equipment within.Would the Nook itself satisfy its bundling? To discover, I've been living with the gadget for half a month and even trucked it home for Thanksgiving to permit grouped aunties, uncles, and kin to strike away into it. The gadget's qualities and shortcomings can maybe best be summed up by two brief trades with my Kindle-utilizing sibling.

Surely, it's the best arrangement will get at the present time for a decent 7-inch Android tablet (awful ones obviously can be had for less)— however that doesn't mean it's without a large group of defects. None of these are lethal, and few are truly genuine, yet together they take a portion of the sparkle off a very enticing apple.

Convey that weight

The Nook is substantial in the hand. That was my early introduction, and it's one that was fortified each time I utilized the gadget. In spite of the fact that the new Nook is about an indistinguishable stature and width from the Kindle 3, it weighs significantly more, and changing back to the Kindle resembled changing from a "desktop substitution" note pad of yore to a MacBook Air. (The Nook is still not so overwhelming as the iPad.)

Here's a weight examination between the Nook Color, Kindle 3 (WiFi), and iPad (WiFi):

Fuel: 241g (8.5oz)

Alcove: 422g (14.88oz)

iPad: 680g (23.98oz)

The weight surely isn't a major issue—a lot of individuals read books on an iPad, for example—yet broadened Web surfing may be more agreeable when the Nook lays on a table or in your grasp. Holding the gadget upright before your face, particularly with one hand, isn't a good time for long sessions.

With respect to appearance, this is remarkably subjective. The Nook's outline is appealing, however it's executed in two tones of dim plastic with a dark rubber treated sponsorship. Both the top and base have adjusted edges that give the gadget something of a "puffy" impression, and the less said in regards to the "notable" open snare at the base left, the better.Still, in case you're originating from an e-Ink gadget like a Kindle or a Sony Reader, turning on the Nook will in a flash remind you why it's substantially heavier and somewhat bulkier: it has a delightful shading touchscreen. Swiping over the base of the screen to open the gadget, at that point exploring the setup menus and entering a WiFi secret key, lastly tapping a book to peruse (with no page-turn slack)— it's all so speedy and simple that you'll need to revile the five-way controller, DOS-style content interface, and general languor of something like the Kindle.

The equipment

Driving this experience is TI OMAP 3621 processor running at 800MHz, with 8GB of blaze memory and 32GB more accessible by means of a microSDHC card. The 600x1024 pixel screen has a 169 pixel-per-inch thickness and an entire 16 million shading reach, and WiFi b/g/n gives availability (there is no 3G radio).

With respect to outside catches or ports, they're few: a power catch, a small scale USB connector, two volume catches, and an earphone jack. There's additionally the "Niche catch" on the gadget confront. This looks more like a topsy turvy U than the lower-case N it is intended to take after. I thought that it was appalling. Your mileage may shift.

Two little things about the equipment, one great and one terrible, that don't appear on the spec sheet: to begin with, the gadget's minor mono speaker is not situated in the front or even in the base of the gadget, however is completely on the back. The anticipated outcome is that it sounds completely abominable; even framework warnings seem like they're originating from another gadget a few feet away rather than from the one in your grasp. Also, in case you're tuning in to music, the earphone jack is an unquestionable requirement.

On the other side, the Nook fortunately shuns exclusive PC interfaces and presents itself over USB as a USB Mass Storage gadget. Exploring the catalog structure is basic and the organizers have clear names. We thought that it was anything but difficult to get content, for example, pictures and screenshots, on and off the device.The energy of touch

My digital book perusing to date has to a great extent been done on the Kindle, which has a dynamite e-Ink screen yet a moderate interface. Need to explore the menus? Be set up to click around. Need to peruse that book amidst your landing page? Begin clicking. Need to highlight content? You got it. Before long, this kind of thing becomes tedious, particularly with e-Ink's pokey screen invigorates.

The Nook instantly helps you to remember the upsides of a touchscreen tablet. Getting to the Web doesn't require a visit to the home screen completed by a trawl the menu progression—two speedy taps and you're gazing at full-shading pages. Entering passwords or looking for books on the product console was effectively better than the Kindle's small equipment keys, and changing settings or flipping through a rundown of books is a breeze.The differentiate is most detectable not in the perusing knowledge, but rather when utilizing the Web program and the implicit applications (Nook accompanies a music player, Pandora, a photograph display, chess, crossword riddles, sudoku, and a contacts program). The Kindle has applications, as well—and most are a wreck. I would preferably superglue my fingers together than endeavor to play a whole round of Minesweeper on a Kindle utilizing only the five-way controller.

So also, the less said in regards to the Kindle's Web program, the better. While it demonstrates an able grayscale rendering of site pages utilizing a WebKit-based motor, zooming in and tapping on joins is the kind of torment that ought to be held just for spammers.

On the off chance that you need your "digital book peruser" to accomplish more than read ebooks (and many individuals don't), simply ensure you're mindful the amount all the more effective a shading touchscreen can be. Tapping on joins, touching chess pieces, signing into and controlling your Pandora account—it's a dynamite understanding on the Nook.The "additional" Nook programs are put into two classifications, unmistakably demonstrating their relative significance: there's "Internet" and after that "Additional items." The Nook's program is stupendous at rendering, and it bolsters Javascript, fly up blocking, "tabs" (however they aren't really tabs), and modules. With regards to protection settings alone, the program can clear its store, clear treats, recall frame information, and permit area information; this is a full-included program. It can even deal with downloads, which are then made accessible in the "My Downloads" area of the fundamental Nook library.

By and large, the program was a joy to utilize, and destinations looked awesome on the screen. On the off chance that you've discovered a cell phone screen a tad too little to ever be helpful for perusing the "genuine" Web (rather than destinations organized for cell phones), try a 7-inch tablet out. The gadgets are sufficiently huge to do happy with perusing of even complex locales like The New York Times.But there are a few issues. At this screen estimate, despite everything you'll need to do a lot of zooming to explore pages and afterward see content—yet the Nook makes this substantially harder than it should be. Some of this might be patent-related; the Nook doesn't do squeeze to-zoom, for example, a repeating wellspring of dissatisfaction when I was attempting to estimate site pages to the screen.

Shockingly, the Nook's programmed zooming routinely errs the bits of the page I need to see. Twofold tap on content and the Nook zooms in—yet over and over again it removes a touch of section message or doesn't zoom in sufficiently far. Without the simplicity of squeeze to-zoom to amend this, you're left with tapping the screen to ring + and - catches, and after that tapping these to position the screen by hand.One other little issue distresses the program (and different ranges, for example, PDF seeing): looking on the Nook simply isn't as smooth as it ought to be. The gadget gives the particular impression—particularly discernible when flick-looking over rapidly through a long page—that some piece of its equipment is compelled. Parchment is routinely uneven, and it deteriorates on locales like Google Maps, which renders effectively, however is basically unusable.

Applications! (Kind of)

Alcove keeps running on a standard Android 2.1 OS, which may make it appear like a marvelous arrangement at $249. Furious Birds! Email! Skype! Texting! Maybe I'll move up to Froyo?

Well—no, no, no, no, and yes (yet just in case you're crazy). The Nook is an Android tablet, however it's secured hard. Barnes and Noble has taken control of the application store prepare, and will make extra applications accessible beginning in 2011 through its own particular site. Moving customary Android applications ought to be basic, yet it's uncertain that Barnes and Noble will support a large portion of them. The organization has guaranteed an Android 2.2 refresh for the Nook, likely ahead of schedule in 2011.